Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna was met with silence from the oil industry executives when he asked them to tell the American Petroleum Institute and other groups to stop lobbying against electric vehicles and methane regulations – two initiatives the oil companies themselves support.
“You could do something here,” said Khanna, who chairs the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on the Environment. “You can tell them to knock it off for the sake of the planet. You could end that lobbying. Would any of you take that opportunity to look at API and say ‘stop it?’”
The committee room fell silent.
“Any of you?” he asked. “Could you commit? Any of you?”
No CEO responded to Khanna’s question.
The Democrat from California also asked fossil fuel companies to commit to having an independent audit to verify none of their funding was going toward groups spreading climate denial, and was again met with silence.
Many oil companies are members of the American Petroleum Institute, which has been lobbying against certain initiatives that are part of President Joe Biden’s economic and climate agenda framework.
Khanna later asked Shell Oil president Gretchen Watkins to commit to no longer funding “any group that’s going to engage in climate disinformation.”
“Chairman Khanna, what I’ll commit to is continuing to be an active member of the API,” Watkins said.
Chevron Corporation CEO Michael Wirth said, “We don’t control and may not always agree with the positions taken or statements made by industry groups and other organizations. We engage in constructive dialogue.”