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friends of the earth international
15 august 2002
washington - london
how to sabotage a summit
exxon and republican lobbyists work to stop
johannesburg
progress
WASHINGTON / LONDON, August 15, 2002 --
Leading US Republican Party and conservative
lobbyists – many funded by Exxon Mobil – have
combined to try to stop progress at the
Johannesburg Earth Summit.
Environment pressure group Friends of the
Earth obtained a letter sent to President
George W Bush by 31 political groups and
individuals who demand that he not attend the
Johannesburg Earth Summit and who call on him
to ensure that his negotiators prevent any
progress on climate change.
The letter, dated August 2nd, says “we
applaud your decision not to attend the
Summit in person … Even more than the Earth
Summit in Rio in 1992, the Johannesburg
Summit will provide a global media stage for
many of the most irresponsible and
destructive elements involved in critical
international economic and environmental
issues. Your presence would only help to
publicize and make more credible various
anti-freedom, anti-people,
anti-globalization, and anti-Western
agendas.”
Friends of the Earth International (FoEI)
vice-chair Tony Juniper commented:
“This letter casts a grim light on the
iron triangle of the Bush White House,
corporate polluters such as Exxon Mobil, and
conservative lobbyists. They are determined
to block any progress at the Johannesburg
Summit."
The letter also claims that “the least
important global environmental issue is
potential global warming and we hope that
your negotiators at Johannesburg can keep it
off the table and out of the spotlight.” And
the letter also says that “in our view the
worst possible outcome at Johannesburg would
be taking any steps towards creating a World
Environmental Organization, as the European
Union has suggested”.
Signatories include:
* Fred L Smith and Myron Ebell of the
Competitive Enterprise Institute
- funding from Exxon $280,000 in 2001
* Craig Rucker from the Committee for a
Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT)
- funding from Exxon $35,000 in 2001
* Steven Hayward from the American
Enterprise Institute
- funding from Exxon $230,000 in 2001
* Terrence Scanlon from the Capital Research
Center
- funding from Exxon $25,000 in 2001
* Joseph L Bast of the Heartland
Institute
- funding from Exxon $90,000 in 2001
* Deroy Murdock of the Atlas Economic
Research Foundation (AERF)
- funding from Exxon $150,000 in 2001
* H Stirling Burnett of the National Center
for Policy Analysis
- funding from Exxon $20,000 in 2001
(All funding details come from
www2.exxonmobil.com/files/corporate/public_policy1.pdf
an official Exxon document)
Many of these groups have long been active
in trying to frustrate progress on tackling
man-made climate change and other global
environmental crises. For example, the CFACT
sent fifty “trained” Republican students to
the Bonn climate talks in 2001 to demonstrate
against the Kyoto Treaty. The AERF promotes
and supports the work of leading US climate
sceptic S Fred Singer.
Friends of the Earth International
vice-chair Tony Juniper added:
“Corporate polluters such as Exxon Mobil
and conservative lobbyists have already
leaned on President Bush not even to show up,
and are now demanding that his negotiators do
their best to wreck any hope of agreement.
These lobbyists cannot live off the support
of ordinary citizens – who would react with
incredulity or anger to their claims that
climate change is an issue of no
importance."
"So they rely instead on handouts from
corporations such as Exxon. Exxon doesn’t
have the courage to promote its political
agenda directly. So it relies on the
lobbyists to do its dirty work. The case for
a binding international agreement to control
the behaviour of destructive corporations has
never looked stronger,” added Juniper.
FoEI is calling for binding coporate
accountability, including rights for citizens
and communities and liability and duties for
corporations. For more information visit
www.foei.org/corporates
CONTACT:
Friends of the Earth International
(FoEI):
Contact Daniel Mittler (FoEI Earth Summit
campaign coordinator)
for Earth Summit enquiries at
+49-173-9234747
Friends of the Earth International
vice-chair in London Tony Juniper:
+44-20-7490 1555
FoE US: Mark Helm, media relations,
+1-202-7837400 ext 102
Notes:
[1] Friends of the Earth is a member of the
Stop Esso Campaign, launched with fellow
coalition members Greenpeace and People &
Planet in response to the US withdrawal from
the Kyoto Protocol in Spring 2001. ExxonMobil
were the most prominent members of the fossil
fuel lobby opposing US involvement in the
vital Kyoto climate treaty
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