Why Big Oil is panicking over accountability

American consumers shouldn’t have to pay twice for the damage done by multinational oil and gas companies — once through the harm their products cause to our health and our planet, and again when those same companies use lawsuits filed by local communities as an excuse to hike prices at the pump.

That’s how these billion-dollar companies work — and the industry’s fake outrage over it says everything.

Recently, The Hill published an opinion piece from an industry-backed front group calling itself the “Consumer Choice Center,” claiming I support imposing a back-door “carbon tax” through climate liability lawsuits. That is not true. What I said is that the multinational oil companies, not the public, should be the ones to pay for the damage their products cause.

Another publication had to run a correction because they ran an op-ed from an energy industry advocate that falsely claimed I am currently representing Boulder County in their climate lawsuit against Suncor and ExxonMobil. They also implied that the Environmental Integrity Project is involved in climate liability litigation, which is not true. But the pattern is clear: industry-backed pundits have been misrepresenting my words, and their spin machine has gone into overdrive.

But let’s be honest about what’s really driving their outrage: discomfort. The oil and gas industry doesn’t like anyone saying plainly that their product causes harm — that they have built a business model on avoiding accountability. When someone points out that elephant in the room, they panic, because the public might start asking why they have gotten away with it for so long.

Big Oil’s executives have known for decades that their products are damaging the climate and public health. They have spent tons of money to deny it, delay action, and deflect blame. And whenever someone tries to hold them accountable — including cities and counties hurt by wildfires, flooding, and other climate-related damage, as has happened in recent years — they are likely to pass those costs on to consumers at the pump, claiming that lawsuits “hurt consumers.”

But it is their greed and the pollution from their products that hurt consumers.

Gas prices and climate change policy have become political footballs because neither party in Congress has had the courage to stand up to the oil and gas lobby. Both sides fear the spin machine, so consumers get stuck paying the bill.

Oil lobbyists and their front groups have always been adversaries of American consumers, hiding behind patriotic slogans and “consumer advocacy” campaigns that exist solely to protect industry profits. Their latest op-eds are no different — corporate spin masquerading as populism. The Consumer Choice Center’s own website admits that it has been funded by the chemical, nicotine, alcohol, and cryptocurrency industries, among others. That’s not really consumer advocacy.

The fossil fuel industry’s reaction to my comments is straight out of a very old playbook: deny, distract, and discredit the whistleblower. It’s the same tactic that protected tobacco companies for decades. Big Oil is just the latest in that long line of industries that can’t stand accountability — and that always try to externalize the costs of their own wrongdoing onto consumers rather than paying the price themselves. They twist words, inflate outrage, and flood the press with talking points to avoid responsibility for the damage they cause.

Without accountability, oil and gas CEOs will keep making the public pay for the pollution they create.  Americans deserve better.

David Bookbinder is a longtime environmental attorney and climate policy expert. He is writing here in his personal capacity.