Dallas, Texas. Business at the international headquarters of ExxonMobil, parent company of Esso, the world's most powerful company ground to a halt this morning as the Greenpeace Global Warming Crimes Unit converged on at their compound in Irving, Texas. The move comes as ExxonMobil's Board of Directors and international executives attempt to gather from across the world for tomorrow's Annual General Meeting.
As of 14:45 GMT, (07:45 CDT - Local Time) Fifteen members of the Global Warming Crimes Unit are secured to the main gates, where two police-style vans are parked across the entrance used by staff and management. More than 30 members of the Unit have entered the compound, fabled for its high security. Some members of the Unit, including a Baptist minister, are actually inside the building, while others are on the roof, holding a banner that brands the building a "global warming crime scene." Employees arriving to work are turning away.
Greenpeace Climate Campaigner, Emily Armistead from London, at the scene said,
"This is where ExxonMobil plots to sabotage all meaningful efforts to solve global warming. While it's executives fight to conduct business as usual, millions of ordinary people who are threatened or harmed by global warming are completely ignored."
ExxonMobil stands accused of running a 10-year campaign of sabotage against international efforts to solve global warming. The company has used its influence and money to block agreements that would reduce global warming pollution. Recent figures show the company gives millions of dollars to ultra-conservative groups that aggressively lobby against action to protect our climate and direct President Bush's extreme energy policies.
The list of charges is accompanied by pages of evidence against the company. Copies of classified documents and letters demonstrate the unique role that ExxonMobil has played in sabotaging action on global warming, fraudulently misrepresenting the science, and lying to the American people.
