The past 24 hours have seen an unprecedented number of gifts to Exxon and the oil industry, said Global Witness today. Yesterday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved former CEO of Exxon, Rex Tillerson, to lead the State Department. Today, it is expected that Republicans in the House of Representatives will introduce a resolution to wipe out an historic oil transparency reform, while President Trump signed executive orders designed to force through the environmentally devastating Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines despite years of opposition.
“Just one day after the committee vote in support of former Exxon CEO as next Secretary of State, the oil industry is enjoying an unprecedented free for all,” said Corinna Gilfillan, Head of U.S. Office of Global Witness. “Today, Trump issued executive orders to advance the Dakota and Keystone Pipelines while Republicans are expected to attempt to gut a law designed to curb corruption, despite Trump’s signature campaign promise to root out corruption. Exxon has been trying to rip up this law for years, it’s not a coincidence.”
The resolution would roll back a landmark anti-corruption law, known as the bipartisan Cardin-Lugar anti-corruption provision, which requires oil, gas and mining companies to disclose details of the hundreds of billions of dollars they pay to governments across the world in return for rights to natural resources. The rule is a key part of U.S. efforts to curb the corruption that keeps poor countries poor and threatens U.S. national interests and global security around the world.
“Given the long-standing egregious record of the oil and gas industry, and now the likely confirmation of the former Exxon CEO as the top U.S. diplomat, it is difficult to not conclude that these pro-corruption moves by the Trump Administration and the Republican-controlled Congress are a sign that not only do they think corruption is perfectly acceptable but that they intend to become pro-active enablers of corruption,” said Simon Taylor, co-founding director of Global Witness.
ExxonMobil is spearheading industry efforts to gut the Cardin-Lugar anti-corruption provision, which would bring much needed transparency to the secret deals that ExxonMobil and other resource companies do with corrupt regimes, fueling instability around the world.
Global Witness recently highlighted how a questionable oil deal between ExxonMobil and the Nigerian government is currently being investigated by Nigerian law enforcement.
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