May 8, 2007, 12:16 pmGeneral Motors has joined the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a group of companies calling for a mandatory cap on greenhouse-gas emissions.
GM is the first auto maker to join the group, which added several other new members today, including oil giant ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell’s U.S. subsidiary, insurance company American International Group and tractor maker Deere. Founding members of the group include BP’s BP America, Duke Energy, General Electric and DuPont.
GM and auto makers have resisted efforts to raise fuel-economy standards for their vehicles, saying the costs of compliance would be crippling and arguing that the burden of fighting carbon emissions should be shared throughout the economy.
GM said in a statement that it sees “the need to promote energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions as both a business necessity and an obligation to society.’’
But it also sees the need to keep selling its profitable big trucks and SUVs. Today, GM said it was rolling out a new round of sales incentives, including zero-percent financing, for its redesigned lineup of full-size pickup trucks.
– Mark Gongloff
Comments
What counts when it comes to Big Oil and the environment is deeds, not words.
The environmental track record of Royal Dutch Shell does not inspire confidence. The tragic explosion at a Shell Oil refinery in Norco in which six people lost their lives, Clean Air Act violations, repeated environmental infringements in Louisiana, a pipeline rupture in Washington State which resulted in an explosion and more deaths, repeated multimillion dollar fines for groundwater contamination, more fines for unauthorised venting and flaring of gas. Details can be found on Wikipedia at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_surrounding_Royal_Dutch_Shell
Shell has also been guilty of causing hellish pollution in Nigeria for decades. A news report today revealed that Shell is still engaging in illegal gas flaring in the Nigerian Delta – see
“Shell censured for flouting Nigerian rule of law”
http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=125681&d=122&h=24&f=46
Posted by John Donovan, co-owner of the website: http://royaldutchshellplc.com/
EBOOK TITLE: “SIR HENRI DETERDING AND THE NAZI HISTORY OF ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
EBOOK TITLE: “JOHN DONOVAN, SHELL’S NIGHTMARE: MY EPIC FEUD WITH THE UNSCRUPULOUS OIL GIANT ROYAL DUTCH SHELL” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
EBOOK TITLE: “TOXIC FACTS ABOUT SHELL REMOVED FROM WIKIPEDIA: HOW SHELL BECAME THE MOST HATED BRAND IN THE WORLD” – AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.
FYI – you can get free access to those wall street journal article from http://www.congoo.com