26 Feb 2014 – Updated March 2017
You’ve got to laugh.
If it weren’t so totally hypocritical, you might cry.
(Be sure to read through to the end).
ExxonMobil is a (very) large and (very) profitable oil and gas company. Like other oil giants, they have had their share of “spills” (aka disasters). Drilling and transporting fossil fuels is a messy and dangerous process, causing great damage to the environment.
The company is heavily involved in fracking – a particularly unpleasant way of forcing fossil fuels out of the ground using toxic chemicals and lots of water.
Naturally, the company’s CEO favours this route and has lashed out at fracking critics and calls for regulation. “This type of dysfunctional regulation is holding back the American economic recovery” he said in 2012. “The risks are very manageable” he said in another interview.
Rex Tillerson is paid a total of over $40 million so you can understand why he is for fracking and against regulation.
That is….. unless it’s close to home.
He’s got a nice little horse ranch in Texas and some self-serving little water company wants to put a water tower right next door.
The water will be used to supply fracking sites in the area – including some owned by XTO Energy (which ExxonMobil acquired in 2009).
Oh dear.
Tillerson has joined a lawsuit which cites fracking consequences (noise, traffic, danger) to block the 160-foot tower.
He cites concerns about the privacy and aesthetics of his $5 million ranch.
I would too!
A fracking site nearby puts an instant dampener on property values.
No one wants fracking near them.
Including the CEO of a fracking company.
I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t want it either.
Less wealthy residents in many countries have argued that even worse than the noise and traffic is the high risk of water contamination, as well as a considerable drop in value of what is for many their biggest investment.
Speaking of water contamination, XTO Energy currently faces criminal charges in Pennsylvania for that exact offense. And remember the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska? 26 years on, Exxon still hasn’t paid for long-term environmental damage to that once-pristine area.
Oh dear.
Go on, have a good laugh.
Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) has released a statement kindly inviting Tillerson to an exciting new club:
“I would like to officially welcome Rex to the ‘Society of Citizens Really Enraged When Encircled by Drilling’ (SCREWED). This select group of everyday citizens has been fighting for years to protect their property values, the health of their local communities, and the environment. We are thrilled to have the CEO of a major international oil and gas corporation join our quickly multiplying ranks.”
His hypocrisy seems to have been an advantage for him – I’m sure his appointment as the US Secretary of State will secure his future.
Isn’t life wonderful?
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BEAUTIFUL!! I hope he (and others like him) get SCREWED.