It seems incredulous, or at least requiring a double-take, to read that Exxon Mobil Corp. has decided it may finally be time to go green – or give the impression of doing so.
Just last year, the CEO of the oil and gas industry’s largest company attempted to quash environmentalist’s claims by arguing that the science of climate change remains unsettled and that it is his company’s ‘corporate social responsibility’ to continue to provide the world with fossil fuels.
Their reputation as a staunch climate change denier has led to much criticism from, not only environmental groups, but members of government, and even shareholders, who think it’s about time the oil and gas behemoth seriously explored alternative forms of fuel.
Thus, this July, Exxon revealed it would be making its first big biofuel investment to reduce greenhouse gas and pledged $600 million to work in partnership with Synthetic Genomics, a biotech expert, to explore the creation of fuel from algae.
Why algae? A deciding factor was research which revealed that algae has potential for large scale production. One of Exxon’s biggest fears was finding a biofuel that could be harvested on a large, commercially viable basis. And no wonder. A loss of revenue would certainly not be palatable. As well, apparently algae produces an oil with similar molecular structures to the petroleum-based fuel that Exxon Mobil already makes.
Even if, after years of research, the project goes forward, it would still be several years more before algae-based gasoline is available at service station pumps and would take additional multibillion dollar investments for mass production. Interestingly, the biofuels investment is but a drop in the bucket compared with funds spent on finding new supplies of fossil fuel.
Perhaps, though, Exxon feels they’ve done what was needed to buy a reprieve of silence in the face of very audible criticism. After all, the pendulum has shifted against self-sparing, uber-rich industrial giants, who see the planet’s crisis through rose-colored glasses, as long as the money keeps rolling in.
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Oh, Exxon is so full of it. I live on a 38,000 acre ranch iin South Texas. XOM has been operating here since 1935– they dump, lie, bury, kill birds — whatever. I have unfettered access to their whole operation and I made a website with a blog and I wonder around their stuff. It’s really bad. They are just a bunch of bureaucrats.
My site is
http://www.RanchoLosMalulos.com