How an Early Oil Industry Study Became Key in Climate Lawsuits

[ergophobe]

The American Petroleum Institute commissioned two studies in the 1960s. We have long known that the Johnson admin had a study produced that warned of the dangers of climate change and that Exxon had also done so in the 1970s. Now it appears that in studies of 1966 and 1969 the API hired scientists who outlined the then-current consensus on climate change.

It seemed the American Petroleum Institute had asked for more, and this time, the scientists offered even greater detail. They cited models predicting atmospheric carbon dioxide would reach 370 parts per million by 2000 — astonishingly close to the actual reading of 369.71 at millennium's end. Such an increase, they said, would raise global temperatures by 0.5 degrees Celsius; that was on the money too. Polar ice cap melting caused by further warming, Robinson and Robbins wrote, "would obviously result in inundation of coastal areas."

There was less disagreement on this before 1988 than after. Once James Hansen testified before Congress, the disinformation machine ramped up to 11.

These new documents show that not only did Exxon know they were lying, but so did the primary lobby group for Big Oil. This is not quite as big as the moment when Big Tobacco was shown to have lied under oath, but it's close. We could be looking at big settlements. Currently Minnesota, Delaware, Rhode Island, and New Jersey are suing various parties (Exxon, API, etc).

https://e360.yale.edu/features/climate-lawsuits-oil-industry-research