ExxonMobil's War on Science

[one...two...tree 2,762]

In a quarter-page advertorial in Thursday's New York Times, ExxonMobil launched a new greenwashing campaign to salvage its earned reputation as Earth's number one global warming villain.

For over a decade the giant oil company has waged a successful multi-million dollar propaganda campaign to deceive the public about global warming. Using phony think tanks like the Competitive Enterprise Institute, scientists-for-hire called biostitutes, slick public relations firms, and their indentured servants in the political process, they have intentionally defrauded the public by promoting the notion that global warming is a hoax or a sketchy theory that requires more study.

The company now asserts that its position on global warming has been "misunderstood," but its decade of mischief is well documented.

Exxon has dished out at least $19 million dollars since the negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol (1997) to fund an elaborate network including over 75 industry front groups mobilized in a misleading campaign to cloud the public's understanding of global warming. Their objective has been to counter balance the overwhelming scientific evidence of man-induced climate change with pseudo scientific denials to derail reforms that might effect corporate profits.

In 2005, ExxonMobil paid over $3.5 million to 49 different front groups, according to the company's own records, which are collected each year by ExxonSecrets.org and the ExxposeExxon coalition. A report released earlier this month by the Union of Concerned Scientists traces the roots of this fraudulent propaganda broadside -- and many of its prime actors -- back to the tobacco industry's tactical war on science.

Exxon has also used vast political contributions to guide the Bush administration's posturing on climate change. ExxonMobil successfully arranged the ousting of the world's top climate scientist Robert Watson as chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

An Exxon memo to President Bush's top staffers obtained by NRDC through the Freedom of Information Act asks bluntly, "Can Watson be replaced now at the request of the U.S.?" The White House's carbon cronies obligingly complied, arranging for Watson's dismissal. He was replaced by a little known scientist from New Delhi who would not be regularly available for Congressional hearings.

A 2002 Exxon memo recently obtained by Greenpeace through FOIA coaches one of the President's top environmental advisers Philip Cooney, chief of staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality on how to "improve" administration research on climate change by emphasizing "significant uncertainties" in the science.

The New York Times later revealed that Cooney, a former lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute which is generously funded by Exxon, made myriad changes to government climate studies designed to weaken their strong conclusions about the need to act on global warming.

Typically Cooney would insert the words "significant and fundamental" before "uncertainties" in the reports. Cooney, a non scientist, helped suppress or alter several major taxpayer funded scientific studies on global warming including a decade-long study commissioned by this President's father. Cooney resigned two days after the Times broke the story. But don't feel badly. Within a week ExxonMobil announced it had hired him.

Exxon has responded to roars of recent outrage over its anti-social antics by announcing that it has stopped funding the Competitive Enterprise Institute which has collected over $2 million from the oil giant since 1998 to weave lies about climate change -- and 4-5 other groups that Exxon refused to name.

Exxon's new contrition is hardly sincere. The company still continues to fund 40 other groups in its unrelenting campaign of deception. Two weeks ago, the ExxposeExxon coalition -- composed of America's most respected environmental groups, including NRDC, the Sierra Club and U.S. PIRG -- asked Exxon to disclose the names of all the other groups the company funded this year and the nature of the work they are doing for ExxonMobil. Exxon did not respond to the request.

As further evidence of the company's insincerity, Exxon's chief executive and CEO Rex Tillerson, on Friday told world leaders in Davos that oil companies should not be held responsible for global warming. The blame, he argued, rests instead with the very consumers and government officials his company has spent millions of dollars manipulating and defrauding.

America is a decade late in addressing the serious threat from global warming largely due to ExxonMobil's campaign of deliberate deception. ExxonMobil's conduct amounts to a war on civilization. The company can't simply sweep this legacy of fraud and villainy under the rug with a paid op-ed campaign in the New York Times, or with oily statements shifting the blame to consumers. The company needs to cease its campaign of deception completely if it is to genuinely atone for its crimes against humanity.

ExxonMobil might also apply some of its record profits -- estimated at $37 billion last year -- toward meaningful solutions to global warming as other U.S. companies have done.

For starters ExxonMobil might consider joining a coalition of ten major companies -- including industry giants like DuPont, Dow and Alcoa -- and leading environmental groups which last week launched the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, calling for firm limits on carbon dioxide emissions to aggressively combat climate change.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a senior attorney for theNatural Resources Defense Council, and author of "Crimes Against Nature."

[Dean/Gra 0]

In a quarter-page advertorial in Thursday's New York Times, ExxonMobil launched a new greenwashing campaign to salvage its earned reputation as Earth's number one global warming villain.

For over a decade the giant oil company has waged a successful multi-million dollar propaganda campaign to deceive the public about global warming. Using phony think tanks like the Competitive Enterprise Institute, scientists-for-hire called biostitutes, slick public relations firms, and their indentured servants in the political process, they have intentionally defrauded the public by promoting the notion that global warming is a hoax or a sketchy theory that requires more study.

The company now asserts that its position on global warming has been "misunderstood," but its decade of mischief is well documented.

Exxon has dished out at least $19 million dollars since the negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol (1997) to fund an elaborate network including over 75 industry front groups mobilized in a misleading campaign to cloud the public's understanding of global warming. Their objective has been to counter balance the overwhelming scientific evidence of man-induced climate change with pseudo scientific denials to derail reforms that might effect corporate profits.

In 2005, ExxonMobil paid over $3.5 million to 49 different front groups, according to the company's own records, which are collected each year by ExxonSecrets.org and the ExxposeExxon coalition. A report released earlier this month by the Union of Concerned Scientists traces the roots of this fraudulent propaganda broadside -- and many of its prime actors -- back to the tobacco industry's tactical war on science.

Exxon has also used vast political contributions to guide the Bush administration's posturing on climate change. ExxonMobil successfully arranged the ousting of the world's top climate scientist Robert Watson as chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

An Exxon memo to President Bush's top staffers obtained by NRDC through the Freedom of Information Act asks bluntly, "Can Watson be replaced now at the request of the U.S.?" The White House's carbon cronies obligingly complied, arranging for Watson's dismissal. He was replaced by a little known scientist from New Delhi who would not be regularly available for Congressional hearings.

A 2002 Exxon memo recently obtained by Greenpeace through FOIA coaches one of the President's top environmental advisers Philip Cooney, chief of staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality on how to "improve" administration research on climate change by emphasizing "significant uncertainties" in the science.

The New York Times later revealed that Cooney, a former lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute which is generously funded by Exxon, made myriad changes to government climate studies designed to weaken their strong conclusions about the need to act on global warming.

Typically Cooney would insert the words "significant and fundamental" before "uncertainties" in the reports. Cooney, a non scientist, helped suppress or alter several major taxpayer funded scientific studies on global warming including a decade-long study commissioned by this President's father. Cooney resigned two days after the Times broke the story. But don't feel badly. Within a week ExxonMobil announced it had hired him.

Exxon has responded to roars of recent outrage over its anti-social antics by announcing that it has stopped funding the Competitive Enterprise Institute which has collected over $2 million from the oil giant since 1998 to weave lies about climate change -- and 4-5 other groups that Exxon refused to name.

Exxon's new contrition is hardly sincere. The company still continues to fund 40 other groups in its unrelenting campaign of deception. Two weeks ago, the ExxposeExxon coalition -- composed of America's most respected environmental groups, including NRDC, the Sierra Club and U.S. PIRG -- asked Exxon to disclose the names of all the other groups the company funded this year and the nature of the work they are doing for ExxonMobil. Exxon did not respond to the request.

As further evidence of the company's insincerity, Exxon's chief executive and CEO Rex Tillerson, on Friday told world leaders in Davos that oil companies should not be held responsible for global warming. The blame, he argued, rests instead with the very consumers and government officials his company has spent millions of dollars manipulating and defrauding.

America is a decade late in addressing the serious threat from global warming largely due to ExxonMobil's campaign of deliberate deception. ExxonMobil's conduct amounts to a war on civilization. The company can't simply sweep this legacy of fraud and villainy under the rug with a paid op-ed campaign in the New York Times, or with oily statements shifting the blame to consumers. The company needs to cease its campaign of deception completely if it is to genuinely atone for its crimes against humanity.

ExxonMobil might also apply some of its record profits -- estimated at $37 billion last year -- toward meaningful solutions to global warming as other U.S. companies have done.

For starters ExxonMobil might consider joining a coalition of ten major companies -- including industry giants like DuPont, Dow and Alcoa -- and leading environmental groups which last week launched the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, calling for firm limits on carbon dioxide emissions to aggressively combat climate change.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a senior attorney for theNatural Resources Defense Council, and author of "Crimes Against Nature."

This forum is for Visa Journey, not your left wing drivel

[Alex+R 0]

This forum is for Visa Journey, not your left wing drivel

Welcome to VJ! This is the Off Topic forum, where drivel from the entire political spectrum is welcome!

Personally, I find the idea of politicizing science disgusting. Why is pro-science/truth and anti-polution the same as left-wing? If I were part of a political party that opposed scientific fact and criticism of powerful corporations then I would begin to feel that I had been led astray.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

In a quarter-page advertorial in Thursday's New York Times, ExxonMobil launched a new greenwashing campaign to salvage its earned reputation as Earth's number one global warming villain.

This forum is for Visa Journey, not your left wing drivel

Where'd you come from?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

This isn't new - big tobacco suppressed scientific research on the health risks of smoking for decades until it was exposed in court - where they settled for approximately a quarter or a trillion dollars (which gives you some idea of the profits of those companies).

The oil industry isn't much different - they have, if anything, more lobbyists than the tobacco companies.

Edited February 1, 2007 by erekose

[Jasman0717 9]

HOUSTON (AP) — Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $39.5 billion — even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent.

The 2006 profit topped the previous record, also by Exxon Mobil, of $36.13 billion set in 2005. The record earnings amounted to roughly $4.5 million an hour for the world's largest publicly traded oil company, which produces about 3 percent of the world's oil.

It also equals the approximate gross domestic product — a measure of all goods and services produced within a country in a given year — of countries like Ecuador, Luxembourg and Croatia.

Also eyepopping was Exxon Mobil's revenue, which rose to $377.64 billion for the year, surpassing the record $370.68 billion it posted in 2005.

[mawilson 2,133]

HOUSTON (AP) — Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $39.5 billion — even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent.

The 2006 profit topped the previous record, also by Exxon Mobil, of $36.13 billion set in 2005. The record earnings amounted to roughly $4.5 million an hour for the world's largest publicly traded oil company, which produces about 3 percent of the world's oil.

It also equals the approximate gross domestic product — a measure of all goods and services produced within a country in a given year — of countries like Ecuador, Luxembourg and Croatia.

Also eyepopping was Exxon Mobil's revenue, which rose to $377.64 billion for the year, surpassing the record $370.68 billion it posted in 2005.

Wow, what a company!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

HOUSTON (AP) — Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $39.5 billion — even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent.

The 2006 profit topped the previous record, also by Exxon Mobil, of $36.13 billion set in 2005. The record earnings amounted to roughly $4.5 million an hour for the world's largest publicly traded oil company, which produces about 3 percent of the world's oil.

It also equals the approximate gross domestic product — a measure of all goods and services produced within a country in a given year — of countries like Ecuador, Luxembourg and Croatia.

Also eyepopping was Exxon Mobil's revenue, which rose to $377.64 billion for the year, surpassing the record $370.68 billion it posted in 2005.

Wow, what a company!

Yeah, what a company...they haven't paid one f#cking cent of the modest $5 billion punitive damage award for the Exxon Valdez oil spill that put many small businesses out of business, meanwhile it enjoys a lions share of the $14.5 billion in tax credits and subsidies. They're crooks in every sense of the word.

[mawilson 2,133]

Yeah, what a company...they haven't paid one f#cking cent of the modest $5 billion punitive damage award for the Exxon Valdez oil spill that put many small businesses out of business, meanwhile it enjoys a lions share of the $14.5 billion in tax credits and subsidies. They're crooks in every sense of the word.

They are not crooks unless they broke the law.

If the government gave *you* tax credits and subsidies, wouldn't you "enjoy" them too?

Who gave them the tax credits and subsidies in question? Shouldn't you blame Congress?

Ah yes, it's Exxon's fault that they know how to run a successful lobbying campaign and

"influence" (ahem) policy makers and politicians. Of course, no company should ever do

that. They should do what's bad for business.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Yeah, what a company...they haven't paid one f#cking cent of the modest $5 billion punitive damage award for the Exxon Valdez oil spill that put many small businesses out of business, meanwhile it enjoys a lions share of the $14.5 billion in tax credits and subsidies. They're crooks in every sense of the word.

They are not crooks unless they broke the law.

If the government gave *you* tax credits and subsidies, wouldn't you "enjoy" them too?

Who gave them the tax credits and subsidies in question? Shouldn't you blame Congress?

Ah yes, it's Exxon's fault that they know how to run a successful lobbying campaign and

"influence" (ahem) policy makers and politicians. Of course, no company should ever do

that. They should do what's bad for business.

Kick the ####### lobbyists out of Washington. The Exxon/Mobil merger should have never been approved as it violates our anti-trust laws. It remains to be seen whether anyone will have the balls to go after such a giant. As long as they have friends in the White House, they're are virtually untouchable. And yes, they are crooks...

4. a dishonest person, esp. a sharper, swindler, or thief.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

One example of many of why ExxonMobil is crooked...

Washington-based International Labor Rights Fund filed a lawsuit against the energy behemoth, claiming the Mobil half of the conglomerate in the 1990s paid and supported Indonesian military troops that committed human rights abuses in the war-torn province. Representing eleven unnamed residents of Aceh who say they or their husbands were brutalized by troops underwritten by Exxon Mobil, the ILRF maintained that under the Alien Tort Claims Act and Torture Victims Protection Act, the oil company and its Indonesian subsidiary could be held liable for the murder, torture, sexual crimes, and kidnapping conducted by these soldiers. As part of a joint venture with Pertamina, Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company, Exxon Mobil--which owns 35 percent of this enterprise--operates a major natural gas facility in this province in northern Sumatra, where Acehnese separatists have been fighting Indonesian troops for decades. In the 1990s, Indonesian troops in the area committed extensive abuses, according to human rights organizations. Over 1000 people were killed, tortured or disappeared, reports Human Rights Watch, which noted, "Thousands of Acehnese were detained without charge, often for years at a time, in military camps; many never returned."

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?pid=74

Edited February 1, 2007 by Steven_and_Jinky

[mawilson 2,133]

They do whatever is necessary to ensure the steady flow of oil from some of the

most brutal and dangerous places on earth.

Do you think you can just go to places like Indonesia or Iraq and get what you

need without the support of local paramilitaries?

God bless them.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

They do whatever is necessary to ensure the steady flow of oil from some of the

most brutal and dangerous places on earth.

Do you think you can just go to places like Indonesia or Iraq and get what you

need without the support of local paramilitaries?

God bless them.

Glad to have you back...but "I came here for a good argument!" ~ Monty Python