A Vancouver , B.C. tabloid reporter, Sean Holman, nails ExxonMobil today, describing its offer to an energy official of a public P.R. campaign to change public opinion on drilling in coastal waters. The public in British Columbia is about like California’s when it comes to new oil drilling off their scenic coasts: against it, now and ever more. Holman describes a document, obtained through a public information request, that quotes Exxon officials meeting with B.C.’s top energy official:
"Exxon Mobil Corp. – the largest and one of the most powerful companies in the world – appears to have offered to help the provincial government lift the federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas development, 24 hours’ Public Eye has exclusively learned. On Feb. 2, Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister Rich Neufeld met with Exxon Mobil executives while attending a convention in Houston, Texas. During that meeting, the executives told the minister their company ‘has new [offshore] technologies that are environmentally friendly.’ And they asked how Exxon Mobil can ‘help move the moratorium and public opinion.’ "
Canadians are apparently pretty shocked, but Californians already know the feeling, what with Exxon’s relentless public PR ads and Chevron’s "we must be free to find new energy" ads. But the most blatant example came last year not from oil but from AT&T: the company spent $19 million on lobbying for its new anti-consumer telecommunications law in the state last year, including a major ad campaign extolling the proposal and covering the backs of lawmakers. After the bill passed, cutting cities out of the approval process for video and cable contracts, AT&T actually bought full-page ads to thank the bill’s sponsor, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Assemblyman Lloyd Levine.