The American Petroleum Institute oil industry trade group is asking member companies to send employees to public meetings to protest against passage of the energy and climate bill now being considered by Congress.
That's according to news reports that cite a leaked memo from API President Jack Gerard, which was obtained by Greenpeace and given to news organizations late last week.
The memo says that API will coordinate "Energy Citizen" rallies in about 20 states this month, and asks member companies to recruit current and retired employees to attend meetings and recite prepared objections to the proposed legislation, such as claims that it will lead to the loss of two million jobs and increase gasoline prices to $4 a gallon.
"Our member company local leadership – including your facility manager's commitment to provide significant attendance – is essential to achieving participation levels that Senators cannot ignore," the memo stated.
"To be clear, API will provide the up-front resources to ensure logistical issues do not become a problem," the memo added. "This includes contracting with a highly experienced events management company that has produces successful rallies for presidential campaigns, corporations and interest groups."
Energy Citizen is a group formed by API with members including the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Farm Bureau. Those groups have expressed concern about the costs their industries will be subjected to under a carbon cap-and-trade regime as proposed in the energy and climate bill now being considered by the Senate (see a summary of the bill).
To environmental organizations, however, API's call smacks of an "Astroturf" campaign, in which corporate money and power is applied to pressure politicians to change legislation under the guise of citizens independently expressing their opinions.
The controversy over the climate and energy bill has already been the subject of widely varying projections of its costs to the energy industry and the economy at large (see Energy-Climate Bill Could Boost Electricity Costs 20% by 2030).
API and other opponents such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have said it will raise energy prices for typical American households and harm the economy. But supporters such as the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy have said the investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency will actually save typical American households on energy costs, and environmental groups have said that the widespread, negative impacts of climate change will dwarf any negative economic effects of seeking to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Renewable power developers have said it will be critical to boosting adoption of those technologies on a broad scale (see Solar, Smart Grid Advocates: Thanks for Passing the Climate Change Bill).
Not all oil companies are on board with API's move to hold anti-climate bill rallies. Member companies Shell Oil and BP America, which are also members of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a group that has come out in support of cap-and-trade, have said they will not participate in the group's "Energy Citizen" rallies.
API spokeswoman Cathy Landry said Monday that the group is not against legislation to reduce the carbon dioxide emitted by man-made sources. But she did not have immediate responses to how API would prefer this to be done, though she did say the group would seek a distribution of free carbon emission permits that more strongly favors producers of transportation fuels, versus electricity generators that primarily use coal as a fuel for power plants (see Come And Get 'Em: Gov't Plans to Give Freebies Under Cap-and-Trade).
