The cost of powering our economies with coal, oil and gas is much more than the escalating price of a gallon of gasoline. These fuels cause catastrophic human suffering. Their air pollution alone causes more than 8 million premature deaths annually. Their greenhouse gas emissions trap heat in the atmosphere which increases temperatures. Hotter temperatures cause polar ice to melt and sea water to expand, which floods coastal communities. Hotter air sucks moisture from land, creating droughts and rendering forests tinder for wildfires. Warmer air holds more water, which creates precipitation events so torrential they are called “atmospheric rivers.” The annual economic and societal costs to nations from burning fossil fuels is now in the trillions of dollars. No two ways about it: fossil fuels suck!
To be fair, there’s no question that cheap abundant fossil fuels powered the Industrial Revolution and improved the livelihoods of people around the world. Initially, the environmental and health impacts of burning these fuels appeared insignificant. But now we know their dark side, and it’s ominous. The human suffering they cause is unjustifiable. The damage they make to our planetary home is becoming irreversible.
Scientists working at fossil-fuel companies were among the first to understand the dangers, yet this industry has done all it can to protect its business model through denying climate science, obfuscating the problem, and delaying the transition to clean energy alternatives. Out of greed and the quest for power, this industry and their political allies have deceived us. Societies have unwittingly allowed these life-destroying fuels to imperil the future of humanity.
Climate activist and author, Bill McKibben said recently, “When I started writing about the climate crisis in the 1980s I was in my twenties, and I didn’t fully comprehend that there could be a force on this planet so steeped in greed and power that it would sacrifice the earth and its inhabitants for its own narrow interests. But there is, and its Big Oil.”
Consider how oil and gas companies are reaping huge windfall gains from Trump’s war on Iran. According to The Guardian, “The world’s top 100 oil and gas companies banked more than $30m every hour in unearned profit in the first month of the US-Israeli war in Iran.”
If the price of oil continues to average $100 a barrel, these companies will make $234 billion by the end of the year. These excess profits come from the pockets of ordinary people as we pay higher prices to fill up our vehicles and power our homes. According to The Guardian, the oil and gas industry, over the last 50 years, has averaged annual profits totaling $1 trillion a year. And, in addition, coming out of taxpayers’ pockets, explicit annual fossil fuel subsidies are enormous, totaling $1.3 trillion in 2022.
When we look for accountability, we see the immense power and influence this industry has had on all three branches of government. By spending hundreds of millions to elect Donald Trump they gained a “quid pro quo” executive whose favorable policies would repay their investment many times over. Big Oil’s spending on members of Congress also shows results. This week, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Wyoming Representative Harriet Hageman introduced bills that would grant the industry legal immunity from lawsuits over the climate change damage their products cause.
The ultimate prize for the industry would be a federal grant of immunity issued by the Supreme Court. The Roberts Court, whose majority members were recruited through the Federalist Society by rightwing judicial activist Leonard Leo (and funded by fossil fuel interests), is poised to deliver it. Most likely, it will come through the notoriously corrupt “shadow docket.” If the oil industry is successful in these efforts, they will never be held accountable for the fact that they knowingly destroyed the planet’s climate system, and caused the premature deaths of millions of men, women, and children.
The industry’s immunity crusade must be resisted. There are “Polluter Pays” superfund bills currently before many state legislatures. There’s a powerful new bill advancing through the Hawaii legislature that would empower insurance companies to sue Big Oil for compensation for events like the Lahaina wildfires or the recent massive flooding events. California is currently considering a climate change superfund act that would assess fees on the state’s largest historical producers of climate-heating pollution.
Here in Santa Barbara County, despite the objections of elected officials and residents, President Trump and his Energy Department, using “emergency decrees,” have overruled state and local authorities to allow oil production and transportation to re-start. While state and local officials are fighting this in the courts, county supervisors are moving ahead to prohibit new oil and gas projects and to phase out existing facilities. Residents, in the thousands, have been demonstrating in the streets.
Because fossil fuel interests have hijacked the Republican Party, politics holds a solution. We must elect Democrats so they can achieve majorities in Congress. Then, legislation can be passed to overturn any grants of immunity, hold the industry accountable, and promote the transition to clean energy.
In the end, a clean energy future is unstoppable. Solar and wind with battery storage produces energy that is cheaper, safer, and cleaner than fossil fuels. But if the industry continues to use its financial and political power to delay the transition, fossil fuel pollution will sicken and kill millions more, and the damage to our environment will become irreversible. If we begin now to phase out fossil fuels, we can create a healthy livable planet for ourselves, our neighbors, and generations to come.
