White House sought advice from Exxon on Kyoto stance
John Vidal, environment editor
Wednesday June 8, 2005
The Guardian
President's George Bush's decision not to sign the United States up to
the Kyoto global warming treaty was partly a result of pressure from
ExxonMobil, the world's most powerful oil company, and other
industries, according to US State Department papers seen by the
Guardian.
The documents, which emerged as Tony Blair visited the
White House for discussions on climate change before
next month's G8 meeting, reinforce widely-held suspicions of
how close the company is to the administration and its role in
helping to formulate US policy.
In briefing papers given before meetings to the US under-secretary of
state, Paula Dobriansky, between 2001 and 2004, the administration is
found thanking Exxon executives for the company's "active involvement"
in helping to determine climate change policy, and also seeking its
advice on what climate change policies the company might find
acceptable.
EDIT
Until now Exxon has publicly maintained that it had no involvement in
the US government's rejection of Kyoto. But the documents, obtained by
Greenpeace under US freedom of information legislation, suggest this
is not the case.
EDIT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1501646,00.html