U.S. Senate Democrats take on 'web' of climate denial

By Robert Brulle and Timmons Roberts
Posted 8/25/16

Finally, the Democratic Party is fully engaged in calling out and opposing the well-organized misinformation campaign about climate change, funded by conservative philanthropies and fossil fuel corporations in the

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

U.S. Senate Democrats take on 'web' of climate denial

Posted

Finally, the Democratic Party is fully engaged in calling out and opposing the well-organized misinformation campaign about climate change, funded by conservative philanthropies and fossil fuel corporations in the U.S. Despite overwhelming scientific evidence of climate change, the misinformation campaign has functioned as an effective barrier to action on climate change for nearly thirty years. It has done so by refuting evidence that climate change is real, is human-caused, and requires aggressive action by the United States.

Building on decades of social science research and over 100 peer-reviewed articles, 19 senators took to the floor recently to document and critique a series of think tanks and trade associations that comprise what they called “the web of denial.” Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse – who has courageously staked out this position over the last four years in a series of over 140 floor speeches – led the group. Now instead of alone, he stood at the front of a phalanx of 19 senators willing to stand up and speak out about the dangerous impact of climate denial front groups, and among them were the heavyweight democratic leadership in the Senate.

The speeches had each Senator focused on key actors in the web of denial that function in their state. The speeches supported a Senate resolution which argues that “fossil fuel companies…developed a sophisticated and deceitful campaign that funded think tanks and front groups, and paid public relations firms to deny, counter, and obfuscate peer reviewed research and use that misinformation campaign to mislead the public and cast doubt in order to protect their financial interest.” Introduced by Senators Whitehouse, Markey, Schatz, Boxer, Merkley, Warren, Sanders, and Franken, the resolution is a clear indication that if the Democrats gain the majority in the November elections, they will probably investigate these firms and their front groups’ actions, and might recommend follow-up by the U.S. Attorney General.

The model for their action is the way science was distorted and its impact suppressed by the tobacco industry decades ago. Although increasingly covered in the peer-reviewed scholarly literature, the media has tended to treat climate disinformation efforts not as an organized effort, but in some cases reports on fraudulent claims as legitimate viewpoints, since reporters are trained to seek both sides of an issue.

These senators are making an important attempt to reorient the debate away from the dangerous distortions of climate denial, and show how the vested interests of the fossil fuel industry use their political and economic power to systematically undermine our ability to act before it is too late. The episode raises crucial issues of reason, democracy, and openness, and it will be very interesting to see what comes next. One can certainly anticipate that actors in the web of denial and its political mouthpieces will mobilize in response to these speeches. Expect a backlash.

What happened

Over two days, eighteen different senators took to the floor and spoke. Senate minority leader Harry Reid spoke about Americans for Prosperity, a group that received over one billion dollars in funding from the Koch foundations, which is fossil fuel funded. Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire described the Competitive Enterprise Institute, funded directly by oil and coal companies, a group that have been leaders of the misinformation movement on climate change in the name of protecting liberty.

The list of groups these speeches documented is stunning in both the number of shadowy institutes, and the impact they have had in delaying action needed to protect our children and vulnerable people around the world. For example Senator Udall talked about Western Fuels Association, the coal industry group that has made outlandish claims about the benefits of greater levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. There was Senator Kaine, vice-presidential pick for Hillary Clinton, talking about the impacts of climate change on his state of Virginia and especially the massive Norfolk naval base, threatened by sea level rise. Kaine talked about the Science and Public Policy Institute, which denies sea level rise and the climate change crisis, and the Donors Capital Fund, which hides where the money comes from.

The list goes on. Sen. Schatz talked about the deceptively named Center for Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change and the heavy-hitting Heartland Institute. Heartland continues to hold “counter conferences” at the UN negotiations, this year at the Hotel California in Paris. One of the most destructive of the web has been the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which uses their millions of small businesses who join the organization in ignorance of the savage lobbying and campaign attacks against responsible action to prevent climate change, which are being made in their names.

Why it matters, and what’s next

The U.S. Senate has been key to climate change inaction globally because international treaties have to pass the chamber with a super-majority for their ratification. Due in part to the Byrd-Hagel Resolution in 1997, the U.S. Senate never voted to ratify that treaty. Being the country most responsible for the problem since our greenhouse gases have been accumulating in the atmosphere for decades, the U.S. is a crucial place for climate action: our foot-dragging has arguably set back global action on the issue for 15 or even 25 years. Dragging the web of denial organizations into the light makes clear that these decades of inaction on climate change in the U.S. Senate has not been by chance.

Last week’s happenings are important because Senate Democrats have unified around exposing and opposing the network of organizations engaged in the effort to systematically distort information on climate change. Scholarly research shows that these institutes received nearly a billion dollars in funding to promulgate a series of neoliberal causes, including misinformation on the causes and impacts of climate change.

Watch for the backlash. Already, a public release from the Energy and Environment Institute (which has twice been renamed recently) called the Senate effort “fundraising” and “publicity stunt” for the Democratic Party, distracting the nation from other pressing issues.

The issue of manipulation of public perception of science is reflective of a much larger problem in America today: political inequality has allowed vested interests to hijack and distort discourse and democratic governance, crippling our ability to act on the issues of our time.

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily those of their institutions.

Comments

3 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

  • RISchadenfreude

    What a joke- two more Climate Change fanatics espousing a witch hunt.

    Note that it is now called Climate Change and not Global Warming, since the climate models and statistics don't line up with their "The sky is falling" hype.

    Without getting into the wealth redistribution fiasco that is driving the Climate Change movement, there are a few key facts to remember:

    1. Weather is cyclical: We are still coming out of the last ice age, which ended about 100,000 years ago, with the last glacial period ending about 10,000 years ago. Glaciers are not permanent, as much as they'd like you to believe this; they eventually melt and recede to high elevations and will do so again because it's going to get warmer, regardless of what we do. We're not even near the beginning of the next ice age.

    2. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction: Whenever they tell you about the North Pole melting away (it's not), remember that the South Pole is expanding. Remember the ship full of Climate Change enthusiasts who got trapped in the ice and had to be rescued by an icebreaker?

    When one coast is experiencing erosion, the other side is typically gaining sand.

    The lies of the CC crowd are getting more desperate and their measurement fixing tactics being exposed- just look up the East Anglia Scandal online.

    Also, follow the money on their side; they'd have you believe that the "deniers" are all about money- look up the fortunes that some of the biggest CC players such as Al Gore and George Soros stand to make off the artifically-created Carbon Credit market, at YOUR EXPENSE.

    Do some research past the "Hurry up and pass this!" hype and you'll figure out why they're in such a hurry to impose this- it'll leave you shaking your head.

    Friday, August 26, 2016 Report this

  • davebarry109

    Shutup Whitehouse wanted to criminally charge people opposed to climate change. This from a former federal prosecutor who should know better. These 'shut them up' tactics usually mean the underlying argument is fraudulent. We all remember the global cooling/ice age is coming scientific scare in the 70s.

    Tuesday, August 30, 2016 Report this

  • bendover

    "Environmental Sociology"??? LOL! Start by reading these eggheads backgrounds...What's next, a new military rank, Corporal-Colonel? As for you Sen. Sherbert Milquetoast, the same same man who called anyone with questions regarding odummacare, "Natzis" right on the Senate floor, we've heard quite enough from you and your stooges...Tell ya what Sherbert, why don't you concentrate on fixing the volume on TV's like you promised...By the way, you who championed odummacare, its a financial train wreck, from your own Congressional budget office...As for the rest of your malarky, you pontificating windbag, go hug some poison oak, and stay away from protecting key witnesses in major drug cases as 15 year olds tend to get killed on your watch. Now, go have another champagne cocktail.

    Wednesday, August 31, 2016 Report this