California Progress Report, CA
04-12-07
Conoco Takes The Plunge: First Major Oil Company to Call for Regulation of
Greenhouse Gases
John-Simpson.gif
By John M. Simpson
OilWatchDog.org
ConocoPhillips finally took the plunge and became the first major oil company to
call for regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. Other dirty Oil Giants have so
far merely dabbled their toes in the water and attempted to greenwash their
images using such tactics as funding and touting environmentally friendly
research as part of Big Oil U.
ExxonMobil is in that game for $100 million and BP is playing at Berkeley with
$500 million. ConocoPhillips has also followed suit with $22.5 million to Iowa
State University and pledges to follow with more to other schools.
Now Conoco says it will join the U.S. Climate Action Partnership USCAP), a
business-environmental leadership group dedicated to enacting strong national
legislation to require significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.
“We recognize that human activity, including the burning of fossil fuels, is
contributing to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
that can lead to adverse changes in global climate,” said Jim Mulva, chairman
and chief executive officer. “While we believe no one entity can alone address
the environmental, economic and technological issues inherent in any solution,
ConocoPhillips will show leadership in finding pragmatic and sustainable
solutions."
Well, it's certainly about time, isn't it?
Who knows why ConocoPhillips really decided to do the right thing? Perhaps
they figured they should embrace the environmental bandwagon, and try to
influence inevitable and necessary regulation from the inside, rather than seeking
to block it from the outside.
Whatever the reason, we say, welcome. And don't worry, folks like us will keep
the light on them to ensure they continue to do what's right. To the rest of Big Oil
-- Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP and Shell -- we say: Follow ConocoPhillips' lead and
come on in; the water's fine