In what can only be described as both shocking and unsurprising at the same time, yesterday Greenpeace’s investigative journalism outfit, Unearthed, released video of two high-ranking ExxonMobil lobbyists (one current, one recently left the company) saying the quiet part out loud about Exxon’s ruthless political efforts to stall progress on the climate crisis and protect its own bottom line.
First reported by the U.K.’s Channel 4, the statements came by way of a sting operation by Unearthed, in which they recorded zoom conversations that were staged as discussions with a fake headhunting firm seeking candidates for a fictional new position. What Keith McCoy, a senior director of federal relations for Exxon Mobil, and Dan Easley who served as White House lobbyist for Exxon while Trump was in office, revealed might have been mistaken for a whistleblower complaint if it weren’t for the fact that they were bragging about it in the context of what they thought were job interviews.
See a ten-minute video from Unearthed with excerpts from the “interviews” of Exxon-affiliated lobbyists here:
REVEALED: How Exxon held back climate action for decades, and is still doing it today. We went undercover with Exxon’s lobbyists to expose the truth. Watch and share. pic.twitter.com/yICeai1Sop
— Unearthed (@UE) June 30, 2021
— source priceofoil.org | David Turnbull | Jul 1, 2021