Time to Grill Rex Tillerson on Climate Change

Rex Tillerson - his suggestion
that climate change warrants
"thoughtful action" is "dog
whistling" for doing nothing.

The dominant issues at Wednesday’s hearing on the nomination of Rex Tillerson, the former chief executive of Exxon Mobil, for secretary of state are likely to be Mr. Tillerson’s ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin and any potential conflicts of interest arising from Exxon’s extensive global operations. But members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be sadly delinquent if they do not press him on the issue of climate change.

Mr. Tillerson, who concedes that climate change is a problem, has been seen as a bright spot in the bleak lineup of climate deniers that Donald Trump has named to other cabinet positions. But that’s a very low bar, and if Mr. Tillerson has any hope of raising the issue to the prominence it deserves, and changing the mind of a president-elect who has already called global warming a “hoax,” he will have to be tough and tenacious. And he won’t be unless he really cares.

Read The New York Times story - “Time to Grill Rex Tillerson on Climate Change.”

Teens’ Lawyers Plan to Question Tillerson on His Knowledge of Climate Change

Soon to be America's
 Secretary of
State, Rex Tillerson.

Lawyers for teenagers claiming the U.S. government failed to protect the environment from global warming plan to question under oath President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state on his knowledge of climate change.

Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson’s testimony, set for the day before the Jan. 20 inauguration, is being sought by lawyers representing 21 children and teenagers seeking to prove that oil and gas industry groups “have known about the dangers of climate change since the 1960s and have successfully worked to prevent the government” from Rex Tillerson’s. The groups, whose members include Exxon, joined the lawsuit on the side of the government to oppose the teens.

The youths from across the country claim that by perpetuating the use of fossil fuels, the government has trampled their constitutional rights to life, liberty and property. They won a shot at pursuing their claims in November when an Oregon federal judge rejected the government’s request to throw out their lawsuit.

Read the Bloomberg story - “Teens’ Lawyers Plan to Question Tillerson on His Knowledge of Climate Change.”

Donald Trump picks Rex Tillerson, Exxon CEO, as Secretary of State

ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson has close
 ties with Russia and is believed to be
the Trump's pick for US Secretary of State.

Washington: President-elect Donald Trump on Monday settled on Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, to be his secretary of state, dismissing bipartisan concerns that the globe-trotting leader of the energy giant had forged a with Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, transition officials said.

Trump planned to announce the selection on Tuesday morning, finally bringing to an end his public and chaotic deliberations over choosing the nation's top diplomat - a process that at times veered from rewarding Rudy Giuliani, one of his most loyal supporters, to musing about whether Mitt Romney, one of his most vicious critics, might be forgiven.

Read the story by Michael Shear and Maggie Haberman in the Melbourne Age -  “Donald Trump picks Rex Tillerson, Exxon CEO, as Secretary of State."

(It seems this is like putting a drunk in charge of the liquor store – Robert McLean)

More companies may join Exxon Mobil in climate investigations

T

he opening of an investigation of Exxon Mobil by the New York attorney general’s office into the company’s record on climate change may well spur legal inquiries into other oil companies, according to legal and climate experts, although successful prosecutions are far from assured.

Exxon Mobil under
investigation.

Many oil companies have funded lobbying efforts and research on climate change, so prosecutors would most likely be able to search through vast amounts of material. The industry has also resisted pressure for years from environmental groups to warn investors of the risks that stricter limits on carbon emissions could have on their businesses, although that appears to be changing.

Read The New York Times story - “More Oil Companies Could Join Exxon Mobil as Focus of Climate Investigations.”