Rockefeller descendants speak out against company to which they owe their prosperity

CBS News, December 2, 2016

Only on “CBS This Morning,” members of the Rockefeller family are giving their first TV interviews about a public falling out with ExxonMobil. The energy giant is one of the successors to Standard Oil, founded by John D. Rockefeller. But some of his descendants are now criticizing ExxonMobil’s record on climate change. 

According to Forbes, the Rockefellers are the 23rd richest family in the U.S. with a fortune of $11 billion, reports CBS News correspondent Don Dahler. Today, much of that wealth goes toward philanthropy through organizations like the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Rockefeller Family Fund, both of which backed reports that suggest ExxonMobil knew more than it was letting on about the threat of global warming.

“If the board of ExxonMobil is not answering your calls, this is your opportunity. What would you say directly to them?” Dahler asked David Kaiser, president of the Rockefeller Family Fund.

David Kaiser, president of the Rockefeller Family Fund, and Valerie
Rockefeller Wayne, trustee and chair of Rockefeller Brothers Fund CBS NEWS

“If I was talking to the board of ExxonMobil, I would say that right now, their company seems to be morally bankrupt,” Kaiser said.

Fifth-generation descendants of John D. Rockefeller are speaking out against the company to which they owe their prosperity. Kaiser is the grandson of former Chase bank chairman David Rockefeller. Valerie Rockefeller Wayne is the daughter of former Sen. Jay Rockefeller.

“Because the source of the family wealth is fossil fuels, we feel an enormous moral responsibility for our children, for everyone -- to move forward,” Wayne said.

They’re doing that by looking back.

The charities they run funded investigations that appeared in the Los Angeles Times and InsideClimate News. The reports suggest “Exxon had been at the forefront of climate change research” since the late 1970s and knew the burning of fossil fuels “would warm the planet and could eventually endanger humanity,” even while the company downplayed the science in a series of newspaper ads and television interviews.

“This is complicated. Don’t believe statements that say it’s clear that things are warming. It’s not clear,” Frank Sprow told CBS News in a 2000 interview while he was ExxonMobil vice president.

Exxon Mobil accuses the Rockefellers of conspiring against the corporation.

In a phone call with CBS News, a company official described it as a “coordinated campaign ... to vilify the company.” A spokesman initially sent us a statement saying the reports were “funded and then promoted by activists,” claiming they’re “not credible and have been widely discredited.” The company later retracted that statement, telling us they “don’t have a comment.”

“The company has taken the unusual step of publicly criticizing you and the family funds, calling you conspirators. This has gotten personal,” Dahler said to Kaiser.

“Well, you know it’s really very silly. … For something to count as a conspiracy it can’t just have been done in concert with other people, it also has to be illegal and we haven’t done anything illegal,” Kaiser responded.

Kaiser said a large majority of the family supports their efforts. But not everyone is on board.

“These family funds do not speak on behalf of all 200 family members,” said Ariana Rockefeller, Kaiser’s cousin.

Rockefeller insists all sides should be working together on solutions for climate change.

“I don’t think denouncing a family legacy is the best way to go about doing this,” she said.

Ariana Rockefeller CBS NEWS

Still, Kaiser and Wayne said it’s important to learn what the company has done to clear up the debate over what to do next.

“What we would hope from Exxon is that they would admit what they’ve done -- these decades of denial -- and continue what they’ve started in a very small way to do now, which is to look at alternatives and we really hope they become an industry leader,” Wayne said. “They can set the tone for the industry in doing more, but the truth has to come out.”

New York and Massachusetts have announced fraud investigations to determine if ExxonMobil misled the public about its research on climate change. Exxon has launched a vigorous defense, suing the attorneys general of both states in federal court alleging a “conspiracy” with what it claims are “politically motivated investigations.”

ExxonMobil now acknowledges the risk of climate change and reports spending billions of dollars to find ways to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Peter O’Neill, head of the Rockefeller family and great-great-grandson of John D

Rockefeller, along with Neva Rockefeller Goodwin (second from the right_,

great-granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller, and Stephen B Heintz, president of

the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”