News

June 25, 2007

Oil firm’s tour hits Scranton

“Conversation on Energy” is sponsored by ConocoPhillips to improve its public image.

RORY SWEENEY rsweeney@timesleader.com

SCRANTON – ConocoPhillips wants you to know that even though you’re addicted to the oil and natural gas it provides, the company still cares what you think.

“Our industry has lost touch with the public,” said John Lowe, the executive vice president commercial at Conoco. He added that in a recent survey of public opinion, the oil industry came in dead last, behind even tobacco companies, and was seen as part of the problem rather than the solution.

“In some respects, we’re only as good as the worst person in our industry,” he said. “We have done the right thing for a long time. … If we don’t tell anyone, no one seems to notice.”

That’s why Conoco has been dispatching its managers and executives like emissaries to improve its image. The company is on a 35-city U.S. “Conversation on Energy” tour, and Scranton became city No. 12 on Wednesday when Lowe and Colette Reynolds, a technology development manager, stopped by to meet with local business members and community leaders. The Electric City was chosen because in “the larger cities, we wouldn’t attract the thought leaders,” Lowe said.

Three in-state experts were invited for a panel discussion, which attracted about 70 people. Brian Hill of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council energetically agreed with one audience member who complained that contractors don’t know how to install a lot of the conservation technology that exists.

Eric Epstein, a board member of the Sustainable Energy Fund of Central Eastern Pennsylvania, and Gene Barr of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry sparred on several issues, but agreed, along with all the panelists, that Americans need to learn conservation and that there won’t be just one source of energy in the future.

“I think they’re sincere in engaging the public, however they might find that part of the cure is a bitter pill” because it will involve using less of their product, Epstein said of Conoco’s tour.

Notably, Lowe said his company disagrees with President George W. Bush on energy independence because the United States uses more energy than it has resources to produce.

“We think we can have energy security,” he said, by diversifying the supply sources, increasing energy efficiency, improving technology and being environmentally responsible.

Not everyone was pleased with the discussion. “The same discussion we had today, we had 30 years ago” and alternative energies are still more expensive than hydrocarbons, said Zvi Shkedi, a retired energy researcher. “Will this balance ever change? … The root problem in America is that fuel is too cheap.”

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

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