Jeffries on Why Fossil Fuel Companies Should Invest in Long-Term Projects: They Don’t Care ‘about the So-Called Green Lobby’

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) responded to a question on whether it makes sense for fossil fuel companies to invest in long-term projects when people are trying to put the industry out of business by stating that “it’s not clear to me that the oil and gas companies really care that much about the so-called green lobby.”

After Jeffries stated that oil and gas companies aren’t producing as much as they could, co-host Joe Kernen asked, “There [are] leases. There’s also just the overall pressure from ESG and the green lobby about whether an oil company is going to make plans five or ten years down the road, when a large part of the population wants to put them out of business completely. So, would you invest hard-earned capital on a five-year project or ten-year project now if you were a fossil fuel company?”

Jeffries responded, “I mean, it’s not clear to me that the oil and gas companies really care that much about the so-called green lobby. They have made clear in their earnings calls and in their representations to shareholders that they do care about the record profits that they’ve been making on the backs of increased gas prices for the American people. That seems, to me, to be problematic.”

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