American Petroleum Institute

You know what really grinds my gears? When people in the media deny climate change because they are receiving giant sums of money from various corporations and institutes. In this particular case I am looking into the American Petroleum Institute and how they use their money to pay off the media to market their gas and oil. Patrick Michael’s is a climate scientist and he estimated that 40% of his funding came from oil and gas companies, American Petroleum being one of them.

What really disgusts me is the commercials put out by Energyfromshale.org, an organization trying to brainwash us into thinking hydraulic fracturing is safe. Let’s watch this commercial really quick.

In this commercial she makes a bold statement by saying fracking has been done safely by them for 65 years. They are lying right to our faces. There is nothing safe about pumping thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the ground to break apart shale to retrieve natural gas. In the documentary Gas Land we can clearly see the destruction hydraulic fracturing brings to the land around us. People were able to light their tap water on fire because of the toxic chemicals getting into their aquifer from fracking. Besides the toxic chemicals in the ground, the extraction and production of natural gas is the leading methane gas emissions contributing to climate change according to the EPA.

So where does this all tie together? Well Energy for Shale is actually part of the American Petroleum Institute. So money spent by them to disprove climate change will help boost sales and make fracking look safe which benefits Energy for Shale. This case is very similar to my post about Perdue chicken. These companies straight up lie to our face to make us think they are doing the right thing for us and the environment, when in reality that are not. Think about it, would we still support fracking if we saw the destruction it caused? We wouldn’t want to buy their product at all. Worst of all the American Petroleum Institute claims that natural gas is a clean energy and the way to the future. A scientist from Stanford by the name of Marc Jacobson created a map on how we could reach 100% sustainable power by 2030. The reality is we can fight climate change and make a difference. However these companies keep putting out propaganda to make their product, in this case natural gas, seem friendly and safe for us and the environment. They are giving us a false sense of hope while stabbing us in the back and destroying our water, land, and planet. 

Works Cited

https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/ch4.html