The House Oversight Committee will hear from chief executives of four global oil companies on Thursday as part of its investigation into what Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., called the industry’s decades-long “climate disinformation” efforts about the impact of fossil fuels on global warming.
The CEOs — Darren Woods of ExxonMobil, David Lawler of BP America, Michael Wirth of Chevron, Gretchen Watkins of Shell — as well as Mike Sommers from the American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s trade association, and Suzanne Clark from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, will appear.
It’s the first time all are testifying together. Maloney, who chairs the oversight committee, compared the hearing to the one in 1994 when the CEOs of all the large tobacco companies appeared under oath and answered questions about industry practices. During that hearing the witnesses argued smoking wasn’t addictive, but admitted publicly the harmful health effects of nicotine.
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