Exxon extends influence in Washington

Exxon is a heavy hitter in Washington, and I’m not just talking about campaign contributions and lobbying. The world’s largest corporate carbon emitter has bought itself top billing at Washington’s new – supposedly green – baseball park.

Its hard to name the many ways in which this is offensive. Besides the obvious greenwash of Exxon’s name prominently displayed in a “green” ballpark, city taxpayers provided much of the money that was used for the construction of the park. As a Washington native, the use of our scarce tax dollars to provide a platform for Big Oil’s lies really burns me.

Exxon’s corporate logo is all over the park, on the left field wall, on the rail, and they are even sponsoring the “Exxon Mobil 7th inning stretch”. For the largest private oil company in the world, which still funds junk science in an attempt to slow concern over global warming and continues to invest less of its gargantuan profits in clean energy than any of its competitors, to then put its name all over a “green” ballpark…I would say its unbelievable, except its really not, given Exxon’s brazen track record.

What is harder to understand is why Nationals owner Ted Lerner or President Stan Kasten would allow them to do this, as it completely undercuts their stated commitment to the greenest ballpark in the league. Its like opening up a health food store that has McDonald’s logos everywhere – its just obviously a scam.

Despite the last eight years of Texan influence, Washington is a solidly Democratic town that is not likely to take this shameless propaganda in stride. DC based activists have already met with Nationals management to express their concern. Watch this space for more info on how you can help clean up the oil spill at Nationals Park.

See it for yourself here.

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