I initially gave Exxon/Mobil till 2020 to get out of Torrance and clean up their toxic mess here in my town. But now that I’ve found out they’re still lying and covering up their role in climate change and the size of their own carbon footprint, I’m going to have to get tougher with them. Some people just cannot be negotiated with and need a swift, hard kick in the ass. Sometimes they need several of them.
The global gangbangers from Exxon/Mobil are like that. They’ll forever claim to be reformed and rehabilitated but in the end they’ll always knife you in the back and sell crack to your kids. It’s just part of their DNA. They’ve been acting that way for generations.
That’s why I shouldn’t have been surprised when I read this today in the Guardian of England:
The world’s largest oil company is continuing to fund lobby groups that question the reality of global warming, despite a public pledge to cut support for such climate change denial, a new analysis shows.
Company records show that ExxonMobil handed over hundreds of thousands of pounds to such lobby groups in 2008. These include the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) in Dallas, Texas, which received $75,000 (£45,500), and the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC, which received $50,000.
According to Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, at the London School of Economics, both the NCPA and the Heritage Foundation have published “misleading and inaccurate information about climate change.”
On its website, the NCPA says: “NCPA scholars believe that while the causes and consequences of the earth’s current warming trend is [sic] still unknown, the cost of actions to substantially reduce CO2 emissions would be quite high and result in economic decline, accelerated environmental destruction, and do little or nothing to prevent global warming regardless of its cause.”
The Heritage Foundation published a “web memo” in December that said: “Growing scientific evidence casts doubt on whether global warming constitutes a threat, including the fact that 2008 is about to go into the books as a cooler year than 2007”. Scientists, including those at the UK Met Office say that the apparent cooling is down to natural changes and does not alter the long-term warming trend.
In its 2008 corporate citizenship report, published last year, ExxonMobil said it would cut funds to several groups that “divert attention” from the need to find new sources of clean energy.
The NCPA and Heritage Foundation are included among groups funded by ExxonMobil, according to details of its “2008 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments” published recently.
But of course I was surprised and it just goes to show you what a great capacity for amazement I still possess. It helps me from getting outrage fatigue…
So even though they had nothing to prove, Exxon/Mobil and by extension all the creeps who work for them here in Torrance, have proven that no matter what the reality and no matter what promises they make, they’re just irresponsible, greedy killers at the top of that company and they can’t ever be trusted to do anything but destroy us all for an extra dollar.
So now I’m only giving them till 2017 to get out of town. 3 years earlier than the deadline and three years sooner we’ll be well rid of them. I turn 60 in 2017 and this will be a present I’m getting myself.
And yes, I am quite certain that Mayor Scotto and all the members of the Torrance City Council agree with me on this. I know they share my deep understanding of the climate change reality along with Exxon/Mobil’s huge role in adding to the greenhouse gasses that will seal our fate if their emissions are not drastically reduced.
As responsible civic leaders they know they can no longer support having an Exxon/Mobil refinery in our town spewing its deadly pollution and climate changing greenhouse gasses, just as we can no longer tie our city’s economic tax base to such a carbon based albatross.
They know as I do that we should turn that 750 oily acre into a clean, renewable solar power generating station.
That’s why I’m so confident we can together give Exxon/Mobil the big mutal push they need to close down their death factory and get out of town.
It’s time Torrance started producing clean, green solar electricity for the electric cars we’ll all be driving in 2017 and stopped supporting a corporation that displays the ethics of a criminal mafia and a product that does more harm than good.
This is a great test of character and leadership for the Mayor and City Council. Now we’ll find out if they even know that school is in session.
Creative Greenius 
I am so tired of hearing what dirty business Exxon Mobil is up to next. A corporation representing the true evilness of what a corporation can embody. It’s one issue of contention when Exxon Mobil can invade the global south and leave areas in absolute peril but to continue endangering the lives of people in Torrance is another issue all together.
We are supposed to live in a democratic country where our lives are to be protected and our voices are supposed to count. Unfortunately, what’s happening in Torrance is a perfect example of how corporations like Exxon Mobil are able to manipulate the system for profits.
Together, let’s put them to shame by voting them into Corporate Accountability International’s “Corporate Hall of Shame”. Please take the time to vote for this corporation!
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2215/t/8981/signUp.jsp?key=4278
Greenius:
Thanks geetha, and I couldn’t agree more with you. I voted for Exxon/Mobil in the Corporate Hall of Shame poll you provided the link for, but I’m afraid that the people who work for Exxon/Mobil and run its corporation don’t have any shame. They were born with a shame bypass which allows them to live with themselves and feel good about what they do despite the harm and destruction they’re responsible for. Having no concept of shame is one thing that makes Exxon/Mobil such a successful greenwasher and master of the global warming denier cult.
Other than working the city council, what sorts of tactics are you going to employ?
Greenius:
First off, Erik, I dig your oganic wood furniture.
We’ve seen a few different tactics work successfully. One is legislative and involves tougher cap and trade rules for major greenhouse gas emitters. Exxon/Mobil has threatened to shut down their Altona refinery in the Australian state of Victoria following the introduction of carbon emissions trading. Exxon/Mobil claimed that under the new regulations it would not be able to compete with overseas competitors who are not required to pay for emissions.
Another strong tactic against Exxon/Mobil is a class action legal suit. Just six months ago Exxon/Mobil was forced to pay nearly $6.1 million in additional civil penalties for violating sulfur emission rules here in Torrance. Those penalties were paid because Exxon was guilty by the US Justice Department of cheating and lying about their emissions after the EPA found them guilty of exceeding sulpur dioxide limits. Exxon/Mobil paid $7.7 million in 2005 the first time they got caught emitting criminal levels of air pollution. They were also ordered to perform an additional $6.7 million in supplemental environmental projects in communities like Torrance.
There are still other avenues under consideration that I’m not going to reveal publicly at this time, but there are plenty of ways to get rid of a bad neighbor who performs criminal activities in your neighborhood, who trashes the property and who ruins the air everyone in the neighborhood breathes and then lies about doing it.
I wonder why some residents I heard along del Amo blvd close to Exxon Mobil refinery died of cancer.Some still there living with ailment and diagnosed with cancer waiting to die.What do you think?
What I think is that Exxon produces poison gas. It comes with a cancer warning at the gas station and their products have been poisoning our climate since they first started being used. What I think is that Exxon is a criminal operation that should be prosecuted for the knowing and willing damage they have done and I think their fossil fuel products should banned from being burned. What I think is that Exxon has blood on their hands. And no matter how many billions of dollars they pour into the climate change denial movement they can never wash away their sins. I hope the young people of this country hold them fully responsible and make them pay the price for what they have done. That’s what I think.