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Running For The Money: An Analysis Of The The Arctic Refuge, the 'Filthy Four' and Organized Labor
11/7/2001
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Executive Summary
Environment America is the new home of U.S. PIRG's environmental work. Time after time, respected
national polls have shown how skeptical Americans are about the idea of drilling
for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain. According
to a March 2001 NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, 62 percent of respondents
in union households (and 56 percent in non-union households) oppose the plan
being pushed by the oil companies and the Bush Administration and want to
"keep these areas off limits and consider other solutions." A September
2001 CBS News poll found that 59 percent of Americans oppose the Bush energy
plan and that 66 percent think the oil industry has too much influence on
federal energy policies.
But when the oil companies
want something badly enough, how much do the opinions of the American people
count? This is the question the Senate could be facing in the very near future
when a crucial vote occurs on the future of the coastal plain.
Exxon Mobil, ChevronTexaco,
Phillips Petroleum and BP plc are the four multinational energy firms that
stand to gain the most from invading the coastal plain to carry out massive
oil drilling operations. Unions that advocate the interests of working families,
consumers and the general public should realize that the people who run the
"Filthy Four" have repeatedly placed their selfish interests above
all other considerations, not only within the U.S., but around the world.
Exxon Corp. and Chevron
were both in the top 50 among "The Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the
1990s," as designated by the respected weekly newsletter, Corporate Crime
Reporter. Phillips and BP Amoco made the "Ten Worst Corporations of the
Year" list for 2000 in Multinational Monitor, a magazine that bases its
annual ranking upon its judgments about "corporate power run amok,"
including "despoilment of the natural environment, infliction of preventable
disease, smashing of unions, invasions of privacy, corruption of democracy,
and more."
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