ICYMI: As world turns to recognize global warming, fossil fuel majors intensifying efforts to maintain the status quo. St Louis' Peabody Coal - whose ex-**CEO sits on the Washington University Board of Trustees – is one of the main culprits. ExxonMobil - now being investigated for misrepresenting their knowledge about global warming – is right there as well.
ExxonMobil, Peabody Coal Lobbying for Bill Preventing Climate Change Accounting in US Trade Deals
**Corrected 1/13/16: I know, Greg Boyce is no longer CEO of Peabody, I say this by force of habit. But he's still on the WUSTL board of trustees, listed as the "Executive Chairman" of Peabody. However, as of 12/31/15 he is said to be "retiring" from Peabody altogether, so will no longer be chairman there either. So maybe he will soon be retiring from the WUSTL board as well. Stay tuned. And yes, I know, the official name of the company is 'Peabody Energy'. But they do not produce energy. They dig up, transport, and sell coal. So let's be clear.
File under: WUSTL Students, know your board of trustees:**More on Steven F. Leer added January 15, 2016.
Additionally, while I used to refer to the 'two coal companies' on the WUSTL board (Arch and Peabody). However, Steven Leer, former Chairman of Arch, is now listed as 'Retired Chairman'. However, Mr. Leer is still deep into carbon. Since he has left Arch, he is a director at Cenovus Energy, one of Canada's biggest tar sands oil producers, which also co-owns the Wood River Refinery, across the river from St. Louis. And, he's a director at Norfolk Southern. The rail, coal, tar sands, and refinery businesses are all interdependent (and huge polluters, but no mind).
So, as corrected, we can say: A representative of the largest coal company in the world sits on the Washington University board of trustees. As does a former CEO of another huge coal company, Arch, who now sits on the board of Cenovus, part of the (high-polluting) Canadian tar sands industry.
As for the coal industry, these companies are heading into bankruptcy and restructuring. As such, and on the defensive, they are involved in increasingly questionable business practices. They are also involved in efforts to undermine policies aimed at ameliorating global warming and the science of global warming itself. If any of this is incorrect, let me know, happy to correct it.
