Written by Lauren Levenstein and reposted from the U.S. Chamber Watch blog
To celebrate Earth Day, we thought it might be fun to see how much you really know about the nation’s largest lobbying entity that is currently the leading voice of big corporations’ anti-environmental agenda. Do you know how the anonymous corporate money funneled through the Chamber by Big Oil and Coal is affecting environmental policy?
Q. This past Monday, which event took place in front of the Chamber’s headquarters (that the Chamber later took to its blog to dismiss)?
a.) Tom Donohue disclosed Chamber member companies
b.) Chamber acknowledged the importance of strong regulatory policies
c.) Thousands gathered to protest Chamber’s anti-climate policies
A. If you answered “C,” you are correct. On Monday, April 18th, thousands of activists from the pro-environmental Power Shift conference gathered in front of the U.S. Chamber, shutting down the street. Participants loudly held the Chamber accountable for what it really is – as Power Shift partner 350.org put it – “little more than a front group for corporate polluters.” Check out video from the event here.
Q. This week marked the one year anniversary of the British Petroleum (BP) gulf oil spill, after which Chamber President Tom Donohue came under fire for saying that American taxpayers should help pay for the oil spill cleanup. In the past year, how else has the Chamber helped BP remain unaccountable to the American people?
a.) Chamber lobbied against bill making it easier for victims to sue for damages
b.) Chamber helped defeat LA bill making it easier for state to sue BP for damages
c.) Chamber unabashedly supported and continues to support deepwater drilling
d.) All of the above
A. If you answered “D,” “all of the above,” you are correct. The U.S. Chamber had been “shilling” for BP long before the oil disaster and ratcheted up its support immediately following the spill. In the fall of 2009, while many other large corporations had already distanced from the Chamber over climate issues, a BP spokesman embraced the Chamber noting, “Yes, BP is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and expects to remain so.” And as the reporter explained, that news likely caused Tom Donohue to “breathe a sigh of relief.”
Q. In 2009, the New York Times editorial board wrote about the Chamber, “no organization in this country has done more to undermine” a comprehensive solution to global warming. During this Congressional session, how has the Chamber continued this work?
a.) Strengthening EPA’s ability to regulate corporate pollution
b.) Stripping the EPA of its power
c.) Holding Chamber member companies accountable for carbon emissions
A. If you answered “B,” you are correct. Make no mistake, the U.S. Chamber is leading the fight to block the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases and thus corporate pollution. The Chamber has filed several lawsuits challenging the EPA’s ruling that greenhouse gases are harmful to humans, thereby halting their potential regulation. The Chamber is also lobbying Congress at every chance to support laws that would weaken the agency.
Q. The U.S. Chamber has legally defended which of the following companies when environmental-related lawsuits were brought against them?
a.) Chevron
b.) Citgo
c.) American Electric Power Company
d.) Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc.
e.) Duke Energy Corporation
f.) Exxon Mobil
g.) Cinergy Corporation
h.) All of the above
A. If you answered “H,” “all of the above” you are once again correct. The (litigation-hating?) Chamber has filed friend-of-the-court briefs on behalf of the companies listed above and many, many more when others were trying to hold the corporations accountable for damages to human life and the environment.
So, how did you do? Did you ace the quiz? You may have passed with flying colors but when it comes to sensible climate policies, the U.S. Chamber gets an F. Some big corporations (Apple, PG&E, Best Buy, Microsoft, GE, Dow, Cisco Systems, etc.), local chambers, and now citizens en masse, are stepping forward and reminding the Chamber that its arcane climate policy just won’t cut it any longer.
Happy Earth Day!
