Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the big oil companies--particularly Exxon, Shell, BP, and Chevron--want us to believe they have turned over a new leaf, that they are finally in favor of climate action. All four of them claimed to support the Paris Agreement, and Exxon, Shell, and BP all claim to support putting a price on carbon emissions--a price that would reflect the costs of the damage climate change inflicts on the environment, the economy, and public health. For example, this is on Exxon's website: ``ExxonMobil believes a revenue-neutral carbon tax would be a more effective policy option than. . . .'' and it lists other options. ``A properly designed carbon tax can be predictable, transparent, and comparatively simple to understand and implement.'' So it looks as if they are supporting a properly designed carbon tax, but is that support for pricing carbon emissions real, or is it just PR, just greenwashing by companies desperate to improve their images? Well, Senator Schatz and I introduced a carbon price bill in 2014 to put a fee on products that produce carbon dioxide emissions, and we have reintroduced it in every Congress since. If the oil companies really supported putting a price on carbon emissions, you would think they might have come to see us, the authors of that carbon price bill.…”