SCANDAL-RIDDEN ENRON BACKED
CLINTON ADMINISTRATION AND U.N. GLOBAL WARMING TREATY
Radical Environmentalists Loved Enron;
Politically Correct "Green" Company Had
No Green Left for Shareholders, Investors |
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NBC News reporter David Gregory admits that while Enron gave President Bush and Republicans big contributions, there's no evidence they got anything for their money. That's certainly the case with Bush and the global warming treaty. Enron was a big backer of the treaty, also called the Kyoto Protocol, and yet Bush has abandoned it because of questions about the science behind the theory and the cost.
So it turns out that the company we are led to believe was exercising influence over the Bush Administration through campaign contributions doesn't have any influence at all on this issue. This fact makes a mockery of implications that Bush did the bidding of Enron.
In an April 23 article in Business Week, Paul Raeburn noted that "big corporate names" were disagreeing with Bush on global warming. One of them was identified as Enron. Enron became a member of the International Climate Change Partnership and the Pew Center's Business Environmental Leadership Council. These companies bowed to environmental demands to endorse the treaty. Enron, a politically correct company that invested in solar and wind power boondoggles, was also involved in a United Nations conference to develop Communist China's coal resources.
The Washington Post described some of Enron's lobbying on behalf of the treaty in a January 13 article. Reporter Dan Morgan said Enron chairman Kenneth Lay, a member of President Clinton's Council on Sustainable Development, had a meeting with Clinton and Vice President Gore where he advocated a "market-based" approach to the problem of global warming." This was a strategy identified in an Enron memo as "good for Enron stock."
Morgan added, "The Clinton administration's interest in an international agreement to combat global warming also dovetailed with Enron's business plans. Enron officials envisioned the company at the center of a new trading system, in which industries worldwide could buy and sell credits to emit carbon dioxide as part of a strategy to reduce greenhouse gases. Such a system would curtail the use of inefficient coal-fired power plants that emitted large amounts of carbon dioxide, while encouraging new investments in gas-fired plants and pipelines -- precisely Enron's line of business."
Morgan added that Enron officials were elated with the Kyoto Protocol and said it would "do more to promote Enron's business than almost any other regulatory initiative outside of restructuring the energy and natural gas industries…"
The radical environmentalists claimed Enron, which staged many "Earth Day" activities, as a true friend. At a dinner in Kyoto during treaty negotiations, Enron chairman Lay was given an award by the Climate Institute. Enron also received an award from the EPA.
Writing in the journal of the Hoover Institution, Bruce Yandle noted that Enron endorsed President Clinton's $6.3 billion plan to fight global warming by subsidizing the production and purchase of renewable energy and related technologies. Yandle added, "Kyoto-justified taxpayer subsidies will make life easier for firms like Enron." Clinton gave them the subsidies in exchange for campaign contributions. Bush gave them nothing.
| Enron Tried to Develop Communist China's Coal Resources |
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Enron in attendance at October 1995 United Nations International Symposium on Coal Bed Methane Development and Utilization in Beijing.
"Coal bed methane development in China has been strongly supported by the Global Environmental Facility, which provides funds to address specific environmental problems of global import. Twenty foreign companies were conducting preliminary exploration and research in China for coal bed methane resource identification, recovery and utilization. Representatives from many of those companies, including AMOCO, TEXACO, ENRON, MITSUI and other companies active in the coal bed methane industry, were attending the Symposium. Adrianus Mooy, Executive Secretary, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), represented the United Nations Secretary-General. In opening remarks, Mr. Mooy cited the Symposium as an outstanding example of United Nations efforts to promote collaboration and technical assistance throughout the developing world, an effort that was increasingly essential in times of scarce resources and proliferating needs…
"The Symposium was organized by the United Nations Department of Development Support and Management Services in cooperation with the Government of China. The United Nations Development Programme, the Asian Development Bank, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Japan Ministry of International Trade and Industry were co-sponsors."
Enron's vision is to become the world's leading energy company - creating innovative and efficient energy solutions for growing economies and a better environment worldwide.
http://www.enron.com.au/insideenron/ |
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From Climate Alert Volume 10, No. 6 December 1997
Climate Institute Awards Prizes to Enron CEO, Danish and British Environment Ministers
December 7 at a dinner in Kyoto during the Conference of the Parties the Climate Institue presented three 1997 awards to Kenneth Lay, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Enron Corp., Hon. Svend Auken, Minister of Environment and Energy of Den-mark, and Rt. Hon. John Gummer, former Secretary of the Environment of the United Kingdom.
This is the eleventh year the Climate Institute has made such awards for achievement either in improving scientific understanding of climate or in fostering effective responses to climate change… Kenneth Lay who heads Enron Corp. the foremost US natural gas supplier, was honored for his leadership in moving Enron and the world energy industry into large scale investment in renewable energy, especially wind and solar power.
"At the same time that many US fossil fuel firms have spent lavish sums on television and print advertisements denying the need for strong international action to address climate change, one US energy giant, Enron, has emerged as the world leader in renewable energy investment," stated Climate Institute President John Topping. "Through large scale investments in Minnesota, Iowa and Nevada, India and Indonesia, Enron has significantly lowered the cost of renewable energy, and triggered energy industry investment in both solar and wind power. Ken Lay has spearheaded this effort by Enron."
http://www.climate.org/Climate_Alert/articles/10.6/CI_AwardsPrizes.html
For the past several years, Enron has commemorated Earth Day with environmental and energy awareness festivals in Houston, Portland, and throughout California.
http://www.enron.com/corp/pressroom/community/programs/environment/
EPA Climate Protection Award, 1998
Enron received this award in recognition of its "exemplary efforts and achievements in protecting the global climate." Enron was one of 19 individuals and organizations chosen from an international field and judged by an international panel selected from industry, government and international non-governmental organizations.
http://www.enron.com.au/insideenron/environ.asp |
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Kyoto Protocol Faces Crucial Test in Buenos Aires
Enron Corp, North America's largest gas company, and Royal Dutch Shell, the world's biggest petroleum firm, have joined BP in acknowledging the severity of the climate problem and are beginning to shift their own investment strategies.
http://www.worldwatch.org/alerts/pr981020.html
Natural Gas Firm Commits Capital to Wind Energy
In January '97, one of the largest natural gas suppliers in the world, the Enron Corp. of Houston, demonstrated its confidence in the future of alternative energy by buying the Zond Corp., a wind power manufacturer and developer headquartered in California. Enron is supplying a crucial ingredient - capital - to the wind industry.
"Renewable energy will capture a significant share of the world energy market over the next 20 years, and Enron intends to be a leader in this very important market," said Enron chairman and CEO Ken Lay. (Enron is the largest US-owned producer of solar photovoltaic cells and the second largest producer worldwide).
http://www.climate.org/Climate_Alert/articles/10.3/ProfitinGreen.html |
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Enron Also Courted Democrats
Chairman Pushed Firm's Agenda With Clinton White House
By Dan Morgan, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, January 13, 2002; Page A01
Excerpts:
In a White House meeting in August 1997, for example, [Enron Chairman Kenneth L.] Lay urged President Clinton and Vice President Gore to back a "market-based" approach to the problem of global warming -- a strategy that a later Enron memo makes clear would be "good for Enron stock."
The following February, Lay met with Energy Secretary Federico Peña to urge White House action on electricity legislation favored by Enron. Peña "suggested that President Clinton might be motivated [to act] by some key contacts from important constituents," according to another Enron memo.
Taking the cue, Lay, one of 25 business executives on Clinton's Council on Sustainable Development, wrote to the president the same day…
The Clinton administration's interest in an international agreement to combat global warming also dovetailed with Enron's business plans. Enron officials envisioned the company at the center of a new trading system, in which industries worldwide could buy and sell credits to emit carbon dioxide as part of a strategy to reduce greenhouse gases. Such a system would curtail the use of inefficient coal-fired power plants that emitted large amounts of carbon dioxide, while encouraging new investments in gas-fired plants and pipelines -- precisely Enron's line of business.
But the effort faced powerful opposition from automakers, oil companies and utilities. In early 1997 the Senate unanimously instructed the administration not to agree to any carbon-reducing strategy that would harm the U.S. economy.
On Aug. 4, 1997, Lay and seven other energy executives met with Clinton, Gore, Rubin and other top officials at the White House to discuss the U.S. position at the upcoming conference on global warming in Kyoto, Japan. Lay, in a memo to Enron employees, said there was broad consensus in favor of an emissions-trading system.
Enron officials later expressed elation at the results of the Kyoto conference. An internal memo said the Kyoto agreement, if implemented, would "do more to promote Enron's business than almost any other regulatory initiative outside of restructuring the energy and natural gas industries in Europe and the United States."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37287-2002Jan12.html
Who Profits from Kyoto?
By Bruce Yandle
Excerpt: "Alternative energy bootleggers. In January 1997, Enron Corporation, a major provider of low-carbon natural gas, announced the formation of the Enron Renewable Energy Corporation. The company indicated that it was 'preparing to take advantage of the growing interest in environmentally sound alternatives of power in the $250 billion U.S. electricity market.' The new division faces the difficult challenge of producing solar and other nontraditional energy products at costs that can compete with conventional energy sources. Not surprisingly, Tom White, Enron Renewable Energy CEO, endorsed President Clinton's $6.3 billion plan to fight global warming. This plan includes $3.6 billion in tax credits to spur the production and purchase of renewable energy and related technologies. Kyoto-justified taxpayer subsidies will make life easier for firms like Enron."
http://www.hooverdigest.org/011/yandle.html |
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The American Prospect Volume 8, Issue 31. March 1 - April 1 1997
A Global Warning by Ross Gelbspan
Excerpt: "Last year, the Business Council for a Sustainable Energy Future took steps to position itself prominently in the international climate negotiations in order to promote development of climate-friendly alternative energy technologies. While it represents an array of small renewable energy producers, the Business Council also includes some major corporations-Honeywell, Enron, Maytag, Brooklyn Union Gas, and a number of concerned utilities.
"A much more influential business group, the International Climate Change Partnership (ICCP), counts among its members such giants as General Electric, AT&T, Allied Signal, Dow Chemical, 3M, Dupont, Enron, and Electrolux. Unlike the fossil fuel industry, the ICCP accepts the findings of the world's scientists and agrees on a need for an enforceable set of carbon dioxide reductions. 'The fundamental science of global warming is pretty basic,' the ICCP's executive director, Kevin Fay, said in an interview. 'There is some uncertainty about specific effects and impacts, but we understand that there is a long lag time for atmospheric greenhouse gases-and that it also takes a long time to develop remedies for the problem.'"
http://www.prospect.org/print/V8/31/gelbspan-r.html
BUSINESS WEEK
APRIL 23, 2001
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
By Paul Raeburn
Commentary: Global Warming: Look Who Disagrees with Bush
The President says Kyoto "does not make economic sense." Big corporate names disagree
BP and Shell aren't stopping with that gesture. They have joined two dozen other companies--including Alcoa, Enron, Georgia-Pacific, and Toyota--in a new group called the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. The center brings companies together to search for solutions to the global-warming problem. "I think they are convinced that at one time or another there will be regulation of greenhouse gases because this is a real problem," says Pew Center President Eileen Claussen.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_17/b3729111.htm |
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ADDRESS BY EILEEN CLAUSSEN, PRESIDENT, PEW CENTER ON GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE, Berlin, Germany, February 2000
The Pew Center's Business Environmental Leadership Council now includes 21 companies with combined annual revenues of more than $550 billion. Working together, these companies developed a joint statement asserting that in the new millennium-quote-"one of our most important challenges at home and abroad will be addressing global climate change as we work to sustain a growing global economy."
"One of our most important challenges." That is an enormously powerful statement coming from these companies, which include such household names as American Electric Power, Boeing, BP Amoco, Lockheed Martin, Shell International, Toyota, Enron, United Technologies and Whirlpool. And, in making this statement, these companies announced publicly that they:
- Accepted that there was enough known about the science of global climate change to warrant action;
- Would establish their own emission reduction targets--and meet them;
- Viewed the Kyoto Treaty as a first although incomplete step to addressing the issue internationally; and
- Believed that addressing climate change can be compatible with sustained economic growth in the United States.
http://www.pewclimate.org/media/transcript_germany4.cfm
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