Stop ExxonMobil Campaign Launches In U.S.

WASHINGTON, DC, 22 May 2002 – A broad alliance of leading environmental, human rights, pro-democracy, and social justice organizations announced the formation of the Stop ExxonMobil Alliance today, kicking off an unprecedented international campaign against the oil super giant. The Alliance is centered around five core demands for ExxonMobil:

1. Support the Kyoto Protocol, and stop sabotaging international efforts to address global warming.
2. Develop and adopt a comprehensive human rights policy with an explicit commitment to support and uphold the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
3. Stop drilling and pipeline construction in pristine frontier lands and waters, such as the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge.
4. Eliminate the trespass of health threatening chemicals from ExxonMobil's refineries and facilities into communities where people live, work and play.
5. Stop giving corporate political campaign donations and taking millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies for environmentally and socially destructive projects.

"ExxonMobil is the poster child for bad corporate behavior, whether it's in the environment or in the area of human rights," said Chris Doran, Stop ExxonMobil Alliance Coordinator. "We are coming together from many diverse backgrounds to stem the tide of corporate power before planet Earth becomes planet Exxon."

The initial members of the Stop ExxonMobil Alliance are Greenpeace, Amnesty International USA, U.S. PIRG, PressurePoint, the Institute for Policy Studies, the Alliance for Democracy, and the Refinery Reform Campaign. It is the first time that some of these well known groups are working together.

"ExxonMobil's horrible track record of environmental destruction and complicity in human rights abuses has united one of the largest gatherings of activist groups the world has ever seen," noted Doran. "We will stop ExxonMobil because the future of the planet depends on it."

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 others' demands but do not have expertise or take public position on all the issue areas.