PUBLIC STATEMENT by Shawnee Hoover, Exxpose Exxon

July 26, 2007 - At the same time that the American public pays high gas prices at the pump, those prices are continuing to inflate the massive profits of ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil announced this morning yet another quarter of staggering profits of $10.26 billion, just shy of last year’s record $10.36 billion.

Wall Street pundits may lament Exxon’s one percent dip from last year’s record profits, but they fail to examine the critical issue of what ExxonMobil is spending those profits on.

NO RENEWABLE ENERGY

ExxonMobil is the only oil giant still refusing to invest in renewable energy. Other oil giants such as Shell and BP are investing billions in clean, renewable energy that will bring down consumer costs of energy. (See a comparison of investments by the oil giants.)

ExxonMobil dismisses renewable energy as a viable investment toward addressing the myriad problems of our nation’s oil dependence. Yet, studies used by Congress show that if we increase our use of homegrown renewable energy resources like wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass, consumer energy prices will drop and new high-paying jobs will be created.

Instead, ExxonMobil dumps its profits into more long-term oil and gas projects, including some of the dirtiest forms of hard-to-get oil such as production of tar sands that produce almost three times the carbon pollution as conventional oil production, without any investments in how to deal with the global warming pollution created from those projects.

Repeatedly, we hear ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson oppose clean energy investment because he says that “80 percent of world energy consumption will come from fossil fuels, such as oil, gas and coal” through the year 2030.

ExxonMobil’s statement is based on a worst-case scenario calculated by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its 2006 World Energy Report. The scenario is used as a reference case based on the assumption that governments do nothing to diminish oil dependency or promote renewable energy or energy efficiency.

The IEA scenario is meant to inform policy makers about what could happen, it is not a “forecast” as ExxonMobil calls it of what will actually occur. In the same report, the IEA also notes that if the worst-case scenario came true, global warming pollution would jump 55 percent over today's levels. Mr. Tillerson does not mention that projection.

With most countries participating in an international emission reduction framework and the U.S. Congress considering a host of bills aimed at cutting emissions, using the worst case scenario as a forecast is at best highly misleading and dishonest.

DENYING THE SCIENCE AND URGENCY OF GLOBAL WARMING

In June 2005, ExxonMobil’s then-CEO Lee Raymond told the Wall Street Journal that “it’s yet to be shown how much of this is really related to the activities of man.” In the face of widespread awareness of the problem, ExxonMobil has had to change its language. But only slightly.

Although the company has finally acknowledged that global warming is a “serious issue,” in May 2007, ExxonMobil president Rex Tillerson told shareholders that there are still too many “unknowns” to warrant meaningful and immediate action (or investment in renewable energy).

Tillerson also ducked questions about the company’s continued funding of discredited organizations that deny the science and urgency of global warming.

In May 2007 Greenpeace USA released an analysis of Exxon’s 2006 World Giving Report and showed that in 2006 ExxonMobil continued to funnel up to $2.1 million to a network of 41 groups that deny the scientific conclusions of the world’s foremost authority, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The company also argues that “policies from individual countries are not likely to make much of a difference,” which directly contradicts the conclusions of the IPCC. It argues against “hasty policies to tackle carbon emissions,” despite the fact that policies to address global warming have been in consideration for over a decade. Such statements coupled with continued inaction prove that the company’s attempts to appear concerned about global warming are not genuine. They also illustrate the company’s continued denial of the science and urgency of global warming.

TAKE ACTION: Expose Exxon!

Given the positions of ExxonMobil on the most pressing issues of our time, it is critical that more people know that ExxonMobil is working in opposition to the interests of rest of the country and funding global warming denier groups. Click here to write a letter to your editor.

This month marks Exxpose Exxon's two-year anniversary. Click here to see what we've accomplished so far!

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