Big Oil vs. the Air You Breathe

The Five Most Outrageous Claims in Big Oil’s New Ad Blitz Opposing Clean Air

Big Oil doesn’t like clean air. I mean, I’m sure oil executives are fond of breathing, but they’re not fans of the critical protections that make it possible. And as the Obama administration looks to strengthen those protections, with a new smog standard that would prevent nearly 1 million childhood asthma attacks, 1 million missed school days, 2,300 cases of acute childhood bronchitis, and more than 4,300 premature deaths — every year — Big Oil’s lobbyists are desperately oozing lies and half-truths. The American Petroleum Institute is about to launch an ad blitz that will be all over TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, and probably your Facebook feed, too. (The institute won’t say how much it’s spending, telling reporters only that it’s devoting “significant resources,” but when your members include some of the most profitable companies in the history of the planet — ExxonMobil, BP, Shell Oil — “significant” means big bucks.)

Credit where credit is due: These ads are slick. (I mean, would you expect anything else from the oil industry?) And it’s possible they could fool a lot of people who aren’t paying close attention. So let’s drill down into the deep well of falsehoods.

1. Big Oil says our air is plenty healthy already. All of the nation’s major medical groups disagree.

In 2008, ignoring the scientific advice of medical professionals, the Bush administration’s U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set limits for ground-level ozone, or smog pollution, at 75 parts per billion. Obama’s EPA wants to drop those limits to between 70 and 65 parts per billion. Numerous medical groups, from the American Medical Association to the American Academy of Pediatrics to the American Lung Association, want to see it even lower: 60 parts per billion.

So when Big Oil says the standard is fine as is at 75 ppb, ask for a doctor’s note.

2. Big Oil says smog levels are already dropping, so why do more? Just like they said last time. And the time before that. And the time before…

The American Petroleum Institute’s first video touts the fact that smog levels have dropped 18 percent since 2000. And that’s true — because of the very smog standards that industry has been fighting. EPA updated limits for smog pollution in 1997 and 2008, which helped drive oil companies to clean up some. And it sure doesn’t look like those companies are suffering any for it.

Oil companies fought that strengthened 1997 smog standard and theyfought the lower 2008 standard. In fact, Big Oil never met a limit for smog pollution in the 45-year history of the Clean Air Act that it didn’t oppose — and yet the industry is doing just fine, while the rest of us are also breathing easier. So let’s allow medical science to guide the standards — not industry histrionics.

3. Big Oil says government bureaucrats “want to change the rules,” when actually, they’re following the law.

The Clean Air Act requires EPA to reassess the smog standards — and the latest medical science regarding them — every five years. Hey, it’s been morethan five years since the last update, and we know more than we did then about what’s a safe limit. Big Oil just wants to change the rules of the game.

4. Big Oil says smog standards could be the most expensive regulation ever, costing families more than $2,000. Guess who came up with that number?

If you said “industry lobbyists,” gold star for you. It was the National Association of Manufacturers, in a report that independent experts and economists have characterized as “insane” and “unmoored from any economic reality,” due to its wildly exaggerated cost claims and ridiculous methodologies.

5. Big Oil says the current standards are hunky-dory — just because they say so.

“They work” is the petroleum institute’s big claim at the end of its first video. Not, “They’re healthy” or “They’re safe” or “They’re protective.” Because the industry can’t say those things — medical science says otherwise. And the current standards don’t work to protect all Americans. They don’t work to satisfy the law. They don’t work to meet the best medical understanding of how much smog pollution is unsafe to breathe. So, explain to me, how exactly do “they work” again?

Here’s what works: Basing our most important environmental safeguards on the best available science. Which says we need to do better. So ignore what Big Oil says and tell the EPA to ignore it, too. Glad we cleared the air on that.