What do the oil, gas and coal industries get when they invest big bucks in a freshman Congressman?
They get the likes of Jim Bridenstine.
On the House floor Tuesday, the Oklahoma Republican freshman Congressman demanded that President Obama apologize to all Oklahomans for allocating federal funding to climate change research.
In his demand for a presidential apology, Bridenstine said that, “Here is what we absolutely know. We know that Oklahoma will have tornadoes when the cold jet stream meets the warm Gulf air, and we also know that this President spends 30 times as much money on global warming research as he does on weather forecasting and warning. For this gross misallocation, the people of Oklahoma are ready to accept the President’s apology and I intend to submit legislation to fix this.”
Now, it’s one thing if you genuinely believe that climate change and global warming aren’t real. Everyone is entitled to their personal beliefs.
But, it’s a whole other thing if you’re denouncing climate change because you’re being paid to do so, and in the case of Congressman Bridenstine, it appears to be the latter.
During the 2012 campaign cycle, Bridenstine received thousands from ExxonMobil, Latshaw Drilling, WPX energy, Chesapeake Energy, Devon Energy and Koch Industries. All were in his top twenty donors.
So, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that Bridenstine is opposed to climate change research, because that would be bad for his owners…er…donors.
But Bridenstine isn’t alone.
Many of Washington’s top climate-change denying lawmakers are also getting thousands in campaign donations from the oil, gas and coal industries.
For example, there’s Congressman Lamar Smith, who is ironically a member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.
During the 2012 election cycle, Smith received thousands from Valero Energy and Koch Industries, and his second largest career donor industry, just after retired rich people, is oil and gas at over a half-million dollars.
Then there’s Senator Tom Coburn, one of the Senate’s top climate-change deniers.
The Center for Responsive Politics says that during the 2012 election cycle, he received thousands from Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, and Chevron. And his top career donors include Anadarko Petroleum, Conoco Phillips, and Koch Industries.
Unlike Congressman Bridenstine, Congressman Smith and Senator Coburn haven’t officially asked President Obama to apologize for funding climate change research, but there’s still plenty of time for those demands to come.
In the meantime, I’m prepared to accept a few apologies of my own.
I’m prepared to accept an apology from big oil companies like ExxonMobil and Koch Industries that are actively buying off our politicians and funding phony science and misinformation campaigns.
I’m prepared to accept an apology from the barons of the fossil fuel industry for being some of the biggest players in the climate change denial nonsense in this country.
And I’m prepared to accept an apology from lawmakers like Congressmen Bridenstine and Smith, and Senator Coburn, who are taking thousands of dollars in donations in turn for turning a blind eye to the biggest threat our planet has ever faced.
And along with those apologies, these guys should have the common decency to wear the logos of the corporations that own them, the way NASCAR drivers do.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.