In the 1970s, Texas utility companies funded research that showed that burning fossil fuels harms the environment.
Yet as The Texas Observer reports,despite awareness of the damage their activities were causing, electric utilities spent the next three decades publicly denying the results of their own studies, and attempting to undermine climate science.
According to a new study by the Energy and Policy Institute, officials from Texas utility companies told Congress that fossil fuels were responsible for the planet’s warming, and warned that fossil fuel levels would one day have to be curbed.
The Electric Power Research Institute also reported in the 70s and 80s on greenhouse gas emissions and rising sea levels. But, as climate change entered the broader national conversation, these same utility groups joined forces with conservative think tanks to deny their previous conclusions.