Exxon Mobile being boycotted by environmental groups

[emcguffie]

I have permission to post the enire article as long as it is credited. This is from InterPress Service's TerraViva, a daily newsletter they publish at the UN.

Inter Press Service TERRAVIVA UN Journal
Wednesday, 13 July 2005
Vol. 13 - No. 128

ExxonMobil Takes Heat on Global Warming

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Jul 12 (IPS) - An unusually broad coalition of 12 U.S. environmental and public-interest groups Tuesday launched a national boycott of ExxonMobil, the world's largest oil company, for undermining efforts to combat global warming and lobbying Congress to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling.The campaign, called ExxposeExxon.com, also wants to exert pressure on the company to pay full compensation to fishermen and others harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, and to invest more money in clean and renewable sources of energy, as a number of its competitors, such as BP and Shell, have done in recent years. ''For years, ExxonMobil has intentionally put its own profits above a clean environment and the health of America's families'', according to a letter sent by the groups to ExxonMobil's controversial chief, Lee Raymond.''As a result, we are asking Americans not to accept a new job at ExxonMobil, invest in the company, or buy ExxonMobil's gas and products'', stated the letter, which was signed by, among others, the leaders of Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defence Council, the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife.

The campaign was launched with protests held today at Exxon service stations in more than 50 cities across the country, and organisers, which also include Union of Concerned Scientists, Moveon.org Political Action, and U.S. Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG), said they will press their protest through the internet, the news media, and grassroots campaigns.In a statement, ExxonMobil said it was indeed developing technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that most scientists believe contribute to global warming. ''ExxonMobil recognises the risk of climate change and it potential impact on societies and ecosystems'', said Russ Roberts of the company's corporate relations department, ''and we continue to take actions and work with others to address that 1997 after the collapse -- due to the desertion of automobile manufacturers and other major oil companies, such as BP, Shell, and ChevronTexaco -- from the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), a similar alliance created in the late 1980s when global warming first became a major public concern.

Among the groups recently funded by Exxon, according to the report, are the Washington-based Competitive Enterprise Institute, which chairs the CHC, the Advancement of Sound Science Coalition, the Capital Research Centre's Green Watch Project, the Centre for the Defense of Free Enterprise, the George Marshall Institute, and the International Policy Network.

One of ExxonMobil's 2003 and 2004 recipients, the National Centre for Policy Analysis (NCPA), was the first to publicly denounce Tuesday's boycott launch. Contrary to environmental lobbyists' claims, there is still a lively scientific debate concerning the extent to which human activities contribute to the earth's current warming trend, the group said from its Dallas headquarters. Exxon recognises that the question is still open, but these environmentalists want to shut off public debate and muzzle any research that undermines their political goals. In addition to the company's role in influencing public perceptions about the causes and risks of global warming, the boycott organisers complained about ExxonMobil's failure to invest in renewable energy despite a record-breaking 25.3 billion dollars in net income in 2004.

Raymond has argued that it makes more sense to invest in technologies that make energy use more efficient than in those whose economic return remains uncertain. In the Journal article, he noted that Exxon invested relatively heavily in renewable energy sources in the late 1970s but that none of them turned out to be economic.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. I have boycotted Exxon since the oil spill in Alaska. Don't have

any Mobile stations around here so that part will be easy!

[ThomWV]

2. It Won't Hurt Me A Bit To Buy Somewhere Else

There are plenty of gas stations willing to take my money, including BP.

[emcguffie]

3. I thought it was good news.

I never buy Exxon either. I've been buying Citgo, but if you look it up on Buy Blue it is totally red.

But it isn't middle eastern oil.

Is that the difference? The only blue gas I saw was Hess.

[XemaSab]

4. Exxon is the great Satan

I too have boycotted since the Alaskan oil spill.

[cynatnite]

5. Haven't been to exxon in a while and won't go

It's been easy to boycott since they normally cost more. There is a little grocer downtown whose gas is normally cheaper. I go there every week.