Steve Coll: ExxonMobil and American Power (5/8/12)

Steve Coll: ExxonMobil and American Power Steve Coll, Author, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power; former Managing Editor, The Washington Post In Conversation with Greg Dalton, Climate One, The Commonwealth Club ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond said in 2000 that there was "no convincing scientific evidence" that carbon dioxide would disrupt the Earth's climate. Nine years later, CEO Rex Tillerson changed course and announced support for a carbon tax if it was revenue neutral and did not increase the size of government. ExxonMobil's maneuvers on pricing carbon are just one theme running through Steve Coll's book Private Empire. He writes that ExxonMobil spends more money lobbying Congress than any other corporation and in some countries its influence towers above the US Embassy. Within the energy industry, it is regarded as a highly efficient and profitable corporate machine with strong safety standards and relatively low rates of accidents and spills. Join us for the inside story of one of the world’s most secretive and powerful companies as told by a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 8, 2012 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices