Fuel to the Fire: Mobil Spill highlights need for International Day of Action
"The local significance of the International day of Action against
ExxonMobil this Wednesday (July 11th) has been highlighted by the spillage
of 4,000 litres of fuel into the Yarra River today" says Friends of the
Earth spokesperson Tristy Fairfield.
On July 11th thousands of protesters around the world will target
ExxonMobil service stations and headquarters in more than fifteen countries.
The International Day of Action has been called primarily to highlight
ExxonMobil's role in the US government's withdrawal from the Kyoto
Protocol, the international agreement which aims to create legally binding
targets for countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
"The United States' position has caused outrage in the international
community," Fairfield said, "but people need to be aware of the role of
multi-national corporations play in lobbying governments and the influence
they exert through electoral funding. In that respect, ExxonMobil are the
worst of the big multi-national oil companies."
"The Yarra spill is not an isolated incident but just one event in a series
of ongoing abuses of environmental and human rights worldwide" said Greens
lead Senate Candidate Scott Kinnear. "ExxonMobil have not only been active
in undermining the Kyoto Protocol. They have been sued for on-going human
rights abuses in North Aceh, Indonesia, they are lobbying the US government
to open up the Arctic Refuge for oil drilling and exploration and have
ignored the opposition of indigenous people to the Chad-Cameroon pipeline."
"The Greens will join environmental and human rights activists on July 11th
to show ExxonMobil that local and international communities demand respect.
Consumers need to know ExxonMobil's atrocious record locally and
internationally."
For more information:
Tristy Fairfield
Climate Change spokesperson, Friends of the Earth 0411 220 704
Scott Kinnear,
Lead Senate Candidate, The Greens 0419 881 729
www.pressurepoint.org
www.stopesso.com
www.foe.org.au
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