Read this.
An excerpt from a reply that I received. To be honest, I didn’t write a letter but I did send something to them:
I have been asked to respond to your recent letter to Lee R. Raymond regarding our position on global climate change.
Climate change is an extremely important and complex matter, which has elicited a number of significant proposed responses in both the public and private sectors. Measures such as the Kyoto Protocol, for example, contain mandates that would prove misguided, would be quite damaging and would not achieve their intended results. The protocol also falls far short of treaty guidelines established by the U.S. Senate (95-0 vote) in 1997. This vote shows the widespread and bipartisan opposition to the Kyoto concept and reflects strong concerns of organized labor, farm, consumer and business groups.
ExxonMobil has undertaken a number of economically justified steps that reduce carbon emissions. For example, we have installed over 2000 megawatts of cogeneration (simultaneous production of electricity and
steam) capacity, which typically reduces energy use by 30%. We are also involved with automobile companies in joint research that could significantly reduce future emissions by, for example, using fuel cells powered by hydrogen from advanced gasoline. We have partnered with the group American Forests to plant trees across the United States and more recently Siberia and Germany. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, and this partnership has planted 2 million trees. Related efforts have planted millions more in areas around the world. We have already improved the energy efficiency of our plants by over 35% during the last 25 years, saving the equivalent of 71 billion gallons of oil.Noting your comment regarding the state of the science related to climate change, I would like to call two recent publications to your attention. One is “The Science of Regional and Global Change” by the National Research Council of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. The other is an article “Rising Global Temperatures, Rising Uncertainty” by Richard A. Kerr in the April 13, 2001, issue of the journal, Science. Both publications help to highlight the many fundamental gaps in our current understanding.
I hope these additional materials and comments will convey a greater perspective on our views. You may also be interested in our brochure “Global Climate Change” and other information on the topic, which can be viewed, on our website at www.exxonmobil.com. We remain committed, today and for the future, to supporting responsible public policies and private actions to address the many aspects of climate change.
Sincerely,
Kenneth P. Cohen
Yeah, right.
