Exxon Mobil is leaving the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a conservative nonprofit group that gets funding from fossil fuel companies.
Exxon disagreed with ALEC over climate change policy. In June, some ALEC members such as the Heartland Institute tried to encourage the group to adopt a draft resolution encouraging the federal government to challenge the so-called “endangerment finding.” The resolution failed to pass, and Exxon helped lobby to kill it.
The endangerment finding is a 2009 EPA policy that created the basis for regulating carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. It stems from a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that said carbon dioxide is a pollutant that the EPA can regulate under the Clean Air Act.
An Exxon spokesperson declined to comment on whether climate changed factored into its decision to leave ALEC. E&E News first reported Exxon’s decision.
“We review our memberships on an annual basis and this year have decided to discontinue our membership in ALEC, which expired at the end of June,” spokesman Scott Silvestri told the Washington Examiner.
ALEC also took the high road in a statement Thursday.
“The American Legislative Exchange Council values partnership with Exxon Mobil and stakeholders across the business community,” the group said in an email. “We have valued Exxon Mobil’s work and leadership with ALEC on STEM education, among other issues.”
The decision by Exxon to leave ALEC shows how large public oil and gas companies are trying to grapple with combating climate change, even as many factions of the GOP are hostile to federal government policy that targets greenhouse gas emissions.
Exxon has become more involved with addressing climate change after pressure from investors and legal challenges. Exxon CEO Darren Woods urged President Trump not to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.
Exxon also belongs to an initiative, called Methane Guiding Principles, of some of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies pledging to reduce its emissions of methane, a short-lived greenhouse gas that is more potent than carbon dioxide.
Methane is the main component in natural gas, which has replaced coal as America’s most-used fuel source.
Exxon is one of a few oil and gas companies that have set specific targets to reduce methane emissions.
