[Photo is of an oil well leaking near Port Fouchon, 100 miles southeast of New Orleans and was taken by Scott Saltzman/Bloomberg News]
A coalition of environmental groups is asking us to boycott ExxonMobil, and when you find out all the reasons why, you’ll say, “My pleasure!”
The campaign, called Exxpose Exxon, is targeting the ugly giant because of greed so huge that it blocks out the sun. From a Sierra Club mailing:
Exxon is leading lobbying efforts in Washington D.C to open the pristine Arctic Refuge in Alaska for drilling…after more than a decade, Exxon has still not yet fully paid for the extreme damage that resulted from the Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William sound…and while you and I are being gouged at the gas pump, Exxon is reaping record high profits…over $25.3 billion in 2004…money that is paying for junk science designed to stop and stall action on global warming.
Whew. I’m convinced. But just in case you’re not, guess who Bush awarded the oil to that he’s releasing from the emergency reserves?
The Bush administration said it approved a loan of six million barrels from the emergency reserve to Exxon Mobil, and another one million barrels to Placid Refining. A third company, Valero, will receive 1.5 million barrels.
I smell a rat. An oily rat.
The Sierra Club says ExxonMobil wants to keep us dependent on oil, something the Bush adminstration, whose idea of energy policy is “Hey bartender, another round of tax breaks for all our pals!” can get behind.
Hurricane Katrina spotlights the danger of our dependence on oil, and how fragile our reliance on it is. This one event has seriously affected the production, refinery capacity, and price of oil in the United States. We can decrease the effect of future disruptions by reducing our dependence on oil, not putting up more rigs and drilling our special places.
The fact is, we cannot drill our way to oil independence – the United States is responsible for 25 percent of the world’s oil consumption, and yet we have less than 3 percent of the world’s oil supplies.
Additionally, the current lack of refinery capacity is the result of a conscious decision by the oil industry in the 1990s to limit supply to increase profitability – and they have succeeded. Exxon is the most profitable company in the world, and just last quarter posted profits of $7.84 billion.
So how do you join the boycott?
Go to the web site and sign the petition.
Drive past Exxon and Mobil stations.
Tell other people about the boycott.
Contribute money to the effort, if you are so inclined.
