Exxon, Koch Ties May Help Explain Rep. Lamar Smith's Probing Request of "Exxon Knew" Environmental Groups

picture-7018-1583982147.png
on

U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith recently caused a ruckus by targeting environmental groups that are pushing for ExxonMobil to be held accountable for funding climate change denial despite their deep internal corporate knowledge of the role of fossil fuel pollution in global warming. Rep. Smithย pennedย letters to several environmental groups and foundations requesting all of their communications about theย ongoing โ€œExxon Knewโ€ย campaign.

Some of the groups and foundations have issued public responses refusingย to provide the materials toย Smith, who heads up the U.S. Houseย Science, Space, and Technologyย Committee.

Not yet reported, though, are the extensive tiesย โ€”ย monetary and personnelย โ€” binding Smith to the crucial corporate funders of climate denial:ย ExxonMobil and Koch Industries.ย 

According to Oil Change International’s Dirty Energy Money database, Smith has takenย $22,270 in campaign contributions from Exxonย since 1998. And OpenSecrets.orgย data reveals that $19,500 of the Exxon money has flowed to Smith’s campaign since 2008ย alone.ย 

OpenSecrets.org data reviewed by DeSmog also shows that Smith has taken $52,000 in campaign contributions fromย Koch Industries โ€” another key node of the climate denial machine โ€” sinceย 2006.

All told, Lamar Smith โ€” a climate change denier โ€” has receivedย $675,597 from the oil and gas industry since 1998.

Koch-Exxon-Smith Revolvingย Door

Beyond campaign finance money, the bigger story here isย the people working for Smith, both past andย present.

Let’s start withย Jennifer Pett โ€” Smith’s communications director โ€” who formerly served as aย Charles Koch Institute media relationsย associate.

Lamar Smith Koch

Image Credit: LinkedIn

Pett transitioned from that job to work as a communications assistant for U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS), whose congressional district sits in the same state as Koch Industries’ headquarters. Since joining Congress in 2012,ย Huelskamp has received $40,900 from Koch Industries, his top campaign contributor.

Further, Lamar Smith’s senior legislative aide,ย Scott Ferguson, went on two trips funded by theย American Exploration and Production Council, one in 2014 and one in 2015. One of the Council’s members is XTO Energy, the hydraulic fracturing (โ€œfrackingโ€)-focused subsidiary ofย ExxonMobil.ย 

What former Smith staffers have gone on to do with their careers is also telling, emblematic of the government-industry revolving door.

Smith’s former communications director,ย Sally-Shannon Birkel, now serves as senior manager of media relations for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is funded by both the Kochs and ExxonMobil. Karen Harbert, the president of the Chamberโ€™s Institute for 21st Century Energy, has called theย ongoing state-level Attorneys General investigation into ExxonMobil and climate denialย โ€œun-American.โ€

โ€œThe idea that a group of attorneys general can get together and decide to collaborate and corroborate, to persecute not just a single company now but an industry, because they are ideologically opposed to the product it produces, is un-American,โ€ saidย Harbert. โ€œIt is a threat to the free enterprise system; it is a threat to the rule of law on which the free enterprise system depends; and weโ€™re not going or stand forย it.โ€

Another former Smith communications director,ย Brad Bennett, left Smith’s office and eventually transitioned into gigs at both Hill and Knowlton (a PR firm with roots in tobacco industry denial tactics whichย did PR on behalf of America’s Natural Gas Alliance, ANGA) and DCI Group, the latter of which has key Exxon ties and was subpoenaed in April by the Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Attorneys Generalย probe.

Jennifer Young Brown, Smith’s senior advisor for theย Science, Space, and Technology Committee and his former long-time chief-of-staff,ย also has a key Koch link. As a young staffer back in 2000, she attended a retreat hosted and funded by the George Mason University-based Mercatus Center. The Center for Public Integrity has described Mercatus’ annual congressional staffer retreats as a key influence-peddling avenue for the Kochs’ politicalย agenda.

The Koch-fundedย Competitive Enterprise Institute, like DCI Group, received a subpoena from theย U.S. Virgin Islands inย April.

Lastly,ย Zachary Kurzย โ€” Smith’s former communications director for theย Science, Space, and Technology Committeeย โ€” now works as a public affairs specialist for Cause of Action, a legal activism group funded by the Koch-linked โ€œdark money ATM of the right,โ€ Donorsย Trust.ย 

โ€œCampaignโ€ฆIsย Workingโ€

In a blog post published onย May 20, Union of Concerned Scientists presidentย Ken Kimmell pointed to the Smith-ledย Science, Space, and Technology Committee letters to NGOs and their funders as a victory of sorts, a data point displaying that the campaign to hold Exxon and other companies accountable for climate denialย has struck aย nerve.

โ€œThe campaign to hold companies accountable is working,โ€ wroteย Kimmell. โ€œSome fossil fuel companies and their allies are no doubt feeling pressure, and they are pushing back. I would hate to think that the House Science Committee is using its governmental powers in aid of this effort. But whatever the motive for the letter, UCS will not beย intimidated.โ€

Given the ties linking Smith’s political career to the very companies who have perpetuated and bolstered the climate denial machine like Koch and Exxon, it’s safe to say that indeed as Kimmell hinted at, โ€œthe House Science Committee is using its governmental powers in aid of thisย effort.โ€

Image Credit: DirtyEnergyMoney.org

Get DeSmog News and Alerts

picture-7018-1583982147.png
Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

Related Posts

on

Tech firms like Amazon and Google โ€˜have enormous responsibilityโ€™ for driving fossil fuel expansions, climate expert argues.

Tech firms like Amazon and Google โ€˜have enormous responsibilityโ€™ for driving fossil fuel expansions, climate expert argues.
on

The Tory candidate is running her campaign from the home of a prominent anti-green activist.

The Tory candidate is running her campaign from the home of a prominent anti-green activist.
on

Peter Thiel, JD Vanceโ€™s former boss, also expresses confusion on climate, supporting expanded fossil fuel use while appearing unclear on the consequences.

Peter Thiel, JD Vanceโ€™s former boss, also expresses confusion on climate, supporting expanded fossil fuel use while appearing unclear on the consequences.
on

An emergency preparedness conference in Ottawa hosted two days of panels with only limited discussion of climate changeโ€™s root causes.

An emergency preparedness conference in Ottawa hosted two days of panels with only limited discussion of climate changeโ€™s root causes.