You quite literally ca n’t pen this joke : Exxon , one of the companies most responsible for the clime crisis , tweetedMonday that it was keeping people in Louisiana and the Gulf Coastaffected by Hurricane Idain its “ thoughts and prayers . ” Wow , where have weheard thatphrase before ?
Exxon has , in thegrand schema of oil company , a somewhat disorganised presence on societal media . ( Yes , I like tokeep tabson this material . What of it ? ) The tweet — which has been ratioed straight to inferno — isn’t from Exxon ’s prescribed mark situation , but rather from ExxonMobil Beaumont , an frontier settlement of the company based outside of Port Arthur , Texas . That accounting is n’t the only Exxon - connect story that had a response to Ida .
The account for ExxonMobil ’s Baytown mathematical operation in Texas nip anearly identical“thoughts and petition ” statement , opting for a white background as counterbalance to Red River and contribute some extra words of boost to “ bet out for each other as you are able . ” herculean ! The ExxonMobil Baton Rouge history , meanwhile , really go all out , tweetingregularupdateson its hurricane - related flaring activity and alink for masses to build a disaster kitfor hurricane season .
Screenshot: Gizmodo
Exxon ’s been cash in one’s chips through a bit of a PR crisis this summer , following ashareholder uprisingand anembarrassing investigatory exposé ; it ’s natural that the company would require to put on a likable grimace to local community reach by one of the most brawny violent storm toever make landfallin the U.S. But there ’s that one teeny , nagging fact : Exxon is one of the largest carbon copy emitter in history and has spent decades dwell about the climate crisis while moil out profits .
Hurricane Ida has has thefingerprints of clime alteration all over it . The storm arrive at strength from the abnormally warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico , start from a Category 1 to a Category 4 storm in just about a day . Ida also came less than a calendar month after the expiration of the bombshellIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report , which said that , thanks to decade of carbon emissions from human activity like drilling for and burn Exxon ’s independent product , serious storms arelikely to become more vulgar .
Exxon ’s crucial theatrical role in oppress climate scientific discipline for genuine decennium lends this tweet a deliciously , awfully ironic twist ; it ’s remindful of the grand tradition of Republican political leader fund by the NRA nip their “ thoughts and prayers ” following mass shootings .
And if we ’re really rolling out these reception , these particular locations have a plenty to answer for in terms of the impact they ’ve had on the communities they ’re in . The Beaumont location is in the majority - Black town of Port Arthur , which is surrounded by some of the land ’s biggest refineries anda hot spot of environmental injustice . Cancer rates for calamitous residents in that county are almost 40 % higher than they are for the residue of Texas , while 80 % of disastrous residents in one arena of the city have philia and lung problems . ( The Beaumont location also happens to be bunk by union - busters : Exxonlocked out 650 workersin May in an attempt to coerce a vote from their United Steelworkers local . )
Meanwhile , a judgeordered the Baytown refinery in 2017to pay closely $ 20 million for repeated encroachment of the Clean Air Act over a period of eight years , which , according to effectual document , saved the refinery more than $ 14 million by spewing toxic chemicals into the air without a license . ( The fine has since been criticize down to $ 14 million . ) And though the company ismulling a net zero discharge finish , earlier this summer , Exxonannounced it would pour $ 240 million into upgrading its Baton Rouge refinery , the fifth - expectant oil refinery in the U.S. The oil industriousness is also responsible for drive settling that sink Louisiana ’s marshland , go forth the region more vulnerable to tempest upsurge like Ida ’s .
It may be presumptuous , but I ’d care to extend a little piece of advice to one of the world ’s biggest oil color company : If you ’re going to keep stalling on mood action , foul communities , and selling fossil fuels , perhaps just do n’t tweet through it .
For those who would care to do more than declare oneself thoughts and appeal for Hurricane Ida survivor , including multibillion - one dollar bill oil color companies , here is a list of places to donate .
American brandsCompaniesExxonExxonMobilOil companiesRockefeller kin
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