Exxpose Exxon?

The coalition of environmental heavies and other leftist groups is losing the public debate on global warming and is trying to win the fight by creating a corporate bogeyman in ExxonMobil.  Called Exxpose Exxon, the coalition includes Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Earth, Environmental Action, Greenpeace, National Environmental Trust, Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) and the Union of Concerned Scientists, True Majority, and MoveOn.org.

Greenwatch Executive Director David Hogberg looks at this campaign in the American Spectator:

…the thrust of their report "ExxonMobil Exxposed" is as hollow as a Halloween pumpkin: "In 2004, ExxonMobil gave $1.9 million to 26 organizations specifically to challenge the scientific consensus on global warming," it says. Does the report then compare the Exxon amount to the amount that foundations give to groups that believe global warming is an imminent threat to the environment? No. Fortunately, the George C. Marshall Institute has done just that. It examined funding trends for 2000-2002 and discovered that among the twenty top grant-makers on the issue, ExxonMobil was the only one not hyping global warming and it only ranked 14th in the amount of money it gave away. The top two givers, the Energy Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, gave over $43 million and $12 million, respectively, for programs on climate change. Both are strong supporters of the argument that the world is growing warmer because Americans use too much oil.

Indeed, looking at the funding patters of the groups in Exxpose Exxon reveals that they have a vested interest in promoting global warming hype. In fact, some groups raked in more money in one year for their own global warming campaigns than ExxonMobil doled out in total. According to the Marshall Institute, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Union of Concerned Scientists each took in over $2.4 million just in 2002. From 2000-2002, they took in $6.7 million and $6.3 million, respectively, for activities promoting the global warming hypothesis. Other big grants went to the National Environmental Trust ($2,150,000), U.S. PIRG ($1,015,000), Sierra Club ($405,000), Greenpeace ($385,000), and Friends of the Earth ($150,000).

The coalition also has some embarrassing funding problems of its own:

Like other activist groups, the anti-Exxon coalition arrogantly demands a boycott. Americans can help "by refusing to work for ExxonMobil, refusing to invest their hard-earned dollars in ExxonMobil, and refusing to buy ExxonMobil products" [italics added]. But guess what? Some of the foundations that support these groups invest their own money in ExxonMobil! The Ford Foundation gave $150,000 each to the Natural Resources Defense Council and Friends of the Earth in 2003. According to its most recent tax return, the foundation owned about 2.2 million shares of ExxonMobil stock that was then valued at about $82 million. The Surdna Foundation handed out $125,000 to Defenders of Wildlife (in 2001) and $75,000 to the National Environmental Trust (in 2003), and it owned about 15,000 shares of ExxonMobil stock. The Wallace Global Fund gave $490,000 to the Sierra Club Foundation (2001-2003), $200,000 to the Union of Concerned Scientists (2001-2003), and $100,000 to Greenpeace (2001), and it owned 20,000 shares of ExxonMobil. Because those "hard-earned dollars" are invested in ExxonMobil, will the green groups return the tainted money?

Read the entire article here.