Shell Hires Bush's Environmental Adviser

Shell hires Bush's environmental adviser

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2005872,00.html

Terry Macalister
Monday February 5, 2007
The Guardian

Gale Norton, a former interior secretary for the Bush administration and a supporter of opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other sensitive environmental landscapes for oil production, has taken up a senior legal post at Shell.

The 52-year-old's arrival is the latest in a series of controversial US appointments at the company which has been trying to increase output of carbon-intensive shale and oil sands schemes from places such as Colorado while also arguing it wants a key role in the fight against climate change.

Ms Norton has joined as a general counsel for Shell's exploration and production business in the US and will be based primarily in Colorado, where she was once state attorney general.

Shell confirmed she would concentrate on "unconventional" resources, meaning shale. "Ms Norton will provide and coordinate legal services for Shell," said a company spokeswoman.

Critics in the local environment movement believe it was Ms Norton's advice that led President Bush to open up the sensitive Bristol Bay area of Alaska to oil and gas development.

Shell, which reported record profits last week, has also recently appointed another perceived enemy of the green lobby, Cam Toohey, to work in Alaska.

Mr Toohey used to work for Ms Norton in the interior department having moved from a post as head of Arctic Power, a group which lobbied for oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

When he was taken on by Ms Norton, one Democrat critic described the move as an "ethical oil spill".

In addition, Shell has taken on Elizabeth Stolpe, a Bush environment adviser and former oil industry lobbyist.

She previously worked for a former Republican senator and governor of Alaska, Frank Murkowski. In an address to the Alaska state legislature in January 2003, Mr Murkowski said he was doing all he could to "open the coastal plain of ANWR".

Also involved in Shell's government affairs team is Brian Malnak, who worked at the interior department and was a chief of staff for Mr Murkowski at the influential senate energy committee, where he too tried to push forward drilling in the Alaskan wildlife sanctuary.

Another former government official involved in developing Shell's policy work in the US is Kevin O'Donovan, a former domestic policy adviser to vice president Dick Cheney who was responsible for his climate change and energy policy.

In an article written for the FT last week, Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer outlined the different steps his company was taking to help tackle CO2 emissions and therefore global warming.

"Companies such as Shell clearly have an important role to play. Our own energy efficiency improvements are already delivering CO2 savings of about 1m tonnes a year. We are already one of the world's largest distributors of biofuels," he argued.

Friends of the Earth said it was time Shell stopped saying one thing and doing another. "The PR department is always talking about Shell's work on the environment while the rest of the business is working hard on producing as much oil as it can," said its corporate campaigner, Hannah Griffiths.