Today In Hypocrisy: Exxon CEO Comes Out Against Fracking Because It Affects His Property

Rex Tillerson is the CEO of ExxonMobil, and, as part of his job — for which he is paid over forty million annually — he promotes hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a controversial drilling technique which may contaminate water supplies, deplete fresh water from the ground, degrade air quality and even cause earthquakes.

But hey, it’s a job and, again, he makes millions doing it so what does he care, right?

Oh, but Rex Tillerson does care, y’all, because his own $5 million property value might be harmed, and so ExxonMobil CEO Rex. Tillerson has joined a lawsuit that cites the dangers of fracking in order to block the construction of a 160-foot water tower next to his Texas home. Fracking is good when it makes money to line his pockets; fracking is bad when it comes to his neighborhood.

The water tower in question would supply water to a nearby fracking site, and the plaintiffs — including Tillerson — argue that the project would cause too much noise and traffic from hauling the water from the tower to the drilling site.

Now to be fair, and we’re always fair here at ISBL :::snicker::: while Rex Tillerson’s name is on the lawsuit, his lawyer says Tillerson’s main concern is about the devaluation of his property, not fracking … specifically. 

But what makes me giggle is that, while acting as Big Oil CEO, Tillerson touts the virtues of fracking, and lashes out at its critics and proponents of regulation, but as a homeowner of a multi-0millioin dollar property that is located near a fracking site, he is less than thrilled.

Isn’t it funny, or hypocritical, or pathetic, or sad, or infuriating, that this rich mother-effer can endorse fracking when it affects you and me, but when it comes near his house suddenly its bad? It seems to me Rex Tillerson, by virtue of adding his name to this lawsuit, has become the most outspoken critic of fracking, and thereby the most hated enemy of, well, Rex Tillerson.

On a funny side note, Congressman Jared Polis has extended a welcome to Tillerson to join the fracking critic club:

“I would like to officially welcome Rex to the ‘Society of Citizens Really Enraged When Encircled by Drilling’ [SCREWED]. This select group of everyday citizens has been fighting for years to protect their property values, the health of their local communities, and the environment. We are thrilled to have the CEO of a major international oil and gas corporation join our quickly multiplying ranks.”

Rex Tillerson; corporate greed at its worst, with more than a soupçon of hypocrisy thrown in. Still, I hope he starts buying bottled water, and shoring up the manse against any tremors.

via Think Progress