5.31.2007

Aww shucks, XOM ain't so bad...

Fear and loathing at the annual shareholder's meeting:
Andrew Logan of the Investor Network on Climate Risk pointedly asked why Exxon Mobil "has put so much effort into making itself public enemy Number 1 in terms of the global-warming debate" by openly opposing calls for the U.S. and foreign governments to make significant environmental policy changes.

"You've sacrificed the company's reputation by taking a position that, it seems to me, is to the benefit of no one," Logan said.

Tillerson, as he did repeatedly throughout the meeting, responded in measured tones.

"We never set out to make the company public enemy Number 1," Tillerson said. Exxon's differences with global-warming activists, he said, have always been over the degree of certainty involved in the science of climate change.

"What I find perplexing," Tillerson said, "is why people feel so threatened because we want to have a discussion" about the scientific issues "and what is known and what is not known."

Even under Raymond, Tillerson said, Exxon Mobil has sought to support organizations that back work on the science of global warming and cutting carbon-dioxide emissions. Company scientists and engineers have played a role in the efforts of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has authored leading studies on climate change.
See? All they wanted was a discussion. Nothing more. Why would anyone ever think ill of ExxonMobil?