Oil companies are increasingly resisting climate change measures, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) and a panel of climate experts told a group of University of Washington (UW) engineering students Friday.

“They realized they are starting to lose, “said Leah Stokes, professor of environmental politics at University of California, Santa Barbara, one of four virtual panelists in the discussion.  She noted that on Thursday the Wall Street Journal published an in-depth story on Exxon privately opposing climate change efforts while publicly supporting those same efforts.

“Some energy companies like to talk the talk, but they are not doing anything,” said Leah Missik, senior policy manager for Climate Solutions, a Seattle-based think tank.

“There are going to be some industries not interested in this transition because it is not in their financial interests,” Stokes said.

“I don’t have patience with people not wanting to build a clean air economy, when you look at the costs of not having a clean air economy,” said Inslee, speaking from the UW classroom.

Lisa Graumlich, dean emeritus at the UW College of the Environment, said a massive Pacific Northwest heat wave in 2021 that killed about 650 people in the U.S. and Canada will become a routine occurrence with climate change.

Washington’s cap-and-trade program went into effect earlier this year. Since then, fossil fuel companies and some economists have linked high prices for carbon allowances to gasoline price increases of 40-50 cents per gallon in the state. Cap-and-trade critics, including Republican legislators, have slammed Inslee and state Democratic leaders for those price hikes. (See Cap-and-trade Driving up Washington Gasoline Prices, Critics Say.)

But Democratic leaders have struck back at those critics, accusing oil companies of taking advantage of cap-and-trade to gouge consumers and pad their profits. (See Inslee Challenges Cap-and-trade Role in High Wash. Gas Prices.)