Koch-funded Group, Fueling US Forward, Echoes America Rising Squared in Misleading Attack on Electric Cars

picture-7019-1570723309.jpg
on

Fueling U.S. Forward, the Koch-funded campaign to โ€œrebrandโ€ fossil fuels as โ€œpositiveโ€ and โ€œsustainable,โ€ has released a new video attacking the โ€œDirty Secrets of Electric Cars,โ€ signaling a possible strategic pivot from straightforward fossil fuel cheerleading to electric vehicle (EV) and clean energy bashing.

The video and accompanying Dirty Secrets of Electric Cars webย page feature blatant factual errors, misleading statements, and glaring omissions (all of which will be debunked thoroughly below), while essentially attacking electric cars for using the same materialsย needed to manufacture cell phones, laptops, defense equipment, and gas-powered cars, and which are even a critical component of the very oil refining processes that form the foundation of the Kochย fortunes.

When Fueling U.S. Forward launched last August, the organizationโ€™s president Charles Drevna described the campaign as an effort to rebrand fossil fuels by focusing on the โ€œpositiveโ€ aspects of coal, oil, and gas. This newly released video seems to further confirm investigative journalist Peter Stoneโ€™s reporting from last spring that the Kochs were โ€œplotting a multimillion dollar assault on electricย vehicles.โ€

How do we know that Fueling U.S. Forward is this Koch-funded campaign? First, Charles Drevna, who is leading the effort, developed the concept while serving as a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Institute for Energy Research, a pro-fossil fuel think tank that was partially founded by Charles Koch and that is run by a longtime lobbyist for Koch Industries. Second, and more concretely, Drevna told DeSmogโ€™s Sharon Kelly that he was working with Koch Industriesโ€™ board member (and longtime Koch brothersโ€™ confidant) James Mahoney on the campaign and that it was funded by โ€œone of theย brothers.โ€

Echoes of America Risingย Squared

Fueling U.S. Forward and America Rising Squared (or AR2) have no public affiliation. Yet within a few weeks in June, both groups launched attacks on electric vehicles using the same misleading arguments and nearly identical language. While the former group is a known Koch-funded campaign to promote fossil fuels, the latter has close ties to the GOP establishment, and has invested heavily in promoting alleged hypocrisy among climate action advocates, even paying โ€œtrackersโ€ to follow around the likes of Tom Steyer and Billย McKibben.

In June, as DeSmog reported, AR2 published a white paper that purports to reveal the โ€œhuman and environmental costs of โ€˜clean energy,โ€™โ€ taking electric vehicles and solar panels to task for their reliance on rare earth metals. As we wrote at theย time:

Hereโ€™s what the white paper doesnโ€™t mention: many of the very same rare earth minerals that the AR2 report bashes are critical components of cell phones, computers, cameras, military and defense equipment, and even traditional gas-powered vehicles. Whatโ€™s more, the petroleum refining process is critically dependent on some of the same rare earths that AR2 lambasts in this whiteย paper.

The new video from Fueling U.S. Forward echoes the AR2 talking points, almost to the word. (For a closer analysis of the AR2 report, see the original DeSmog article.)

Debunking the New Fueling U.S. Forward Electric Car Attackย Video

The Fueling U.S. Forward video (which is still unlisted on Youtube, but available to be shared and viewed by anyone with the link) is short enough that we can walk through it line byย line.

โ€œThis is an electric car/ Car companies say itโ€™s a clean alternative/ But electric cars are more toxic to humans than averageย cars.โ€

This depends on an exceedingly narrow definition of โ€œtoxic.โ€ If you only consider the materials that go into the batteries of electric cars versus the batteries of โ€œaverageโ€ cars, then this is maybe defensible. But if you consider the materials that go into the entire vehicle, as well as the fuel used to power the vehicle, than EVs are far cleaner and lessย toxic.

First, thereโ€™s the fact that gas-powered vehicles require some of the same โ€œtoxicโ€ rare earth metals that the video criticizes. (More on that below.) Then thereโ€™s the even bigger issue that tailpipe emissions โ€” including ozone, particulate matter, and other smog-forming chemicals โ€” are the dominant source of ground level air pollution, and nearly one half of all Americans live in areas that donโ€™t meet federal minimum air quality standards. In fact, emissions from road transportation cause roughly 53,000 premature deaths every year in the United States, according to MIT researchers.

โ€œTheir batteries are made of rare earth metals/ Like cobalt,ย lithiumโ€ฆโ€

First, a fact check: cobalt and lithium arenโ€™t rare earth metals. This isnโ€™t to say they arenโ€™t problematic โ€” cobalt mining in particular is plagued by some very serious environmental and labor problems, asย documented inย in-depthย reports by Amnesty International and the Washington Post. But these problems are economy-wide. Cobalt is used widely in the lithium-ion batteries that power most cell phones and laptops. (See the subheadline of the very Washington Post article that the FUSF video cites: โ€œTracing the path from deadly hand-dug mines in Congo to consumersโ€™ phones and laptopsโ€.) Thereโ€™s no question that lithium-ion battery manufacturers have to clean up their supply chains, but thatโ€™s something that Apple and Panasonic and Samsung are as responsible for as Tesla and Ford and Generalย Motors.

โ€œโ€ฆandย ceriumโ€

Actually, cerium is used in nickel metal hydride batteries that are common in hybrid motors, but isn’t used in the lithium-ion batteries that have been utilized in plug-in vehicles in nearly a decade.

But cerium oxides are also found on every catalytic converter fitted into an internal combustion vehicle. Thatโ€™s right โ€” every gas-powered car relies on this rare earth metal that Fueling U.S. Forwardย criticizes.

โ€œThat are extracted mostly overseas/ From countries like China/ And Congo/ Where pollution is rampant/ And children are forced into oppressiveย labor.โ€

Again, electric vehicle manufacturers must do their part to clean up the mining of these metals. But so do the cell phone and laptop makers, companies that supply communications and combat equipment to the Department of Defense, satellite communications system operators, medical device manufacturers, and soย on.

โ€œThese metals are scarce/ Their extraction is dangerous/ And many of the batteries end up inย landfillsโ€

This last point is simply untrue. First of all, very few electric vehicle batteries have even run through their usable lives. Once they do, companies are already lining up to start recycling them, either for use on the electric grid, or to be disassembled and the materials reused.

โ€œThis makes electric cars toxic/ For both people and theย planet.โ€

Some of the components of electric car batteries have localized health and environmental impacts. But compared to the alternative โ€” internal combustion vehicles spewing carbon and other air pollution โ€” electric cars truly are much cleaner from cradle toย grave.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that โ€œcerium is used in the batteries of electric vehicles,โ€ whereas it is actually used in nickel metal hydride batteries common in hybrid motors, no longer in plug-in vehicles. We appreciate those who reached out to note theย error.

Main image: Fueling U.S. Forward video, โ€œDirty Secrets of Electricย Carsโ€

picture-7019-1570723309.jpg
Ben Jervey is a Senior Fellow for DeSmog and directs the KochvsClean.com project. He is a freelance writer, editor, and researcher, specializing in climate change and energy systems and policy. Ben is also a Research Fellow at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School. He was the original Environment Editor for GOOD Magazine, and wrote a longstanding weekly column titled โ€œThe New Ideal: Building the clean energy economy of the 21st Century and avoiding the worst fates of climate change.โ€ He has also contributed regularly to National Geographic News, Grist, and OnEarth Magazine. He has published three booksโ€”on eco-friendly living in New York City, an Energy 101 primer, and, most recently, โ€œThe Electric Battery: Charging Forward to a Low Carbon Future.โ€ He graduated with a BA in Environmental Studies from Middlebury College, and earned a Masterโ€™s in Energy Regulation and Law at Vermont Law School. A bicycle enthusiast, Ben has ridden across the United States and through much ofย Europe.

Related Posts

on

A 1961 oil and gas well is the suspected source of a geyser eruption in the region where Permian wastewater disposal is causing a flurry of earthquakes.

A 1961 oil and gas well is the suspected source of a geyser eruption in the region where Permian wastewater disposal is causing a flurry of earthquakes.
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.