Well-qualified for the job

It’s a dirty job, but someCooney’s got to do it.

Ex-White House science report-fudger (and former oil industry lobbyist) Philip Cooney has been hired by the world’s largest oil company, Exxon Mobil, and will begin working there in the fall. While Exxon declined to provide Cooney’s job description to the press, I think it’s safe to assume that his role will place him in a key position in the Exxon/White House war against the science behind climate change.

Like the Bush administration, Exxon Mobil Chairman Lee Raymond has argued strongly against the Kyoto climate accord and has raised questions about the certainty of climate science as it relates to possible global warming. Greenpeace and other environmental groups have singled out Raymond and Exxon Mobil for protests because of its position on climate change.

*snip*

Its executives have been among the most skeptical in the oil industry about the prospects of climate change because of a growing concentration of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. The leading greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels.

This is a marriage made in heaven for the parties involved. Cooney, through his role as Chief of Staff of the White House Council of Environmental Quality (a great example of a governmental description being in some ways completely at odds with its raison d’être e.g. “Child Left Behind Act,” “Clean Skies Initiative”, etc.), edited government reports on climate change in a manner which downplayed greenhouse gas links to global warming. In other words, if you aren’t afraid to call a spade a spade then he lied, or if you are a Bush supporter or a member of the corporate media then he misled.

In the ensuing days after his actions were exposed by a whistleblower, the White House defended Cooney’s actions:

After Cooney's involvement in editing the climate reports was first reported by the New York Times, the White House defended the changes, saying they were part of the normal, wide-ranging review process and did not violate an administration pledge to rely on sound science.

Notwithstanding this touching display of support from the White House, Cooney quickly resigned from his White House post. This, naturally, had nothing to do with the controversy his actions had created:

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Cooney's departure was "completely unrelated" to the disclosure two days earlier that he had made changes in several government climate change reports that were issued in 2002 and 2003. "Mr. Cooney has long been considering his options following four years of service to the administration," Perino said. "He'd accumulated many weeks of leave and decided to resign and take the summer off to spend time with his family."

Just once I’d love to see a government spokesperson (any government, any spokesperson) speak the unabashed truth. “That’s right, Mr. Cooney got caught fudging some rock-solid scientific conclusions which were at odds with the White House energy policy. We were worried that this act of dishonesty might make President Bush look bad, so we asked Mr. Cooney to resign. We expect that he’ll be back on his feet in no time, most likely working for a rich oil company.”

The next time you encounter a quote from Exxon or from an organization funded by Exxon (and/or other greenhouse gas emitters) that expresses skepticism about the science behind global warming, please remember that it’s Cooney, and others like him, who are responsible for what you hear.