Now Trump and Big Oil Are Trying to Gut an Anti-Corruption Rule
Trump regulators are trying to pull off a last-minute scheme to undermine a rule designed to prevent fossil fuel companies from bribing government officials. It’s a fitting final act for a corrupt administration that’s set back the fight against climate change by decades.
Donald Trump walks across the South Lawn before boarding Marine One and departing the White House on June 5, 2020 in Washington, DC.(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
As the climate movement notches big wins in its campaigns to reduce fossil fuel development, the Trump administration is now rushing to gut an anti-corruption rule designed to prevent oil, gas, and mining companies from buying government influence.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has scheduled a vote on December 16 on an oil industry–backed proposal to loosen disclosure requirements for fossil fuel and mining companies when they spend money to influence government officials. Those requirements were included in financial reform legislation in 2010 — the goal was to halt the corruption that has plagued extractive industries in resource-rich nations.
A decade later, the rule still has not been implemented because the fossil fuel industry has stymied it in court. But as the Trump administration is on its way out of power, Republican appointees on the SEC have moved to enshrine a gutted form of the proposal. Anti-corruption activists say this new version not only fails to carry out the law as it was intended by Congress, but represents a last-ditch effort by the Trump administration to permanently undermine corruption laws for companies in the resource extraction industry.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.