A pair of lobbyists who work for two Oregon cities impacted by a deadly heat dome in 2021 later signed on to work for Chevron, one of the companies blamed in a lawsuit for its role in the event.
What's happening?
After Multnomah County, Oregon, sued Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, and many more oil and gas giants in 2023 for their role in "causing and exacerbating" the event, the nearby cities of Hillsboro and Happy Valley contracted with Proxy lobbyists Inga Deckert and Andrew Smith, according to Street Roots.
In a horrible twist, Deckert and Smith entered a contract with Chevron in May; Smith just 12 days after he'd joined Deckert to work on behalf of the cities, which together paid $117,000 for Proxy's services, per the news report.
Chevron paid Proxy $15,000, and Hillsboro communications manager Patrick Preston said the company had an existing contract via subsidiary Renewable Energy Group to do business with Proxy in the name of biodiesel and renewable diesel initiatives, per Street Roots.
A lobbying watchdog categorized these explanations among the "magical solutions" that delay divestment from the industry and allow dirty fuel companies to continue to reap record profits at the expense of people and the planet, per the news outlet.
At least 69 of 116 Oregonians who died from the heat dome incident lived in Multnomah County.
"Climate advocates say it is impossible to work in the interest of residents impacted by climate change while simultaneously working in the interest of fossil fuel companies," the outlet reported.
Why is this important?
The practice of crafting policy that makes a corporation look more environmentally friendly than it is is called greenwashing, and it harms consumers and the planet by obfuscating issues and delaying meaningful action.
You can fight back by educating yourself about climate issues and staying abreast of the news. Talk with family and friends about your values, and make choices to use less plastic and shop secondhand, for instance. When you buy from brands, choose circular ones with credible eco credentials.
Oil and gas companies are not among those. Uncovered documents have shown that they knew about the problems their products created as early as 1954 but dismissed worries and even actively funded mis- and disinformation campaigns. They're still at it, too.
"Hiring lobbyists who also work on climate issues or health issues or institutions that are doing good in the world, like hospitals, is a form of greenwashing," F-Minus Executive Director James Browning, the nonprofit lobbying watchdog, told Street Roots. "It's a form of greenwashing for Chevron because they get to be associated with these good causes."
What's being done about greenwashing?
Companies such as F-Minus, which was founded just last year, can help expose what would otherwise be unseen. It even has an online tool that you can use to see if lobbyists in your state are playing both sides.
Governments can help too, as Multnomah County showed with its lawsuit, which asks for $50 million in damages, $1.5 billion in future damages, and a $50 billion abatement fund to "study, plan, and upgrade the public health care services and infrastructure that will be reasonably necessary to 'weatherproof' the County from future extreme heat events and to safeguard the public health."
Similar lawsuits have popped up across the world, charging oil and gas companies and evenstates and national governments with human rights violations by supporting the use of dirty energy, which pollutes our world and causes the warming of Earth that results in more frequent and extreme weather events such as heat waves, floods, and wildfires.
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