Mother Jones reporter Kate Sheppard has a good post out today about how Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson has been visiting the White House-- three times in recent months-- and questioning why he's meeting high-ranking officials while his company is trying to discredit climate change.
However, in a quick review of White House visitor records, I've found he's not the only energy exec who dropped by, nor the most frequent.
The winner: Chevron's CEO, David J. O'Reilly, who dropped by for five meetings with high-ranking administration officials:
- On February 10, 2009: a meeting with Larry Summers (plus one).
- On February 10, 2009: a meeting with Carol Browner (plus two).
- On February 13, 2009: a member of the audience for the Business Council Speech.
- On September 17, 2009: a meeting with Rahm Emanuel, one-on-one.
- On September 18, 2009: a meeting with Larry Summers (plus two).
In fact, Rex Tillerson met with Carol Browner two days after O'Reilly, while both men attended the same Business Council speech on February 13th. Tillerson's other White House visit, to see Larry Summers, came in mid-May.
While Chevron might be a bit ahead of Exxon on climate change (in accepting global warming is caused by man), it still labels climate change "a complex subject" about which "uncertainties still exist... such as predictions of future warming and impacts of that warming, pace of technology advancement and forecasts of economic and population growth." With respect to the Kyoto Protocol, Chevron thinks it "asks for emission reductions that are too aggressive too quickly," and doesn't believe "the economic consequences are fully outlined."
Which says nothing of the absolutely terrible behavior Chevron has exhibited in a dispute over its liability for pollution in Ecuador. One Chevron lobbyist actually told Newsweek:
"We can't let little countries screw around with big companies like this—companies that have made big investments around the world."
All of which makes it necessary to ask: what does meeting with Tillerson and O'Reilly contribute to crafting energy or climate change policy? And what was that one-on-one with Rahm on September 17 all about?
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Here's some more on Chevron's Ecuador entanglements, via 60 Minutes:
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