ExxonMobil is well known for its very poor environmental record. It is ranked in the top 10 on the Toxic 100 list of US corporate air polluters by Political Economy Research Institute (PERI). Exxon is probably best known for The March 24, 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill which resulted in the discharge of approximately 11 million gallons of oil (240,000 barrels) into Prince William Sound, and widely considered the number one spill worldwide in terms of damage to the environment.

ExxonMobil has drawn criticism as a major funder of organizations campaigning against the scientific opinion that climate change is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, and against the Kyoto Protocol. According to The Guardian, ExxonMobil has funded, among other groups skeptical of global warming, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, George C. Marshall Institute, Heartland Institute, Congress on Racial Equality, TechCentralStation.com, and International Policy Network. ExxonMobil’s support for these organizations has drawn condemnation from the Royal Society, the academy of sciences of the United Kingdom.

The company is behind video clips promoting the advantages of carbon dioxide and those that lampoon Al Gore. You can view a couple here:

But, THAT’S NOT ALL!!! ExxonMobil has illegally engaged in trade with Sudan, bribed Kazakhstan President to get a share of the country’s oil fields, and knowingly assisted human rights violations in Indonesia, including torture, murder and rape, by employing and providing material support to Indonesian military forces.

And finally (there’s so much more about them, but we need to end this soon!), the company has a horrible reputation of being anti-gay. When Exxon Corporation merged with Mobil Corporation in 1999, the newly-merged company ended enrollment in Mobil Corporation’s domestic partner benefits for same-sex partners of employees, and it rescinded formal prohibitions against discrimination based on sexual orientation by removing it from the company’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy.

The combined company still does not provide domestic partnership benefits. And just today (May 28, 2008), ExxonMobil shareholders voted down a resolution to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to Exxon’s non-discrimination statement. Approximately 40% of Exxon’s outstanding shares voted in favor of the clause, but it was not enough to send the issue to the oil company’s board of directors.

The shareholder resolution has come up every year since 2000, when it got 8.2% approval among shareholders. The percentage that voted in favor of the resolution has grown every year since then. Human Rights Campaign–the LGBT rights lobbying organization–said ExxonMobil is the only company they’ve had to use shareholder activism as a method to get “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” added to a company’s non-discrimination clause. ExxonMobil scored a 0 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index 2006 for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

Exxon is simply Destroyer of the Week.

Sources: Wikipedia, FoxBusiness, PERI