Stop Exxon Mobil

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The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Our Planet, Their Profit Campaign Kit

Stop ExxonMobil Alliance www.stopexxonmobil.org 1

* View a complete list of the Stop ExxonMobil Alliance members at end of the document.


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Our Planet,

Their Profit

The growing Stop ExxonMobil Alliance consists of many of America's leading environmental, human rights, pro-democracy, and social justice organizations. The campaign is dedicated to committing ExxonMobil to socially responsible behavior. It is the culmination of years of struggle to improve the corporate practices of two of the world's largest oil companies, Exxon and Mobil, which were allowed to merge in 1999 to form a corporate behemoth with unprecedented power and government influence. The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance builds on a long history of civil society and affected communities around the world to promote responsible business practices in Exxon and Mobil. Americans in particular remember the Exxon Valdez tragedy in 1989, but the last decade has also seen long struggles for environmental justice in U.S. refinery communities, international efforts to address human rights abuses associated with ExxonMobil's extraction activities, campaigns to hold the company accountable for its efforts to derail the international climate change treaty, and an International Day of Action last year highlighting many of these issues. People around the world have opposed one of the world's largest corporations with uncompromising and dogged tenacity. The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is the culmination of years of activism. Ultimately the Stop ExxonMobil campaign is about bringing accountability to unchecked corporate power. National polls consistently show that the majority of Americans believe that corporations have too much power and influence over our government. 51 of the world's largest economies are corporations, not nations, and ExxonMobil has more power than the majority of the world's governments. By taking a stand against ExxonMobil, we take a stand against unresponsive corporate power, human rights abuses, and the ecocide of our beautiful planet.

KEY ACTIONS OF THE STOP EXXONMOBIL CAMPAIGN Check them out in the Take Action section of the campaign kit. National Day of Action October 19, 2002 and

Targeting Campus Recruitment

Current Stop ExxonMobil Alliance Members Alliance for Democracy: www.thealliancefordemocracy.org Amnesty International USA: www.amnestyusa.org Free the Planet: www.freetheplanet.org Greenpeace: www.greenpeaceusa.org Indonesia Human Rights Network: www.indonesianetwork.org Institute for Policy Studies: www.seen.org International Labor Rights Fund: www.laborrights.org Pacific Environment: www.pacificenvironment.org PressurePoint: www.pressurepoint.org Refinery Reform Campaign: www.refineryreform.org Students for a Free Tibet: www.studentsforafreetibet.org U.S. PIRG: www.uspirg.org Uproar: www.uproarnow.org

A special thanks goes to PressurePoint for providing their previous ExxonMobil campaign kit as a basis for this kit. 2


contents

The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

This kit is designed for anyone who is interested in joining the Stop ExxonMobil campaign to prevent environmental or social injustices. ExxonMobil is one example of the problems of our present political structure that allows corporations excessive power to the detriment of people and our environment. The kit contains basic information about ExxonMobil as well as campaign ideas, tips, and resources.

Fact sheets ExxonMobil, the lowdown

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Money in Politics

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Global Warming

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Human Rights

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Ecosystem Destruction

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Community Health

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Take Action National Day of Action

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Organizing a demonstration

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Targeting ExxonMobil campus recruitment

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Campus campaigns

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Postering

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Letter-writing

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Stickers, speakers, and tabling

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Board of Directors

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The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

WHY EXXONMOBIL?

the lowdown

ExxonMobil is a corporation out of control. People all over the world are uniting to take action against its increasingly severe corporate abuses. The second largest corporation in the world, ExxonMobil, has intentionally sabotaged action on the greatest environmental issue of our age, global warming. Its activities are devastating communities around the world, from communities of color living in the cancer clusters surrounding its refineries in the US, to the devastating impact on indigenous peoples unfortunate enough to be living near its oil discoveries. ExxonMobil’s relentless pursuit of new oil is resulting in the ecological devastation of the world’s last remaining wild places. As the largest petrochemical energy company in the world, ExxonMobil operates in all corners of the world including highly politically unstable countries such as Chad, Colombia, Nigeria, Indonesia, and Angola. The company routinely works with governments that have committed serious human rights abuses against their own citizens. However, ExxonMobil has no company human rights policy and has consistently rebuffed appeals by leading human rights organizations to develop and implement a human rights policy, which will guide its global operations. OUR DEMANDS 1. MONEY IN POLITICS: ExxonMobil must stop giving corporate political campaign donations and taking millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies for environmentally and socially destructive projects. No one institution should have the right to determine government policy in a democracy. ExxonMobil gets away with its outrageous activities through buying government influence. It spent over $41 million in lobbying government officials since 1992- six times more than Enron. In the 2000 election cycle, ExxonMobil and its employees donated $1,375,250, 89 percent of which went to Republican candidates, helping to ensure that fellow Texan and oil executive George W. Bush got into the White House. Note: All campaign finance

and lobbying data above taken from the Center for Responsive Politics (www.opensecrets.org).

Its investment has paid off. ExxonMobil lobbied hard against the Kyoto Protocol, the only international treaty to address global warming. Last year, the Bush Administration pulled the US out of the Kyoto Protocol. Earlier this year Bush announced that the U.S. response to climate change would be voluntary reductions of carbon dioxide. Under this plan, emissions will be allowed to significantly increase. In the Senate, ExxonMobil’s extensive lobbying with its fossil fuel allies has ensured a US energy policy that increases our dependence on polluting fossil fuels, instead of moving us toward energy security based on renewable energy sources. Enron taught us all how corporations and government are intertwined. Similarly, "We know we have a ExxonMobil spreads its influence over public policy by investing millions in giant target painted campaigns and lobbying. ExxonMobil has received millions in taxpayer subsidies provided by the US government and other public finance agencies, including the on our chests." Ken Cohen, ExxonMobil's World Bank. Also, the Bush Administration's energy policy appears to closely head of government relations mirror ExxonMobil’s public position on the issue. Our policies and tax dollars and public affairs, The should not support ExxonMobil’s bad corporate behavior. Guardian, April 17, 2001.

the lowdown

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FACT SHEET 1


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

2. GLOBAL WARMING: Stop sabotaging international efforts to address global warming and support mandatory reductions in global warming pollution. ExxonMobil denies any responsibility for climate change, openly funds climate skeptics, spent millions on a misinformation campaign to mislead the public regarding the Kyoto Protocol Treaty, and successfully lobbied the Bush Administration to reject it. While some oil companies have taken first steps to invest in clean renewable energy, ExxonMobil remains the dinosaur of the industry, investing virtually nothing in renewable energy. It has attempted to discredit the overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is caused by the burning of fossil fuels. A February 2001 ExxonMobil memo to the Bush Whitehouse asked if the United States' could help unseat Dr. Robert Watson, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world's scientific authority on the issue. In April 2002, just as the ExxonMobil memo was made public, Watson was removed with the help of the US government delegation. 3. HUMAN RIGHTS: Develop and adopt a comprehensive, transparent, and verifiable human rights policy with an explicit commitment to support and uphold the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Even by oil company standards, ExxonMobil’s human rights record is appalling. It is being sued for complicity in human rights violations in Aceh, Indonesia, including reportedly allowing its facilities to be used for torture and interrogation. In Chad and Cameroon, citizen opposition to the environmental and social consequences of ExxonMobil’s Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline has been met with brutal government suppression. In Colombia, an entire village was forcibly relocated to make way for the expansion of South America’s largest open pit coal mine, majority owned by ExxonMobil’s wholly owned subsidiary Intercor. ExxonMobil then sold Intercor to its minority owners. And when Exxon merged with Mobil in 1999, it became the first U.S. employer ever to rescind a non-discrimination policy covering sexual orientation. 4. ECOSYSTEM DESTRUCTION: Stop pursuing drilling and pipeline construction in pristine frontier lands and waters, such as the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Some places of irreplaceable natural value should be off limits to oil and gas development. Yet ExxonMobil spent a staggering $7.9 billion last year on exploration and development, with much of it in pristine ecosystems, such as the Arctic Refuge and in gray whale habitat off Sakhalin Island, Russia. Some of West Africa's last untouched rainforests are threatened by ExxonMobil's Chad-Cameroon pipeline, which is partially financed with US taxpayer dollars via the World Bank, while the company's proposed McKenzie pipeline may jeopardize important forests in Alaska and Canada. Thirteen years after the devastating Exxon Valdez catastrophe, ExxonMobil continues to betray the public trust by fighting at every turn payment of clean up costs for the tragedy. Last year it successfully overturned the punitive damages awarded against it. ExxonMobil must pay up and clean up for the ecological and human destruction it has caused worldwide. 5. COMMUNITY HEALTH: Eliminate the trespass of health-threatening chemicals from ExxonMobil's refineries and facilities into communities where people live, work, and play. Domestically, ExxonMobil’s refineries are often located near poor communities of color, who have little recourse against the devastatingly high levels of respiratory illnesses, cancer, and the resulting impoverishment of their communities. The refining of oil and the manufacture of gasoline, plastics, and chemicals is the most polluting industry on the face of the earth. From cradle to grave, the oil and chemical industries use and produce a wide variety of some of the most health destroying substances known to humankind. The Bush Administration, with support from ExxonMobil, is proposing a wide-scale rollback of vital portions of the Clean Air Act. As a result, thousands of industrial plants, including ExxonMobil’s refineries, will be able to dramatically increase their emissions without obtaining proper pollution controls. ExxonMobil operates the oil refinery that produces the greatest number of barrels per day in the nation. Located in Baytown, near Houston, Texas, this refinery has been accused by the Environmental Protection Agency of operating in violation of the Clean Air Act every day since 1989. ExxonMobil’s political influence may get the company off the hook for these violations.

the lowdown

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FACT SHEET 1


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Money in Politics “We must be particularly careful about the political process - not because it is unimportant - quite the reverse - but because the legitimacy of that process is crucial both for society and for us as a company working in that society.” – Sir John Browne, BP CEO, February 27, 2002 How can a corporation get away with the kind of environmental and human rights abuses that ExxonMobil is guilty of? Two simple facts explain a lot:

ExxonMobil spends more money on lobbying than any of its competitors;

ExxonMobil gave more campaign contributions than any of their competitors (except for Enron).

ExxonMobil is a leader in using its profits and its power to buy political influence. In return, ExxonMobil has benefited from, among other things, over $5 billion in taxpayer subsidies over the last decade. These monies are provided via institutions like the US Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the World Bank. Our tax dollars should not subsidize ExxonMobil’s profits or their environmentally and socially destructive projects. MONEY IN POLITICS DEMAND ExxonMobil must stop giving corporate political campaign donations and taking millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies for environmentally and socially destructive projects.

“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of a private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism – ownership of a government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.” POCLAD 1998 “Engage us.”

EXXONMOBIL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS AND POLITICAL LOBBYING During the 2000 election cycle, ExxonMobil gave $1,375,250 to political campaigns - second only to Enron among oil & gas company campaign contributions. Of this total, 89% went to Republican candidates. Over the last decade, ExxonMobil has consistently been a leader in corporate campaign contributions – sparing no expense to elect representatives who are sympathetic to their agenda. The third largest campaign contributor among oil & gas companies in 2000 was BP, which gave $1,294,394. However, in February of 2002, in the wake of the Enron scandal, BP CEO Sir John Browne historically renounced the practice of corporate campaign contributions, noting:

“That's why we've decided, as a global policy, that from now on we will make no political contributions from corporate funds anywhere in the world.” We call on ExxonMobil to join BP and renounce all political contributions from corporate funds. If BP can do it, there is no reason that ExxonMobil cannot. Like Enron, ExxonMobil guarantees its influence over public policy by investing millions in campaigns and lobbying. ExxonMobil spends more money than any other oil company on lobbying in the U.S. – seven times

$$ in politics

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FACT SHEET 2


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

more than Enron from 1997-1999. Over $7 million was spent in 2000 alone to promote their agenda – over the last decade ExxonMobil has spent more than $40 million to pass legislation, subsidies, corporate welfare, and tax breaks.

Sources: All campaign contribution and lobbying numbers courtesy Center for Responsive Politics, www.opensecrets.org. All public assistance figures from the Institute for Policy Studies, www.seen.org.

CORPORATE WELFARE AND POLITICAL FAVORS ExxonMobil’s investments have paid off well. Over the last decade, ExxonMobil has benefited from more than $5 billion of support from taxpayer backed institutions including:

$651 million for the Chad-Cameroon pipeline project from the World Bank and the US ExportImport Bank

$1.17 billion for oil field development in Western Siberia from the World Bank and the US Export-Import Bank Our tax dollars should not be used to subsidize environmentally and socially destructive projects by one of the world’s largest corporations. ExxonMobil has spent more than any other oil company on lobbying because they want to see our government enact legislation or adopt positions that are favorable to their corporation. These issues have recently included rejecting the Kyoto Protocol (which the Bush/Cheney administration did), drafting a National Energy Strategy that increased US reliance on oil (which the Bush/Cheney administration did), and getting rid of the head of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (which the Bush/Cheney administration helped to do). Big money has been in politics a long time. What’s new is how ExxonMobil uses its sheer size to wield vast influence over our democracy. With more Americans than ever feeling disenfranchised by government, and suspicious of bureaucracy and corporate power, the world’s largest oil company plays a leading role in the subversion of the democratic process.

$$ in politics

Courtesy of PressurePoint

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FACT SHEET 2


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Global Warming ExxonMobil, one of the largest corporations on the planet, has spent the last decade working to sabotage action on global warming. ExxonMobil has spent more than any other oil company to derail U.S. policy on global warming and ensure our dependence on fossil fuels. Scientists say that if global warming, caused by burning oil, coal and gas, continues unabated, there will be a massive increase in temperatures, storms, floods, droughts and diseases. But ExxonMobil still denies that burning these fuels causes global warming. While other energy companies have begun investing in clean, renewable energy sources, ExxonMobil continues to spend on oil exploration and development while ignoring the ramifications of these destructive efforts and its own responsibility in solving the planet’s largest environmental crisis. Greenpeace has launched an unprecedented global campaign to stop ExxonMobil from continuing to corrupt U.S. energy policy and the environment. If we are going to stop global warming, we must stop ExxonMobil. GLOBAL WARMING DEMAND Stop sabotaging international efforts to address global warming and support mandatory reductions in global warming pollution. GLOBAL WARMING Human activity is changing the climate that makes life on Earth possible. The world is becoming warmer due to the build up of gases generated by human activities. One of the main gases causing global warming is carbon dioxide, which comes from the burning of fossil fuels—particularly oil, coal and gas. Global warming not only increases the Earth’s temperature, it also leads to an increase in floods, droughts and wildfires, intensified hurricanes, heat waves, the spread of infectious disease and species extinction. A panel of scientists called the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is recognized as the most credible scientific authority on global warming. The IPCC’s latest report on climate science (released in 2001) found “new and stronger evidence that most of the "ExxonMobil, the observed warming over the last 50 years is attributable to human biggest (oil company), activities.” It found that global warming is already having a negative impact is also the world's on ecosystems.

most powerful climate change skeptic. If the world's biggest purveyor of fossil fuels ever accepts openly that global warming is real, that may turn out to be more important to the planet than any Kyoto deal." The Economist, December 2001

global warming

A small minority of scientists, known as “skeptics,” challenge climate science. Many of them have been funded by fossil fuel companies, including ExxonMobil. These are scientists who state that global warming is not occurring, is not due to human causes and that warmer temperatures will even be beneficial due to shorter winters. It is important to note that while these skeptics are often recognized scientists, their views on global warming have been discredited by the rest of the scientific community. The majority of scientists are not debating whether humans are causing global warming, but about the pace and impacts on different parts of the world. 8

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FACT SHEET 3


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

KYOTO PROTOCOL-THE GLOBAL WARMING TREATY

DIRTY MONEY ExxonMobil’s contributions to the Republican Party in the 2000 election cycle totaled more than $1 million, more than any other oil company. In 1999 ExxonMobil’s lobbying budget, $11.7 million, was the fifth highest in the U.S., outspent only by pharmaceutical and tobacco giants.

ExxonMobil has spent hundreds of millions of dollars over more than a decade to undermine meaningful efforts to solve global warming. While heavily lobbying the U.S. government to derail global warming action, the company has also funded economic “scare” reports (disputed by numerous independent reports) on global warming policy and launched a multi-million dollar advertising campaign against ratification of the global warming treaty, the Kyoto Protocol. ExxonMobil’s efforts were finally rewarded when President Bush announced that the United States would be withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol.

As a result of these efforts, ExxonMobil has enjoyed a leading role in shaping White House energy policies. The influence of the ExxonMobil agenda is demonstrated by the following: • a major role in the pro-drilling Bush/Cheney energy plan, which would only serve to increase the profits of ExxonMobil and dramatically increase emissions of global warming pollution.

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement among industrialized nations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming. These reductions are legally binding once countries agree to ratify the treaty. The Kyoto Protocol is a crucial and significant first step towards tackling global warming.

• a request to the Bush administration for the removal of the head of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has concluded that human activity is causing global warming. • the adoption by the Bush Administration of virtually all of ExxonMobil’s stance on global warming—questioning the science, urging a slow approach, more long-term research, and no meaningful action.

In March 2001, President Bush announced that the U.S. would not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, declaring it dead. Fortunately, the rest of the world refused to let President Bush wreck ten years of negotiations on global warming and continued to move forward to implement the Kyoto Protocol—soon to become international law.

As an international organization, Greenpeace is working on a global-scale to Stop ExxonMobil. Our efforts to stop ExxonMobil and stop global warming are the culmination of thousands of voices concerned about the future of our planet. Visit www.greenpeaceusa.org.

However, as the United States is the largest emitter of global warming pollution, we cannot hope to stop global warming unless the U.S. starts taking action to reduce its global warming pollution. That cannot happen until ExxonMobil is held accountable for its blatant interference with global warming policy. ExxonMobil must be forced to change its position and be stripped of its legitimacy to influence government policy.

Photo courtesy of Greenpeace

global warming

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FACT SHEET 3


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Human Rights As the largest petrochemical energy company in the world, ExxonMobil operates in all corners of the world, including highly politically unstable countries such as Chad, Cameroon, Indonesia, Colombia, Nigeria, and Angola. The company routinely works with governments and security forces that have committed serious human rights abuses against citizens. However, ExxonMobil has no company human rights policy and has consistently rebuffed appeals by leading human rights organizations to develop and implement a human rights policy, which will guide its global business operations. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights calls on "every individual and organ of society" to play its part in securing the universal observance of human rights. Companies like ExxonMobil have a responsibility to use their influence to prevent human rights violations in their areas of operation . They also have a broader responsibility to promote respect for human rights, by ensuring that their operations do not exacerbate existing human rights conditions and by using their influence with governments to stop human rights violations. Not only is this a moral and legal obligation, but it also makes good business sense. Yet around the world, ExxonMobil has failed to live up to its human rights obligations. Even at home in the U.S., ExxonMobil showed its lack of respect for human rights by removing sexual orientation from Mobil’s Non-Discrimination Policy and discontinuing domestic partner benefits. HUMAN RIGHTS DEMAND Develop and adopt a comprehensive, transparent, and verifiable human rights policy with an explicit commitment to support and uphold the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CHAD AND CAMEROON ExxonMobil is leading a consortium of investors that are developing the Doba oil fields in the southern region of Chad. Other members of the consortium include Chevron Corporation and Petronas of Malaysia. The 650 mile pipeline will stretch from oil wells in Chad through Cameroon and end on Cameroon's Atlantic coast. The pipeline will cut through Chad's most fertile agricultural region and Cameroon's Atlantic Littoral Forest, a richly biodiverse area and home to the indigenous Bakola people. Construction on the $3.7 billion project began in October 2000 after the World Bank agreed to provide $200 million in loans in June 2000.

region plagued by civil strife for several decades. In March of 1998, Chadian security forces reportedly killed more than 200 unarmed civilians in the villages of Dobara and Lara in the Doba oil region. The massacre was never investigated. Chad, under President Idriss Déby, continues to suffer from grave human rights violations, including extrajudicial execution, the use of torture, including rape, as a means of interrogation, and a culture of impunity. The community consultation process for the pipeline took place largely under the supervision of the Chadian security forces responsible for these human rights violations, creating a climate of intimidation. There is well grounded concern that the controversial pipeline will exacerbate existing conflict and lead to increasing militarization of the region as the consortium will need to provide for an increased security presence to guard the pipeline both during and after construction. President Déby acknowledged in October 2000 that a portion of a $4.5 million signing bonus received by the Chadian government for the project had been allocated to purchase military equipment, including helicopters and jeeps used in counter-insurgency operations for a different conflict taking place in Northern Chad.

The Doba oil fields in Chad are located in a

ExxonMobil officials accompanied by armed security when meeting with local villagers in Chad. Courtesy of Martin Zin.

human rights

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FACT SHEET 4


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

In Cameroon, the indigenous Bakola people living along the pipeline are facing grave consequences from the disruption caused by the project to the forests they depend upon for their survival. In a claimed desire to evaluate the effect of the project on local communities in Cameroon (as in Chad), the World Bank and ExxonMobil put in place systems to involve NGO's in an open consultation process. There are, however, many concerns regarding the possibility of open consultation, especially in light of a law passed in 1999 requiring NGOs in Cameroon to register with the government and in the designation of Cameroon, by Transparency International for both 1998 and 1999, as "the most corrupt country in the world." Even the World Bank’s own independent inspection panel says that the bank did not undertake proper assessment of the pipeline’s cumulative environmental impact and expressed “great concern” that only 5 percent of the revenues from the project are destined for the oil-producing region. Visit www.amnestyusa.org for more information. INDONESIA In 1968, the Mobil Oil company entered into a production and profit-sharing agreement with the Indonesian state oil company Pertamina to extract gas from the Arun natural gas field in Aceh, a region that has been fraught with civil strife because of separatist movements. Between 1989 and 1998, the Suharto government declared Aceh a "military action area" to suppress the Free Aceh Movement and government opposition in the area. Today ExxonMobil has exclusive drilling rights to the Arun gas field and the company has taken drastic measures to protect its investments. Since 1992, ExxonMobil has been receiving complaints of human rights violations by the forces hired to protect their facilities. There have been regular reports of security forces systematically harassing, intimidating, torturing, raping, disappearing, and even massacring the Acehnese. According to Business Week ('What did Mobil know?" December 28, 1998), in the early 1990s, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mobil, Mobil Oil Indonesia, reportedly permitted the military to use its roads and facilities, and the military used these for the transportation of captives and for interrogation and torture. Reports also indicate that the company provided earth-moving equipment that was used to dig mass gravesites. On June 20, 2001 the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) filed a civil suit under the Alien Tort Claims Act against ExxonMobil on behalf of 11 villagers in Aceh. The ILRF charged that the company "contracted with the Indonesia military to provide security for its Arun natural gas project and controlled and directed the units assigned to it." The suit alleges that ExxonMobil is complicit in these human rights abuses with Pertamina and did nothing to stop them. ExxonMobil denies these allegations. Nevertheless, ExxonMobil successfully petitioned the US Department of State (DOS) to issue an opinion in the case. The DOS claimed the lawsuit would interfere with US foreign policy interests in Indonesia. Ironically the DOS also stated that the case would diminish the US government's efforts to promote human rights in Indonesia. "The Mobil Companies and Defendant PT Arun knew or should have known that their logistical and material support was being used to effectuate the Indonesian military's commission of the human rights atrocities" Suit against ExxonMobil and PT Arun lodged by International Labor Rights Fund on behalf of Acehnese defendents.

Aceh protest. Photo courtesy of the Atjeh Times.

human rights

CHINA AND TIBET ExxonMobil is planning a joint venture with China's stateowned energy company PetroChina, to build a 2,500 mile long WestEast gas pipeline. This pipeline will allow the Chinese government to transport natural gas reserves from Tibet and East Turkestan to Shanghai and other heavily industrialized cities on China's East Coast.

The West-East Pipeline is a major component of China's "Western Development Campaign" - a politically motivated scheme to solidify China's hold on Tibet. Projects such as the West-East Pipeline and the already completed "Seibei-Lanzhou" pipeline take natural gas from Tibet's Tsaidam Basin with no benefit to the Tibetan people. Furthermore, these projects will facilitate China's population transfer of hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese into Tibet, posing a significant threat to Tibetans' cultural survival. Moreover, these massive resource extraction and infrastructure projects are devastating for Tibet's fragile high-altitude ecosystems. Visit www.studentsforafreetibet.org. 11

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FACT SHEET 4


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Ecosystem destruction Some places of irreplaceable natural value, like the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, should be off limits to oil and gas development. Yet ExxonMobil spent a staggering $7.9 billion last year on exploration and development, with much of it in pristine ecosystems such as the Western Pacific gray whale habitat off of Russia's Sakhalin Island, the rainforests of Central Africa, the highlands of Papua New Guinea, and Australia's Cape York Wilderness. ExxonMobil’s track record in sensitive ecosystems is not encouraging. Astonishingly, thirteen years after the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, ExxonMobil has yet to pay the $5 billion fine levied against the company, successfully overturning the punitive damage award last year. Prior to the spill Prince William Sound was a productive and pristine ecosystem. Today, only two species have recovered to pre-spill levels and oil can still be found on the beaches of Prince William Sound. ExxonMobil must pay for all - and clean up all - the ecological and human destruction it has caused in Alaska and around the world. ECOSYSTEM DESTRUCTION DEMAND Stop pursuing drilling and pipeline construction in pristine frontier lands and waters, such as the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge. ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE But ExxonMobil is not done with Alaska. The company and their allies in the White House are promoting legislation that would allow oil and gas drilling in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of America’s last wild places. The Arctic Refuge is one of the most pristine ecosystems on the planet, and the last true wilderness left in the United States. Undisturbed by human development, the coastal plain represents the last five percent of America's North Slope not open to oil and gas drilling and exploration. Known as "America's Serengeti," the Refuge supports large populations of caribou, musk oxen, polar, black, and brown bears, wolves, snow geese, and thousands of other migratory birds.

Arctic coastal plain. Photo courtesy of Ken Whitten.

ecosystem

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FACT SHEET 5


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Drilling in the Arctic Refuge would also threaten the subsistence culture of the Gwich'in people, who have lived near the Arctic Refuge for thousands of years. The Gwich'in, whose name means "people of the caribou," depend on the Porcupine caribou herd for food, shelter, and as a link to their traditional way of life. Finally, opening up the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge wouldn't solve our energy problems. The U.S. Geological Survey assessment of the coastal plain estimates that the oil found in the Arctic Refuge would meet the energy needs of the United States for only four to six months. Even if we started drilling today, that oil wouldn't reach American consumers for at least 10 years. Increasing the average fuel efficiency of cars and trucks by a mere two percent per year would save at least twice as much oil as is found in the coastal plain. Why ruin one of America’s last wild places for six months worth of oil? SAKHALIN ISLAND In addition to the Arctic, ExxonMobil is gunning for other wild places. The company is exploring for oil off the coast of Sakhalin--a Russian island north of Japan--threatening the health of the local community as well as the Western Pacific Gray Whale. The seas around Sakhalin are treacherous and frozen for much of the year, raising grave concerns about the potential for a serious oil spill. But despite the risks, the company is exploring for oil in an area where endangered gray whales--there are only 100 left--spend five months of the year feeding. But even without a spill, ExxonMobil's activities pose a threat to the whales. According to scientists, these creatures were forced to move from their preferred feeding area once ExxonMobil began seismic testing nearby. These scientists have reported that some of these creatures have become severely underweight, leading them to call them "skinny whales." Alarmed at this situation, in the summer of 2001 the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources demanded that ExxonMobil cease seismic testing. Despite this directive, and in violation of Russian law, ExxonMobil continued testing for another three weeks because they didn't want to wait for the whales to move on. ExxonMobil is also bad for the local Sakhalin economy, which depends on the local fisheries for sustenance. Since oil drilling has begun, local fisherfolk and indigenous people have reported a significant decline in the number of herring and saffron cod being caught. And despite promises of jobs and an economic boost, the Russian government issued a report that said the people of Sakhalin will likely never see their fair share of the profits from Sakhlin oil production. Instead, most of the profits will go abroad.

Western Pacific gray whale. Photo courtesy of David Weller.

ecosystem

13

www.stopexxonmobil.org

FACT SHEET 5


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Refineries & Community Health WHY REFINERIES? Refineries are a national public health crisis. The refining of oil and the manufacture of gasoline, plastics, and chemicals are the most polluting industries on the face of the earth. From cradle to grave, the oil and chemical industries use and produce a wide variety of some of the most health destroying substances known to man. Refineries are the nation's major source of toxic volatile organic compounds, like cancercausing benzene, and chemicals that cause asthma and childhood development problems. Across the U.S., there are refineries located in 36 states and 125 cities. More than 67 million people breathe air polluted by oil refineries every day. Many of these refineries are concentrated in heavily populated urban areas and disproportionately impact low-income and minority communities. Refinery pollution impacts have often been considered "toxic hot spot" problems in Texas and Louisiana where 50% of refineries are located. For years, a vast majority of the nation's refineries have evaded regulatory scrutiny, including compliance with basic provisions of the Clean Air Act. Under proposals now being considered by the Bush administration and supported by ExxonMobil and other companies, refineries will be able to dramatically increase their emissions by avoiding requirements for pollution controls. Most refinery toxic air pollution is from product leaks in equipment, not from smokestacks. Technology to prevent these leaks has been widely available for decades, but oil companies refuse to invest in cleaner technologies. ExxonMobil refineries are some of the largest and most polluting of their kind in the nation. The manufacturing of gasoline and petrochemical products produces many tons of air, water, and land pollution every day. Unfortunately, ExxonMobil refuses to accept that pollution that crosses their fence line is harming their neighbors. ExxonMobil battles regulatory agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when they have broken laws rather than clean up their act and accept responsibility. COMMUNITY HEALTH DEMAND Eliminate the trespass of health-threatening chemicals from ExxonMobil's refineries and facilities into communities where people live, work, and play. EXXONMOBIL REFINERY OUT OF CONTROL

ozone, but progress has been obstructed by ExxonMobil’s and other companies’ resistance to cleanup demands.

One of the largest oil refineries in the United States is ExxonMobil's Baytown, Texas refinery. The refinery, which processes half a million barrels of oil a day, is located in Houston, Texas, a city which is among the worst cities in the nation for dirty air and frequently tops the list. The region is currently struggling to develop a plan to meet national air quality standards for hourly

refineries

Neighbors of the giant facility report serious health problems consistent with exposure to the chemicals released by ExxonMobil. Their struggle for clean air and justice is particularly significant in light of the gross enforcement failures at the ExxonMobil plant. Many of these 14

www.stopexxonmobil.org

FACT SHEET 6


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

enforcement failures can be traced back to the Bush Administration - including the administration's work to relax permitting requirements and promote voluntary compliance efforts.

The plant appears to be under-reporting its toxic emissions to federal officials. Some reports provided to the state environmental agency were not reported to EPA. Plus, ExxonMobil appears to be failing to identify all of the specific chemicals found in the petroleum hydrocarbons that it is emitting to the air.

ExxonMobil is party to a lawsuit opposing the current air plan for Texas and is seeking a weakening of the clean air plan. They are also advocating for the repeal of key sections of the Clean Air Act that they are under investigation for violating.

Failure to properly maintain emissions monitors was also discovered. Three of ExxonMobil's Continuous Emissions Monitors were frequently off-line for months at a time, essentially obliterating the emissions records during these periods.

An exhaustive analysis of records on the plant was conducted for years 1995 through 2000 by Alex Sagady, a well-respected Environmental Consultant. The study showed repeated and persistent accidental releases (upsets) and related problems. In 1998, the plant released more sulfur dioxide during maintenance and upset events than it did for all its normal operations. Last year was the worst for ExxonMobil's releases for upsets and maintenance in the last ten years. From 1998-2000, 116 separate emissions episodes (upsets and maintenance related) came from just five processes - a very high number of incidents for so few sources. This is indicative of ongoing problems that the plant is failing to correct.

The study also showed possible violations of Federal law on reporting and modification. The records indicated that the plant failed to make Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act reports for several toxic compounds including hydrogen cyanide, cresols, and others. ExxonMobil may also have violated New Source Review requirements by making substantial investments in its carbon monoxide boilers without first obtaining a permit required by the Clean Air Act. The complete report of the study is available from the Refinery Reform Campaign, a project of the SEED Coalition. Contact them at 512 479-7744 or download the report from www.refineryreform.org.

The study also showed that ExxonMobil repeatedly failed to maintain crucial backup equipment nor did it have backup equipment on some high emissions processes. Furthermore, it was shown that some of the accidental releases lasted for weeks at a time. The study also showed that ExxonMobil failed to report problems and emissions. In just the year 2000, nearly half of the plant's upset reports failed (in violation of Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) rules) to identify the equipment that had problems. ExxonMobil frequently failed to identify how the pollution resulting from the accident was actually emitted to the atmosphere - key information for officials to know to understand how the plant may be affecting air quality and public health. It also frequently failed to provide emissions calculations to justify its estimate of emissions releases during upset events.

refineries

ExxonMobil’s Baytown, Texas refinery. Courtesy of P. Altman/ SEED Coalition.

15

www.stopexxonmobil.org

FACT SHEET 6


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Take Action

Demand Accountability from ExxonMobil

The action ideas in this section range from organizing demonstrations to letter-writing. They are all important. Pick ideas that are in tune with the capacity and style of your group or make up some new ones. You want your actions to be part of a campaign plan with clear goals and a defined strategy. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual alliance member’s campaign actions. Please contact the organization you are affiliated with to make sure that your actions are approved and that it is linked in with the broader organizational goals for maximum impact. Rock on!

KEY ACTIONS OF THE STOP EXXONMOBIL CAMPAIGN National Day of Action: October 19, 2002 Check out the Organizing a Demonstration section on pages 17 & 18 to help you plan for the National Day of Action.

Targeting Campus Recruitment Tips for targeting ExxonMobil’s campus recruitment are on page 19.

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The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

National Day of Action The Stop ExxonMobil Campaign is calling for a National Day of Action for October 19, 2002. Coordinated by the Stop ExxonMobil Alliance, the Day of Action is an unprecedented effort between environmental, human rights, and prodemocracy groups to address ExxonMobil's unchecked corporate abuses. We need your help! Check out www.stopexxonmobil.org to locate an Exxon or Mobil gas station near you, and contact your local Alliance member organization or the Alliance to find out how to get involved in the broader campaign. Learn how to organize your own demonstration for the National Day of Action below.

Organizing a demonstration Organizing a demonstration is not as difficult as it looks, although it can take a lot of time. As an organizer, you must know how much time and energy you have to invest. A greater commitment usually provides greater results, but smaller scale efforts can be very effective if they are well planned and creative. Here are a few tips:

that will provide the right kind of impact to the company. Keep these things in mind when you are narrowing down your targets. It is also important to be aware that many ExxonMobil gas stations are franchises and not corporately owned. However, the franchise owners can still help get your message to ExxonMobil. CONDUCT A PLANNING SESSION

RECRUIT AN ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Begin the planning session by giving an overview of the campaign. Then provide time for people to introduce themselves. Spend enough time on introductions for people to become comfortable with one another.

Generate a list of people to help you to organize the demonstration. Think about people you know who are ‘doers.’ Invite these people to a planning session. You may want to send them a copy of the background materials in this campaign kit. Set aside approximately two hours for the meeting. Call each person the day before the meeting to confirm their attendance.

Ask people to set objectives for the demonstration. Objectives should be realizable and measurable. They might include getting the owner of the gas station to send a letter to the parent company regarding the issue, having the event shown on the nightly news program, having an article in the following day’s paper with a photograph, etc.

CHOOSE A TARGET There are many possibilities to target ExxonMobil such as gas stations, corporate offices, banks that finance them, or anything that has a link to your campaign. You want a target that has a clear link to your goals and one

Generate a list of tasks that need to be performed to prepare and stage the event. Be 17


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

ATTRACT ATTENTION

sure that the design of the event will achieve the objectives (for example, an event staged to get media may look different from one that is staged for other objectives).

Create a visual, action-oriented event. Think of the image you want to project and plan accordingly. Do something unusual to get coverage.

Develop a specific timeline and deadline by which each activity will be performed. Then ask each person to volunteer in taking the lead or be in a supportive role on particular activities. Record time-lines and role assignments so the coordinating person can follow-up.

Contact law enforcement agencies prior to the demonstration to ask about permits and restrictions. In some cases this may not be required but is usually a good idea. Give them a few weeks notice to have time to prepare. DOCUMENT THE ACTION

ARRANGE FOR PUBLICITY

Make sure you have someone with a camera and video to get footage of the action. You want to have this for your records. Also please send digital pictures to the Stop ExxonMobil Alliance for the website.

Design a poster announcing the time, place, and purpose of the demonstration. Be sure to mention any special speakers, persons, or groups who will enhance the event’s attractiveness. Hand out the posters two to three weeks before the event. Make them colorful or arresting and post them in well traveled areas and where supportive groups congregate. Check back to make sure they are still there.

MANAGING THE MEDIA Call the media the morning of the action, have a dedicated spokesperson, call radio and other media during and after the action and be sure to follow up afterward thanking those that show up and making sure they have enough information.

Put notes in your calendar so that you contact the media on time. Make sure you know the newspaper or magazine’s requirements for deadline, length of announcement, and format. Be sure to include the crucial information about the event.

Don’t despair if the media doesn’t show up. Consider the impact of the demonstration to passers by and directly to the target. Your efforts will generate discussion long after the event is over.

Signs Make sure the signs are bold and readable. Darker tones will show up better on TV and newspaper cameras. Banners Banners can be made out of any material including old bed sheets although the best material is rip-stop material that is coated on one side. Once you cut the length you want, fold the edges over and tape them down or sew around the edges so they do not fray. When designing the banner, first draw it on paper to scale and then enlarge it with an overhead projector. Hang the banner on the wall and trace the projected letters and images. Cut air vents into the banner so as not to create a sail. Lastly, fold a piece of rope into the bottom and top edges of the banner, fold the edges over again and tape them down with duct tape. The banner could be hung in a high-visibility location or carried on a march or protest. Props Use something highly visible or loud to attract attention such as giant cars, oilrigs, or puppets. Music and drumming Music and noise can be a powerful prop to your demonstration. A band, drummers, trumpets, whistles, or even two pieces of wood pounded together can be very effective. Street theatre Costumes, masks, and guerilla theatre can be very effective in communicating the issue and getting media coverage of the demonstration. Use your imagination. Mock trials, skits, and ‘die-ins’ (when everyone drops to the floor and doesn’t move for ten minutes) are all possibilities. 18


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Campus campaigns Targeting ExxonMobil on your campus can be a very strategic and effective way to force the company to end its irresponsible corporate behavior. There are a number of different campaigns that you could run and they would all require different research before you start. While some organizations are calling for divestment of ExxonMobil stock others are working with share holders to push change from inside the corporation. Please check with your affiliated organization to make sure that the action you are planning is sanctioned and your overall strategic goals match your organization’s goals for maximum impact.

campus and local newspapers. If the press forgets about the issue, so will the administration. 4. DON'T LET THE ADMINISTRATION DIFFUSE YOUR MOVEMENT Just as you will use tactics to pressure the administration or student government, they may also use tactics to undermine your campaign. Be careful not to get bogged down by committees and meetings. Don't be afraid to apply direct pressure to administrators if you need to jump-start a stalled campaign. Negotiate with the president while demonstrating outside her office, for example. Make it impossible to ignore your demands!

Whether you want to run a divestment campaign, pass a student resolution or break contracts that ExxonMobil has with your school there are five things you will want to keep in mind:

5. HAVE FUN! If you are having fun, chances are that others are enjoying the campaign as well. More work will ultimately get done and the campaign will be more successful. If you are not having fun with the campaign you should re-evaluate and figure out how to breathe new life into it.

1. HAVE A CLEAR MESSAGE AND DEMANDS The only thing more important than your message and demands is actually getting out there and running the campaign. Decide early what your demands are and stick to them. Your demands must sound reasonable and pack a real punch. Similarly, you want to craft how you talk about the campaign to your target audience. Repetition, repetition, repetition is the only way to get your message out so be persistent and try and come up with new and fun ways to make sure your campaign message is heard.

RUNNING A DIVESTMENT CAMPAIGN Before you can begin a divestment campaign, you've got to know where your university invests its money. This could involve simply asking your university's treasurer for the investment portfolio or it could turn into a long, drawn out process.

2. WORK IN COALITION WITH OTHERS

By law, you have the right to access your university's I-990 form, the form the federal government requires of non-profit institutions. The I990 discloses the top 5 paid employees, the top 5 investments, and all real estate; universities are legally required to make this form available. This is a good place to begin your research.

Building a coalition with other student groups, faculty, staff and alumni can prove invaluable. Working with others can provide new campaign opportunities, raise the visibility of the campaign and lend added influence and credibility to your efforts.

After you've seen the I-990, you'll probably want to dig deeper. Find out who you should ask for the university's entire investment portfolio. Most likely someone in the office of the treasurer will have this information. Head over to this office and ask for the university's investments. If they

3. KEEP LOCAL PRESS INVOLVED The administration is very sensitive to bad press. Send out plenty of media advisories to local newsprint and radio. Members of your coalition should write letters to the editor and op-eds in 19


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

call for a university boycott of ExxonMobil products or ban ExxonMobil from recruiting on your campus.

don't have them on hand, ask what the procedure for requesting this information is. Public universities are legally obligated to provide you with whatever investment records and policies it has.

PREPARING THE GROUND FOR SHAREHOLDER ACTIVISM

Be ready with your demands and have a clear list of proposed changes to the university's investment policy. Ethical investment analysts are a good resource to help understand some of the confusing language that gets thrown about. They also might be able to help you generate some alternative ethical investments you could take to the University.

Some Stop ExxonMobil Alliance members have successfully filled shareholder resolutions with ExxonMobil in the past and others may be filling future shareholder resolutions with the company. Many educational institutions have large investment funds with shares in ExxonMobil. You should contact your institutions and ask if they have shares in the company. Please communicate this information to the representatives of your affiliated organization.

PASSING A STUDENT RESOLUTION Student resolutions can be a great tool to raise the visibility of the campaign on campus and achieve measured victories. Your resolution could

Target Campus Recruitment Recruitment events provide a good opportunity for your campus group to raise awareness about ExxonMobil’s practices and forces the company to address the issue in from of its prospective employees. First, find out from your campus career center when and where the recruiting will take place and get on the list of those attending the event. The usual format of these events is a presentation from the company followed by an opportunity to ask questions. The easiest way to get your point across at these events is to ask pointed questions. Asking questions both highlights the issues to other students at the event, and sends a clear message to ExxonMobil. Sample questions include: 20

How can ExxonMobil justify expanding the amount of oil and gas that it plans to extract, when the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommends that we need to cut greenhouse gas emissions, notably carbon dioxide (released by burning oil, coal, and gas), by 60-90%?

How can ExxonMobil still not admit that burning fossil fuels causes global warming?

How can ExxonMobil dispute the international consensus of the IPCC, which consists of 2,500 scientists?

Do you care about the impacts of climate change and that the poorest in the world are hit hardest by the extreme weather events that will increase due to climate changes, such as floods and droughts?


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Other actions for targeting campus recruitment include:

Does the short term profit ExxonMobil will receive from the Sakhalin project justify extinguishing forever the Western Pacific gray whale?

Dispersing free materials (stickers, petitions, information on ExxonMobil),

Considering that ExxonMobil is the largest energy company in the world with operations in nearly 200 countries, why is your company adamantly opposed to developing a comprehensive and verifiable human rights policy that would guide its global business operations?

Emailing the University President & Board of Trustees expressing discontent with ExxonMobil on campus,

Filling out online and in-person recruitment applications to disrupt the process,

Bombarding delisa.s.burton@exxonmobil.com, Director of Campus Recruitment, with e-mails.

Disrupting the recruitment meeting with

protests, sit-ins, and invisible theater. Disrupting the meeting:

Asking tough questions at the meeting:

Pros

Pros

Peaceful disruption of the meeting is an effective way to waste ExxonMobil’s time and hinder their ability to recruit.

By talking to students about the issues at the meeting, you are likely to appear rational and reasonable.

It can be an effective way to draw attention to your work. A story in the student newspaper would allow you more space to discuss your issues.

By asking your own questions at the meeting, you can force ExxonMobil’s representatives to discuss your agenda.

Cons

Cons

You might be seen as unwilling to debate.

You risk creating bad publicity for the Stop ExxonMobil campaign.

You might aggravate students who have given up their time to go to the meeting.

You will give ExxonMobil an opportunity to convince the students to work for them.

You risk ExxonMobil winning the argument if you are not well prepared.

Postering You can create a poster using art work from the Stop ExxonMobil website. Include an explanation on the poster about ExxonMobil, but keep it brief. Also provide information on how to contact your group if people are interested. Posters can be stuck on using a mixture of flour and water that is difficult to remove. Asking storeowners if they will allow a poster in their window or on their board is also a good idea. Heavily poster the areas around stores that sell ExxonMobil products if it is permitted. Be sure to check the laws about postering in your area to make sure you don’t put yourself in a position you are not prepared for! 21


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Letter writing PREPARE A DRAFT MASTER LETTER

It is amazing how much impact a letter writing campaign or letter writing party can have. A letter writing party can be fun and effective and can also be a good way to involve more people in your campaign. Make sure your letters are targeted to a specific goal. Is your group most focused on the Arctic refuge? Human rights abuses in Chad/Cameroon or Aceh? The involvement of ExxonMobil in your University? The letter should clearly state your demands and request a reply. Here are some suggestions on how to proceed with a letter writing party.

It is good to start the letter establishing your credibility as a member of a recognized group, as a customer, and/or by mentioning any links you have had with the company in the past. An example might be, “I am a student at the University of Pennsylvania and have been a customer of ExxonMobil for ten years….” Then express your deep reservations about their behavior. For example, “I am deeply concerned about the links between ExxonMobil and human rights abuses in Aceh.” The more heartfelt the expression of concern, the greater the potential impact.

INVITE AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE Make a list of friends and acquaintances who might be interested in attending. You usually need to invite about twice as many people as you want to attend. You can ask invitees to bring guests as well. This may make them more likely to attend as they can bring people they know.

Conclude with a polite request for action. For example, “I am requesting that ExxonMobil immediately stop its recalcitrant actions with respect to climate change, and follow the lead of Shell and BP in supporting the Kyoto protocol and investing in renewable energy.”

Contact potential guests by phone and let them know that an invitation is being sent to them. Confirm their address, interest, and ability to attend. Make a simple invitation and send it to all invitees two to four weeks in advance. Ask everyone to RSVP a week prior to the party. Call everyone to reconfirm one week prior to the party.

SEND AS MANY LETTERS AS POSSIBLE There are many different people who could be the target of your letter writing campaign, including ExxonMobil’s Board of Directors. Encourage participation in the broader campaign. You should provide all participants with more information about your campaign and ExxonMobil. For example, you could provide more information on the Stop ExxonMobil Alliance and the wider campaign and ask them to consider joining.

ARRANGE FOR AN INTERESTING PROGRAM There are several things you can do to make the event interesting and educational. Contact the Stop ExxonMobil Alliance or your local university or local NGO to give a talk on human rights, the problems with multinational corporations, or a particular country in which ExxonMobil is operating. The lecture should be brief, with slides if possible, and allow for lots of audience interaction.

Ask participants to make a copy of the letters they just sent and send copies to ten friends. Include a cover letter and ask their friends to duplicate or re-write the letter and send them.

22


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Stickers You can make stickers using any sticky paper from a stationery store. The Stop ExxonMobil website has some examples of stickers that you could photocopy onto sticky paper or get printed for better quality stickers. These stickers can be handed out to sympathetic people to put on their bumper or other visible area. You should check local laws about stickering if you are going to use these in any way apart from purely informational. Do not break the law unless you are fully prepared for the consequences. Some groups in the past have stickered gas pumps, store windows, cars, etc.

Speakers Hosting speakers is a great way to inject excitement and attract people interested in your issues. It is also an effective way to put a human face to the issue. Speakers can give a presentation in the classroom, talk with your group, speak at a rally or other event, present a keynote address at a conference, conduct a workshop, or address the community. Guest speakers can be staff members representing the organizational members of the Alliance, representatives of other organizations, authors or visiting activists from other countries. To identify appropriate speakers for your events, use your imagination and talk to staff members representing the organization you are affiliated with. It is important to remember that getting the appropriate speaker for your event requires planning ahead and setting clear goals.

Tabling Tabling is an effective way to get information out, collect signatures on petitions, and to expand your audience. Possible venues include fairs, flea markets, special campus events, coffeehouses, bookstores, and festivals. Create a booth that is eye-catching and will attract attention to the issue. Make sure you have plenty of information and ideas for involving people that express interest in the campaign. You can give away literature and sell bumper stickers. You could also consider selling memberships or collecting donations to help pay for the booth and your campaign. Note that it is important for volunteers at the table to have the information necessary to answer questions about the campaign and the Stop ExxonMobil Alliance. 23


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Board of Directors Check out www.stopexxonmobil.org to see how ExxonMobil and its Board is connected to your university. Michael J. Boskin

T.M. Friedman Professor of Economics and Senior Fellow, Stanford University René Dahan

Executive Vice President William T. Esrey

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sprint Corporation [global communications company] Donald V. Fites

Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Caterpillar Inc. [manufacturer of heavy machinery] James R. Houghton

Chairman of the Board, Corning Incorporated [communications] William R. Howell

Chairman Emeritus, J.C. Penney Company, Inc. [department store and catalog chain] Helene L. Kaplan

Of Counsel, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &Flom LLP [law firm] Reatha Clark King

President and Executive Director, General Mills Foundation; Vice President, General Mills, Inc. [manufacturer and marketer of consumer food products] Philip E. Lippincott

Retired Chairman of the Board, Campbell Soup Company [global manufacturer of food products]; Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Scott Paper Company [paper and forestry operations] Harry J. Longwell

Executive Vice President Marilyn Carlson Nelson

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Carlson Companies, Inc.; Co-Chair, Carlson Holdings, Inc. [travel, hotels, restaurants and marketing services] Lee R. Raymond

Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer Walter V. Shipley

Retired Chairman of the Board, The Chase Manhattan Corporation and The Chase Manhattan Bank. 24


The Stop ExxonMobil Alliance is a broad association of rights groups working to influence ExxonMobil's behavior in the human rights, environment, governance, and community relations areas. Alliance members support each other’s demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas and individual member’s campaign actions.

Alliance Members

The Alliance for Democracy is a new progressive populist movement setting forth to end the domination of our economy, our government, our culture, our media and the environment by large corporations. www.thealliancefordemocracy.org

Amnesty International’s mission is to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights. www.amnestyusa.org Free the Planet crusades for the environment by emphasizing the need for politicians, corporations, and governments to be held accountable for its protection and welfare. www.freetheplanet.org Greenpeace is the leading independent campaigning organization that uses non-violent direct action and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and to promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. www.greenpeaceusa.org The Indonesia Human Rights Network is a U.S.-based grassroots organization working to educate and activate the American public and influence U.S. foreign policy and international economic interests to support democracy, demilitarization, and justice through accountability and rule of law in Indonesia. www.indonesianetwork.org As the nation’s oldest multi-issue progressive think-tank, the Institute for Policy Studies serves as the connection between the United States and developing countries, and between governments and grassroots activists toward the promotion of democracy, justice, human rights, diversity, peace, and security. www.seen.org The International Labor Rights Fund fights to promote the rights of workers worldwide, and to end abusive practices such as child and forced labor. We collaborate with labor, government, and business groups, in addition to using public education, research, and legislation to obtain our goals. www.laborrights.org

Pacific Environment protect the living environment of the Pacific Rim by strengthening democracy, supporting grassroots activism, empowering communities, and redefining international policies. www.pacificenvironment.org

Pressure point aims at redefining the power of large corporations that engage in activities contributing to abuses of human rights and environmental degradation. www.pressurepoint.org The Refinery Reform Campaign is a national organization that seeks to clean American oil refineries and lower dependence on fossil fuels through community mobilization and education, research, and media outreach. www.refineryreform.org

Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) works in solidarity with the Tibetan people in their struggle for freedom and independence. SFT is a chapter-based network of young people and activists around the world. Through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action, SFT campaign for Tibetans’ fundamental right to political freedom. www.studentsforafreetibet.org U.S. PIRG is the national lobbying office for the state Public Interest Research Groups. PIRGs are nonpartisan, non-profit public interest advocacy organizations that are active across the country. www.uspirg.org UPROAR (United People Resisting Oppression and Racism) is a non-profit community based organization aimed at surmounting racial discrimination and oppression. www.uproarnow.org

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