Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Dr. Willie Soon; Attorney Sharon Y. Eubanks argued that Big Oil’s major legal weakness was their attempt to unravel. She may have a reason.
I led the US case against big tobacco for its disastrous lies. Big oil is next
Sharon Y Eubanks
Tuesday, July 5, 2022 21.00 AEST Last edited on Tuesday, July 5, 2022 22.40 AESTWe may be about to reach a point of legal restriction on fossil fuel companies and the turnaround companies that work for them.
In 2005, I was principal counsel on behalf of the United States in one of the largest corporate accountability legal actions ever filed. That test demonstrated that the tobacco industry knew it was selling and marketing a harmful product, that it sponsored public health science disavow, and used deceptive advertising and PR to protect assets instead of protect consumers.
Today, The fossil fuel industry is in the same precarious regulatory position as the tobacco industry did in the late 1990s. The behavior and goals of the tobacco and oil and gas industries are quite similar – and there are many similarities in terms of their liabilities.
Both industries lie to the public and regulators about what they know about the harms of their products. Both lie about when they know that. And like the tobacco industry when I was in public service, Fossil fuel industry PR and deceptive advertising is now closely monitored by law.
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The most important legal cases facing fossil fuel companies today focus on ongoing deceptive marketing in the form of “green cleaning.” This is different from green marketing – companies have truly sustainable products and should be marketed liberally correctly. But the oil industry is not a sustainable business – on average, less than 1% Its investment costs go into low-carbon projects, and free speech laws don’t stop companies from making false claims.
The oil and gas industry is currently making promises of carbon capture and storage projects as a way to avoid reducing emissions. But none of the existing CCS projects are viableand no company is investing at a rate that makes future companies possible. It’s an old bait and switch, as it reflects how tobacco companies advertise smokeless alternatives for many decades.
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Sharon is in my view right about the technical difficulties of carbon capture and storage. Any major oil and gas company that includes information about carbon capture in their annual reports or other legally regulated documents could be in trouble.
The problem with greenwashing is, lying to shareholders and customers can result in penalties. If Sharon could have founded Big Oil that lied or exaggerated carbon capture and other shareholders’ claims about their efforts to go green, then she was likely lying. .
Imagine if at the outset, instead of bowing and twirling, all the energy companies would have said, “If you don’t like our product, we’d be happy to withdraw service immediately. ie?”.
There are some companies whose CEOs are honest and protect their products. For example, in 2021 Whitehaven Coal faces regulators over the obvious statement by the CEO of WhiteHaven that coal will remain a major component of the energy mix for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, such bravery is a rarity in the industry.
An honest person is a difficult target, even in a police state. But the moment people start stooping and creeping, trying to play games, showing their fear and weakness, as it seems so many energy CEOs have done, the terrorists are in charge. own them.
What if Sharon succeeds? What would we all do without Gasoline? What would she do if she didn’t have gas?
If you think that actually destroying large amounts of oil, destroying oil supplies, would be too crazy to really contemplate, think again. There is no rule that nations and peoples should always make rational choices. History is full of examples of nations that did the unthinkable, and destroyed themselves, because rulers or people accepted delusions or mass madness.
Take a look at China’s Ming dynasty, after the great explorer Zheng He opened the sea lanes to the Chinese Empire in the 14th century, bringing abundant wealth from his expeditions, he decided to turn his back on prosperity and outside contact. Look at The Blues and Greens, sports thugs who nearly tore through the Eastern Roman Empire in the 6th century, when the rivalry of sports teams became more important than the civil order. Or for something more recent, look at what happened to Venezuela, when as a nation they decided what they could do without private oil companies. Venezuela has gone from one of the richest countries in South America to a drug failure in a single generation.
All nations are but a few important failures of judgment to avoid inanimate ruin.
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