In these Days of High Gas Prices, what Else Should You Consider When you Drive up to the Tank?

Not long ago I got a nasty email that told me I was being unpatriotic if I ever purchased Citgo gasoline. A few days ago, I got another email that requested that I stand up for indigenous people fighting the imperialist empire, the USA and purchase only Citgo. The first was called a boycott; the second, a buy-cott.

My tank is now on a quarter full. What to do? Where will I spend my mint and buy my next tank of gasoline? I continue to walk and bike as much as possible, but darn, sometimes I need to take a car, and that means I need to give it some fire for its belly, namely gasoline.

But there are so many problems with most of our oil and gasoline companies. I can’t make up my mind which one does the least damage.

Thank God, I found a very thorough report on our gasoline companies that still operate in the USA. None, of course, are perfect, but some are a whole lot better than some of the others.

Let’s play a guessing game about our local gasoline companies:

1. Which one fares best overall?

2. Which one fares worst overall?

3. Which one has both the Sierra Club and Greenpeace boycotting it?

4. Which one do we seem to know the least about?

5. Which two companies lead in admitting that global warming is a problem?

6. Which companies are pushing for drilling in ANWR?

Answers to these questions and many more can be found at http://www.betterworldhandbook.com/gasoline.html.

Here are some tidbits of information from the website above about a smattering of the gasoline companies:

• BP: Spend $600m to update pollution control/workplace, working with Amnesty, working with World Wildlife Fund, low-sulfur gas, largest solar company, solar powered gas stations, 1998 Environmental Steward Award, best overall effort in industry, abstains from political contributions, Malaysian global warming education program, Non-Discrimination Policy, 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers, Greenhouse Friendly Autogas in Australia, 2004 model human rights efforts, self-imposed emissions caps.

• Exxon-Mobil: ANWR driller, Nigerian environmental damage, 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, refuses to pay spill damages, no responsibility taken for spill, 1990 Staten Island oil spill, Clean Air Act violations, toxic dumping suit, human rights violations, Greenpeace Boycott, Corporate Responsibility Intl Boycott, Sierra Club Boycott, Top 25 Superfund Polluters, Only Top 50 company to discriminate based on sexuality, evidence of political manipulation, responsible for 5% of all global greenhouse gases, Indonesian human rights abuses, New York toxic dumping, Louisiana radioactive waste suit, MTBE lawsusit, Kazakhstan toxic sulphur suit, Louisiana air pollution suit, California oil spill, silenced shareholder resolutions, price-gouging suit, deceptive practices suit, Alabama fraud suit, Angola "Arms For Oil" scandal, Foreign bribery charges, highest emissions in the industry, Australian safety suit, Canadian sour gas death suits, Top 10 Greenwashers

• Citgo/7-Eleven: Venezuelan human rights/environmental violations.

• Shell: Biz Ethics positive review, Equality Principles Signatory, Global Sullivan Principles Signatory, American Wetland Campaign Partner, 1998 Kyoto targets met, CO2 sold to soft drink companies, 2004 UK Award for Sustainability Reporting, University Center for Sustainability.

Now the answers to your questions:

1. Sunoco (Grade A)

2. Exxon-Mobil (Grade F)

3. Exxon-Mobil

4. Costco (purchases its gas from a number of other industrial sources. Don't confuse with tanker Cosco Busan, the freighter responsible for recent San Francisco Bay spill.)

5. Sunoco, BP

6. Exxon-Mobil, Conoco-Phillips (Union 76, Unocal, Coastal, Circle-K, Jet), Chevron-Texaco (Standard)

So the next time you invest in some of that black gold, think about the CEO leading the company, the people they have harmed, their drilling preferences, and the many other factors that go toward making your choice a rotten choice or one that’s not so bad.

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