1
00:00:17,242 --> 00:00:28,482
Speaker 1: Pushkin. Lots of people have been drawing comparisons between the

2
00:00:28,562 --> 00:00:31,202
Speaker 1: US invasion of Iraq in two thousand and three and

3
00:00:31,242 --> 00:00:34,802
Speaker 1: the attacks on Iran in twenty twenty six. Alas point

4
00:00:34,842 --> 00:00:37,762
Speaker 1: to similarities, like claims about nuclear weapons.

5
00:00:38,202 --> 00:00:41,882
Speaker 2: It's also Cowbart testified at Barts the intelligence community said

6
00:00:41,962 --> 00:00:43,882
Speaker 2: Iran wasn't building a nuclear weapon.

7
00:00:44,242 --> 00:00:46,242
Speaker 3: What you said, I think they were very close to having.

8
00:00:47,682 --> 00:00:52,282
Speaker 4: I take the threat very seriously. I take the fact

9
00:00:52,362 --> 00:00:59,002
Speaker 4: that he develops weapons of mass destruction very seriously.

10
00:00:59,802 --> 00:01:02,122
Speaker 1: And the preemptive nature of these attacks.

11
00:01:02,682 --> 00:01:05,602
Speaker 5: There was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack

12
00:01:05,722 --> 00:01:08,722
Speaker 5: by anyone, the United States or Israel or anyone, they

13
00:01:08,722 --> 00:01:11,042
Speaker 5: were going to respond and respond against the UN the

14
00:01:11,081 --> 00:01:11,682
Speaker 5: United States.

15
00:01:12,242 --> 00:01:15,722
Speaker 1: But then the conversation turns quickly to the many differences,

16
00:01:16,002 --> 00:01:18,962
Speaker 1: the fact that, unpopular as it was, the Iraq War

17
00:01:19,042 --> 00:01:22,962
Speaker 1: did actually have congressional approval, for example, or that there

18
00:01:22,961 --> 00:01:25,562
Speaker 1: were ground troops in Iraq that we haven't really seen

19
00:01:25,682 --> 00:01:30,762
Speaker 1: any wrong For me, the way these two moments in

20
00:01:30,881 --> 00:01:34,522
Speaker 1: US history connect has less to do with intelligence reports

21
00:01:34,562 --> 00:01:37,762
Speaker 1: and battle plans and Republican presidents than it does with

22
00:01:37,881 --> 00:01:41,961
Speaker 1: fossil fuels and propaganda. It pulls together a lot of

23
00:01:42,002 --> 00:01:44,642
Speaker 1: the stories we've been covering over the past several years

24
00:01:44,722 --> 00:01:49,722
Speaker 1: into a single timeline, a unified arc towards fossil fascism.

25
00:01:50,242 --> 00:01:53,082
Speaker 1: To understand what's happening now and where it might head,

26
00:01:53,322 --> 00:01:55,122
Speaker 1: we need to take a step back and look at

27
00:01:55,122 --> 00:01:58,122
Speaker 1: where it came from and how the whole thing hangs together.

28
00:01:58,562 --> 00:02:00,401
Speaker 1: So that's what we'll be doing over the course of

29
00:02:00,442 --> 00:02:04,482
Speaker 1: this three part mini series. Iimimi Westervelt and this is drilled.

30
00:02:09,522 --> 00:02:13,121
Speaker 1: The fossil fuel industry and American identity have always been

31
00:02:13,202 --> 00:02:16,762
Speaker 1: deeply entwined, and in case anyone ever forgets it, the

32
00:02:16,802 --> 00:02:19,922
Speaker 1: American Petroleum Institute is there to beat us over the

33
00:02:19,962 --> 00:02:22,962
Speaker 1: head with it, over and over and over again.

34
00:02:23,722 --> 00:02:28,401
Speaker 6: This year we mark America's two hundred and fiftieth birthday.

35
00:02:28,762 --> 00:02:31,482
Speaker 6: Since the beginning of our great nation, we have never

36
00:02:31,602 --> 00:02:36,362
Speaker 6: accepted limits on what can be achieved. That spirit has

37
00:02:36,402 --> 00:02:41,882
Speaker 6: defined the energy story. In eighteen fifty nine, the Drake Well,

38
00:02:42,322 --> 00:02:48,642
Speaker 6: America's first commercial oil well struck oil in northwest Pennsylvania.

39
00:02:48,962 --> 00:02:52,602
Speaker 6: This breakthrough helped launch a new era of prosperity.

40
00:02:53,242 --> 00:02:57,002
Speaker 1: Here's Mike Summer's American Petroleum Institute President at the twenty

41
00:02:57,002 --> 00:03:00,722
Speaker 1: twenty six State of American Energy event, talking about America's

42
00:03:00,722 --> 00:03:04,282
Speaker 1: first oil well, discovered in Pennsylvania in eighteen fifty nine,

43
00:03:04,562 --> 00:03:08,162
Speaker 1: and how it sparked the modern global oil industry, which

44
00:03:08,202 --> 00:03:12,122
Speaker 1: of course he connects directly back to American energy dominance today.

45
00:03:12,602 --> 00:03:14,681
Speaker 6: It was a reminder then, as it is now, that

46
00:03:14,722 --> 00:03:18,602
Speaker 6: the American energy leadership has never been accidental.

47
00:03:19,482 --> 00:03:22,282
Speaker 1: In this ten minute or so speech, Summers gives us

48
00:03:22,322 --> 00:03:27,082
Speaker 1: a neat and tidy illustration of fossil fascism. Not only

49
00:03:27,122 --> 00:03:29,442
Speaker 1: do you have the nationalism and the idea of a

50
00:03:29,522 --> 00:03:33,202
Speaker 1: return to previous greatness that is the hallmark of fascism

51
00:03:33,362 --> 00:03:34,322
Speaker 1: of every kind.

52
00:03:34,762 --> 00:03:39,682
Speaker 6: Well, we embrace innovation, growth and prosperity, or slide backward,

53
00:03:40,442 --> 00:03:46,242
Speaker 6: deny facts, delaying progress and ignoring the realities of rising demand.

54
00:03:47,522 --> 00:03:51,162
Speaker 6: That's the choice, and the American people have made up

55
00:03:51,162 --> 00:03:56,202
Speaker 6: their mind. We choose energy success, not surrender.

56
00:03:56,762 --> 00:03:59,962
Speaker 1: But you also have that national identity and former glory

57
00:04:00,242 --> 00:04:02,802
Speaker 1: linked inextricably to fossil fuels.

58
00:04:03,762 --> 00:04:06,882
Speaker 6: Americans spent years being told that they should do less,

59
00:04:07,722 --> 00:04:13,442
Speaker 6: build less, produce less, and pay more. We're done with

60
00:04:13,682 --> 00:04:19,602
Speaker 6: all of that. American energy is the future, and America

61
00:04:20,202 --> 00:04:21,962
Speaker 6: is ready to lead.

62
00:04:22,522 --> 00:04:26,402
Speaker 1: And importantly threatened by a small minority.

63
00:04:26,882 --> 00:04:32,082
Speaker 6: A small fringe is stuck in the past. They oppose growth, expansion,

64
00:04:32,522 --> 00:04:37,762
Speaker 6: and new infrastructure. They're against new jobs, higher living standards.

65
00:04:38,122 --> 00:04:44,202
Speaker 6: They resist the energy required, the power modern life. They

66
00:04:44,242 --> 00:04:46,442
Speaker 6: offer no vision for the future.

67
00:04:49,962 --> 00:04:52,522
Speaker 1: Listening to this talk earlier this year, I was reminded

68
00:04:52,562 --> 00:04:56,322
Speaker 1: of a conversation I had with Brown University environmental sociologist

69
00:04:56,402 --> 00:04:59,762
Speaker 1: doctor Robert Brule a few years ago about how long

70
00:04:59,802 --> 00:05:03,601
Speaker 1: the American Petroleum Institute has been connecting fossil fuels to

71
00:05:03,682 --> 00:05:05,522
Speaker 1: American identity.

72
00:05:05,802 --> 00:05:08,762
Speaker 3: The why and share of the effort that these guys

73
00:05:08,802 --> 00:05:13,522
Speaker 3: are spending money on. And it's not on science denial. Yes,

74
00:05:13,642 --> 00:05:16,722
Speaker 3: they spend this much on science denial, and you know,

75
00:05:16,762 --> 00:05:20,241
Speaker 3: I'm not saying that that isn't important and doesn't count,

76
00:05:20,362 --> 00:05:23,962
Speaker 3: but you know, they're spending probably five or ten times

77
00:05:24,002 --> 00:05:27,802
Speaker 3: more trying to influence the perceptions of these corporations and

78
00:05:27,842 --> 00:05:33,562
Speaker 3: the perceptions of their product and tying their product to

79
00:05:33,642 --> 00:05:37,522
Speaker 3: the American way of life and everything good about America.

80
00:05:38,042 --> 00:05:42,562
Speaker 3: You know, apple pie mom, you know the flag fossil fuels,

81
00:05:42,842 --> 00:05:47,322
Speaker 3: and so by implication, what they do is they basically

82
00:05:47,362 --> 00:05:51,122
Speaker 3: say any attack on fossil fuels is an attack on

83
00:05:51,162 --> 00:05:56,522
Speaker 3: our way of life. That's an extremely powerful argument that

84
00:05:56,602 --> 00:06:01,802
Speaker 3: the fossil fuel companies have been making for decades, that

85
00:06:01,842 --> 00:06:06,122
Speaker 3: they've been connecting fossil fuels with the American way of

86
00:06:06,202 --> 00:06:07,402
Speaker 3: life and the good life.

87
00:06:07,842 --> 00:06:10,802
Speaker 1: The APA was formed as World War One, the first

88
00:06:10,842 --> 00:06:14,962
Speaker 1: fossil fueld War came to a close. Oil companies had

89
00:06:14,962 --> 00:06:17,522
Speaker 1: been coordinating during the war to ensure a study supply

90
00:06:17,562 --> 00:06:19,962
Speaker 1: of fuel to the front and Standard Oil of New

91
00:06:20,042 --> 00:06:23,042
Speaker 1: Jersey publicist Ivy Lee thought it would be a shame

92
00:06:23,202 --> 00:06:25,802
Speaker 1: if that coordination ended when the war did.

93
00:06:26,762 --> 00:06:33,842
Speaker 3: After the war ended, there was an interest in sort

94
00:06:33,882 --> 00:06:39,802
Speaker 3: of coordinating an industry position for the petroleum industry to

95
00:06:39,922 --> 00:06:43,762
Speaker 3: represent their interests to the public. And out of that

96
00:06:44,082 --> 00:06:48,722
Speaker 3: comes the American Petroleum Institute and Ivy lead Ross, on

97
00:06:48,762 --> 00:06:53,322
Speaker 3: his experience in the War Propaganda Board, effort to start

98
00:06:53,362 --> 00:07:00,481
Speaker 3: developing larger institutional public relations efforts, and he works with

99
00:07:00,762 --> 00:07:04,282
Speaker 3: the head of Standard Oil of New Jersey, which we

100
00:07:04,402 --> 00:07:09,322
Speaker 3: now know as Exxon Mobil to form the American Petroleum

101
00:07:09,362 --> 00:07:15,082
Speaker 3: Institute in nineteen nineteen and so the American Petroleum Instudents

102
00:07:15,242 --> 00:07:19,082
Speaker 3: is now one hundred years old and it's considered to

103
00:07:19,162 --> 00:07:26,482
Speaker 3: be the really the first modern, sophisticated, public relations oriented

104
00:07:26,882 --> 00:07:28,642
Speaker 3: trade association in the world.

105
00:07:29,322 --> 00:07:32,522
Speaker 1: But it's not just the American Petroleum Institute that emerges

106
00:07:32,562 --> 00:07:36,122
Speaker 1: out of World War One. There's also a newly delineated

107
00:07:36,202 --> 00:07:39,162
Speaker 1: region with a whole bunch of new states and borders

108
00:07:39,402 --> 00:07:42,122
Speaker 1: carved up by the fossil fuel industry and its government

109
00:07:42,202 --> 00:07:47,122
Speaker 1: backers in France, Britain, the Netherlands, and the US after

110
00:07:47,162 --> 00:07:50,042
Speaker 1: the break. How the thirst for Middle East oil both

111
00:07:50,082 --> 00:07:53,802
Speaker 1: contributed to World War One and reconfigured global politics when

112
00:07:53,882 --> 00:07:58,402
Speaker 1: the war ended. From the very early days of the

113
00:07:58,442 --> 00:08:02,042
Speaker 1: oil industry, it's been tied to national identity. It is

114
00:08:02,122 --> 00:08:06,842
Speaker 1: inextricably linked to both nationalism and imperialism. That one hundred

115
00:08:06,882 --> 00:08:09,642
Speaker 1: year history is covered in great detail and a whole

116
00:08:09,682 --> 00:08:11,642
Speaker 1: bunch of really good books I'm going to link to

117
00:08:11,722 --> 00:08:14,442
Speaker 1: in the show notes, but will now attempt to summarize.

118
00:08:14,522 --> 00:08:21,082
Speaker 1: In about five minutes. Here we go history time. Okay, So,

119
00:08:21,642 --> 00:08:25,042
Speaker 1: just as the Americans are getting going in Pennsylvania, Russia's

120
00:08:25,082 --> 00:08:29,082
Speaker 1: czar opens up the Baku region of Azerbaijan to private

121
00:08:29,122 --> 00:08:33,962
Speaker 1: oil prospectors. By eighteen ninety, Russian oil is giving American

122
00:08:34,002 --> 00:08:37,162
Speaker 1: oil a run for its money. At the same time,

123
00:08:37,242 --> 00:08:40,042
Speaker 1: the Dutch have moved to modernize the oil industry in

124
00:08:40,042 --> 00:08:44,281
Speaker 1: Indonesia and start the Royal Dutch Oil Company. Then they

125
00:08:44,322 --> 00:08:47,682
Speaker 1: merge with Shell Transport to create Royal Dutch Shell and

126
00:08:47,722 --> 00:08:50,682
Speaker 1: ship oil all over the world. So within really just

127
00:08:50,722 --> 00:08:53,962
Speaker 1: a few decades, the oil industry is taking root everywhere.

128
00:08:54,002 --> 00:08:57,082
Speaker 1: But that's not happening in the Middle East, although lots

129
00:08:57,122 --> 00:09:00,321
Speaker 1: of people are speculating that there are large oil reserves there.

130
00:09:01,082 --> 00:09:05,322
Speaker 1: Why well, because it's mostly controlled by the Ottoman Empire,

131
00:09:05,561 --> 00:09:08,281
Speaker 1: the so called sick man of Europe, which is in

132
00:09:08,401 --> 00:09:13,002
Speaker 1: economic freefall and limping toward collapse. Various countries start jocking

133
00:09:13,041 --> 00:09:15,922
Speaker 1: to grab the Arabian Peninsula and the oil that lays

134
00:09:15,962 --> 00:09:21,362
Speaker 1: below it. Germany, Britain and France are all there. Germany

135
00:09:21,401 --> 00:09:25,401
Speaker 1: starts building the Baghdad Railway from Baghdad to Berlin, which

136
00:09:25,401 --> 00:09:27,962
Speaker 1: would give them access both to the oil fields of

137
00:09:28,082 --> 00:09:32,362
Speaker 1: Bastra and the ports of the Persian golf An Australian

138
00:09:32,362 --> 00:09:36,442
Speaker 1: gold miner William Darcy begins exploring for oil nearby in

139
00:09:36,602 --> 00:09:40,682
Speaker 1: Persia today Iran and putting bids in on oil fields

140
00:09:40,722 --> 00:09:44,201
Speaker 1: in modern day Iraq. In nineteen oh eight, just as

141
00:09:44,202 --> 00:09:47,722
Speaker 1: he's getting ready to shut down the Persian exploration, he

142
00:09:47,842 --> 00:09:50,722
Speaker 1: hits black gold. He creates a new company, the Anglo

143
00:09:50,722 --> 00:09:53,801
Speaker 1: Persian Oil Company. That's the company known today as BP,

144
00:09:54,641 --> 00:09:59,002
Speaker 1: and guarantees Britain a study supply of Arabian oil. They

145
00:09:59,002 --> 00:10:02,441
Speaker 1: want more, particularly those Mesopotamian oil fields in what is

146
00:10:02,482 --> 00:10:11,802
Speaker 1: today Iraq. For years, Anglo Persian tries to convince the

147
00:10:11,801 --> 00:10:15,362
Speaker 1: Ottoman Empire to give them a concession there. Twice they

148
00:10:15,362 --> 00:10:19,362
Speaker 1: have contracts drawn up and ready to sign, and something happens.

149
00:10:19,842 --> 00:10:22,522
Speaker 1: The first time, rioting breaks out in Istanbul and the

150
00:10:22,561 --> 00:10:27,761
Speaker 1: sultan is deposed before he can sign. The second Archduke Ferdinand,

151
00:10:27,962 --> 00:10:32,082
Speaker 1: heir apparent to the Austro Hungarian Empire, is assassinated, kicking

152
00:10:32,122 --> 00:10:36,161
Speaker 1: off World War One. During the war, Britain takes possession

153
00:10:36,202 --> 00:10:40,401
Speaker 1: of Baghdad and Bosra. As the war comes to an end,

154
00:10:40,921 --> 00:10:44,562
Speaker 1: several secret treaties come to light, among them a collection

155
00:10:44,602 --> 00:10:48,562
Speaker 1: of letters between diplomats Mark Sykes of Britain, George Picot

156
00:10:48,602 --> 00:10:52,921
Speaker 1: of France, and Russian foreign minister Sergey Sazanov, known collectively

157
00:10:53,002 --> 00:10:57,322
Speaker 1: as the Pike's Picot Agreement, negotiated in early nineteen sixteen.

158
00:10:57,442 --> 00:11:01,082
Speaker 1: It splits up the Arabian Peninsula between the three countries,

159
00:11:01,482 --> 00:11:04,122
Speaker 1: without of course, consulting any of the people who actually

160
00:11:04,122 --> 00:11:08,122
Speaker 1: live there. Britain gets Bagdad and Basra, France gets Mosul,

161
00:11:08,202 --> 00:11:12,761
Speaker 1: and Syria Persia's split between Russia and Britain. Anglo Persian

162
00:11:12,921 --> 00:11:15,042
Speaker 1: is not happy about this. They do not like the

163
00:11:15,041 --> 00:11:18,282
Speaker 1: idea of giving Mosul to the French and immediately begin

164
00:11:18,362 --> 00:11:22,161
Speaker 1: working behind the scenes to undermine this arrangement. Yeah, another

165
00:11:22,202 --> 00:11:26,401
Speaker 1: secret deals signed in late nineteen eighteen, the French agree

166
00:11:26,442 --> 00:11:28,602
Speaker 1: to give up Mosil so long as they can retain

167
00:11:28,641 --> 00:11:31,842
Speaker 1: a share of the oil there and control of Syria.

168
00:11:31,962 --> 00:11:35,201
Speaker 1: Digging up shares of the Arabian Peninsula's oil even enters

169
00:11:35,242 --> 00:11:39,322
Speaker 1: into the Versailles Peace Treaty talks in nineteen nineteen, where

170
00:11:39,442 --> 00:11:43,362
Speaker 1: Royal Dutch Shell also enters the chat. There's a whole

171
00:11:43,362 --> 00:11:46,202
Speaker 1: bunch of geopolitical jockeying and a lot of drawing of

172
00:11:46,322 --> 00:11:49,761
Speaker 1: lines and creation of new countries that absolutely sets up

173
00:11:49,801 --> 00:11:52,082
Speaker 1: the next one hundred years of conflict in the region.

174
00:11:52,761 --> 00:11:54,801
Speaker 1: For our purposes, I'm going to jump to the formation

175
00:11:54,921 --> 00:11:58,082
Speaker 1: of Iraq in nineteen twenty two via a treaty that

176
00:11:58,161 --> 00:12:03,441
Speaker 1: Britain drafts with its personally selected monarch King Feisal. It's

177
00:12:03,482 --> 00:12:06,282
Speaker 1: important not just because it creates modern day Iraq, but

178
00:12:06,401 --> 00:12:09,122
Speaker 1: also because it's where an oil giant that had been

179
00:12:09,202 --> 00:12:14,401
Speaker 1: missing from the conversation suddenly appears. It's right, it's the US,

180
00:12:15,082 --> 00:12:18,122
Speaker 1: and particularly Standard Oil of New Jersey, the company known

181
00:12:18,161 --> 00:12:26,202
Speaker 1: today as Exxon mobil. The US had provided most of

182
00:12:26,242 --> 00:12:29,282
Speaker 1: Britain's oil during World War One, and oil for a

183
00:12:29,281 --> 00:12:31,722
Speaker 1: lot of the other allies too, and now they want

184
00:12:31,761 --> 00:12:35,562
Speaker 1: in on divvying up the Ottoman oil spoils. But in

185
00:12:35,602 --> 00:12:39,522
Speaker 1: typical American fashion, the US had also refused to join

186
00:12:39,521 --> 00:12:43,322
Speaker 1: the League of Nations and had never declared war against

187
00:12:43,322 --> 00:12:46,962
Speaker 1: the Ottoman Empire, only Germany, which had targeted US vessels.

188
00:12:47,842 --> 00:12:49,881
Speaker 1: At one of the very first meetings of the American

189
00:12:49,921 --> 00:12:53,881
Speaker 1: Petroleum Institute, US oil executives began agitating for a way

190
00:12:53,921 --> 00:13:00,641
Speaker 1: into Iraq's oil fields. They start releasing all these white

191
00:13:00,641 --> 00:13:04,441
Speaker 1: papers and pamphlets and memos and talking to the press

192
00:13:04,521 --> 00:13:07,282
Speaker 1: about how the British and French oil monopolies are anti

193
00:13:07,322 --> 00:13:12,761
Speaker 1: democratic and anti American. British inspire back that America has

194
00:13:12,842 --> 00:13:17,322
Speaker 1: established monopolies for itself in the Philippines and Haiti, only

195
00:13:17,401 --> 00:13:19,962
Speaker 1: to turn around and criticize Britain for supposedly doing the

196
00:13:20,002 --> 00:13:25,122
Speaker 1: same in Iraq. A massive amount of imperialist sword fighting ensues,

197
00:13:25,442 --> 00:13:27,641
Speaker 1: all while pretending to be very very concerned for the

198
00:13:27,722 --> 00:13:31,761
Speaker 1: rights of the Ottoman Empire's former citizens. Of course, when

199
00:13:31,801 --> 00:13:35,002
Speaker 1: the alliance between Britain and King Faisal is finalized at

200
00:13:35,041 --> 00:13:37,962
Speaker 1: the end of nineteen twenty two, it includes an open

201
00:13:38,041 --> 00:13:43,202
Speaker 1: door for American oil companies in the region. Success except

202
00:13:43,482 --> 00:13:46,521
Speaker 1: that the Turkish Petroleum Company still legally holds the oil

203
00:13:46,561 --> 00:13:52,042
Speaker 1: concession in Iraq, and its negotiator, holosed Sarcus Gulbenkian, a

204
00:13:52,082 --> 00:13:57,122
Speaker 1: Turkish born Armenian educated in Britain, is outsparting all of them.

205
00:13:57,761 --> 00:14:02,041
Speaker 1: Discussions drag on for years, mostly because of Glbenkian, and

206
00:14:02,122 --> 00:14:05,602
Speaker 1: finally in nineteen twenty eight Glbenkian is ready to sign

207
00:14:05,681 --> 00:14:09,802
Speaker 1: a deal. Turkish petroleum will be divided four ways equally

208
00:14:10,002 --> 00:14:15,242
Speaker 1: between Anglo Persia BP today, Royal Dutch Shell Combani Foncees

209
00:14:15,281 --> 00:14:19,962
Speaker 1: de Petron Total Energies Today, and a consortium of US

210
00:14:20,042 --> 00:14:23,962
Speaker 1: companies called the Near East Development Corporation led by Standard

211
00:14:24,002 --> 00:14:28,842
Speaker 1: Oil of New Jersey, later Exxon and Socony Vacuum later Mobile.

212
00:14:29,722 --> 00:14:32,722
Speaker 1: Each group has also given one point twenty five percent

213
00:14:32,802 --> 00:14:35,962
Speaker 1: of their share to the only private stakeholder in the agreement,

214
00:14:36,362 --> 00:14:40,322
Speaker 1: Gulbenkian himself. Accompanying the agreement is a map of the

215
00:14:40,362 --> 00:14:43,681
Speaker 1: Arabian Peninsula with a red line drawn around it, which

216
00:14:43,722 --> 00:14:50,522
Speaker 1: gives the document its name, the Red Line Agreement. Standard

217
00:14:50,522 --> 00:14:55,642
Speaker 1: Oil's publicist Earl Newsome, was educating executives and Washington politicians

218
00:14:55,642 --> 00:14:58,722
Speaker 1: about it back in the nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties.

219
00:14:59,122 --> 00:15:02,362
Speaker 1: When I came across those documents in his archive, suddenly

220
00:15:02,402 --> 00:15:05,882
Speaker 1: the strong sense of entitlement that US oil companies had

221
00:15:05,922 --> 00:15:09,362
Speaker 1: seemed to feel around a rock and its oil made sense.

222
00:15:09,882 --> 00:15:13,282
Speaker 1: It wasn't justified, not at all, but at least I

223
00:15:13,322 --> 00:15:16,762
Speaker 1: knew where this entitlement had come from. It also helped

224
00:15:16,802 --> 00:15:20,962
Speaker 1: make the American Petroleum Institute's power make more sense. It

225
00:15:21,002 --> 00:15:23,722
Speaker 1: wasn't just operating as a trade group lobbying for this

226
00:15:23,842 --> 00:15:27,882
Speaker 1: or that policy. It was actually negotiating foreign policy on

227
00:15:28,002 --> 00:15:31,442
Speaker 1: behalf of the US. No wonder it and the industry

228
00:15:31,442 --> 00:15:35,402
Speaker 1: it represented saw itself as just an extension of America

229
00:15:35,402 --> 00:15:38,522
Speaker 1: and American identity and no wonder, it was so important

230
00:15:38,602 --> 00:15:40,402
Speaker 1: to protect that connection.

231
00:15:40,762 --> 00:15:46,722
Speaker 4: Not only smooth and efficient, but powerful as well. I

232
00:15:46,882 --> 00:15:51,402
Speaker 4: watched them for hours. Great Jinny meed they were superb.

233
00:15:52,162 --> 00:15:55,722
Speaker 4: I just couldn't help comparing them with ours. If you

234
00:15:56,042 --> 00:16:00,802
Speaker 4: call that a comparison, surely these vehicles must be the

235
00:16:00,842 --> 00:16:03,242
Speaker 4: property of the highest officials.

236
00:16:04,042 --> 00:16:05,002
Speaker 6: I was wrong.

237
00:16:06,042 --> 00:16:09,162
Speaker 4: It seems that almost everybody in this country has one

238
00:16:09,162 --> 00:16:13,322
Speaker 4: of those. They call them automobiles.

239
00:16:13,842 --> 00:16:16,802
Speaker 1: This is a clip from an American Petroleum Institute propaganda

240
00:16:16,802 --> 00:16:19,721
Speaker 1: film that came out in the fifties. Doctor Brule told

241
00:16:19,722 --> 00:16:21,841
Speaker 1: me about it a few years ago, and I think

242
00:16:21,842 --> 00:16:24,441
Speaker 1: about it all the time. It's done in the style

243
00:16:24,522 --> 00:16:28,522
Speaker 1: of the Jetsons and depicts Martians landing on Earth. The

244
00:16:28,602 --> 00:16:32,002
Speaker 1: Martians are communists for some reason, and they visit Earth

245
00:16:32,042 --> 00:16:35,042
Speaker 1: and they see cars and oil and decided capitalism is

246
00:16:35,042 --> 00:16:35,681
Speaker 1: the way to go.

247
00:16:36,322 --> 00:16:40,282
Speaker 4: And only one in almost a thousand makes a major discovery,

248
00:16:40,962 --> 00:16:45,762
Speaker 4: pretty big odds. Yet America has proved reserves, the oil

249
00:16:45,842 --> 00:16:52,362
Speaker 4: supplies still underground have kept increasings heavily. I couldn't imagine

250
00:16:52,442 --> 00:16:56,482
Speaker 4: how this ever increasing supply of oil was achieved until

251
00:16:56,522 --> 00:17:00,522
Speaker 4: I found out that there's not just one but thousands

252
00:17:00,561 --> 00:17:04,962
Speaker 4: of oil companies, all competing with each other to discover

253
00:17:05,162 --> 00:17:08,962
Speaker 4: and develop new sources of oil for believe it or not,

254
00:17:09,602 --> 00:17:12,682
Speaker 4: in the USA, anyone who was willing to risk it

255
00:17:12,922 --> 00:17:13,922
Speaker 4: can drill for oil.

256
00:17:15,282 --> 00:17:19,122
Speaker 1: The American Petrolling Institute has only increased its power since then.

257
00:17:19,522 --> 00:17:22,841
Speaker 1: It commissioned one of the industry's first reports on global

258
00:17:22,882 --> 00:17:26,002
Speaker 1: warming in the late nineteen sixties and was integral and

259
00:17:26,042 --> 00:17:30,042
Speaker 1: shaping the economic argument against acting on climate change.

260
00:17:30,482 --> 00:17:33,242
Speaker 2: I was interested in the American Petrollum Institute, and I

261
00:17:33,402 --> 00:17:38,401
Speaker 2: downloaded all the news articles that talked about the American

262
00:17:38,402 --> 00:17:43,282
Speaker 2: Petroleum Institute and climate change, and there, as you can imagine,

263
00:17:43,282 --> 00:17:45,962
Speaker 2: there are thousands of them, and they go all the

264
00:17:45,962 --> 00:17:50,002
Speaker 2: way back to the nineteen eighties. So I downloaded them

265
00:17:50,042 --> 00:17:52,802
Speaker 2: and I sorted them chronologically, and I just started reading

266
00:17:52,841 --> 00:17:54,441
Speaker 2: all of them just to get an idea of what

267
00:17:54,522 --> 00:17:59,802
Speaker 2: the American Petrollum Institute was saying about climate change. And

268
00:18:00,242 --> 00:18:05,962
Speaker 2: I noticed that in the early nineties, the American Petroleum

269
00:18:05,962 --> 00:18:10,242
Speaker 2: Institute is quoting these economists saying, you know, climate change

270
00:18:10,321 --> 00:18:12,561
Speaker 2: is not a problem. It's not going to hurt society

271
00:18:12,601 --> 00:18:14,242
Speaker 2: that much, and it's going to be too expensive to

272
00:18:14,242 --> 00:18:17,482
Speaker 2: get off the fossil fuels, so we shouldn't do anything

273
00:18:17,482 --> 00:18:18,482
Speaker 2: about this problem.

274
00:18:19,162 --> 00:18:22,002
Speaker 1: That's Ben Fronte, who heads up the Climate Litigation Lab

275
00:18:22,042 --> 00:18:25,762
Speaker 1: at Oxford University and uncovered a lot of early API

276
00:18:25,882 --> 00:18:27,601
Speaker 1: documents on climate change.

277
00:18:27,922 --> 00:18:31,841
Speaker 2: And then I saw them the American Petroleum Institute quoting

278
00:18:31,882 --> 00:18:34,881
Speaker 2: and referring to these same economists again and again and

279
00:18:34,922 --> 00:18:38,762
Speaker 2: again for decades in the late nineties and then the

280
00:18:38,762 --> 00:18:41,802
Speaker 2: early two thousands, like wow, these are the go to

281
00:18:42,042 --> 00:18:46,202
Speaker 2: guys for the American Patrollum Institute. And then I discovered

282
00:18:46,202 --> 00:18:49,002
Speaker 2: that a lot of those studies that the American Petroleum

283
00:18:49,002 --> 00:18:53,561
Speaker 2: Institute was citing by those economists were actually funded and

284
00:18:53,642 --> 00:18:58,002
Speaker 2: commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute. So that was incredible.

285
00:18:58,002 --> 00:19:02,921
Speaker 2: But what really got my attention was back in twenty seventeen,

286
00:19:03,042 --> 00:19:07,081
Speaker 2: I think, and Donald Trump had announced that he was

287
00:19:07,121 --> 00:19:09,802
Speaker 2: going to pull the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement,

288
00:19:11,282 --> 00:19:15,042
Speaker 2: and in a speech he gave to justify doing that,

289
00:19:15,561 --> 00:19:20,802
Speaker 2: he cited some economists and said that the Paris Agreement

290
00:19:20,882 --> 00:19:23,482
Speaker 2: was going to be economically devastating for the US if

291
00:19:23,482 --> 00:19:26,242
Speaker 2: the US stayed in it. And I thought that was

292
00:19:26,282 --> 00:19:30,802
Speaker 2: really surprising, and so I went to go find that study,

293
00:19:31,002 --> 00:19:34,681
Speaker 2: and it was authored by some of the same people

294
00:19:35,282 --> 00:19:41,362
Speaker 2: that had been quoted by the American Patrolium Institute for decades,

295
00:19:41,402 --> 00:19:43,802
Speaker 2: and it was the exact same situation. It was a

296
00:19:44,242 --> 00:19:49,482
Speaker 2: study funded by industry, published by a think tank or

297
00:19:49,601 --> 00:19:54,282
Speaker 2: consulting firm, and then it's quoted as being reliable and

298
00:19:55,762 --> 00:19:57,042
Speaker 2: being rigorous research.

299
00:20:01,081 --> 00:20:04,962
Speaker 1: In late twenty twenty one, before Putin invaded Ukraine, the

300
00:20:05,002 --> 00:20:08,802
Speaker 1: American Patrolling Institute took to cable news shows and the

301
00:20:08,882 --> 00:20:12,841
Speaker 1: Internet to warn the American public that the Democrats and

302
00:20:12,882 --> 00:20:16,482
Speaker 1: their climate policies had made us vulnerable in this situation,

303
00:20:17,282 --> 00:20:20,082
Speaker 1: that if they'd just been allowed to drill as much

304
00:20:20,081 --> 00:20:23,162
Speaker 1: as they wanted, America would be able to rub Russia's

305
00:20:23,242 --> 00:20:26,242
Speaker 1: nose in it and sweep in to save Europe with

306
00:20:26,442 --> 00:20:27,722
Speaker 1: plentiful gas.

307
00:20:27,922 --> 00:20:31,482
Speaker 6: There is a lot of concern about what has been

308
00:20:31,482 --> 00:20:34,921
Speaker 6: put forth by this administration, and there's a lot of uncertainty,

309
00:20:35,042 --> 00:20:38,282
Speaker 6: and that uncertainty is leading to a lack of investment

310
00:20:38,321 --> 00:20:39,402
Speaker 6: in the United States.

311
00:20:40,002 --> 00:20:40,562
Speaker 1: And when the.

312
00:20:40,522 --> 00:20:45,441
Speaker 6: Administration is continually putting forward new proposals the limit production

313
00:20:45,522 --> 00:20:49,202
Speaker 6: in the United States, American oil and gas companies are

314
00:20:49,321 --> 00:20:50,642
Speaker 6: cutting back on production.

315
00:20:51,442 --> 00:20:54,522
Speaker 1: That was our friend api President Mike Summers again, and

316
00:20:54,642 --> 00:20:58,282
Speaker 1: it wasn't just Summers. Lots of other industry spokespeople were

317
00:20:58,321 --> 00:21:01,561
Speaker 1: out saying similar things very early on. In fact, it

318
00:21:01,601 --> 00:21:05,002
Speaker 1: was so early and the messages were so similar that

319
00:21:05,121 --> 00:21:08,201
Speaker 1: I figured there must be some kind of coordination. So

320
00:21:08,242 --> 00:21:12,202
Speaker 1: I called that PR expert, Christine Arena, to ask. She thought, for.

321
00:21:12,601 --> 00:21:16,682
Speaker 7: A media campaign where you're engaging different stakeholders and you're

322
00:21:16,722 --> 00:21:20,641
Speaker 7: writing the talking points, if you want your proxies, you know,

323
00:21:20,682 --> 00:21:25,081
Speaker 7: other political officials, other organizations to repeat the same talking points,

324
00:21:25,081 --> 00:21:27,762
Speaker 7: that takes at least three or four weeks. If you're

325
00:21:27,762 --> 00:21:31,762
Speaker 7: producing a creative ad that is on television, that could

326
00:21:31,841 --> 00:21:35,161
Speaker 7: take two months plus in a tight timeline.

327
00:21:35,321 --> 00:21:36,762
Speaker 8: This was just too coordinated.

328
00:21:37,002 --> 00:21:40,362
Speaker 7: Given the timeframe from the triggering event when Putin invaded

329
00:21:40,722 --> 00:21:44,282
Speaker 7: to the release of this creative the intervals were too tight,

330
00:21:44,601 --> 00:21:47,402
Speaker 7: the messages were too word for word. This is an

331
00:21:47,601 --> 00:21:54,121
Speaker 7: organized disinformation effort geared towards affecting policy in the short term.

332
00:21:54,522 --> 00:21:58,042
Speaker 7: I do personally believe that the communications pieces were put

333
00:21:58,081 --> 00:22:01,641
Speaker 7: into place and ready to go prior to February twenty fourth,

334
00:22:01,882 --> 00:22:04,282
Speaker 7: and that the fossil fuel industry knew it stood to

335
00:22:04,361 --> 00:22:07,762
Speaker 7: benefit from Russia's war, not just in terms of near

336
00:22:07,841 --> 00:22:11,522
Speaker 7: term gas prices, but you know, a shorter term scrap.

337
00:22:12,042 --> 00:22:15,002
Speaker 1: It didn't matter that the Democrats hadn't actually managed to

338
00:22:15,162 --> 00:22:19,162
Speaker 1: pass any climate policy, or that permits for oil and

339
00:22:19,202 --> 00:22:23,482
Speaker 1: gas drilling had actually increased under Biden. It didn't matter

340
00:22:23,561 --> 00:22:26,681
Speaker 1: that oil and gas production in the US had just

341
00:22:26,841 --> 00:22:30,161
Speaker 1: hit a record high, or that it was Obama and

342
00:22:30,202 --> 00:22:32,722
Speaker 1: Biden who had led the charge to lift the export

343
00:22:32,802 --> 00:22:36,002
Speaker 1: ban in twenty fifteen, opening the door to the US

344
00:22:36,042 --> 00:22:39,362
Speaker 1: becoming the world's top gas supplier in just a decade.

345
00:22:40,121 --> 00:22:42,962
Speaker 1: What mattered was the story and being able to tell

346
00:22:43,002 --> 00:22:44,402
Speaker 1: it first and loudest.

347
00:22:45,762 --> 00:22:49,402
Speaker 8: The notion that it's octivists and woke people they should

348
00:22:49,442 --> 00:22:52,282
Speaker 8: be the ones to fight climate change. You know, it's

349
00:22:52,321 --> 00:22:56,242
Speaker 8: not relevant for real Americans, this notion that President Biden

350
00:22:56,282 --> 00:22:59,882
Speaker 8: cares more about climate activists than he does about real Americans.

351
00:23:00,162 --> 00:23:03,282
Speaker 8: So there's a concerted push around these narratives.

352
00:23:04,002 --> 00:23:07,841
Speaker 1: Again, it's the industry pulling on the thread of American identity,

353
00:23:08,081 --> 00:23:12,202
Speaker 1: and oil being a fundamental part of it. Worked. Within

354
00:23:12,202 --> 00:23:15,682
Speaker 1: a month, the Biden administration had lifted any delayser restrictions

355
00:23:15,682 --> 00:23:18,762
Speaker 1: on liquefied natural gas terminals and ink to deal with

356
00:23:18,802 --> 00:23:22,321
Speaker 1: Europe that locked them into purchasing large volumes of American

357
00:23:22,361 --> 00:23:23,722
Speaker 1: gas for years to come.

358
00:23:24,402 --> 00:23:27,121
Speaker 5: We're going to work to ensure an additional fifteen billion

359
00:23:27,202 --> 00:23:31,601
Speaker 5: cubic meters of liquified natural gas LNG for Europe this year.

360
00:23:32,081 --> 00:23:35,522
Speaker 5: We will also work to ensure additional EU market demand

361
00:23:35,962 --> 00:23:38,922
Speaker 5: for fifty billion cubic meters of LNG from the United

362
00:23:38,962 --> 00:23:41,441
Speaker 5: States annually by twenty thirty.

363
00:23:44,361 --> 00:23:46,601
Speaker 1: What we heard from industry at the time was the

364
00:23:46,642 --> 00:23:49,522
Speaker 1: same thing we'd heard from President Trump during his first

365
00:23:49,601 --> 00:23:53,442
Speaker 1: term and are hearing from him and his administration today.

366
00:23:53,882 --> 00:23:57,082
Speaker 1: The idea of a lost and former greatness, of an

367
00:23:57,081 --> 00:24:00,682
Speaker 1: identity in a global dominance that's being threatened not by

368
00:24:00,682 --> 00:24:04,681
Speaker 1: climate change or by war, but by a pesky internal

369
00:24:04,762 --> 00:24:10,161
Speaker 1: minority leftists, environmentalists, climate activists. In his twenty twenty six speech,

370
00:24:10,361 --> 00:24:14,202
Speaker 1: API President Mike Summers described them as people who oppose

371
00:24:14,482 --> 00:24:18,442
Speaker 1: progress and American greatness and will therefore be left behind.

372
00:24:18,762 --> 00:24:21,282
Speaker 6: The future belongs to those who are willing to meet

373
00:24:21,442 --> 00:24:25,802
Speaker 6: demand and to lead with realism. Those who claim to

374
00:24:25,882 --> 00:24:28,962
Speaker 6: scarcity and stagnation will be left behind.

375
00:24:28,962 --> 00:24:32,721
Speaker 1: He hammered. On energy dominance too, a theme repeated often

376
00:24:32,802 --> 00:24:34,442
Speaker 1: by Trump and his administration.

377
00:24:34,962 --> 00:24:38,802
Speaker 5: We're looking to be very energy dominant, and we will

378
00:24:38,841 --> 00:24:40,081
Speaker 5: be in a very short.

379
00:24:40,042 --> 00:24:41,881
Speaker 1: Order unleash energy dominance.

380
00:24:42,242 --> 00:24:45,561
Speaker 3: This is unleashed the National Energy Dominance Council.

381
00:24:45,802 --> 00:24:51,042
Speaker 1: We are unleashing energy dominance that taps into another key

382
00:24:51,081 --> 00:24:54,922
Speaker 1: marker of fascism, the strongman leader guy who's going to

383
00:24:55,121 --> 00:24:57,922
Speaker 1: lead us back to that former glory. In the case

384
00:24:57,922 --> 00:25:02,002
Speaker 1: of fossil fascism, we call it petro masculinity. And the

385
00:25:02,042 --> 00:25:04,962
Speaker 1: current US President is a walking example.

386
00:25:05,802 --> 00:25:09,722
Speaker 9: When I wrote about this, that was during the first

387
00:25:09,762 --> 00:25:16,081
Speaker 9: Trump administration. What I wanted to do was understand this

388
00:25:16,242 --> 00:25:21,841
Speaker 9: connection and far right movements between misogyny, anti feminist politics,

389
00:25:22,202 --> 00:25:27,841
Speaker 9: anti queer politics, and the support for fossil fuel and

390
00:25:27,922 --> 00:25:32,282
Speaker 9: climate denial. And they still tend to be talked about separately,

391
00:25:33,402 --> 00:25:37,322
Speaker 9: as if they are sort of coincidentally inhabiting the same movement.

392
00:25:38,722 --> 00:25:45,962
Speaker 1: That's our story next time. Our senior producer and sound

393
00:25:45,962 --> 00:25:50,722
Speaker 1: designer is Martin Zaltz Austwick. He also composed original music

394
00:25:50,802 --> 00:25:55,962
Speaker 1: for this episode. Matt Fleming created the series artwork. Our

395
00:25:55,962 --> 00:25:59,722
Speaker 1: first Amendment attorney is James Wheaton. The show was reported

396
00:25:59,762 --> 00:26:01,962
Speaker 1: and written by me Amy Westervelt