Transcripts and internal documents show how the industry shifted from leading research into fossil fuels’ effect on the climate to sowing doubt about science.
theconversation.com
"By the late 1970s, the American Petroleum Institute had formed a secret committee called the “CO2 and Climate Task Force,” which included representatives of many of the major oil companies, to privately monitor and discuss the latest developments in climate science.
In 1980, the task force invited a scientist from Stanford University, John Laurmann, to brief them on the state of climate science. Today, we have a copy of Laurmann’s presentation, which warned that if fossil fuels continued to be used, global warming would be “barely noticeable” by 2005, but by the 2060s would have “globally catastrophic effects.” That same year, the American Petroleum Institute called on governments to triple coal production worldwide, insisting there would be no negative consequences despite what it knew internally."
And thanks to tRumps Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts these companies who rape our planet like ExxonMobil and Shell get to pay a whopping 14% less in corporate tax. All while raking in record shattering profits every quarter.
Another short sighted law from a Republican that will benefit the upper middle class in the short term, while helping to erode what few social safety nets we have in this country for the lower middle class and poor.
It's also helped these oil companies push the gas pedal to the floor on climate change. But hey, gotta think of those poor shareholders, amirite guys?