Gerard, Jack AP I

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Jack N. Gerard is former President, CEO, and a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute (API), a national trade association that “represents all aspects of America’s oil and natural gas industry.” Prior to working with API, Gerard was President and CEO of theAmerican Chemistry Council (ACC), where he also served as a lobbyist for the chemical industry. Before that, he served in the same position at the National Mining Association (NMA). Gerard announced on January 24, 2018 that he would step down as API‘s president.*}:

http://www.climatedevlab.brown.edu/uploads/2/8/4/0/28401609/covercountermovementcoalitions.2.2019.pdf

Website: www.coalitionforamericanjobs.com

Years of operation: 2010-2013

Leadership: Marty Durbin, Jack Gerard

Affiliated Denial Groups: Americans for Job Security, American Petroleum Institute

The Coalition for American Jobs (CAJ) is a now-defunct front group through which groups like the American Petroleum Institute and dark money groups with strong ties to the Koch Brothers could funnel money to pay for ad campaigns. The CAJ often acted as an indistinguishable arm of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), an enormous trade organization representing North American chemical manufacturers. CAJ’s board consisted of then-current or former important members of the ACC, and its listed headquarters are identical to the Washington, D.C. office of the ACC.

API’s tax returns, which list donations to CAJ, describe the recipient as “Coalition for American Jobs/American Chemistry Council.” According to its archived website, CAJ described itself as representing “American businesses, industries and others concerned about the impact of potential EPA action on job creation, including the growth of green jobs.” Among the group’s key members were major extractive and industrial coalitions such as the American Petroleum Institute, the American Chemistry Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Paper and Forest Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, and other undisclosed members. CAJ was active from 2010 to 2013, and it was incorporated as a 501(c)6 trade organization, meaning it could lobby for issues related to the business league. It was an affiliation of businesses, which provided the funding for its operations. The group appeared to fold after the 2012 election cycle.

Important Dates 2010 Coalition for American Job

....

CAJ was led by a board of five officers that included Marty Durbin, Jack Gerard, Cal Dooley, Thomas Gibson, and Michael Walls. Marty Durbin was the leader of CAJ and was executive vice president at the American Petroleum Institute (API), from whom CAJ received $1 million in 2010 and $412,969 in 2011. Jack Gerard was the President, CEO, and lobbyist for API. Before that, he was the CEO and President of the American Chemistry Council. As the President of API, Gerard directed more than $63 million (a third of the API’s budget) to be spent on political ads through the consulting company Edelman.

Instead of directly listing API as the source of these ads, they are often attributed to front groups that sound more palatable, like “Energy Nation” or “The Coalition for American Jobs”. Edelman has its own history with PR work for climate change denialists. When it represented TransCanada, one of the oil companies supporting the Keystone XL pipeline, Edelman detailed a plan to find unflattering information about TransCanada’s environmentalist foes and publish it under the names of third party groups to deflect attention from the pipeline company.

In that same leaked document, Edelman laid out a detailed plan to create astroturf groups in support of TransCanada’s pipeline, saying “Companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Halliburton (and many more) have all made key investments in building permanent advocacy assets and programs to support their lobbying, outreach, and policy efforts.”

Cal Dooley: Dooley is the CEO, President and Director of the American Chemistry Council. Tom Gibson: The President and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). He worked as a top lobbyist for the American Chemistry Councilprior to joining AISI.

Michael Walls: The Vice President of Regulatory and Technical Affairs at the American Chemistry Council.

Funding CAJ was largely funded by Dow and DuPont chemical (now DowDuPont), and by Exxon Mobil. In 2011/2012, CAJ received $442,000 from Americans for Job Security, a group that in 2016 paid over $200,000 in fines to the FEC for illegally concealing their political donors. Americans for Job Security had a $50 million dollar budget in 2012 but has managed to keep their donor list completely private. Americans for Job Security’s tax returns indicate that they serve to shuffle around money between different conservative and Koch affiliated groups; in 2011 they gave $24,550,000 to the Center to Protect Patient’s Rights, a group tied to the Koch Brothers, after receiving nearly $5,000,000 from the group in 2010...

OPPOSED

H.R.2454 - American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009111th Congress (2009-2010)

BILL

Hide Overview

Sponsor:	Rep. Waxman, Henry A. [D-CA-30] (Introduced 05/15/2009)
Committees:	House - Science and Technology; Energy and Commerce; Foreign Affairs; Financial Services; Education and Labor; Transportation and Infrastructure; Natural Resources; Agriculture; Ways and Means
Committee Reports:	H. Rept. 111-137
Latest Action:	Senate - 07/07/2009 Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 97. (All Actions)
Roll Call Votes:	There have been 2 roll call votes

API IPAA dereg wishlist granted by bernhardt, zinke, pruitt and pendejo

both in EID

API and IPAA Comments on the U.S. FWS's and National ...https://www.ipaa.org › api-and-ipaa-comments-on-the-...

Sep 4, 2020 — This letter provides comments from the American Petroleum Institute (“API”) and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (“IPAA”) ...

API, AXPC, IPAA and DEPA Comments on EPA Development ...https://www.ipaa.org › api-axpc-ipaa-and-depa-comme...

We support EPA working with various stakeholders, including the oil and gas sector, to better understand the current regulatory framework as ...

API Archives | Independent Petroleum Association of America https://www.ipaa.org › tag › api

One of IPAA's primary purposes is to advocate for its members' interests in continued and responsible oil and gas development before Congress and federal ...

API, IPAA, AOPL and AXPC Comments on Proposed Rule to ...https://www.ipaa.org › api-ipaa-aopl-and-axpc-commen...

Apr 15, 2019 — “This letter provides comments from the American Petroleum Institute (“API”), the Independent Petroleum Association of America (“IPAA”), ...

API-IPAA comments for USFS oil and gas regulations ANPRMhttps://www.api.org › letters-or-comments › 2018/10/12

Oct 12, 2018 — API-IPAA comments for USFS oil and gas regulations ANPRM. The American Petroleum Institute (“API”) and the Independent Petroleum Association ...

API-IPAA-Alliance and PAW Comments Submitted to USFS re ...https://www.api.org › letters-or-comments › 2019/01/03

Jan 3, 2019 — API-IPAA-Alliance and PAW submitted the accompanying comment letter and exhibits to the US Forest Service in response to the agency's ...

IPAA Joins API, Other Oil & Gas Trade Associations in Lawsuit ...https://www.energyindepth.org › ipaa-joins-api-other-oi...

IPAA Joins API, Other Oil & Gas Trade Associations in Lawsuit Over Illegal Federal Leasing Ban. BY William Allison Aug. 16, 2021 1.

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{TRUMP MEETS WITH API, CEOs: The president’s White House meeting with the American Petroleum Institute revolved around “the important role natural resources play in our energy sector,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said. The guest list for the confab included Exxon CEO Darren Woods, Chevron CEO Mike Wirth, Shell Oil President Bruce Culpepper, BP America President John Mingé and API President Jack Gerard, among a host of other executives, Pro’s Ben Lefebvre reports. Vice President Mike Pence was also in attendance, API spokesman Eric Wohlschlegel said in a press release. Before heading to the White House, API had convened a two-day meeting at a Trump hotel.*}:}:

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https://apps.publicintegrity.org/united-states-of-petroleum/century-of-influence/

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A CENTURY OF INFLUENCE

The unlikely partnership between Big Oil and the White House

How the industry stalled action on climate change from the inside and sold America on fossil fuels

Illustration by Robert Fresson

by Jie Jenny Zou

Chris Young, Rachel Leven contributed reporting

December 12, 2017

A version of this article was co-published with Guardian US.

When Rick Perry was interrupted by climate-change protesters during his address to the National Petroleum Council in late September, the energy secretary was ready with a retort.

“You want to talk about something that saves lives? It’s the access to energy around the globe,” Perry said, countering a woman worried about deadly hurricanes and a man whose hometown is being submerged by the rising Philippine Sea. “I am proud to be a part of this industry. I am proud to be an American."

It was an opportunity for the former Texas governor to champion an industry he’d long embraced by showing fealty to the petroleum council, an arcane federal advisory committee dominated by energy executives. Picking up on Perry’s message was Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who has pledged to fast-track drilling and open more areas to fossil-fuel development.

The two took turns reassuring the council’s nearly 200 members during a meeting at the opulent Hay-Adams hotel in Washington, D.C., that the White House would be a friend, not foe, to Big Oil. “We’re now in the business of being partners, rather than adversaries,” Zinke said. “If I were in the industry, I’d be pretty happy.”

It wasn’t the first time that global warming had been cast aside by the Energy Department’s petroleum council, successor to a wartime body created by President Harry Truman. In 1972, the council buried the industry’s own climate research with the help oftop executives at the American Petroleum Institute (API), a longtime ally that once shared a building with the council.

API has gone far beyond the lobbying typical of trade associations, helping spawn permanent substructures within the executive branch that ensure its voice is heard. These government entities, which include the petroleum council and an obscure but powerful White House office, have for decades worked in tandem with API to fortify the oil and gas industry, its critics say, often at the public’s expense.

Excerpt from a transcript of API’s 1959 “Energy and Man” symposium at Columbia University in New York. The Hagley Museum]

API’s history on climate issues goes back farther than most realize. As early as 1959, it grappled with global warming, hosting a conference where the looming, manmade catastrophe was discussed. As the environmental movement was blossoming, API — with the government’s support — was working behind the scenes to undermine it by distorting projections of regulatory costs. An enduring false narrative was constructed: the economy or the environment.

For nearly a century, API has enjoyed special access to the executive branch,furtively shaping policy from the inside. Now, under Donald Trump, the industry smells victory on multiple fronts with a White House that openly detests regulation as much as it does. Days before Trump’s inauguration, API President Jack Gerard heralded the “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to reshape energy policy.

Fifty-two environmental rules have since been overturned or are in the process of being rolled back. API has publicly supported at least 23 of these actions. In May, the institute also sent a 25-page wish list to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Among the items it wants reconsidered: tougher standards for ozone — the main ingredient in smog — and regulation of methane, a greenhouse gas that is far more potent than carbon dioxide.

API officials did not respond to interview requests from the Center for Public Integrity. On its website, the institute says, "We negotiate with regulatory agencies, represent the industry in legal proceedings, participate in coalitions and work in partnership with other associations to achieve our members’ public policy goals."

Neomi Rao at a congressional hearing for her 2017 appointment to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a division of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

U.S. Senate]

‘Regulate the regulators’

“I asked my staff for a joke, but it’s still going through cost-benefit analysis,” Neomi Rao said from a podium in October, drawing hearty laughs from a mostly male crowd of lobbyists, lawyers and policy analysts at the Heritage Foundation — a libertarian think tank based in Washington.

It was a tongue-in-cheek nod to the little-known agency Rao has led since July — the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs,which she called a “small but mighty” division of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Her staff of roughly 50 reviews the costs and benefits of all major federal rules, providing the stamp of approval needed to turn proposals into regulations — or spiking them.

“If you are a very pro-regulatory administration, then you are not going to appreciate the work that OIRA does,” Rao warned the audience, likening her office to a “roadblock” against burdensome policies that hurt the economy. “The pace and scope of deregulation that’s occurred is truly unprecedented, and we’re just getting started.”

“The pace and scope of deregulation that’s occurred is truly unprecedented, and we’re just getting started.”

Rao — a constitutional scholar who clerked for conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and often shared pizza with the late Antonin Scalia — has embraced her role as “regulatory czar,” pledging to surpass a Trump executive order to eliminate two existing regulations for each one created. Though she is an ardent supporter of leaner and more restrained government, she plans to staff up OIRA and broaden its powers.

How, exactly, she’ll do this is a mystery — much like the inner workings of OIRA itself.The agency has routinely come up short of basic transparency guidelines recommended by the Government Accountability Office, garnering a reputation on Capitol Hill as a black box that heavily edits or kills regulations with little explanation in Republican and Democratic administrations alike. Cass Sunstein, who led the office during the Obama administration, has since defended the practice of derailing particular rules by putting them on a “shit list.”

While OIRA has resisted public scrutiny, it has held its doors open for industry. Since April 2014, 35 of OIRA’s 712 meetings on proposed EPA regulations have been withAPI representatives — including a 2015 conference call with institute President Gerard over ozone. The institute, along with the American Chemistry Council and ExxonMobil, ranked among the top 10 groups that met with OIRA from 2001 to 2011. Such encounters carry weight: A 2015 study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers found the agency was more likely to edit rules when lobbied by industry than by public-interest groups. Rao’s office did not respond to requests for comment, but OIRA notes on its website that it will meet with “any party interested in discussing issues on a rule under review.”

The office’s bias toward industry can be traced to its founding. Though OIRA was created in 1980, its roots date to the EPA’s formation in 1970. As a counterweight, President Richard Nixon established the National Industrial Pollution Control Council, an advisory committee within the Commerce Department made up entirely of industry executives.

Frank N. Ikard, former API president]

“Virtually no major move is made in environmental policy without drawing on your advice and criticism,” Secretary of Commerce (and, later, Nixon campaign adviser and Watergate figure) Maurice Stans told the committee in 1971. Members regularly reviewed and commented on draft regulations before they were released to the public, weighing in on matters such as leaded gasoline and the Clean Air Act.

Stans took special interest in the pollution committee’s oil and gas subgroup led by Standard Oil Chairman J.K. Jamieson, who regularly invited API President Frank Ikard and API public-affairs executive P.M. Gammelgard to its meetings. Staff from the National Petroleum Council were also on hand. Together the men coordinated a public-relations effort emphasizing the enormous costs the oil industry claimed it was absorbing to improve the environment.

Excerpt from the National Petroleum Council’s 1971 summary report to the White House National Archives and Records Administration]

In February 1971, the pollution committee advised Nixon aides to prioritize costs. The White House budget office obliged that October by creating a new program called “Quality of Life Review,” which would assess major environmental, health and safety regulations. Tapped to lead the agency was bureaucrat Jim Tozzi, who had shown a passion for deregulation at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Jim Tozzi describes himself as the father of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Administrative Conference of the United States

“Quality of Life” became all about reining in the EPA, Tozzi explained during an interview with the Center for Public Integrity. Occupying a floor of the Executive Office Building next to the White House, his office quickly went to work on the EPA’s proposed Clean Air Act guidelines. “I was like a little despot,” Tozzi said. “Somebody needed to regulate the regulators.”

Under Jimmy Carter, the “Quality of Life” program became OIRA in 1980, with Tozzi as deputy administrator. In 1983, Tozzi left the agency to join a law firm headed by William Ruckelshaus — the EPA’s first administrator, a Nixon appointee and an early champion of cost-benefit analysis. Tozzi now runs the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, a think tank he founded and staffed with former OIRA employees that assesses regulations.

Tozzi said his plan for policing the EPA — and every other federal agency — has survived nine consecutive administrations and looks bright under Rao. “The Trump administration,” he said admiringly, “has gotten the number of regulations going out to a trickle.”

‘Virtually indistinguishable’

As Nixon’s pollution control committee quietly lobbied on industry’s behalf, the National Petroleum Council was doing its part to paint Big Oil as a linchpin of the U.S. economy.

Council members had grudgingly agreed to an Interior Department request to assess the industry’s environmental track record and plans following a 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara, California. The disaster sent an estimated three million gallons of crude gushing into the Pacific Ocean; television broadcasts showed shorelines littered with tarred birds and dolphins.

The 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill in California became a pivotal point in the environmental movement.]

But the petroleum council’s ensuing two-volume report in 1972 was anything but apologetic. Totaling more than 500 pages, it defiantly cast the Santa Barbara spill as an anomaly and urged the government to continue fostering oil and gas development. Echoing economic arguments made by Nixon’s pollution committee, the council’s report cautioned against regulation that would dampen industry’s bottom line.

Among the report’s authors were Union Oil President Fred Hartley, whose company was responsible for the spill, and Standard Oil Chairman Jamieson of Nixon’s cost-obsessed pollution committee.

Citing research by API, the report also played down climate change. “Carbon dioxide concentrations do appear to be increasing for reasons not well understood,” the council wrote, adding that scientists would have to wait until the year 2000 to determine “whether or not a serious problem exists.” Even if the gas were having an effect, controlling such a ubiquitous pollutant could “impose impossible administrative and enforcement burdens,” the report said.

But things weren’t as ambiguous as the council made them sound. API papers on atmospheric pollutants in 1968 and 1969 made it clear that rising carbon dioxide levels came from the burning of fossil fuels and that warming was inevitable. The 1968 paper warned that there could be “melting of the Antarctic ice cap, a rise in sea levels [and] warming of the oceans,” while the 1969 paper noted that carbon dioxide levels would rise “as our combustion economy continues to consume increasing amounts of fossil fuel.” Several authors of the petroleum council’s report likely knew this, given that they were top API officials – including President Ikard and public-affairs executive Gammelgard.

Excerpt from a 1969 API scientific study on atmospheric pollutants. API]

The council and API occupied the same K Street building in Washington during the 1940s. Ikard — so close to Nixon that the president wrote thank-you notes to Ikard’s wife for homemade fruitcake and get-well messages — maintained an office there. In 1972, Ikard traveled to Sweden at the White House’s behest to represent the United States at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment — the first international meeting of its kind. There Ikard would have been in a position to spread the word about global warming. There is no documentation to suggest he did.

API’s research during the 1960s makes the case “compellingly that the science is really sound,” said Carroll Muffett, president of the Center for International Environmental Law, an advocacy group that tracked down the climate studies. Muffett claims the petroleum council’s report is proof that high-level API executives were aware of the grave threats of warming and worked to hide the revelations. Climate-change doubters followed suit, mischaracterizing API’s early research as evidence that warming was a hoax.

Digging through archives, Stanford University researcher Ben Franta found what he believes is API’s earliest public reckoning with climate change: a November 1959 conference it hosted at Columbia University where a renowned scientist posited the emerging threat before 300 “government officials, economists, historians, scientists and executives.”

Within years, API was feverishly commissioning air-pollution research that resulted in the 1968 and 1969 papers. “API had this long-running awareness of climate change and climate science, and in that history the message they were getting from scientists was that climate change was real,” said Franta, who is writing his dissertation on the trade group’s activities. “If they wanted to head off that threat, they were going to have to think about acting then."

API leaders have played key roles at the National Petroleum Council, a federal body chartered in 1946 whose reports claim to be nonpartisan and in the national interest. The council was founded during World War II as a quasi-government agency that aided the war effort. It later became an adviser to the Interior Department and is now attached to the Energy Department, which did not respond to requests for comment. Members of the privately funded council are prohibited from lobbying and self-dealing but a review of its secretive, 71-year history shows it has long carried water for industry, minimizing environmental concerns while promoting deeper and riskier drilling.

While the council insists it’s not a trade association, its structure is similar to API’s. Both are organized as nonprofit business leagues funded privately by annual member dues. Though the council has a spare staff of under a dozen, it took in more than $5 million in 2015 donations.

Executive Director Marshall Warfield Nichols, who began working for the council in 1971, received compensation topping $840,000 in 2015, records show. The same year, the council spent $325,000 on a contract with FTI Consulting, the same K Street firm retained by API to lobby for favorable trade policies and aggressively rebut negative press on the oil and gas industry.

When a Center for Public Integrity reporter visited the council’s office in August, staff members refused to discuss a federal law that requires the council to make the bulk of its records publicly available. It subsequently released transcripts of some of its annual public meetings but did so unevenly, with some transcripts incomplete or heavily edited in handwriting. Some were missing.

The council has refused to provide the Center with any of its subcommittee records, and declined to provide all documents prior to 1973 — including records underlying its 1972 environmental report. Executive director Nichols declined to be interviewed, writing in an email that “it is not our practice to comment in public on matters between the Secretary of Energy and the Council or its members.” Nichols, however, shared records denied the Center with three private researchers who authored a sponsored history of the council in 2004. One of the writers had been previously hired by API to author the trade group’s own history.

The council’s composition and views have been fodder for complaints from those outside of industry. Its leaders have been the biggest, loudest voices in oil; until February, former ExxonMobil CEO and current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was council chairman. Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney led the group before he became vice president in 2001.

In 2000, Fred Krupp of the Environmental Defense Fund resigned from the council, taking issue with an oil-refining report that criticized an EPA plan to curb sulfur in diesel, citing high costs to industry. In a letter to then-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, Krupp wrote that he disagreed with the council’s recommendation to “delay and weaken … programs that are necessary for cleaner, healthier air quality.”

Of the council’s 170 members at the time, only Krupp represented an environmental nonprofit. He encouraged Richardson to diversify the body’s membership to include public-health advocates and regulators. Otherwise, he wrote, its perspectives would continue to be “virtually indistinguishable from the views of the refining trade organizations.”

Peter Lehner, then with the Natural Resources Defense Council, resigned from the council’s advisory committee about seven years ago after just a few months as a member, writing that his “goals were fundamentally distinct from the members of the petroleum industry whose perspectives continue to dominate the [council].”

Things haven’t changed much since Krupp and Lehner left. Of 192 members on the council’s roster, 144 come from the oil and gas industry. Over its lifetime, the council claims, almost a third of its 2,800 recommendations have been “fully implemented.”

These recommendations — to open more of the Arctic to drilling, for example — stand a good chance of being embraced by the Trump administration. At the petroleum council’s meeting in September, energy secretary Perry put his audience at ease. “The government’s not going to be in your way,” he said.

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https://www.desmog.com/jack-n-gerard/*

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Jack N. Gerard

Credentials

Bachelor’s degree in political science and a juris doctor from George Washington University. [1]

Background

Jack N. Gerard is former President, CEO, and a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute (API), a national trade association that “represents all aspects of America’s oil and natural gas industry.” Prior to working with API, Gerard was President and CEO of theAmerican Chemistry Council (ACC), where he also served as a lobbyist for the chemical industry. Before that, he served in the same position at the National Mining Association (NMA). Gerard announced on January 24, 2018 that he would step down as API‘s president. He would find a successor by Sept 1, Axios reported. [51], [2], [3], [52]

According to data from OpenSecrets.org, the American Petroleum Institute (API) spent over $94 million on lobbying for the oil and gas industry between 1998 and 2016. Since Gerard started working at API in 2008, they spent over $66 million on lobbying, or 70% of that total. Gerard has often advocated forLiquified Natural Gas (LNG) as an alternative fuel and solution to reduce CO2 emissions, while opposing renewable energy. He suggests a “market-based” approach to emissions reductions, rather than industry regulation. [4], [5]

While at API, Gerard has overseen campaigns under names like “Energy Nation,” “Energy Citizens,” “EnergyTomorrow,” or “the People of America’s Oil and Natural Gas Industry.” API‘s “Energy Citizens” portrayed itself as a “grass roots” initiative to combat climate change legislation.The Washington Post notes that in 2010, Gerard directed $63 million, one-third of API‘s budget, to an outside public relations firm for ad campaigns. [6], [7]

According to a search of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Lobbying Disclosure database, Gerard served as a lobbyist for the American Chemistry Council starting as early as 2006, and has been a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute (API) since 2008. Gerard has appeared numerous times before the White House to argue against greenhouse gas regulations that would impact the oil industry. [3]

In 2012, The Huffington Post described Jack Gerard as a long-time backer and a close friend of Mitt Romney, while Roll Call described him as one of Romney’s “most trusted advisers.” [8], [9], [10]

Stance on Climate Change

2016

While Jack Gerard does not appear to have an official statement on his views on climate change, the American Petroleum Institute offered the following statement in March of 2016, acknowledging that climate change is a legitimate problem: [11]

“It is clear that climate change is a serious problem that requires research for solutions and effective policies that allow us to meet our energy needs while protecting the environment: that’s why oil and gas companies are working to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. “

Key Quotes

January 9, 2018

“I think we’re at the point where we need to get over the conversation of who believes and who doesn’t, and move to a conversation about solutions,” Gerard said about climate change, reported the Washington Examiner. [50]

September 22, 2016

In a API leadership briefing, Gerard criticized divestment campaigns as unrealistic, reports The New York Times: [12]

“There are those who would advocate for no fossil fuels at all, which is frankly irresponsible, since the United States depends on fossil fuels to meet 80 percent of its energy needs.”

January 7, 2014

As reported at Huffington Post, Jack Gerard laid out API‘s agenda at a speech at Newseum, also calling on Obama to quickly approve the Keystone XL pipeline: [13]

“This has gone on far too long,” Gerard said. “I’d like to point out that the now five-plus year evaluation process of the Keystone XL pipeline has lasted longer than America’s involvement in the second World War, longer than it took our nation to put a man in space, and almost as long as it took to build the Transcontinental Railroad 155 years ago.”

May 11, 2012

The following is from Jack N. Gerard’s speech at the City Club of Cleveland where he emphasized API‘s opinion on the importance of oil and natural gas (view video below): [14]

“Many people don’t realize that sixty-two percent of all the energy we consume in the United States today is oil and natural gas. The experts, even in the Obama administration, will tell you that 30 years from now, even with the most optimistic projections surrounding alternative and renewable forms of energy, 30 years from now we will still rely on oil and natural gas for 55% of all the energy consumed in the United States.”

April 2012

Gerard is quoted in a April, 2012 article in The Washington Post:

“If we’re concerned about a particular member [of Congress], we will educate that constituency and encourage people to weigh in with their elected official,” he says in a conference room at API’s L Street office. “Congress is a lagging indicator. Congress is responsive to the American people. That’s why a well-educated electorate is a key to sound policy.” [6]

“[E]nergy is not about Republicans, not about Democrats. It is not a partisan issue. It’s an issue that affects Americans at large.” [6]

August2010

Discussing a controversial “grass roots” advocacy program where API had worked in coordination with FreedomWorks, the American Conservative Union and Americans for Tax Reform to fight against House climate bill (H.R. 2454), Gerard told Greenwire: [15]

“We have always encouraged our employees to engage in political activities.”

While critics had claimed most of those who attended were representatives of the energy industry, Gerard claimed this was false:

“in most forums very few oil and gas people attended,” he said.

July 21, 2009

In a July, 2009 interview with Politico, Gerard declared: [16]

“What we’ve learned is that the public probably doesn’t understand or appreciate us as much as we’d like them to.”

December 7, 2009

Reacting to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s formal declaration that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, Gerard said: [17]

“[The EPA Endangerment Finding] action poses a threat to every American family and business if it leads to regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Such regulation would be intrusive, inefficient, and excessively costly.”

August 12, 2009

In a leaked memo to API affiliates (PDF), Gerard wrote: [18]

“To be clear, API will provide the up-front resources [for its Energy Citizens rallies] to ensure logistical issues do not become a problem.”

“[W]e don’t want critics to know our game plan.”

November 2008

In response to the November 2008 election of Barack Obama as President and Joe Biden as Vice-president, API released a statement in the name of their CEO, Jack Gerard, saying:

“The American people have spoken loud and clear that they want politicians to put aside partisan bickering… . The oil and natural gas industry stands ready to help put America’s vast energy resources to good use, strengthening our nation’s economy and energy security, and providing good jobs for Americans across the country.” [19]

Gerard earlier criticized Obama’s platform, saying “Obama’s plan to impose a windfall-profits tax on oil companies would harm one of the few industries that are thriving” in the economic crisis. [20], [21]

June 17, 2008

“When industries are confronted by challenges, they tend to get shellshocked and step back into the foxhole. […] My philosophy is the opposite. Industries need someone to step forward and make the case when people don’t understand them. […] Because there’s a lot of anxiety in the Congress about the industry, we have to step forward and be compelling in our advocacy. It’s not a time to be bashful. The more transparent the discussion, the better off we’ll be.” [22]

Key Deeds

March 31, 2018

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Gerard was appointed as a full-time leader of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The Tribune noted that it is unclear of Gerard’s appointment to the LDS Church as the reason for his departure from API. [53]

January 24, 2018

Gerard announced that he would step down as API‘s president. According to Axios, Gerard said he would step down in August and work to find a replacement by September 1. [51], 52]

January 4, 2017

Jack N. Gerard delivered the American Petroleum Institute’s “2017 State of American Energy” keynote, followed by a Q&A Session. View Jack Gerard’s prepared speech here, or watch the video below: [23], [24]

Gerard reiterates the common argument by the energy industry that fossil fuels will provide cheap fuel to help those in poverty:

“And as the planet’s population continues to grow, demand for affordable and abundant energy will also grow, which will not only improve the standard of living for millions but will also lift many more out of poverty.”

Responding to a question on what API would do on climate change under the Trump administration, Gerard said:

“API and the industry generally will probably continue doing what it has been doing. And that is reaching out and demonstrating solutions to the challenge.”

According to Gerard claims that the energy industry is quite capable of managing itself despite “constraints imposed on the industry by regulations designed more to stifle domestic fossil fuel development than to benefit the American consumer.”

He concludes that we must “break from the recent past” which includes the “the regulatory onslaught of the last few years,” with things like limits on offshore drilling.

“We know we need more energy, but we haven’t seen any meaningful expansion of offshore access in decades,” Gerard said. “A small, vocal minority have taken it upon themselves to target these projects to advance their anti-fossil fuel political agenda,” he added.

December 4, 2016

Jack Gerard called on President-Elect Donald Trump to “restore the rule of law in our nation’s regulatory regime” by a fast approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline when he takes office. [25]

“Moving forward, I am hopeful President-elect Trump will reject the Obama administration’s shameful actions to deny this vital energy project,restore the rule of law in the regulatory process, and make this project’s approval a top priority as he takes office in January,” Gerard said.

August 12, 2016

In an API Email to Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Jack Gerard claims that no more studies are needed to confirm that fracking is safe: [26]

“[A]mple work has already been undertaken to support the conclusion that there is no link between hydraulic fracturing and drinking water impacts,” Gerard writes.

In conclusion, Gerard notes that “API continues to stand ready to assist EPA in whatever way we can to bring this study to a successful conclusion based on sound science.”

May 18, 2016

Jack N. Gerard wrote a letter on behalf of API (PDF) encouraging Speaker Paul Ryan and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to support Section 1090 of H.R. 4909, the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which would streamline liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits. [27]

Gerard sent a similar API letter in January, 2016 supporting S. 2012, the Energy Policy Modernization Act, in particular provisions which “will require the Department of Energy to consider natural gas export permit applications in a timely manner.” [28]

February 26, 2015

Jack Gerard addressed the American Association of Blacks in Energy at a 2015 Energy Summit. In his remarks, Gerard introduced a report titled “Minority and Female Employment in the Oil & Gas and Petrochemical Industries,” which API had commissioned IHS Global to compile. [29]

“The report emphasizes the fact that in the decades ahead the oil, natural gas and petrochemical industries will spur the creation of hundreds of thousands of new, well-paying jobs that require people with a wide range of skill sets, training and educational achievement levels,” Gerard remarked. “Our goal is to ensure that anyone who wants a well-paying career has that opportunity. Because that’s the only way we will seize America’s energy moment.” [ROWE]

On September 17, 2014, Gerard presented the same report before the US. House of Representatives discussing H.R. 4526, The 21st Century Energy Workforce Development Jobs Initiative Act of 2014. [30]

November 16, 2015

In a press call, Jack Gerard outlined a “market-based emissions reduction model” in order to combat climate change. [5]

Discussing the Paris climate conference, Gerard said, “There should be no place for dogmatic adherence to ideology. But rather science, economic reality and real-world proven results should guide the delegates’ deliberations.”

Gerard goes on to denounce President Obama’s Clean Power plan, claiming it “ignores the natural gas success story and pushes power plants to adopt sources like wind and solar” when it should be focusing on “natural gas, the energy source that is providing the greater benefit now.”

He also denounces the Obama administration’s decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, claiming it “demonstrates the administrations [sic] priority for perception over reality. […] Carbon emissions will actually be 42 percent greater without Keystone XL.”

In conclusion, Gerard said that “America’s market-driven success should be the model for the Paris conference. […] That means avoiding massive, command-and-control government mandates.”

January 12, 2015

In an API press conference held before President Obama’s State of the Union Address, Jack Gerard urges for repeal of the Renewable Fuel Standard: [31]

“Like the recently repealed crude export ban, the RFS is a relic of a time of energy scarcity,” Gerard said.

Gerard goes on to suggest that Obama should reduce regulation on the energy industry: “Instead of pursuing a barrage of job-crushing new regulations – many of which are duplicative and unnecessary – President Obama has the opportunity to seize the initiative and embrace policies that recognize the value of the energy resurgence and acknowledge that the goals of environmental progress and energy production are not mutually exclusive,” he said.

April 29, 2014

Jack Gerard wrote a letter to Chairman Fred Upton and Ranking Member Henry Waxman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the U.S. House of Representatives, encouraging them to support H.R. 6, the Domestic Prosperity and Global Freedom Act. H.R. 6 would expedite approvals for LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) exports.[32]

“Our industry is prepared to invest billions in LNG export terminals, each of which represent a multimillion dollar investment in infrastructure, as well as longterm investments in U.S. labor and materials. Yet, over 20 applications for export permits remain on hold at the Department of Energy (DOE),” Gerard lamented.

July 30, 2012

Jack N. Gerard wrote a pro-Keystone-XL letter (PDF) to Secretary Clinton on behalf of the American Petroleum Institute: [33]

“I want to reiterate what API has stated in previous letters to DOS: it is in the best interests of all Americans to build the pipeline to ensure our long-term energy security, a dependable supply of Canadian oil to U.S. refineries and the creation of thousands of American jobs,” Gerard wrote.

With regards to the final environmental impact statement (FEIS), Gerard added, “Additionally, given the extensive examination already given to the potential climate impacts in the prior FEIS, additional analysis of this topic is not warranted.”

March 7, 2012

In testimony March 7 at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, Jack Gerard suggested that President Obama could be blamed for high gas prices. The Washington Post reported that “The tale was an indictment of President Obama. But there’s one hitch, say oil experts. It doesn’t hold together.” They go on to cite industry experts, who explain other reasons for the fluctuations. [34]

January 4, 2012

Jack Gerard, in his capacity as President of the American Petroleum Institute, announced a new API campaign to promote approval for the Keystone XL pipeline and other energy industry ventures such as expanded offshore drilling, and opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and more federal lands to drilling. [35]

In a January 4 speech, Gerard also denounced the Obama Administration for its delay of the Keystone XL pipeline, calling it “the largest shovel-ready project promising 20,000 construction-related jobs over the next two years, enabling more than half a million new U.S. jobs by 2035,” reported Greenpeace. [36]

The “Vote for Energy” campaign was launched a day after the the Iowa caucus set the stage for the 2012 presidential election, and included ads on television, radio and print media. The campaign ran nation wide, but focused heavily on Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and other states where energy as a key issue, reports CNN Money. [37]

Greenpeace created a parody website, vote-4-energy.com, outlining the API campaign. Greenpeace said in a statement:

“The Vote 4 Energy campaign is the latest effort by the oil industry to fake citizen support for its agenda. The American Petroleum Institute has repeatedly spent millions to block clean energy solutions and fake grassroots support for Big Oil.”

When Greenpeace confronted Gerard about the funding behind the Vote for Energy campaign, he refused to provide a response:[38]

You can view samples of API‘s “Vote 4 Energy” ads here, which include photos of, as The Washington Post put it, “ordinary looking folks” beside a pitch for how fossil fuel development will boost jobs. [6]

As of 2016, API was still sending out materials under the “Vote 4 Energy” heading. [39]

November 11, 2011

Jack Gerard sent a letter (PDF) on behalf of API to Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection agency, opposing Tier 3 regulations and claiming that the need to cap sulphur emissions “isn’t supported by reality.” [40]

October 20, 2011

Jack N. Gerard sent an open letter to Lisa Jackson (PDF), Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), criticizing the agency’s approach to evaluating the impacts ofHydraulic fracturing (fracking) on drinking water. [41]

Gerard claims the scientific validity of the studies would be in question if the EPA tested samples at their own facilities “using unapproved protocol.” The letter was signed by representatives of major industry groups including: [41]

Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA)

American Petroleum Institute (API)

American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC)

US Oil & Gas Association

America’s Natural Gas Alliance

Petroleum Equipment Suppliers Association

August 16, 2011

Jack Gerard, representing API, attended a White House meeting to lobby against ozone regulations. He appeared alongside members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the NPRA (Now the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers), the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), and the American Chemistry Council to speak to top administration officials such as Cass Sunstein at OMB‘s information and regulatory affairs division and EPA‘s Gina McCarthy. [42]

According to White House meeting records, those present included: [42]

Name Affiliation

Charles Drevna NPRA

Bruce Josten U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Cal Dooley American Chemistry Council

Jack Gerard API

Jay Timmons NAM

Donna Harman American Forest & Paper Assn.

John Engler BRT

Dan Utech Domestic Policy Council

Gary Guzy CEQ

Carl Shapiro CEA

Michael Fitzpatrick OMB/OIRA

Cass Sunstein OMB/OIRA

William Daley White House

Gina McCarthy EPA

Dominic Mancini OMB/OIRA

August 12, 2009

A leaked memo (PDF) obtained by Greenpeace and written by Jack Gerard for the American Petroleum Institute (API), in cooperation with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) revealed the coordinated campaign behind the “Energy Citizens” which had been designed as a “grass roots” effort to combat climate change legislation. [18]

DeSmog reported on the API‘s “Fake ‘Grassroots’ Campaign” noting that the leaked memo asks API’s member companies to recruit employees, retirees, vendors and contractors to attend “Energy Citizen” rallies in key Congressional districts nationwide. API is focusing on 21 states that have “a significant industry presence” or “assets on the ground.” [7]

Grist noted that the majority of the Energy Citizens’ rallies were organized by oil-industry lobbyists. They provided the following list of lobbyists who had been organizing the “grass roots” rallies: [43]

Greensboro, N.C., rally organizer Bill Weatherspoon is a registered lobbyist for API in North Carolina.

Lima, Ohio, organizer Terry Fleming is a registered lobbyist for the Ohio Petroleum Council.

Atlanta, Ga., organizer Ric Cobb is a registered lobbyist for the Georgia Petroleum Council.

Elkhart, Ind., organizer Maggie McShane lobbies on behalf of the Indiana Petroleum Council.

Nashville, Tenn., organizer Mike Williams is a registered lobbyist for API.

Bismarck, N.D., organizer Ron Ness is a former registered lobbyist for the North Dakota Petroleum Council.

Tampa, Fla., organizer David Mica registered lobbyist for the Florida Petroleum Council.

St. Louis, Mo., organizer Ryan Rowden is a registered lobbyist for the Missouri Petroleum Council.

Greenville, S.C., organizer Kay Clamp is a registered lobbyist for the South Carolina Petroleum Council.

Lincoln, Neb., point of contact Chris Abboud is a registered lobbyist for the Agri-Business Association of Nebraska.

Springfield, Ill., organizer Dave Sykuta is a registered lobbyist [PDF] for API.

Detroit, Mich., organizer John Griffin is a registered lobbyist for the Associated Petroleum Industries of Michigan.

Richmond, Va., organizer Mike Ward is a registered lobbyist for API in Virginia.

Philadelphia, Pa., organizer Rolf Hanson registered lobbyist for API in Pennsylvania.

Huron, S.D., organizer Tim Dougherty is a registered lobbyist.

Gerard states that API is ready to bus in company members and provide logistical support, and reveals that API has retained “a highly experienced events management company that has produced successful rallies for presidential campaigns, corporations and interest groups.” [7]

At the time, “Tentative venues” for the rallies included:

Perry GA

Detroit MI

Roswell NM

Greensboro NC

Farmington NM

Ohio (venue being finalized)

Greeley CO

Nashville TN

Indiana (venue being finalized)

Bismarck ND

Tampa FL

Sioux Falls SD

Greenville SC

Anchorage AK

Joliet IL

Charleston WV

Fairfax VA

Philadelphia PA

Lincoln NE

Missouri TBD

Arkansas TBD

In addition to API, “Energy Citizens” is supported by the National Association of Manufacturers, American Farm Bureau, American Highway Users Alliance, National Black Chamber of Commerce, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, FreedomWorks, American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform, and Council for Citizens Against Government Waste. [44]

O’Dwyer’s Magazine wrote that Energy Citizens “has loudly protested the EPA’s decision to have greenhouse gas emissions regulated under the Clean Air Act,” also noting that API members include Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, GE, Halliburton and Shell. [45]

Promotional flyers for the campaign warned that “Climate change legislation being considered in Washington will cause huge economic pain and produce little environmental gain,” reported The Wall Street Journal. [46]

The EPA had estimated the climate bill would only cost U.S. households “About a postage stamp a day.” [47]

Affiliations

American Petroleum Institute (API) — President and CEO, and registered lobbyist since November, 2008. [1], [3]

American Chemistry Council (ACC) — Former President and CEO and former lobbyist. [1], [3]

National Mining Association — Former president and CEO. [1]

McClure, Gerard & Neuenschwander, Inc. — Co-Founder. [1]

The Conservation Fund — Corporate Council.[48]

Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) — Board Member. [49]

Resources mANY

===

Gerard: 3/14 I was appalled to hear of your recent email to Capitol Hill, which blatantly distorted facts from the recent University of Texas methane emissions study. I am writing today to ask that you rescind your comments.

You simply cherry-picked from the study and twisted its actual findings beyond all recognition. You failed to mention that the one area where methane pollution was found to be lower than previously estimated was a direct result of EPA-imposed rules on natural gas production rules that API heavily lobbied against to weaken!

At the same time, your email blatantly ignored parts of the study that found higher-than-previously-estimated methane emissions. What the study REALLY makes clear is that we face a very serious problem and there is much more work to do. We need to extend EPA's rules to all wells not currently covered, and write new rules to measure and reduce emissions resulting from valves, leaks, pumps, and other similar equipment.

Jack N. Gerard is an industry lobbyist who led the National Mining Association from 2001 to 2005, before moving to the American Chemistry Council as its president. In June 2008, he announced that he would be assuming leadership of the American Petroleum Institute (API) in autumn 2008. ^[1]

Gerard told the Washington Post, regarding his new position at API: "When industries are confronted by challenges, they tend to get shellshocked and step back into the foxhole. ... My philosophy is the opposite. Industries need someone to step forward and make the case when people don't understand them. ... Because there's a lot of anxiety in the Congress about the industry, we have to step forward and be compelling in our advocacy. It's not a time to be bashful. The more transparent the discussion, the better off we'll be." ^[1]

Corporate Council, The Conservation Fund ^[2]

Contents[hide]

American Chemistry Council

During the years that Gerard led the ACC, "infighting [between member factions] ceased, 33 new companies joined and several large defectors returned, including Chevron, Phillips Chemical and Huntsman. When Gerard first came aboard, the American Chemistry Council faced an $8 million deficit; it now has a $10 million reserve." ^[1]

Gerard strongly supported ACC's multi-million dollar "essential2" advertising and PR campaign. An ACC press release quoted Gerard as saying: "'essential2' makes a powerful statement about how connected we all are and how central chemistry is to the health and growth of our nation. For example, the chemistry industry is America's leading exporter, accounting for 10 percent of all U.S. exports, and we generate more than half a trillion dollars for the U.S. economy each year." ^[3]

While at ACC, Gerard also "cut costs by reducing staff and streamlining the group's operations. Gerard also focused ACC's lobbying efforts on several core issues, including the rising cost of natural gas and chemical plant security." ^[4]

Background

According to his profile on the ACC website, Gerard "and the ACC have been named among the 'Best of K Street' in an edition of The Hill newspaper's listing of top advocates. He was also ranked 14th in the ICIS 2007 Top 40 Power Players in global chemicals." ^[5]

Gerard was also "a founding partner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of McClure, Gerard & Neuenschwander, Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based government relations consulting firm. He and founding partner, former U.S. Senator James McClure, focused on issues such as international sports, telecommunications, energy and mining. Mr. Gerard also spent close to a decade working in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives." ^[5]

SourceWatch resources

External links

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, "A Rising Star in the Hold-Your-Nose Industries," Washington Post, June 17, 2008.
↑ Corporate Council, The Conservation Fund, accessed May 9, 2010.
↑ Press release, "American Chemistry Council Unveils New Public Education Campaign; American Chemistry Council Highlights How Chemistry Is essential2 life," American Chemistry Council via Business Wire, September 22, 2005.
↑ Glenn Hess, "ACC's Gerard Moves On: Chemical industry leader accepts top job at API," Chemical & Engineering News, June 9, 2008.
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 "Jack N. Gerard," American Chemistry Council website, accessed June 2008.

Articles

Glenn Hess, "ACC's Gerard Moves On: Chemical industry leader accepts top job at API," Chemical & Engineering News, June 9, 2008.
Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, "A Rising Star in the Hold-Your-Nose Industries," Washington Post, June 17, 2008.

Retrieved from "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jack_N._Gerard"

Categories: People | United States | Lobbyists

This article profiles Jack Gerard, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the American Petroleum Institute (API), as part of a series of articles on notable individuals who have expressed their disbelief in global warming, with topics discussed including his opposition to climate change legislation, his organization of posed grassroots protests against carbon controls legislation, and a history of efforts made by the API to avoid carbon controls.

http://search.ebscohost.com.oca.ucsc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=47875675&site=ehost-live

gwB

3/14/2011

An internal memo obtained recently by Greenpeace USA details polluting interests’ plans to launch a nationwide astroturf campaign attacking climate legislation at public eventsscheduled throughout the final weeks of recess before the Senate returns to debate the issue in September.

The email memo (download a PDF copy), which appears to come from the desk of American Petroleum Institute president Jack Gerard, asks API’s member companies to recruit employees, retirees, vendors and contractors to attend “Energy Citizen” rallies in key Congressional districts nationwide in the closing weeks of the August recess. The campaign plan places a special focus on 21 states picked by API for having “a significant industry presence” or “assets on the ground.”

Taking a page from the playbook of astroturf campaigners currently crashing health care town hall events across the country, API hopes to similarly sully productive communications http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090812-707365.html = 404 between Congress members and their actual constituents at public events scheduled for the coming weeks. Gerard states that API is ready to bus in company members and provide logistical support,and reveals that API has retained “a highly experienced events management company that has produced successful rallies for presidential campaigns, corporations and interest groups.”

Gerard’s email states that API is partnering on the rally campaign with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers,confirming that the groups are staging a coordinated effort to attack climate legislation despite the fact that several prominent members of these groups have stated support for strong Congressional action to combat climate change.

Greenpeace sent a letter to Gerard yesterday asking him to verify the authenticity of the email, and pointing out that the plan “runs contrary to several prominent API members’ public support for climate action, namely Shell, BP America, ConocoPhillips, General Electric and Siemens.”

The memo closes with a ‘for your eyes only’ plea: “Please treat this information as sensitive and ask those in your company to do so as well… we don’t want critics to know our game plan.”

To which Greenpeace responded to Gerard in yesterday’s letter, “Game plan known.”

Kevin Grandia

Managing Editor of DeSmogBlog

Posted: August 13, 2009 06:24 PM

Oil Lobby's 'Energy Citizens' Astroturf Campaign Exposed grandia

company American Petroleum Institute

position President and CEO

bio

Jack Gerard has served as President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute since November, 2008. Gerard was born and raised in Idaho, moving to George Washington University to obtain a B.A. in Political Science and a subsequent law degree.

Prior to assuming his current position at API, Jack Gerard worked as the President of the American Chemistry Council from 2005-2008 and before that as the President of the National Mining Association from 2001-2005. Gerard obtained his initial political foothold throughout the 1980s while working for Representative George Hansen (R-ID) and Senator James McClure (R-ID), chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

According to Fortune, Gerard's position as Big Oil's top lobbyist gives him "unprecedented direct and regular access to the CEOs of his most important member companies, including Exxon's Rex Tillerson and ConocoPhillips' James Mulva."

Evidence

Political Activity:

As the premier lobbying organization for the oil and gas industry, Jack Gerard has overseen $30 million in federal lobbying expenditures over the from 2007 to 2011 (quarter 3).

In the summer of 2010, after Gerard took a weeklong international trip (focused on adoption) with Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), the Senator blocked an appointment by the Obama administration in order to hasten the lift of an offshore drilling moratorium put in place following the BP Deepwater Horizon oil gusher.

'Energy Citizens' Leaked Memo:

A leaked memo written by Jack Gerard in August, 2009 revealed that API, in cooperation with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers was coordinating “Energy Citizens” rallies as a way to increase political pressure against climate and energy legislation. This effort to create an apparent network of anti-climate legislation grassroots activists was funded directly by the oil and gas industry, and industry workers were actually bused to rallies by employers such as Chevron. The majority of these rallies were organized by oil industry lobbyists.

Links and Resources

SourceWatch - Jack N. Gerard

OpenSecrets - Jack N. Gerard lobbyist profile

ExxonSecrets - Jack Gerard factsheet

WhoRunsGov - Jack N. Gerard profile

American Petroleum Institute - API President and CEO

Fortune Magazine - Big Oil's big man in Washington

http://www.polluterwatch.com/polluter-info/1

alternet 9 loathsome;

1) Jack N. Gerard

As president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, Gerard spews nearly as much pollution as the 400 fossil fuel-extracting companies he represents.The group spent almost $8 million of its $200 million budget in 2010 (Gerard banked $6.5 million in the same year) actively lobbying against any and all environmental regulations. The rest goes to slick front groups, disinformation campaigns, contributing to evil pols (future lobbyists) and eviler groups (like Americans for Prosperity and ALEC), and funding bunk science to undercut public understanding of climate change.

Taking their cues from an earlier generation of tobacco industry doubt merchants, a still-relevant 1998 Petroleum Institute internal memo reads: “Victory will be achieved when . . . citizens ‘understand’ uncertainties in climate science . . . [and] recognition of uncertainties becomes part of the ‘conventional wisdom.’ ”

While acting as the head of the National Mining Association in ’01, Gerard served on Dick Cheney’s largely secretive fossil fuel welfare program known as the Energy Task Force, which makes his ’08 declaration to The Washington Post that the industry’s activities should be “more transparent” ring particularly hollow. As he’s bounced from one hated industry to another, Gerard’s one true talent lies in lying.

Gerard’s lie du jour is that “we need more American energy”—whether it comes from wildly unsafe, faucet-burning hydrofracking, opening pristine wilderness to drilling-baby-drilling, or pumping incredibly dirty tar sands crude in from Canada along the Keystone pipeline. The lie is that the only “we” involved are multinational conglomerates. We get nothing out of the deal, while “we” are subsidized to pilfer the American commons and sell booty on the global market.

Ian Murphy is the editor of the Buffalo BEAST. Read him on twitter at @Ian_Murphy