These agendas and corresponding attachments from the Global Climate Coalition (GCC) Science and Technology Assessment Committee’s (STAC) February 15 and March 14, 1996 meetings were submitted along with other GCC documents during discovery in Green Mtn. Chrysler Plymouth Dodge Jeep v. Crombie and Central Valley Chrysler-Jeep, Inc. v. Witherspoon.

Co-chaired by Mobil Corporation’s Lenny Bernstein, the February STAC meeting was held at Edison Electric Institute’s (EEI) D.C. offices, attended by representatives of the oil, utility, mining, chemical, and auto industries: Mobil, Exxon, API, Duke Power (now Duke Energy), Cinergy (later acquired by Duke), Illinois Power and Union Electric (both entities, now a part of Ameren), EEI, National Mining Association, 3M, and Association of International Automobile Manufacturers. The draft agenda proposed the next meeting to be held at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association offices.

The committee first reviewed their separate meetings with the Council on Environmental Quality and State Department, where the parties advocated against binding agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The GCC continued to voice its opinion to government officials until at least 2001, eventually influencing President George W. Bush, “in part,” to reject the Kyoto Protocol.

Exxon’s Barry Friedlander previewed upcoming research saying, “Exxon is beginning to put together a white paper regarding what’s known about the relationship between climate change and risks to human health, to address: diseases affected by temperature, including strengths, weaknesses and data gaps, and key players and universities in health science arena world-wide.” The minutes also show that John Kinsman from EEI “distributed a presentation on global climate change science he made to an EEI committee and requested comments on it from STAC members.”On February 13th, 1996 Chuck Hakkarinen of the Electric Power Research Institute faxed a research paper, “Towards the detection and attribution of an anthropogenic effect on climate,” to representatives from the Mobil Corporation, American Petroleum Institute, Southern Company, Edison Electric Institute, and others. The GCC targetedthe paper’s lead author, Benjamin Santer,  that same year, claiming that Santer had avoided the peer-review process.

Interested in more GCC documents? See more in the full Global Climate Coalition collection.