Exxon Lobbyist Caught on Tape No Longer With Company

Remember the Exxon lobbyist who acquired caught on tape admitting that the corporate had poured cash into “shadow groups” in an effort to battle in opposition to local weather science? He’s formally out of a job. E&E News confirmed with Exxon on Tuesday that Keith McCoy, the lobbyist in query, was now not on the firm.

“Mr. McCoy no longer works for the company,” Exxon spokesperson Casey Norton mentioned in an electronic mail to E&E News. “This is a private personnel matter, and we will decline to comment further.”

For those that want a refresher, investigators at Unearthed posed as recruitment consultants trying to rent a DC lobbyist for a significant shopper and arrange interviews with two then-Exxon workers (the opposite interviewee left the corporate earlier than the exposé aired). The secret tapes had been launched in July, and McCoy’s interview was far and away the extra explosive of the 2.

In addition to speaking concerning the firm’s historical past of perpetuating local weather denial, McCoy additionally brazenly admitted that Exxon sees a carbon tax, which it has vocally supported, as nothing greater than an “advocacy tool” He talked up all of the politicians he’s often in contact with. His metaphor for capturing them—“you have bait, you fill that bait out and they say, ‘oh you want to talk about infrastructure,’ and then you start to reel them in”—is a fairly gorgeous admission of how issues work. In a separate video launched a day after the primary, McCoy specified by element how Exxon is working behind-the-scenes to battle plastics regulation. McCoy later apologized on LinkedIn, the primary social community for Oil Guys Who Love To Post. But apparently it wasn’t sufficient to avoid wasting his job.

Exxon wouldn’t inform E&E News when precisely McCoy left, and his LinkedIn nonetheless lists him as employed at Exxon. McCoy nonetheless appears to have a task on the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, however, per net archives recovered by E&E News, someday between August 14 and September 8, the web site modified his affiliation from “ExxonMobil Corporation” to “Community Advocate.”

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While it wouldn’t be my private option to work for a corporation that has completed greater than most to advance our planet’s rapidly approaching warmth demise, I’ve to confess that I really feel a bit of dangerous for McCoy. His feedback lifted the veil on Exxon, however they confirmed what’s been clear Exxon and different Big Oil boys have been attempting to do for some time. Namely, do the whole lot they’ll to delay significant local weather laws, hyping the small components of their enterprise which might be comparatively clear, and investing in PR spin whereas making a killing digging up oil. McCoy simply mentioned the quiet half out loud in a pretend job interview.

Exxon made fast work of distancing itself from McCoy following the debacle. After the interview aired, the corporate claimed in a statement from CEO Darren Woods that McCoy’s feedback “in no way represent the company’s position on a variety of issues” and that McCoy was “never involved in developing the company’s policy positions on the issues discussed.”

“We condemn the statements and are deeply apologetic for them, including comments regarding interactions with elected officials,” Woods’s assertion continued. “We were shocked by these interviews and stand by our commitments to working on finding solutions to climate change.” OK, Darren. We get it.

After McCoy’s interview aired, the House Oversight and Reform Committee requested him to testify about his feedback as a part of their bigger investigation into oil firms—which is smart, on condition that McCoy mainly brazenly bragged about how the corporate manipulates politicians into doing what they need. Exxon declined to remark to E&E whether or not or not McCoy could be lined by authorized illustration if he’s referred to as to testify. (The House committee hasn’t confirmed whether or not or not McCoy accepted their invitation to testify.)

No matter! Dirty oil executives all the time seem to find a way to land on their feet after a scandal. Maybe there’s a future profession for McCoy in utilities or one thing.