Exxon Campaigns to Lessen Fallout Over Alaska Oil Spill

About 10,000 credit cards have been sent back to Exxon Corp. in an apparent boycott of gasoline service stations in the wake of the March 24 Alaska oil spill, the company said Monday.

There have also been “scattered incidents of vandalism,” a spokesman said in reply to questions about actions taken against the company since the oil spill of the Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound, the worst in U.S. history.

The returned credit cards represent less than 1% of Exxon’s total of 7 million credit cards, but the world’s largest oil company is concerned, the spokesman said.

Exxon has seen some “localized effects” on the business of its service stations, he said.

In Southern California, several Exxon station managers say they have not experienced a falloff in business but expressed concern about the possibility of a growing boycott movement.

Chuck Yee, owner of an Exxon station at Colorado and Eagle Rock boulevards in Eagle Rock, said many of his customers have questioned him about the spill and Exxon’s cleanup efforts.

“It’s not our fault,” he said. “I tell them we don’t have anything to do with the spill.” Yee said he has aggressively sought to retain his customers by offering low prices.

Some patrons of another Exxon station at 307 N. LaBrea in Los Angeles have called station manager Eytan Rosenberg to discuss mailing back their credit cards, he said. Rosenberg applauded the Exxon advertising campaign, noting that most Exxon stations are owned by independent businesses. Rosenberg said his company leases Exxon facilities and is not an employee of the oil company.

“I have a personal interest in all of this, so I can’t say if I would support this kind of boycott under different circumstances,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Sacramento, 16 state lawmakers announced support Monday for a planned nationwide consumer boycott of Exxon oil products. The Democratic legislators said they would join state legislators from New York, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Connecticut in calling for the boycott, planned for Tuesday.

“All Californians are outraged by the oil spill in Alaska,” Berkeley Assemblyman Tom Bates, organizer of the boycott in the state Capitol, said in a statement. “We want to show Exxon that corporations that harm the environment will pay a price in the marketplace.”