API — Against Any And All Climate Bills

May 15, 2009

The Facts

Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (API), was interviewed by Carl Quintanilla of CNBC this morning. The topic of discussion was the impact the climate bill now being considered by Congress could have on the oil industry. Naturally Gerard is not in favor of the bill, and he says the bill is going to hurt the economy and jeopardize our security. He goes on to say this “could perhaps be the most significant legislation in the history of the country”. (Video below)

At the beginning of the interview Gerard said they haven’t seen the details of the bill yet, and that was unfortunate. He followed that up with ”we need to see the fine print and details of the bill” to understand what it means for the oil industry, to which Quintanilla said “I have a hard time believing that any fine print or detail is going to change your view of this bill”.

My View

“Jeopardize our security”? Oh, well, that’s become a popular anti-Democrat slogan these days, so why not capitalize on it.

I heard two surprises in this interview — Gerard saying they need to see the fine print and details before seriously coming out against it and Quintanilla saying what he did. On the first, for obvious reasons the oil industry and/or their spokespersons have never seen a climate bill they liked. Petroleum products never have been nor will ever be good for the climate. Therefore the industry is never going to be in favor of climate control no matter how necessary. That’s a given. On the latter, I am shocked that someone at CNBC would be so blunt as to point out such a truth about big business, although Quintanilla has never been one of those who unconditionally stands behind big businesses.

Someone once told me that everyone has biases, and I suppose I have to agree with them to a great degree. But that bias is taken to new heights when an industry spokesperson is arguring for or against a law that could impact the bottom line of their industry. And the oil industry is the epitome of that example. I’m not saying that we humans are causing global warming or are the sole contributor to the changing climates. However, no one in their right mind while being 101 percent honest with themselves could say that we are not contributing to the changes, and/or the severity of the changes. If those like Gerard turn out to be completely wrong, my question is ‘can we afford to find out the hard way just for the sake of the company’s bottom line’?

Gerard Video