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Environmentalists Drive 'Gas Guzzler' From Protest Site
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
May 29, 2002

Dallas (CNSNews.com) - Anti-corporate protesters and environmentalists were charged with hypocrisy for leaving a Dallas rally against ExxonMobil Corporation in a full size passenger van. Free market counter demonstrators began chanting "SUV Alert" as the anti-corporatist protesters retreated to their Ford Econoline van.

Despite a call by an anti-ExxonMobil protester to "burn" all SUV's in America, the demonstrators left the rally site at the Morton Meyerson Center in the van. One protester conceded it was "unfortunate" that they drove the van to the rally decrying ExxonMobil's environmental policies.

Carol Jones, a free market counter protester of the Texas branch of the group Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), was on hand at the downtown rally and charged the anti-ExxonMobil protesters with hypocrisy for driving a "gas guzzler."

"They always bring all their blow up [props] in SUV's, which they are totally against," she commented.

Jordana Banana, a protester against ExxonMobil responded "no comment" when asked by CNSNews.com about the use of the full size van.

When pressed on the issue, she said, "It's unfortunate that we have to drive a van. It would definitely be our preference to be able to take alternative forms of transportation, but unfortunately today, we had a lot of gear with us."

Banana added, "All of our gear though is recycled."

Before retreating to the van, another of the anti-ExxonMobil protesters, who would only give his first name, launched an attack on SUV's in America. "We should burn them all. They are horrible, they are useless," Luigi said. "Most people should be able to get by with a two-door car for the same thing they use SUV's for," he added.

Jones quipped, "[The protesters] don't want us to have SUV's, but they just got to have their SUV's."

Ford Econoline van's fuel economy varies from a low of 13 mph in the city to 21 mph on the highway, depending upon how they are equipped, according to EPA figures for the 2001 model year.

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