COALITION LAUNCHES LANDMARK CAMPAIGN:

“EXXPOSEEXXON.COM”  

In July, a coalition of 12 of America’s largest public interest and environmental groups, including Sierra Club, launched a new campaign called “ExxposeExxon.com.”  The campaign goal is to expose and change ExxonMobil’s irresponsible and deceptive behavior.  ExxposeExxon.com reveals how ExxonMobil actively lobbies Congress to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, tries to avoid paying all the damages due to those harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill and funds organizations that work to discredit the science behind global warming.

Americans want clean sources of energy that protect public health, reduce pollution, curb global warming, and save consumers money. Instead, ExxonMobil has continually worked to make the U.S. more dependent on oil and failed to invest a significant sum of its considerable profits into clean sources of energy, unlike competitors such as BP and Shell.

As part of its education effort, the ExxposeExxon campaign released a new report, “ExxonMobil Exposed: More Drilling, More Global Warming, More Oil Dependence.” The report details how the Texas-based oil giant has consistently moved the U.S. backward, not forward, on energy policy. Among the report’s findings are:

• ExxonMobil is the only oil company remaining in Arctic Power, the single-issue group lobbying to open the Arctic Refuge to drilling.

• Between 1998 and 2004, ExxonMobil gave more than $15 million to organizations working to hide the facts about global warming.

• As increased demand for dwindling world oil and gas supplies earned ExxonMobil a record breaking $25.3 billion in net income in 2004, company executives dismissed suggestions that they invest in renewable energy, calling it “uneconomic.”

• While ExxonMobil has pledged $100 million over 10 years for research at Stanford University into new energy technologies, such as burying carbon dioxide emissions, the company’s commitment is just two days worth of its 2004 profits and is dwarfed by its spending on oil and gas exploration in 2004 alone—more than $1 billion. In addition, the Stanford project has no goals and no guarantee that ExxonMobil will apply any of the technology it helps develop.

“Our nation can chart a course towards a cleaner, healthier energy future by harnessing the American ingenuity that has marked this country throughout its history. ExxonMobil can be a part of that solution or continue to fight it tooth and nail,” stated the coalition’s letter to Mr. Raymond. 

The ExxposeExxon campaign is reaching out to the American public, calling on ExxonMobil to:

• Protect, instead of drill, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and drop out of Arctic Power.

• Support mandatory caps on global warming pollution and stop funding junk science to cloud the debate on global warming.

• Save consumers money at the pump and ease our oil dependence by investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency and supporting fuel efficiency.

• Pay all of the punitive damages awarded to fishermen and others harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

More information, including the letter to ExxonMobil Corporation’s Chair and CEO Lee Raymond and a copy of the report, “ExxonMobil Exposed: More Drilling, More Global Warming, More Oil Dependence.” please visit www.ExxposeExxon.com.

 

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