June 16, 2005
From Roland Watson in Washington
A WHITE HOUSE aide who softened scientific warnings about global warming in government documents has been hired by Exxon Mobil, the oil company.
Philip Cooney, the former chief of staff to President Bush’s Council on Environmental Quality, quit two days after leaked documents disclosed the extent to which he had neutered the conclusions of government scientists.
Mr Cooney will start working for Exxon Mobil at the end of the summer, the Texas-based company said yesterday.
White House officials said that the timing of Mr Cooney’s departure from the Bush Administration and the prompt news of his new job were coincidental. But together they put Mr Bush’s environmental policies under fresh scrutiny weeks before he joins other world leaders for the G8 summit at Gleneagles, at which climate change is high on Tony Blair’s agenda.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,173-1656017,00.htmlMAYBE an honorary directorship at Carlyle also pending????