San Francisco Chronicle
November 3, 2007
by Chronicle Staff Report
Opponents ask UC regents to delay signing BP contract
Greenpeace USA and two other groups urged the University of
California on Friday to delay signing a $500 million research contract
with oil giant BP until the details of the pact can be publicly
reviewed.
"The prospect of giant carbon polluters directing research
related to and gaining control of key energy technologies is very
troubling — especially when the research is conducted at, and the
technologies are developed in collaboration with, public institutions,"
said the letter to UC President Robert Dynes and UC regents Chair
Richard Blum. Joining Greenpeace in signing the letter were Essential
Action of Washington, and the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer
Rights of Santa Monica.
In an agreement announced in February and extensively debated
since then, BP will provide $500 million over 10 years to a partnership
with UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to form the Energy
Biosciences Institute for research on biofuels and other energy
initiatives.
The contract, however, has not yet been signed.
UC Berkeley spokesman Robert Sanders said the campus is
"following well-established UC protocols and procedures for negotiating
funding contracts with industry, which have proved in the past to
protect the university’s independence and academic freedom and to serve
the public well."
UC Berkeley has posted its proposal and other information about the partnership on the institute’s web site at www.ebiweb.org. The letter from the three nonprofits can be seen at www.essentialaction.org/ebi/.