U.S. House Democrats probe PR firms’ work for oil, gas companies

The U.S. Capitol constructing is seen in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2022. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Public relations companies transcend their conventional process of selling to assist their oil and gasoline purchasers struggle off local weather insurance policies and mislead the general public about local weather change, U.S. congressional Democrats mentioned at a listening to on Wednesday.

The Home Pure Useful resource Committee’s oversight panel, led by U.S. Consultant Katie Porter of California, held a listening to concerning the function of public relations agency in stopping local weather motion and launched a report detailing “misleading” and “deceptive” techniques they use for his or her shopper campaigns.

The report, which was based mostly on its evaluate of paperwork like submissions for trade awards, mentioned PR companies helped oil corporations fend off local weather insurance policies and mislead the general public about their inexperienced claims by “engineering astroturf ‘citizen’ teams to advocate for trade pursuits and defeat legislative proposals, and utilizing unscrupulous techniques to sabotage real coverage options and assault neighborhood advocates.”

PR companies declined to attend the listening to about whether or not they helped the fossil gas trade unfold disinformation about local weather change, in line with the Home of Representatives panel holding the occasion.

“Of notice, PR companies Singer Associates, Story Companions, and Pac/West Communications have been invited however refused to attend,” Committee spokesperson Lindsay Gressard mentioned on Tuesday.

Gressard mentioned FTI Consulting (FCN.N), one other PR agency the committee is investigating, won’t testify as a result of it’s working with the committee to show in paperwork that the panel requested earlier this summer season.

Whereas public scrutiny round power corporations’ “greenwashing” claims has grown, the advertising and marketing businesses behind the campaigns have largely escaped scrutiny.

Listening to witness Christine Enviornment, a former Edelman PR government who now works in social impression filmmaking, advised the listening to that PR agency campaigns on behalf of oil corporations not deny local weather change.

“Fossil gas entrepreneurs have shifted from denying or minimizing the science behind local weather change to falsely suggesting that oil and gasoline are a central a part of the climate-solutions combine,” she mentioned in her testimony, including that 60% of power firm advertisements touted a inexperienced declare.

The Home Oversight committee’s Democrats got here to an identical conclusion in their very own year-long investigation into whether or not oil corporations have misled the general public on local weather change.

The committee on Wednesday released a memo displaying that oil majors like Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), Shell (SHEL.L), BP and Chevron Corp (CVX.N) “greenwashed” their report on local weather change “via misleading promoting and local weather pledges—with out meaningfully decreasing emissions.”

LOCAL FIGHTS

Anne Lee Foster, one other witness on the panel who led a poll initiative marketing campaign in Colorado to ban fracking, advised the committee about how native oil corporations used a PR agency to create native residents teams to counter fracking opponents and forestall them from get help for his or her petition.

“I personally suffered from what I really feel is stalking or harassment in quite a few different circumstances all through this marketing campaign,” she mentioned.

Republicans on the panel have criticized the listening to and mentioned that promoting and public relations are out of the pure useful resource committee’s jurisdiction.

Colorado pro-fracking advocate Amy Cooke, head of Colorado’s free market Vitality and Environmental Coverage Heart for the Independence Institute, advised the panel that she labored to oppose the trouble to ban fracking in Colorado and mentioned that supporters are entitled to “free speech.”

“We don’t have to lift our voices or shut down speech with which we disagree,” she mentioned.

Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Modifying by Richard Pullin, Susan Heavey and Marguerita Choy

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