As we know, the fossil fuel industry will go to any/all ends to promote their industry, including funding climate science denial, clean energy bashing, and pro-fossil-fuel propaganda of all kinds. It’s beyond deplorable, as it means more short-term profits for them at the expense of our planet’s long-term (or even medium-term) habitability. Ergo, what the fossil fuel industry is doing is completely immoral by any standards of morality I’m familiar with.
Case in point? This new “poll” by a fossil fuel front group, which claims:
A majority of Virginia voters support the pipeline project: 54% support, 31% oppose. The breadth of support is impressive. A wide majority of men (65% support, 23% oppose) support the pipeline as do a plurality of women (45% support, 38% oppose).
First off, it’s important to realize who conducted this “poll” — the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), which is “a front group for the energy industry that opposes political efforts to regulate carbon standards while advancing deep water and land-based drilling for oil and methane gas.” This group, which was “created in the late 2000s by Michael Whatley, a founding partner of a Washington, D.C.-based Republican lobbying group HBW Resources that has close ties to the Alberta, Canada tar sands industry,” also “supports lifting moratoria on offshore and land-based oil and natural gas drilling, encourages the creation and expansion of petroleum refineries and easing the permitting process for drilling.” Last but not least, CEA “is part of a sophisticated public affairs strategy designed to manipulate the U.S. political system by deluging the media with messaging favorable to the tar-sands industry; to persuade key state and federal legislators to act in the extractive industries’ favor; and to defeat any attempt to regulate the carbon emissions emanating from gasoline and diesel used by U.S. vehicles.”
So yeah, these are really, really, really bad guys – totally dishonest, among their finer qualities. Needless to say, no legitimate media outlet should report on this “poll” (certainly not without revealing who these guys are and what their agenda is, including pushing the Atlantic Coast Pipeline at all costs), nor should anyone believe its findings. The only reason I’m even mentioning it here is that I’ve seen it reported in a couple places and wanted to help get the word out about what utter slime it is.
P.S. For completely/wildly different findings from the fossil fuel industry’s “poll,” see here.
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