By Cam Walker
March 24 marked the 10th anniversary of the oil spill from the Exxon Valdez tanker in Alaska, one of the worst oil disasters in history. Friends of the Earth International chose that day to release a report on Exxon and its new partner, Mobil. They are two of the most environmentally damaging corporations in the world.
The report, the Exxon Files, catalogues the oil companies' activities across six continents that threaten the health and prosperity of indigenous peoples and important habitats. The report also reveals that 10 years after the Exxon Valdez spill, Prince William Sound has not recovered.
Exxon Files reveals that the companies:
- are developing a Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline, which threatens indigenous people's homelands and fragile rainforests;
- plan to drill for oil in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area;
- are blocking European legislation against PVCs in children's toys;
- have had a string of heavy fines imposed on them in the US for air and water pollution;
- have flouted Russian law during oil exploration in Arctic waters by discharging toxic wastes into the sea; and
- have conducted anti-union activities at the massive and polluting El Cerrejon coal mine in Colombia.
FoE says Exxon and Mobil's forceful lobbying against action on climate change sets them apart from the rest of the oil industry. Other corporations have accepted the need for precautionary action and started to invest in renewable energy.
Exxon and Mobil still question the science of climate change and are campaigning against US ratification of the historic Kyoto Protocol. Exxon and Mobil have funded multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns claiming that policies to cut pollution will devastate world economies.
The American Petroleum Institute (of which Exxon and Mobil are leading members) funded a large campaign which aimed to undermine political confidence in climate science. According to leaked documents published by the New York Times last April, the campaign was to be sponsored by Exxon, Chevron and Southern.
In Nigeria, Mobil has spilled over 40,000 barrels of crude oil, affecting more than 120 coastal communities. In Peru, Mobil and Shell signed a deal to develop three gas fields in an area that included the homelands of Indian communities, who were placed in direct danger by exploration activities. The companies withdrew from the area in 1998 following an international campaign.
The report marks the launch of an international campaign against Exxon and Mobil involving FoE Earth groups in Britain, the US, Canada, Argentina, Japan, Nigeria, Finland, Ireland and Ecuador.
For further information, phone FoE at (03) 9419 8700, fax (03) 9416 2081 or e-mail <foefitzroy@peg.apc.org>. Visit for more information about Exxon or e-mail <annas@foe.co.uk>.