We have always warned against the suicidal corporate impulse when it comes to government, and we saw a good example of that yesterday from the American Petroleum Institute this week. API – which represents Exxon, Chevron, BP and other major oil companies – endorsed a tax on oil and gas production.

We’ve long argued API is about the worst trade group in Washington, as it genuflects to its enemies in the anti-fossil fuel movement rather than defending the energy they mass produce.

Our sources say that the big oil companies would rather pay a predictable “carbon tax” they can at least see, rather than the barrage of regulatory costs that are strangling the industry.

But by making nice with the hangman, Exxon et al are now almost certain to pay a tax and get hit with more expensive green regs. By caving into radical green policies, they are only ensuring higher taxes AND a regulatory blitzkrieg.

They’ve violated the first rule of politics: Know thine enemy. These green sharks won’t quit until they’ve swallowed up this whole industry and now they smell blood in the water.

Oil Trade Group Drafts Carbon-Tax Proposal That Could Raise Prices at the Pump – WSJ