This month, Occidental Petroleum Corp. stockholders demanded the company produce a report detailing how climate change threatens its business.
While a victory for truth seekers, this resolution should have been passed when big oil first learned of climate change over four decades ago.
ExxonMobil will hold its shareholders meeting in Dallas next week (May 31), and a similar resolution will be put to a vote. No matter which way the vote falls, New Yorkers must not let companies who obfuscate the truth — for decades — on climate change off the hook. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is currently investigating ExxonMobil and working to bring to light what Exxon knew and when it knew it. We know that New Yorkers support accountability for polluting corporations and are watching closely.
The oil and gas industry may look for praise or try to use resolutions like these to distract from past inaction. But we know better and we deserve the truth.
Eric Wood
The writer is a New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) environmental campaign organizer.
Categories: Letters to the Editor, Opinion
