From ASEE April 2, 2008

Democrats questioned Exxon senior vice president J. Stephen Simon "about Exxon Mobil's relatively low contribution to alternative energy -- $100 million of its $40 billion profit." Simon noted that "his company did not believe that existing technology for alternative resources was viable and instead was focusing on using oil more cleanly." That conclusion was echoed by Shell President John D. Hofmeister, who said that, "despite advances,...alternative energy hasn't become commercial enough to be profitable."

        Simon explained to "the panel that the company's 'best and brightest' engineers and scientists have probed alternatives but found none able to replace significant quantities of oil in the near future," USA Today (4/2, Healey) points out. He added, "We need to have a breakthrough, world-changing technology." The Washington Times (4/2, Keely, Lengell), the Houston Chronicle (4/2, Ivanovich), Bloomberg (4/2, Whitten, Seeley), Congressional Quarterly (4/2, Palmer), the Politico (4/2, Lovley), the Detroit News (4/2, Shepardson), the San Francisco Chronicle (4/2, Coile), the U.K.'s Guardian (4/2, Clark), and the AP (4/2) also cover the story.