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Patrick Walsh of Belfast is retired from work in law enforcement and child abuse prevention.
Maine residents should strongly support the Maine attorney general’s decision to take action against oil and gas companies and their trade association for allegedly downplaying the dangers of climate change. The suit alleges that they bear responsibility for decades-long deceptions enabling them to make enormous sums of money with minor interference from government regulators.
Previous legal actions establishing deception by tobacco companies and opioid makers have resulted in settlement agreements bringing millions of dollars to Maine to address the harm caused to Maine residents by those dishonest business practices.
Experiments conducted by Eunice Newton Foote, a scientist, in 1856, were the first to identify that “carbonic acid gas” now known as carbon dioxide, increased the temperature of air mixed with the gas and exposed to the sun’s rays. Her conclusion, “An atmosphere of that gas would give to our earth a high temperature.”
Irish physicist John Tyndall experimented in 1859 with coal gas. He wrote: “Thus the atmosphere admits of the entrance of the solar heat; but checks its exit, and the result is a tendency to accumulate heat at the surface of the planet.” (Namely, “greenhouse gas”). 100 years pass and the oil, gas and auto industries began to be confronted by questions concerning pollution. Their own research was alarming to them.
In November 2024, The Guardian reported that in 1953 oil and automobile interests founded the Air Pollution Foundation, to address public outcry over smog that was blanketing Los Angeles County. The reporting disclosed the discovery and content of internal memos distributed among representatives of oil and gas businesses.
The Guardian reported in January that “the fossil fuel industry funded some of the world’s most foundational climate science as early as 1954, newly unearthed documents have shown, including the early research of Charles Keeling, who developed the so called ‘Keeling Curve’ that has charted the upward march of the Earth’s carbon dioxide levels.”
Carroll Muffett, chief executive of the Center for International Environmental Law, observed: “These documents talk about CO2 emissions having planetary implications, meaning this industry understood extraordinarily early on that fossil fuel combustion was profound on a planetary scale,” the Guardian reported.
But for 70 more years the industries have done little except question the science, deflect blame, and influence politicians through lobbying and political contributions. Donald Trump has said that on day one of his term it’s going to be “Drill Baby Drill,” America should increase its energy production and human-caused climate change is “a hoax.”
The Washington Post reported in May that Trump essentially told a group of oil executives “You all are wealthy enough … that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House.” “At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation,” the Post reported.
Annually, humans cause the release of millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports: “Burning a gallon of gasoline (not containing ethanol) produces about 19 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2 ).” NASA Science reports “once it’s added to the atmosphere, it hangs around, for a long time: between 300 to 1,000 years. Thus, as humans change the atmosphere by emitting carbon dioxide, those changes will endure on the timescale of many human lives.”
Al Gore titled a book and documentary film on climate change, “An Inconvenient Truth.” We face unimaginable inconvenience. Transportation, energy production, home heating all rely on fossil fuels. Alternatives exist, but there is no easy and quick move from fossil fuels to safer alternatives.
We bear responsibility for creating a livable climate for current and future human lives. We need to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations and convert to less harmful energy production.
The fossil fuel and automotive industries must be part of the solution.
