Hypocrisy From EDF's Fred Krupp?
Recently the Environmental Defense Fund's Executive Director Fred
Krupp has criticized the proposed merger between Exxon and Mobil on
grounds that the two corporations oppose the Kyoto global warming
treaty. Yet the Environmental Defense Fund ( EDF ) has carried out
a
similar merger with an opponent of the treaty.
An EDF non-profit subsidiary the "Environmental Resources Trust"
(ERT)
includes on its seven person board C. Boyden Gray. Not only is Mr.
Gray on the board, but he is Chairman of the board. For Mr. Gray
to
chair this environmental project is surprising to say the least. In
1997 Gray led the industry campaign to neutralize the effort of
EPA's
chief Carol Browner to strengthen the nation's clean air standards.
It is the height of audacity to think of Gray as an
environmentalist
in that he has followed in the footsteps of James Watt -- the
actions
of both men have been so outrageous that they created issues for
environmentalists to rally against and to base fund-raising
appeals.
Let's look at the reasons why Gray's presence on ERT's board is
like
inviting the wolf into the hen house.
Mr. Gray is a long time opponent of a global warming treaty. He
also
chairs the board of Citizens for a Sound Economy, a leading
anti-environmental group opposing the Kyoto treaty as evident from
the
group's home page that denounces Vice-President Gore as a "Pain in
the
Gas" and calls for the treaty's defeat. Gray has been a reliable
major
donor to the Republican Party which as a whole stalwartly stands
against the Kyoto treaty. As a Reagan and Bush lieutenant, Boyden
"Regulatory Relief" Gray spent 12 years scuttling a multitude of
environmental endeavors, including a global warming treaty at the
Rio
Earth Summit in 1992. Leaving his government perch, he stuck to the
same agenda: through his law firm and Beltway lobbying groups, Gray
represents the interests of a rogue's gallery of carbon-spewing
corporations, including Geneva Steel which years ago was shown to
be
sickening school children from the company's smokestack emissions.
With this background, Gray's presence on ERT's board evokes a
specter
of inherent corruption.
Critics of the market-based global carbon trading scheme advocated
by
EDF have charged that trading is geared towards saving oil and
industrial interests. At the recent Buenos Aires meeting,
controversy
surrounded the insistence of the U.S. to pursue its emissions
reductions primarily by trading; many question whether this tact
will
lead to a pro-environmental outcome. These doubts are reinforced
when
arch anti-environmentalist and fixer C. Boyden Gray stands with
EDF/ERT as advocate and guarantor for the integrity and efficacy of
emissions trading.
Regarding Gray's affiliation with ERT, Bernardo Issel, publisher of
the PIG Report, commented that " it is appalling for EDF to bring
onto
the board of its new group Gray -- a recidivist opponent of the
environmental community; furthermore, considering that Boyden Gray
has
for almost two decades dedicated himself to attacking the command
and
control regulatory backbone of our environmental laws, it is
incredulous that he would be placed in command of this EDF
sponsored
project."
The fact that EDF would bring Gray on to the board of ERT explains
why
some environmental activists think EDF has "sold-out" and believe
EDF
and Fred Krupp are corrupt.
At the below web site read more about ERT and NPAP's in depth
profile regarding Mr. Gray and discussion of the significance of his
presence in relation to environmental policy advocated by EDF.
Action Alert: Angry by this questionable partnership of EDF's? Then
the PIG Report urges you to take action by appealing to one of
EDF's
supporters -- actress Joanne Woodward -- to reevaluate her
association
with EDF.
(For more about EDF, see the below website of this recently launched
project.)
PIG Report / NonProfit Accountability Project -- PO Box 53238,
Washington D.C. 20009 -- 202 333 1855
www.erols.com/npap/pigreport.html ; pigreport@pigreport.org