As the Window Closes on Meaningful Action, More Barrett Oil Conflicts Come to Light

HELENA, MT — With the Senate on track to rush through Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett later today, more about her deep ties to the oil and gas industry and how they may impact the nation’s ability to address climate change have come to light. According to an analysis by The Guardian, of the 16 pending climate cases that could come before the court, oil giant Royal Dutch Shell Oil is named in no less than 13 of them. Big Oil’s powerful lobby association, the American Petroleum Institute, is also petitioning the court to intervene on behalf of its members in another major case that could have far-reaching implications. Barrett has refused to answer questions about whether she’ll recuse herself from those or other cases that involve the oil giant and its powerful lobby association that she is directly linked to.  

“One thing has always been certain throughout this kangaroo confirmation process: climate change doesn’t care about your views. The reality is right outside and the window to address this worsening crisis is closing. Senators rushing to appoint Barrett will have to answer to future generations long after all the dirty oil money has dried up,” said Jayson O’Neill, Accountable.US spokesperson. “The last thing Americans need is another climate-denying corporate activist like Barrett on the bench.”  

According to The Guardian, despite her father serving on an American Petroleum Institute (API) subcommittee board and twice being elected the lobby group’s chairman, Barrett hasn’t previously recused herself from cases involving the powerful oil lobby organization or its members.  

That could soon change. API is petitioning to have the Supreme Court review and overturn a lower court ruling ‘that barred a fossil fuel corporation from using eminent domain to seize state-owned land in order to build a natural gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to New Jersey,’ according to reporting by The Daily Poster. 

The American Petroleum Institute has been one of the central figures fueling the Trump administration’s deregulatory and climate-denying agenda. 

Accountable.US previously highlighted Barrett’s anti-environmental rulings, questions around her Shell Oil conflicts, her father’s ties to a powerful oil and gas lobby group, and her corporate bent

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