Oil Industry Memo Reveals Fake "Grassroots Movement" Plan

A leaked memo obtained by Greenpeace reveals the American Petroleum Institute (API) is asking oil companies to recruit employees, retirees and contractors to take part in rallies against climate change legislation.

The memo was written by API president Jack Gerard. It was given to Greenpeace, according to Greenpeace USA research director Ken Davies. They wrote a letter to the API asking for confirmation that this was a real email, which the API confirmed.

Here's what the memo (.PDF) said, in part:

The measure of success for these events will be the diversity of the participants expressing the same message, as well as turnouts of several hundred attendees. In the 11 states with an industry core, our member company local leadership—including your facility manager’s commitment to provide significant attendance—is essential to achieving the participation level that Senators cannot ignore. In addition, please include all vendors, suppliers, contractors, retirees and others who have an interest in our success.

In other words, anyone who might want to see profits stay high at an oil company should join in on the "astroturfing."

Appearing on Democracy Now! this morning, Ken Davies gave more insight:

They said that it would cause $4 gasoline. Of course, we remember $4 gasoline; people don’t like that. But it actually—the study they drew from was from the Heritage Institute, funded by Exxon, and said that we’d have $4 gasoline by 2035. So they’re using fear tactics.

They’re using the jobs versus environment, the same old saw. And they’re attacking—they’re scaring people who work in the energy industry.

Yep, they're trying the same campaign: profit over environment, but what good is cash if you don't have a planet to live on?

While using the same arguments, the technique is new. It's also true that in the past, for example, companies like Exxon Mobil have been exposed as funding global warming deniers.

Interestingly, Davies noted that this tactic is not illegal, at least for companies. Its kind of like a company outing, if they truck employees to a town hall or something.

I’ve asked a couple labor experts about that, and apparently it would be very illegal if a union was doing it. But for a company to do it on company time, it’s essentially like a picnic. We don’t know the real letter of the law there, but it is a good question.