13/03/2003

Why ExxonMobil head Lee Raymond invited to White House to mark second anniversary of Bush's rejection of Kyoto?

Just kidding... but a very clever person in the US sent out an authentic-looking invitation to a number of businesses in the USA this week.

Ostensibly from the White House's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the invite was to a ceremony honouring ExxonMobil CEO and chair Lee Raymond "for his years of leadership in advancing voluntary solutions to global warming in the U.S. on the 2nd anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol."

Perhaps even more interesting was the Washington Times coverage of the story. It quoted the right wing think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute's climate spokesman Myron Ebell who seemed to know an awful lot about the police tracking of the invite.

The CEI, well known for its anti-Kyoto stance, is funded to the tune of more than $250,000 a year by ExxonMobil.

Washington Times---Inside the Beltway Column, 12 March 2003

Green prank
"I'm glad to learn that at least some 'enviros' have a sense of humor," Myron Ebell, director of global warming and international environmental policy for the Competitive Enterprise Institute in
Washington, warns his colleagues in a memo.

"If you get in the mail, but haven't opened yet, a [cream-colored] invitation-sized envelope with a white sticker sealing the back flap that says Council on Environmental Quality ... please don't open it, but do keep it and let me or someone know you have it. It's some sort of environmentalist hoax. ... U.S. postal inspectors may want to examine your un-opened envelope. Inside is a thin pasteboard invitation.

Here is the full text:

" 'The White House Council on Environmental Quality cordially invites you to a private reception honoring Lee R. Raymond, Chairman and Chief Executive Office of Exxon Mobil, for his years of leadership in advancing voluntary solutions to global warming in the U.S. on the 2nd anniversary of
the U.S. withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol. Brief remarks by President George W. Bush.' "

Notes Mr. Ebell: "An additional joke is that the U.S. hasn't withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol, but President Bush has said unkind things about it."

Washington Post---Al Kamen's "In the Loop" column Wednesday 12 March

Withdrawal Pains
The White House Council on Environmental Quality is trying (not too hard) to figure out who the joker was who sent out all those bogus invitations to business and other groups to attend a bogus White House reception Thursday with President Bush to honor ExxonMobil CEO Lee R. Raymond "on the 2nd
anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol."

CEQ got a handful of calls, a White House official said, but only seeking to confirm it was a hoax. Looked pretty real, though, despite minor errors.

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