American Petroleum Institute

American Petroleum Institute
Name	American Petroleum Institute
Abbreviation	API
Founded	1919-03-20
Type	501(c)(6)
Died	Washington, DC, USA
Membership	Nearly 600 companies in petroleum industry
Notable members	Michael E. Coney, father of Amy Coney Barrett
President & CEO	Mike Sommers [local copy, 2021-08-12]
Known for	Climate change denial Fossil fuels industry lobbying
Revenue	2019: $238,520,840
Website	API.org/

Background

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is the largest U.S. trade association for the oil and natural gas industry. It claims to represent nearly 600 corporations involved in production, refinement, distribution, and many other aspects of the petroleum industry.

The association describes its mission as to promote safety across the industry globally and influence public policy in support of a strong, viable U.S. oil and natural gas industry. API's chief functions on behalf of the industry include advocacy, negotiation and lobbying with governmental, legal, and regulatory agencies; research into economic, toxicological, and environmental effects; establishment and certification of industry standards; and education outreach. API both funds and conducts research related to many aspects of the petroleum industry.

Notable Members

Micheal E. Coney

Michael E. Coney is the father of Supreme Court of the United States Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Michael Coney began working for Shell Oil Company in 1977, specializing in offshore oil and gas drilling law, as well as issues involving royalty payments. During the 1980s, the 1990s, and 2000s Coney worked inside the corporation, helping to expand Shell's offshore drilling. Meanwhile, Shell's United States operation continued to obstruct climate action by funding front groups that were actively sowing doubt about climate change - including the American Petroleum Institute (API) , and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

While working at Shell Oil Company, Michael Coney also held leadership positions within the American Petroleum Institute (API) for two decades. In the late 1980s Coney became a member of API's subcommittee of Exploration and Production Law (twice serving as its Chair), and the Chair of the legal subcommittee of APT's Offshore Operations Committee Legal Subcommittee. In the latter role, Michael Coney frequently reviewed and drafted comments on policies related to the Outer Continental Shelf.

Michael Coney represented the Shell Oil Company and Shell Offshore, Inc.  (created in 1981) in multiple lawsuits. Those cases included administrative and judicial cases involving the amount of royalties owed by Shell Oil to the United States government (in cases where the United States contended that Shell Oil had undervalued oil and gas taken from federal lands and thus underpaid its royalties due from exploitation of those natural resources). Shell Offshore, Inc. pursued deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as expanded drilling off other coasts of the U.S., including off-shore in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

In spite of their internal awareness of the crisis, in 1989 Shell Oil joined along with the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Petroleum Institute, BP plc, Texaco and others to form the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), an industry umbrella group designed to confront the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Until 1997, the GCC operated out of the offices of the National Association of Manufacturers. GCC's early members included Amoco, the American Forest & Paper Association, the American Petroleum Institute,  Chevron Corporation, Chrysler, Cyprus AMAX Minerals, ExxonMobile, Ford, General Motors, Shell Oil, Texaco, and the United States Chamber of Commerce.

The Global Climate Coalition promoted skepticism about the urgency of climate crisis and doubts about climate science, amplified the minority views of climate change deniers - at the time called "skeptics" - and lobbied aggressively against the regulation of greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, Shell Oil began constructing offshore platforms in anticipation of rising sea levels, including another world-record setting deep water platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Shell Oil was also boycotted in South Africa over its alleged complicity in Apartheid, due to its business dealings with the South African government.

... In the 1990s, Shell Oil produced more internal reports on the enhanced greenhouse effect and anthropogenic climate change from burning fossil fuels, demonstrating the extent of their knowledge. Meanwhile, Shell Oil was a corporate leader and funder of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), as ALEC attacked climate science, as well as international and domestic efforts to mitigate climate change. Shell Oil also lobbied for royalty relief. In 1998, Shell Oil was part of an expanded effort to sow doubt about climate change, along with the American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil, and others.

... As a consequence of tobacco litigation, numerous mailings to ALEC's funders in the tobacco industry are publicly available. These documents showed that Shell Oil was a corporate underwriter of ALEC throughout the 1990s, as ALEC attacked efforts to try to mitigate climate change - as well as providing a major tool for the American Petroleum Institute and the oil industry to use legislators to attack climate science, promote climate change denial, and obstruct global, national, and state initiatives to address climate change.

In 1996, Mike Coney was still a member of the American Petroleum Institute's (API) subcommittee of Exploration and Production Law; Coney was also still serving as Chairman of the Offshore Operations Committee Legal Subcommittee.

API is the nation's largest and most powerful fossil fuel trade association and lobbying operation, with members including Shell Oil, ExxonMobil,   Chevron,   BP plc, and ConocoPhillips.

On 2021-01-19 the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in BP p.l.c. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, a climate case. BP plc. Shell Oil, and other oil companies were sued by Baltimore, Maryland for damages due to climate change. The American Petroleum Institute, and other trade groups, submitted amicus briefs, siding with the industry.

Additional Reading

Return to Persagen.com