There is little doubt in my mind that Doyle is one of our greatest assets, as an investigative writer on these matters.
Not mentioned is Shell's (and I think BP Amoco's) recent (very predictable?) scaling-back of Solar-PV production, supposedly in response to market conditions. This is, perhaps, a cashing-in on the decade or two they've spent positioning themselves as big players in that field, so they can control its growth. It is the worst thing I can think of that they've done, recently. I'd have to know more, though, to view Shell (a giant organization in which hundreds of thousands participate) as skeptically as we are asked. Well, I'll check out the book if possible. >Similarly, the oil companies today are giving millions to >environmental groups and activists to buy silence and good will. > >Now comes Jack Doyle, who has just completed a remarkable corporate >history of Shell titled Riding the Dragon: Royal Dutch Shell & the >Fossil Fire. > >The book is published by the Boston-based Environmental Health Fund >and is also available on-line on www.shellfacts.org. > >In documenting hundreds of cases of human rights abuses, oil >pollution, worker injuries and deaths, andthe manufacture of >cancer-causing chemicals, Doyle makes the point that Shell and the >big oil companies have a lot to hide. > >And yet, despite all the rhetoric of moving "beyond petroleum," they >continue to secure long term contracts that tie them to the fossil >fuel economy, with all of its geopolitical hazards, all of its human >rights abuses, and environmental destruction. > >Doyle makes the point that while Shell is spending millions of >dollars to create the impression that it is a socially and >environmentally responsible oil company, the world's second largest >oil company remains one of the world's biggest environmental >violators. For example, the new Shell refuses to clean up what is >now the worlds' largest urban underground oil spill in Durban, South >Africa, where more than one million liters of oil have been dumped so >far, Doyle reports. > >The book documents a concerted campaign by Shell to halt critical >government reports, rewrite history and cover-up its misdeeds. > >Since Shell's alleged involvement in the execution of their highest >profile critic, Ken Saro-Wiwa of Nigeria, the company has claimed to >adopt a new set of principles aimed at reforming their internal >practices and re-making their image. > > "Despite an ongoing civil trial in New York on Shell's alleged role >in the execution of Saro-Wiwa and other activists, Shell has the >temerity to advertise itself as a new company committed to human >rights, environmental protection and sustainable development," Doyle >said. "There is ample reason to be skeptical about this manufactured >image, which is wildly at odds with the facts." > >Don't believe the hype. Put aside the cute little web sites and beany >baby tigers. > >There's nothing new about new Shell, Exxon, and BP. They are bought >into the fossil fuel economy. > >We need to get out. > >Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate >Crime Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, >D.C.-based Multinational Monitor, >http://www.multinationalmonitor.org. They are co-authors of Corporate >Predators: The Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy >(Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1999; >http://www.corporatepredators.org). > >(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman > >This article is posted at: >http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2002/000134.html Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel at WebConX http://webconx.green-trust.org/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
