There is a moment in the docuseries The Power of Big Oil (2022) —from PBS Frontline— that shows an apparent betrayal by the oil companies, when narrating about the industry's long campaign to paralyze action against the climate crisis. In this part, former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel reflects on his role in the annulment of the United States' ratification of the Kyoto climate treaty.
According to The Guardian , in 1997, Hagel joined Democratic Senator Robert Byrd to promote a resolution opposing the international agreement to limit greenhouse gases (GHG), considering it unfair to Americans.
Years after the betrayal of the oil companies
The measure was approved in the Senate without a single dissenting vote, following a vigorous campaign by the oil majors to disqualify the Kyoto protocol as a threat to jobs and the economy, while falsely claiming that China and India could continue polluting without restrictions.
The resolution has since blocked US ratification
Chinese American Phone Number List of any climate treaty. A quarter-century later, Hagel acknowledges that the vote was wrong and blames the oil industry for maliciously claiming that the science of climate change was unproven — when companies like Exxon and Shell already knew otherwise from their own research.
What we now know about the positions of some of these big oil companies is that they lied. And yes, they fooled me. Others were deceived when they had evidence in their own institutions that countered what they said publicly. That is, they lied.
Chuck Hagel, former Republican senator.
During his participation, when asked if the planet would be better placed to confront the climate crisis if the oil industry had been honest about the damage caused by fossil fuels, Hagel did not flinch and answered:
Of course. It would have created a totally Tdifferent climate, a totally different political environment. I think it would have changed everything.
Chuck Hagel, former Republican senator.
However, the politician did not have the same conviction to question why he was so willing to be influenced by Big Oil when there was no shortage of scientists, including prominent NASA researchers, who told him the truth.
Hide the problem
The documentary has the answer, as the filmmakers have unearthed a parade of former oil company scientists, lobbyists and public relations strategists who expose how America's largest oil company, Exxon, and then the industry in In general, they went from trying to understand the causes of global warming to a concerted campaign to hide the creation of a catastrophe.
Over three episodes—called Denial, Doubt, Delay—the series depicts corporate manipulation of science, public opinion and politicians, mirroring the behavior of other sectors, from big tobacco to the pharmaceutical companies responsible for the opioid epidemic.
