Date: 2024-04-28 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00005781
Energy
Energy money in politics
Discussion: Are politicians indentured servants to the oil industry?
Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
Are politicians indentured servants to the oil industry? Karen Hansen Encouraging Earth & Environmental Sciences Facilitator, Policy & Business Development Expeditor; E-learning Fracking Jerry Brown | Politics & Government | Oakland, Berkeley, Bay... eastbayexpress.com Before Jerry Brown signed legislation last month that promises to greatly expand fracking in California, the governor accepted at least $2.49 million in financial donations over the past several years from oil and natural gas interests, according... Like Comment (2) Unfollow Reply Privately19 days ago Comments 2 comments
Darby Bennett Darby Darby Bennett Environmental Science and Policy Professional In a short answer, the answer has to be a resounding 'Yes'. But this should surprise no one. Like Reply privately Flag as inappropriate 2 days ago
Peter Burgess Peter Burgess Founder/CEO at TrueValueMetrics
The problem is much deeper than merely the role of money in politics ... the dialog about important issues is far too shallow and simplistic. Everyone seems to argue their case based on some ideology that they have embraced rather than getting to grips with the issues involved and accepting that the problems are complex.
The energy industry has been an important part of the success of the industrial revolution which has enabled a big part of today's wealth.
At the same time, the energy industry has been an important part of the environmental issues like greenhouse gases and climate change that we ought to be addressing.
The way we do accounting and financial reporting means that the big energy companies are able to report profits and have stock price growth while doing serious damage to the environment (planet). Under the prevailing rules of GAAP accounting, they are able to ignore externalities.
I argue that if there was a comprehensive system of accounting in place that took into accounting everything associated with the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) the fossil based energy companies would be reporting value destruction because they would have to account for the depletion of the planet's stock of resources and for the degradation of the atmosphere ... huge costs that are bigger than the money profits they are currently reporting.
Under a comprehensive accounting system, the impact on people ... our quality of life being based largely on a big use of energy ... would also have to be taken into account, and this would probably justify the energy industry, but it would almost certainly result in major changes in the industry's priorities and structure.
I argue that if you change the way the game is scored, you change the way the game is played.
Peter Burgess - TrueValueMetrics Multi Dimension Impact Accounting http://www.truevaluemetrics.org/DBadmin/DBtxt001.php?vv1=txt20080001