After a year-long investigation and a report that was billed as “explosive,” the anti-oil and natural gas charade from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee turned out to be a giant nothingburger right before they exit the majority.
The committee’s report was dropped on a Friday afternoon without a press conference – a sure sign that even Democrats think it’s a dud, as Energy In Depth noted a few days ago. Even Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a top Democrat leading the investigation, told E&E News that the report would not “break through” with the public and the Center for Climate Integrity, an activist group pushing climate litigation, admitted the investigation hadn’t turned up any “bombshells.”
Here’s what you should know about the report:
Stating the Obvious
If the committee was looking for a “gotcha” moment, the internal company documents they published merely highlighted the obvious fact that oil and natural gas companies continue to invest in high producing basins because there is ongoing global demand for those resources. As E&E News put it:
“Unsurprisingly, the Committee found that oil and gas companies, for the most part, want to continue producing oil and gas.”
Likewise, reporting from the Washington Post undermined any claims of greenwashing or climate disinformation:
“While many of the committee’s findings were already widely known — often highlighting decisions oil companies have for years made publicly to keep oil production a fundamental part of their business plans — the report details their determination to keep natural gas as a key part of the world’s energy mix.” (Emphasis added)
Mixed Messages
The committee’ report is yet another example of mixed messages towards the domestic energy industry.
With Americans facing an historic energy crisis and gasoline hitting record highs, the committee built their investigation on vilifying the industry for producing oil and natural gas. During the October 2021 hearing with industry executives, Rep. Khanna called on the executives of oil and natural gas companies to commit to lowering production, even asking the CEOs if they were “embarrassed” about producing oil.
Just months later, Rep. Khanna reversed course and told Bloomberg that energy companies need to increase production to help bring down costs. When gas prices hit record highs over the summer, Rep. Khanna doubled down on the mixed messages, demanding companies produce more oil while threatening tax hikes that would have the opposite effect.
Politico was quick to point out the irony of the report: Criticizing companies for producing more oil and natural gas does not square with recent statements from Democratic leaders in Congress or the White House which has been calling for greater domestic output to help Americans struggling through this energy crisis:
“Democrats are accusing oil companies of undermining climate action by increasing production for decades to come, but over the past year, they have repeatedly blasted the industry for not pumping enough oil while Americans suffer high prices at the pump.”
Activist Coordination
From the onset, the Committee worked hand-in-hand with activist groups. Ahead of the October 2021 hearing, Rep. Khanna told The Hill that the committee attempted to model the hearing after the 1990s tobacco oversight investigation hearings and worked with former staffers of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.):
“Khanna told The Hill the committee is aiming for hearings modeled after those that former Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) held in the 1990s. […] Khanna said the committee has enlisted the aid of ‘a lot of people’ involved in planning the Waxman hearings for advice and planning.” (Emphasis added)
In February 2022, RealClearPolitics revealed that it was in fact former Waxman staffers, specifically Phil Schiliro and Phil Barnett who run the Arabella Advisers-funded group called Co-Equal, who supported the committee’s investigation. Waxman even told E&E News that he spoke with Khanna ahead of the October hearing.
Additional reporting established that Rep. Khanna also coordinated with well-known academics supporting activist and legal action against energy companies, including Harvard researcher Naomi Oreskes, who organized the infamous La Jolla conference; Geoffrey Supran, Oreskes’ colleague at Harvard; and Robert Brulle, Director of Brown University’s Climate Social Science Network.
Many of Rep. Khanna’s statements leading up to the release of the report served as signals to the network of academics, activists, and attorneys promoting climate lawsuits and other anti-energy policies, to include telling E&E News that the report could pave the way for a decade of activism:
“We’ve wrapped it up, but there are millions of documents that now are going to be part of the public record and this report. […] I think it will for the next 10 years pave the way for a lot of activism around the country.” (Emphasis added)
After the report was published, Rep. Khanna even told NBC News that part of the intention of gathering the documents was to give them to activists, raising questions about the Committee’s use of time and resources:
“Khanna said the millions of documents acquired by the committee will be handed over to those with more resources who can act on the information.”
And he told E&E News the same:
“‘We’re now going to be referring the documents to entities that will have more resources,’ he added, declining to comment on who that might be.”
When asked by Politico if the documents would support climate lawsuits, Rep. Khanna replied:
“That’s not for me to say. … The documents are there that will provide a historical record for people for years to come.”
Industry Cooperation
During the investigation, the committee accused the industry of stonewalling their investigation, but Rep. Khanna was eventually forced to admit that the companies cooperated, and the Committee “got all the documents, we got the testimony,” as he told E&E News.
Rep. Khanna also told E&E News that the committee “largely achieved the objectives of the investigation” and that the companies turned over “millions” of pages of documents.
Inspired by La Jolla
The publication of the report makes clear that this investigation was never about climate disinformation or alleged illegal activities. It was about doing the bidding of anti-energy activists, plaintiffs attorneys, and academics looking to “delegitimize” energy companies as a 2016 Rockefeller memo put it so bluntly.
In fact, this strategy was mapped out ten years ago at the infamous 2012 La Jolla conference, where activists planned to use litigation and oversight to attack the industry and lump energy companies in with tobacco. Khanna even said as much to E&E News:
“’Even after the Big Tobacco hearing, it took the White House, it took the Justice Department, it took state attorney generals, it took citizen mobilization to bring that change,’ Khanna told E&E.”
Bottom Line: Over a year after it kicked off, the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into American energy companies’ alleged “climate misinformation” has come to an embarrassing conclusion. After conceding that the findings of their investigation were unlikely to “break through,” Democrats on the committee released the long-awaited report on a Friday with no accompanying press conference or fanfare. The “explosive” report simply states the obvious – that energy companies plan to continue producing oil and natural gas to meet global demand. It’s a fitting end to an investigation characterized by mixed messages, disorganization, and improper activist influence.
