ExxonMobil recently announced the largest quarterly profits—$9.9 billion—of any American corporation in history. Of course nobody is going to condemn the right of a business to earn profit, it’s the reason businesses exist and is the cornerstone of a healthy capitalistic society. We are not, after-all, a socialist state. But there are currently congressional hearings going on regarding the recent oil industry profits and whether ExxonMobil is unfairly raising prices while at the same time crushing any and all attempts to fund alternative energy research.

Via MoveOn:

During yesterday’s hearings on recent record oil industry profits, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) told the oil executives, “People are concerned about fairness and justice at a time of sacrifice. Your sacrifice appears to be nothing.”….

The only answer to the current energy crisis is energy independence. That’s something we’ll be working on together in the next few weeks—one of the big positive things progressives stand for. And we’re starting with ExxonMobil, the biggest obstacle in the way.

Exxon owes much of its lobbying success to close ties to Republican leaders. Over the last decade, Exxon has given more than $5.2 million to Republicans, while giving less than $650,000 to Democrats.3 This year 91% of Exxon’s political contributions have gone to Republicans.4 In turn, Republican energy policy has amounted to a series of massive handouts to the oil industry. Even now, with Republicans grandstanding with show hearings on television, they refused to make the oil executives testify under oath.5 Together with the coalition, we’ll deliver your petition signature to ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond, and we’ll send a copy to Congress to help break Exxon’s stranglehold on our government.

There are four main areas in which Exxon needs drastic change:

1. With gas prices near $3 a gallon, it’s outrageous to watch ExxonMobil rake in record profits while refusing to support greater fuel economy or invest significant amounts in cleaner, healthier energy.
2. ExxonMobil is the only oil company that remains part of Arctic Power, the group lobbying Congress to open the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Congress will cast the final vote on drilling in the Arctic shortly.
3. ExxonMobil has spent over $15 million since 1998 to deny the existence of global warming by funding junk science groups to cloud the debate. The company lobbies against efforts to fight global warming even as it alone is responsible for 5% of the world’s output of the main type of global warming pollution.
4. Remember the Exxon Valdez tragedy? Exxon’s tanker killed hundreds of thousands of seals, otters, birds, fish and whales when it spilled 11 million gallons of thick, deadly crude oil into the waters of Alaska’s pristine Prince William Sound. Yet despite making a record profit of $25 billion last year, ExxonMobil is still shirking payment of the full amount it owes fishermen and natives hurt by the spill 16 years ago!

The Exxpose Exxon campaign includes a dozen leading environmental and public interest groups, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG), True Majority, the Alaska Coalition, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Defenders of Wildlife, and more.

If you want to learn more about his issue and sign a MoveOn.org petition to ExxonMobil, you can click on this link: http://political.moveon.org/exxon/?id=6320-4350126-2Vyr_9mTzR32AKYeWNjb5g&t=3.

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