Report shows Exxon hired same guns as tobacco!

Report shows Exxon hired same guns as tobacco!

For years ExxonMobil has been undermining science and casting doubt on the facts about global warming. Today the Union of Concerned Scientists, a member of the Exxpose Exxon coalition, released a new report documenting ExxonMobil’s use of Big Tobacco’s tactics, and even the same personnel, to deceive the public to delay crucial action on global warming.

Call on the new Congress to reject ExxonMobil’s disinformation campaign and stop the handouts to Big Oil!

Fill out the form below to tell your members of Congress to eliminate billions of dollars in tax breaks for Exxon and other oil giants and support bills that ensure reductions in global warming pollution.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Reject ExxonMobil's disinformation campaign and stop the handouts to Big Oil!

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I'm writing to urge you to reject ExxonMobil's disinformation campaign targeting climate science and to take real steps to address the urgent problem of global warming in the 110th Congressional Session.

The recent Union of Concerned Scientists report - Smoke, Mirrors, and Hot Air: How ExxonMobil uses Big Tobacco Tactics to Manufacture Uncertainty on Climate Science - documents how ExxonMobil used the same tactics as the tobacco industry to create uncertainty about the scientific evidence on global warming. ExxonMobil even hired some of the same people to help the corporation in its attempts to delay federal action addressing climate change.

Please reject this disinformation campaign by supporting several critical policies in the new Congress:

--Immediately repeal tax beaks for ExxonMobil and other oil companies and redirect money to renewable energy programs that will reduce America's oil dependence; --Increase fuel economy standards for passenger vehicles; --Support a science-based bill that would gradually reduce global warming emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050; and --Require utilities to boost their use of clean renewable energy sources.

Please protect future generations from the threat of global warming by rejecting ExxonMobil's attempts to undermine science and unduly influence the peoples' government. Please support these critical solutions in the new session.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
January 03, 2007

Background Information

On January 3, UCS released Smoke, Mirrors, and Hot Air: How ExxonMobil uses Big Tobacco Tactics to Manufacture Uncertainty on Climate Science. The report documents how ExxonMobil has underwritten one of the most successful disinformation campaigns since the tobacco industry's 40-year effort to mislead the public about the dangers of smoking.

The report documents how ExxonMobil has drawn upon the tactics and even some of the organizations and actors involved in the callous disinformation campaign the tobacco industry waged for 40 years. Like the tobacco industry, ExxonMobil has:

Manufactured uncertainty by raising doubts about even the most indisputable scientific
evidence.
Adopted a strategy of information laundering by using seemingly independent front organizations to publicly further its desired message and thereby confuse the public.
Promoted scientific spokespeople who misrepresent peer-reviewed scientific findings or cherry-pick facts in their attempts to persuade the media and the public that there is still serious debate among scientists that burning fossil fuels has contributed to global warming and that human-caused warming will have serious consequences.
Attempted to shift the focus away from meaningful action on global warming with misleading charges about the need for "sound science."
Used its extraordinary access to the Bush administration to block federal policies and shape government communications on global warming.

In recent years, ExxonMobil provided close to $16 million in funding to 43 groups that question the urgency of global warming. This web of organizations creates an echo chamber of denial about global warming by consistently repeating the views of a few climate change deniers. Through this sophisticated effort, ExxonMobil has manufactured uncertainty about even the most indisputable scientific evidence on global warming.

As the new Congress convenes in 2007, it's time to tell our senators and representatives that we support Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) vow to eliminate tax breaks for ExxonMobil and other oil companies in the first 100 hours. Repeal of Big Oil handouts is a first step in rejecting ExxonMobil's misleading campaign on global warming.