Moves afoot to counter U.S. Big Oil's clout
If not budging is a virtue, then U.S. President George W. Bush is a saint. From his first days in office, he and the U.S. Congress have refused to adopt the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty aimed at making very modest cuts in carbon dioxide and other gases emitted from vehicles, electricity power stations and industry in general. Washington claims that efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that come from burning fossil fuels will, in Bush's words, "wreck the U.S. economy." Less myopic nations are finding just the opposite to be true: with improved energy efficiency, subsidized alternative-energy sources and improved mass transportation, they are reducing their emissions and stimulating economic growth. Even some of America's cities are proving Bush wrong, with Portland, Oregon, having already cut its greenhouse-gas emissions to below 1990 levels (as the Kyoto Protocol requires) while maintaining a vibrant economy.
Of course, reducing emissions creates losers, too. Using less fossil fuel means lower profits for big oil and coal companies that have long been loyal supporters of Bush and similarly minded Congressmen. One of these is ExxonMobil, the world's most profitable oil company, with a net income last year of $25 billion according to the Wall Street Journal (June 14). Asked about the role that carbon dioxide emissions play in global warming, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, Lee Raymond, told Jeffery Ball of the WSJ, "Our view is it's yet to be shown how much of this is really related to the activities of man."
Raymond's position stands in stark contrast to the worldwide scientific consensus. This is that human emissions of greenhouse gases are substantially affecting the global climate and will increasingly do so, if we do not act. Last week, to protest this profit-at-any-cost policy, a group of nongovernmental organizations in the U.S. launched a nationwide boycott of ExxonMobil's service stations and products ( www.exxposeexxon.com).
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