Feature story - 2 August, 2002
Exxon subsidiary, Mobil Oil Australia is formally complaining to the Australian Press Council about an newspaper article containing Greenpeace quotes. The news piece ran in the Adelaide Advertiser as Mobil was preparing to take its first delivery of one of the most polluting fossil fuels on earth.
Protest against polluting fuel pushed by oil companies such as Exxonmobil
Exxon subsidiary, Mobil Oil Australia is formally complaining to
the Australian Press Council about an Adelaide newspaper article
containing Greenpeace quotes. The news piece ran in the Adelaide
Advertiser as Mobil was preparing to take its first delivery of
naptha - a by-product of shale oil, one of the most greenhouse
polluting fossil fuels on earth. Quoting Greenpeace, the article
pointed out that shale oil produces almost four times as many
greenhouse gas emissions as conventional oil and has been listed as
a carcinogen by the World Health Organisation. Mobil's reaction,
predictably, was to focus on the messenger, rather than the
message.
ExxonMobil seems to determined to make its 'business as usual'
even dirtier by buying into the most greenhouse polluting fossil
fuel in the world then appealing to the Australian Press Council to
try and silence its critics.
Last month Mobil Australia signed a three year contract to buy
naptha, a by-product of shale oil, from the Stuart Shale Oil
Project. Shale oil is a fossil fuel alternative to conventional
oil. Greenhouse gas emissions from its production are nearly four
times higher than from normal oil. The production of shale oil also
releases dangerous cancer causing chemicals.
It is hardly suprising that the company wants the Kyoto Protocol
dead and buried if this is where it sees its future. Restrictions
on greenhouse gas emissions would certainly effect this dirty
little project.
An article in the Adelaide Advertiser heralding the arrival of
the first shipment of naptha to Mobil's Port Stanvac Refinery,
pointed out the polluting nature of shale oil. It also pointed out
Mobil's responsibility to provide evidence to workers and the local
community that refining shale oil is safe, quoting a Greenpeace
source.
Predictably, Mobil immediately announced it was formally
complaining to the Australian Press Council about the article. Once
again, following Esso France's attempts to curb freedom of
expression on the internet, it appears that the ExxonMobil 'family'
would rather try to silence the messenger than focus on the
message.
More:
Read the
full
newspaper article
Read the
Mobil
response
Find out more about polluting
shale oil