In shift, oil industry group backs federal price on carbon
The oil and gas industry’s top lobbying group on Thursday endorsed a federal price on carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming, a reversal of longstanding industry policy that comes as the Biden administration has pledged dramatic steps to address climate change.
The American Petroleum Institute, whose members include ExxonMobil, Chevron and other oil giants, announced the shift ahead of a virtual forum Thursday by the Interior Department as it launches a monthslong review of the government’s oil and gas sales.
More pledges
API also called for fasttracking commercial deployment of long-sought technology to capture and store carbon emissions; advancement of hydrogen technology; and federal regulation of methane emissions from new and existing oil and gas wells. The industry also pledged to reduce flaring at drilling sites that has released vast quantities of harmful methane gas emissions into the air after strongly resisting regulations on methane proposed by the Obama administration.
“Confronting the challenge of climate change and building a lower-carbon future will require a combination of government policies, industry initiatives and continuous innovation,” API President and CEO Mike Sommers said in a statement.
Sommers emphasized that the industry seeks “market based” solutions such as a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade policy, rather than “heavy-handed government regulation.” The oil industry played a key role in the defeat of proposed cap-and-trade legislation in the Senate a decade ago, and its endorsement of a carbon price and other federal action marks a turnaround after years of opposition to federal legislation to address climate change.
Climate: A top priority
The reversal comes as the Biden administration made tackling climate change a top priority, moving in its first days to suspend oil and gas lease sales from federal lands and waters and cancelling the contentious Keystone XL oil sands pipeline from Canada.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Thursday kicked off a broad review of the government’s oil and gas program that could lead to a long-term ban on leases or other steps to discourage drilling and reduce emissions.
“Too often the extraction of resources have been rushed to meet the false urgency of political timetables rather than careful consideration for the impacts of current and future generations,” she said.
Industry representatives and Republican lawmakers have sharply criticized the suspension and warn that widespread job losses are likely in energy-producing states should it become permanent.