Andrew Wetzler's Blog
Exxon Posts Record Profits; Group Funded by Exxon Attacks Polar Bears
July 31, 2008
Posted by Andrew Wetzler in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
Today Exxon Mobil announced record quarterly profits of $11.7 billion (this is not just a record for Exxon, mind you, but for all of United States corporate history).
Yesterday, the Pacific Legal Foundation, a property-rights law firm, filed a letter on behalf of the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and other groups announcing their intention to challenge the listing of the polar bear as a “threatened species” under the Endangered Species Act in federal court. CORE is an organization deeply committed to opposing efforts to control global warming pollution.
The connection? Exxon is a major funder of CORE. Greenpeace has confirmed large contributions to CORE by Exxon Mobil or its corporate foundation as recently as 2005, and statement’s by Niger Innis, CORE’s National Spokesperson, certainly seem to indicate that contributions have flowed to the organization more recently than that (it’s unclear from the transcript exactly where they were directed):
Monica Trauzzi: OK. Are your climate change outreach efforts supported by Exxon Mobil?
Niger Innis: No, they are not. Our climate change outreach, our organization is, I mean, we're a nonprofit organization and you may know the business of being a nonprofit organization, if you're in the business of being a nonprofit organization you need to support from as many different corners and quarters, corporate as well as membership, as you can get. Exxon Mobil is one of many different supporters of the Congress of Racial Equality.
This is, of course, a very nice deal for Exxon. They get to indirectly bankroll a lawsuit that may undo federal protections for polar bears; protections that, not coincidentally, threaten their drilling exploration activities, all while avoiding any blowback.
NRDC and our allies will be monitoring this case closely, and when it’s filed we’ll be there to protect and defend the polar bear.
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Comments
Cameron S — Jul 31 2008 02:01 PM
What does "Racial Equality" have to do with polar bears?
elizabeth burns — Jul 31 2008 05:12 PM
I live on a 38,000 acre ranch where ExxonMobil operates and oil and gas lease. I can tell you first hand that they do not care about the environment. I got so fed up I just made a youtube page and a website a few weeks ago so people can realize that Exxon polluting isn't an accident. They have run this lease since 1935, it is a total pit and even today they openly dumping oil on the ground, salt water, heavy metals. The EPA has our ranch cited as a hazardous site, Exxon is non-compliant, no one cares.We filed lawsuits, exxon drags them out. ExxonMobil continues on.
I see a lot of stuff about the Exxon Valdez. I don't know if that was an accident. I wasn't there. But I can tell you that our ranch is just day in day out gross negligence.
Dan Troutman — Jul 31 2008 05:37 PM
Elizabeth,
Sorry to hear about your situation. That's why on my ranch I only lease to "wildcat" operaters who have their reputations to protect. Sounds like another classic example of big corporation arrogance and bureacracy.
BTW, you don't mention whether you receive any royalties from the leases. Do you? Or are you upset because you don't?
Andrew Wetzler — Aug 1 2008 06:18 PM
Cameron:
CORE contends that controls on global warming pollution hurts the poor, and thus has a disproportionate impact on people of color. Since polar bear protections may lead to global warming regulation and global warming regulation may hurt the poor, well....you get the idea.
-- Andrew
Ernest Smith — Aug 2 2008 11:04 AM
The polar bear is yet another problem because we don't accept the fact that extinction is the rule and not its exception. Let's get to the heart of the matter, polar bears stink. They eat seal guts and have very bad breath. They drink seal blood. They grist away on seal fat and blubber. Who cares if Exxon is killing polar bears? I say, kill 'em all, let Greenpeace sort 'em all out. Maybe Greenpeace can produce a seal guts grool for all of us to drink and gag down, in honor of the polar bears. The sooner we realize that what we need is higher and higher corporate profits and jobs for African Americans, the sooner we will realize that polar bears soil the snow.
Richard Rider — Aug 3 2008 04:21 AM
This past quarter, ExxonMobil made what some deem a fat profit [actually not so fat – that's about 8.5 cents per dollar of sales], but the company also had a fat tax bill. On a worldwide basis, ExxonMobil paid over $10 billion in corporate income taxes in the second quarter alone, $9.5 billion in sales taxes, and over $12 billion in other taxes.
In other words, ExxonMobil paid (or at least collected) $32.361 billion in taxes in the second quarter. Or to look at it another way - Exxon paid (or collected) almost $3 in taxes ($32.361 billion) for every $1 in profits ($11.68 billion).
That means that for every dollar in Exxon sales – not profits, SALES -- 23.4 cents is for taxes. And that is averaged over all types of sales – not just gasoline.
For the financially illiterate who wish to verify these figures, here's a URL for the company's quarterly earnings statement (if this board allows URL's -- otherwise Google it):
http://tinyurl.com/5rnmyc