Join us for a Twitter chat on the United States of Petroleum: The government’s secret alliance with Big Oil

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The American Petroleum Institute was born in a ballroom at New York’s Biltmore Hotel at the end of World War I. Among its founding members were the same regulators entrusted to oversee the industry.

Over the course of a century, API has embedded itself in the U.S. government. Decades ago, the institute embarked on a campaign to sell Americans on a fossil-fuel future, despite having heard dire warnings of climate change as early as 1959. With more than 650 corporate members, the group now encompasses every sector of the oil and gas industry, from drilling to plastics manufacturing.

The Center for Public Integrity will be hosting a Twitter chat on Thursday, Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST with reporter Jie Jenny Zou to discuss the findings of the investigation — visit our Twitter page for the chat @Publici or follow the hashtag #usofpetroleum.

Check out the stories here:

The United States of Petroleum

• Part 1: The unlikely partnership between Big Oil and the White House
• Part 2: How the oil industry set out to undercut clean air
• Part 3: Wave of climate lawsuits threatens the future of Big Oil

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