Climate change skeptic Horner sweeps BP CEO's meeting with Cheney under the rug

Special Programs Climate & Energy

Written by Tom Allison

Published

Writing on Andrew Breitbart's Big Government blog, Chris Horner whitewashed the role BP executives played in Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force to attack Democrats over two meetings with BP officials. BP's CEO reportedly met with Cheney and his energy task force in 2001.

Horner falsely suggests BP's CEO did not meet with Bush White House

Horner: “4,700 days ... since the last time a BP CEO was in the Oval Office.” Chris Horner, a climate change skeptic, wrote in a post on BigGovernment.com: “So President Obama is meeting in the White House tomorrow with BP's chairman. The focus of public discussion of this event has been on it taking until the 57th day or so since the Deepwater Horizon rig caught fire following a well explosion, precipitating the ongoing oil leak." Horner continued:

The more relevant figure is 4,700. If my quick calculation has it right, that's the number of days since the last time a BP CEO was in the Oval Office. On that day, August 4, 1997, then-CEO, (then-Sir) John Browne, joined by Ken Lay, met in the Oval with President Clinton and Vice President Gore.

BP CEO participated in Cheney's energy task force, including a separate meeting with Cheney

BP's CEO reportedly met with Cheney. A November 16, 2005, Washington Post article reported, “A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 -- something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress.” The article further reported, “Cheney had a separate meeting with John Browne, BP's chief executive, according to a person familiar with the task force's work.”

Other BP officials met with task force. The Washington Post article also reported that based on records kept by the Secret Service, "[o]n March 22, staff members met with BP regional president Bob Malone, chief economist Peter Davies and company employees Graham Barr and Deb Beaubien." The BP representatives reportedly “met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing a national energy policy.”

Horner is funded by the oil industry

CEI has received millions of dollars from ExxonMobil. According to reports compiled by Greenpeace, ExxonMobil Corp. and its foundation donated more than $2 million to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, where Horner is a senior fellow, from 1998 through 2005.

CEI has received more than $600,000 from Koch family foundations. According to data compiled by Media Matters Action Network, from 1986 through 2004, CEI received $666,420 from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, and David H. Koch Charitable Foundation and Personal Philanthropy. Charles and David Koch reportedly each own 42 percent of Koch Industries, whose subsidiaries “have been in the petroleum business since 1940” and “engage in petroleum refining, chemicals and base oil production, crude oil supply, and wholesale marketing of fuels, base oils, petrochemicals, asphalt and other products.” The president of the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation is Richard Fink, who is also president of the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. Fink is “an executive vice president and member of the board of directors of Koch Industries, Inc., where he leads the legal, government, community relations and communication capabilities for Koch Industries,” according to his bio on the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation's website.