As the Trump administration rushes to tick off as many polluters’ wish-list items as possible before November, there are some quiet, if symbolic, changes afoot. On Monday, the American Petroleum Institute unveiled a new logo that, according to the oil and gas lobby’s Twitter account, “reflects the industry’s growth and showcases the modern, future-focused, collaborative, problem solving, and nonpartisan nature of our work.” (Instead of just red, it’s now red and blue—but mostly blue.) If this “nonpartisan” rebranding is any hint, America’s most powerful fossil fuel companies now think there’s a decent chance the administration that’s been so good to them will lose. What happens to the polluter-friendly GOP if it does?
The oil and gas industry makes 87 percent of its political donations to the Republican Party but, like all industries, is keen to hedge its bets. As of now, decades of continued fossil fuel production are still compatible with the more progressive plans coming out of the Democratic side. While they set timelines to phase out the consumption of fossil fuels stateside in some sectors, the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis report, the Sanders-Biden Unity Task Force recommendations, and Biden’s new climate plan are all fuzzy about when fossil fuel production will be phased out entirely. Clean energy and fossil fuels aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s even conceivable that, if Biden wins, his administration could offer a slightly tweaked version of Obama’s All of the Above energy strategy: boosting clean energy domestically while sending coal, oil, and gas out to the rest of the world.
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