Philip Cooney, the former chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, left the White House today, to be employed by the Exxon
Mobile Corp.
www.cnn.com
"Mr. Cooney has long been considering his options following four years of service to the administration," Perino said. "He'd accumulated many weeks
of leave and decided to resign and take the summer off to spend time with his family."
The White House made no mention of Cooney's plans to join Exxon Mobil, the world's largest oil company. Its executives have been among the most
skeptical in the oil industry about the prospects of climate change because of a growing concentration of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. The
leading greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels.
Like the Bush administration, Exxon Mobil Chairman Lee Raymond has argued strongly against the Kyoto climate accord and has raised questions about the
certainty of climate science as it relates to possible global warming. Greenpeace and other environmental groups have singled out Raymond and Exxon
Mobil for protests because of its position on climate change.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
Not surprised? Well, it gets worse.
Phil, as an oiil industry lobbyist even before working for the White House, edited government reports on climate change, which has been a recent point
of contention. Specifically, in an October 2002 draft of government climate research, "Our Changing Planet," Mr. Cooney exaggerated any scientiffic
uncertainty of the sources of global warming without technical or scientiffic insight. More such infractions exist, and one can only guess how many
there may be.
Phil obviously had his mind made up on enviornmental issues, when he joined the Bush White House staff from the league of oil industry lobbyists, and
now he's going back to the soft, warm arms of an industry that appreciates his political connections.
With the connections between Halliburton and Cheney, and other White House cronies and industries, it's hard to be surpised at this news, but easy to
be dissapointed.
Related News Links:
www.exxonsecrets.org