A Dichotomy

In this month’s article, I want to focus on the dichotomy between the use of science for detection and monitoring of damage mechanisms and the politics of climate warming.

I am a volunteer member of several committees that are committed to an exploration of the technology used to detect and monitor damage mechanisms in the petroleum production industry. The efforts of these committees result in production, publication and maintenance of quality standards, which protect the safety of workers and the public from potential disasters, such as fire and explosions in refineries. These quality standards are developed through a rigorous process by fellow subject-matter experts. This segment of the petroleum association is a worthy and necessary function for the entire industry. Another function of this society acts as a political lobbyist and control of information to the public.

Benjamin Franta published an article on 28 October 2021 about big oil and climate change, in which BP, Chevron, Shell and the American Petroleum Institute were questioned about industry efforts to downplay the role of fossil fuels in climate change^[1]. Darren Woods, Exxon CEO, told lawmakers that his company’s public statements “are and have always been truthful” and that the company “does not spread disinformation regarding climate change.” Mr Franta stated that corporate documents from the past six decades show the following:

In 1958, Edward Teller, a famous scientist, warned the industry executives at a petroleum conference called ‘Energy and Man’ about global warming. He stated that if the world keeps using fossil fuels, the ice caps will begin to melt, raising sea levels and eventually all of the coastal cities would be covered.

In 1965, Frank Ikard, President of the American Petroleum Institute, told the industry audience that carbon dioxide was being added to the earth’s atmosphere by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas at such a rate that by the year 2000 the heat balance will be so modified as to possibly cause marked changes in climate. Ikard noted that the report had found that a “non-polluting means of powering automobiles, buses and trucks is likely to become a national necessity.

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.

Benjamin Franta stated that Exxon had a research programme too. In 1981, Roger Cohen, one of its managers, sent an internal memo observing that the company’s long-term business plans could “produce effects which will indeed be catastrophic (at least for a substantial fraction of the earth’s population).” The next year, Exxon completed a comprehensive 40-page internal report on climate change, which predicted almost exactly the amount of global warming we have seen, as well as sea level rise, drought and more. According to the front page of the report, it was ‘given wide circulation to Exxon management’ but was ‘not to be distributed externally’. He stated that the existence of the report is only known because investigative journalists at Inside Climate News uncovered it in 2015. 

Back in 1979, Exxon had privately studied options for avoiding global warming. It found that with immediate action, if the industry moved away from fossil fuels and instead focused on renewable energy, fossil fuel pollution could start to decline in the 1990s and a major climate crisis could be avoided.

Today, most oil companies shy away from denying climate science outright, but they continue to fight fossil fuel controls and promote themselves as clean energy leaders, even though they still put the vast majority of their investments into fossil fuels.

This article may not be popular with the executive branch of the petroleum society, but we will be leaving an inheritance of climate disaster to our children if we do not act promptly. I will continue to promote all of my efforts to the continuing safety of oil workers and the community by developing damage mechanism procedures, but will also provide a voice for the coming generations.