Seat at the table, hand on the red pencil, trip through the revolving door
(from Kevin Drum's Washington Monthly blog)
ExxonMobil timeline:
- Seven days ago: "President's George Bush's decision not to sign the United States up to the Kyoto global warming treaty was partly a result of pressure from ExxonMobil, the world's most powerful oil company, and other industries, according to US State Department papers seen by the Guardian."
- Also seven days ago: "A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents....The official, Philip A. Cooney, removed or adjusted descriptions of climate research that government scientists and their supervisors...had already approved."
- Five days ago: "Philip A. Cooney, the chief of staff to President Bush's Council on Environmental Quality, resigned yesterday, White House officials said."
- Today: "Philip A. Cooney, the former White House staff member who repeatedly revised government scientific reports on global warming, will go to work for Exxon Mobil this fall, the oil company said yesterday."
That's an effective use of oligopoly power. Defining the argument by rewriting the science, and then richly rewarding the guy who does it. See about seat at the table, hand on the pen, and revolving door.
7:27:44 PM 
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