According to reports, an Exxon lobbyist demanded that Congress remove climate measures from the infrastructure program.In a recording, he stated that he lobbyed key senators for climate provisions to be removed from Biden's $2 Trillion plan.Biden reached an agreement with a bipartisan group which removed many climate provisions.Subscribe to our newsletter, Insider Sustainability Newsletter. Get an insider's view of the culture and business behind sustainability. Loading is complete Click Sign up to receive marketing emails and other offers from Insider.The issue of whether to include climate provisions within an infrastructure plan has been a key point of contention for Republican and Democratic legislators. New recordings show that outside influences could have played a role in deciding the role climate should play.Channel 4 News in the UK obtained recordings from Unearthed (Greenpeace UK's investigative platform) that showed Keith McCoy, a lobbyist for ExxonMobil. He claimed that ExxonMobil had opposed legislative action on climate change. He was speaking on Zoom. Unearthed investigators were pretending to be headhunters, looking for a lobbyist to represent their client.McCoy stated that he had lobbyed key senators to repeal or reduce climate change measures from President Joe Biden’s original $2 trillion infrastructure plan. He also said ExxonMobil had joined shadow groups to fight climate change denial."Why would anyone put in an emission reductions on climate change to oil refining plants in a highway bill?" McCoy spoke in the recording. "So, people say, "Yeah that doesn't make sense," so you can get to the point of saying that it shouldn't be included in this bill.ExxonMobil stated in a lengthy statement that Greenpeace had waged a "multidecade campaign against" the company. This included "false allegations and unlawful actions" at company facilities.ExxonMobil stated in a statement that it has supported climate science for many decades. "Greenpeace, and other groups have distorted our position on climate science as well as our support for policy solutions that work."McCoy stated that ExxonMobil's support for a carbon-tax tax is based on the assumption that it will never be implemented. This allows the company to support the tax in order to appear green. In response to this claim, ExxonMobil stated that it had been "clear" in supporting an economy-wide carbon price.These recordings were made after Biden and a bipartisan group reached an agreement on a new infrastructure plan. It is more than half his original proposal. Many climate-related measures have been eliminated. As Insider reported previously, the plan included $213 billion for affordable green housing and $35 billion for climate research.Many Democrats want the bipartisan agreement to be passed along with a reconciliation bill. This would include significant climate-related measures and the care-economy measures that were cut, such as affordable housing and community college.Last week, Democratic Senator Ed Markey tweeted that "I've always said: no climate. no deal." "The bipartisan framework won't get us to that point. This must be solved in reconciliation, and I agree with our leaders. "Until then, there is no climate or agreement. Let's get it done."
