This document is a printed out article posted by the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), an industry-funded organization that opposed greenhouse gas regulations through direct engagement and collaboration with affiliated climate deniers from 1989 to 2002. Its membership spanned across the automotive, utility, manufacturing, petroleum, and mining industries.

The article titled, “Climate Change Is a Congressional Issue,” attacks the international climate change negotiations, which it claimed “could produce an agreement placing the United States at a significant economic and competitive disadvantage, while having no substantial effect on limiting the risk of climate change.”  The GCC encouraged the use of “critical” congressional oversight “to ensure that the Administration vigorously holds the line against any premature and precipitous climate change agreements that threaten U.S. economic and competitive interests.”

Interestingly, at the bottom of this page is section labeled, “Talking points for GCC talking points (Straw-Man) paper.” This section had four brief statements on “Audience,” which it labeled as “Friendly Repub. And Dem staff”; “Mission,” which it described as establishing “predicate that climate change is a congressional issue. Believe we need to do this before we can pursue a legislative strategy”; “Objective,” which it stated was to “Create a straw man to focus thinking and discussion”; and “Key Issue,” which posed the question, “When do we go to the Hill?”

While cryptic, these notes could imply that framing the question of climate change policy as a congressional issue was meant to act as a “straw man,” distracting critical “thinking and discussion” away from the necessity of the international negotiations.

Interested in more GCC documents? See more in the full Global Climate Coalition collection.