January 15, 2007

Exxon Cuts Competitive Enterprise Institute Funding

Exxon Mobil has stopped funding the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit advocating limited government regulation, and other groups that have downplayed the risks of greenhouse emissions, MSNBC reports.

A report issued earlier this month from the Union of Concerned Scientists claims that ExxonMobil used disinformation tactics to cloud the scientific understanding of climate change and delay action on the issue. According to the report, ExxonMobil funneled nearly $16 million between 1998 and 2005 to 43 advocacy organizations that seek to confuse the public on global warming science.

In addition, Exxon, along with representatives from about 20 other companies, is participating in talks sponsored by Resources for the Future, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit. The think tank said it expected the talks would generate a report in the fall with recommendations to legislators on how to regulate greenhouse emissions.

Sens. McCain, R-Ariz., Obama, D-Ill., and Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, introduced a bill last week that calls for for mandatory caps on greenhouse emissions for power plants, industry and oil refineries. Their plan would require releases of heat-trapping gases to return to 2004 levels by 2012 and to 1990 levels by 2020.

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