Critics Denounce Exxon-Mobil Merger (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Institute for Public Accuracy
(202) 347-0020  *  http://www.accuracy.org
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
___________________________________________________
 
Tuesday, December 1, 1998
 
CRITICS DENOUNCE EXXON-MOBIL MERGER
 
     Responding to today's announcement that Exxon has agreed to
purchase Mobil, critics say that the merger of the two oil giants
would mean a vast consolidation of economic power and a serious
threat to the global environment. The proposed Exxon Mobil Corp.
would be the largest energy company in the world.
 
     Among the researchers and policy analysts available for
interviews are:
 
WENONA HAUTER, (202) 546-4996 ext. 350, (703) 754-4005,
whauter@citizen.org, http://www.citizen.org/cmep
     Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy
Project, said: "We're talking about putting back together
Standard Oil, which was broken up 90 years ago. Consumers are
eventually going to pay the price for this since it induces
non-competitive behavior. It's bad public policy. The lax
treatment of mergers, with the government just winking at this,
empowers such corporate consolidation."
 
JOHN PASSACANTANDO, (202) 265-6738, cantando@ozone.org,
http://www.ozone.org
     "I don't know if Adam Smith said anything about businesses
conspiring to do environmental damage," said Passacantando,
executive director of Ozone Action. "But putting Exxon and Mobil
together creates the Death Star of global warming."
 
FR. MICHAEL CROSBY, (414) 271-0735, mikecrosby@aol.com
     Crosby is coordinator for Campaign Exxon, a new group of
church-based Exxon shareholders and environmental organizations
concerned about the oil company's approach to global warming.
"Economically, they may think this marriage is made in heaven,"
he said. "Ecologically, we think this marriage is bad for the
heavens as well as the Earth. These two have done much to
undermine national and international efforts to lessen global
warming. To have them come together is only going to make matters
worse."
 
MARC BRESLOW, (617) 628-8411, dollars@igc.org
     Co-Editor of Dollars and Sense magazine, Breslow recently
authored an article titled "I want my Ford Explorer! But can the
world survive cheap gas?" On Tuesday, Breslow said: "Wall Street
is hailing this merger as another step towards greater
efficiency, but that efficiency in getting oil out of the ground
cheaply today will have disastrous results both for oil supplies
in the long run and for the environment. There have been many
false scares over time about whether there will be shortages of
oil, and the last 20 years have made people overconfident that
there's plenty of oil around. But it appears that both the oil
companies and the oil-producing countries are myopic. They're
producing at a fast pace now, even though it's not
sustainable.... The likely result, unlike previous scares, is
that we really are going to face shortages relative to demand in
another decade."
 
 
For more information, contact at the Institute for Public
Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 332-5055, or David
Zupan, (541) 484-9167.