CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of state. Tillerson’s confirmation provides the fossil fuel industry with unprecedented access to the very body charged with negotiating U.S. global climate policy.
Please see International Policy Director Tamar Lawrence-Samuel’s statement below:
“The confirmation of recently retired Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state means that the U.S. government under the Trump administration will be a government of, by, and for transnational corporations. Just as he did at Exxon Mobil, Tillerson will continue to put Big Oil’s interests above people and the planet, only this time as secretary of state.
Under Tillerson’s watch, Exxon Mobil continued to fund climate denying front groups that undermine climate policy and bankroll candidates across the country while claiming to support climate action. And now, riding a $180 million golden parachute, Tillerson will be at the helm of U.S. global climate policy at the UNFCCC and beyond.
Because Tillerson owes his career and wealth to the fossil fuel industry, there’s little question as to whose interests he’ll represent. In his Senate hearing, Tillerson showed the hallmarks of a Trump appointee when he was blatantly dishonest about Exxon Mobil’s lobbying activity against Russian sanctions and refused to condemn widely recognized human rights abuses around the globe.
But people are not having it. Not only was January’s global Women’s March a clear repudiation of Trump’s anti-environment agenda, the administration already has the lowest approval ratings in modern polling history. It’s high time for Trump to clean the oil out of his ears and listen to the people…because we’re just getting started.”
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