Greenpeace has today stepped up the pressure on energy firms linked to the
American Petroleum Institute (API), calling on
them to publicly denounce the lobby group’s
plans
for a series of "fake" rallies protesting at the proposed US climate change bill
that are intended to create the impression of grassroots opposition to the
legislation.

The so-called "astroturf" campaign was revealed last week when Greenpeace
obtained a
leaked
email from API president Jack Gerard urging the group’s members to encourage
staff, suppliers, contractors and retirees to attend a series of "Energy Citizen
" rallies that will be funded by the API and run by "a highly experienced events
management company".

The news stoked fears among green groups that the Waxman-Markey bill could
face similar protests to those experienced this summer by President Obama’s
embattled healthcare plan, which is widely believed to have been the victim of
similar tactics.

Greenpeace has today launched an
email-writing
campaign to the chief executives of BHP Billiton, BP, Chevron, Conoco,
Exxon, General Electric, Halliburton, Shell and Petrobras urging them to
withdraw their membership.

The letter states that the API campaign "would promote misleading and
outdated information" and that "as a member of the API, your membership fees are
funding this deceptive project".

It calls on the oil chief executives to "demonstrate your disapproval of the
continued use of similar tactics by API by publicly withdrawing membership
altogether".

The revelations are likely to cause considerable embarrassment to a number of
the API’s members, several of which such as BP America, ConocoPhillips, General
Electric, Shell and Siemens have previously demonstrated their support for the
Waxman-Markey bill through their membership of the
US Climate Action Partnership (US-CAP) –
a business group calling for national carbon legislation.

Shell and BP have said they were not involved in organising the
controversial rallies and will not be taking part, although both have so far
stopped short of leaving the API.

"We are aware of these rallies, but were not involved in organising them,"
said a spokesman for BP. "Our views on climate change legislation are well
known: we support a transparent, economy-wide system that is based on market
mechanisms and treats all energy sources in a fair and equitable manner."

Cindy Baxter of Greenpeace said the contradiction inherent in many oil
firms’ membership of both the API and the US-CAP group meant the onus was on
them to clarify their position on climate change legislation.

"If they do not know what their lobbyists are doing, they need to find out,"
she said. "There’s a contradiction in belonging to both groups. They need to
distance themselves publicly from the API’s dirty tactics, and if the API no
longer represents their views, they need to leave."