MONTPELIER — In an extension of last week’s climate strike, activists are calling on MMR, a Vermont-based lobbying firm, to drop clients they say are “culpable” for climate change.
At a rally Wednesday on the Statehouse steps in Montpelier, activists demanded that MMR drop what it calls “reprehensible” clients, like ExxonMobil and Vermont Gas, because of their contributions to the climate crisis.
Millions of dollars are spent lobbying Vermont lawmakers each year, and MMR is one of the top earners — during the 2017-18 biennium, it took in $2.8 million in revenue.
“Today we are channeling our resistance to the fossil fuel industry into action against MMR, a lobbying firm just down the block,” 350Vermont organizer Julie Macuga said to a crowd of about 75 people.
Next to her, a sign that rally-goers were encouraged to sign listed the companies the activists are demanding MMR drop. They included Vermont Gas, ExxonMobil, National Grid, CoreCivic, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Walmart, Procter & Gamble and PhRMA. At the end of the rally, activists parked the sign on the lawn of MMR’s office.
“MMR is helping the fossil fuel industry, lobbying against divestment, lobbying against carbon pricing, lobbying against bans on fossil fuel infrastructure,” Macuga said. “MMR is helping the fossil fuel industry, and therefore they are culpable.”
So far in the 2019-20 biennium, MMR has been paid $28,000 by ExxonMobil, $10,050 by CoreCivic, $36,090 by Vermont Gas and $3,500 by Microsoft.
Andrew MacLean, president of MMR, said he did not wish to comment about the protest and referred to a statement the firm sent to media.
“We are proud of our part in Vermont’s climate leadership and believe that our collective frustration at the pace of change is far better directed towards finding the solutions that are required — locally, nationally and internationally,” the statement said. “We absolutely support the right to speech and assembly and believe that in this polarized political environment, we must listen to each other, and work together on solutions. MMR remains steadfastly committed to progress over protest.”
Others who spoke at the rally encouraged Vermont lawmakers to take activists’ concerns with MMR’s influence seriously. Theora Ward, an activist with Protect Geprags Park, which protested the Vermont Gas pipeline through Hinesburg, told rally-goers to contact their representatives and senators.
“There are lots of good, dedicated people holding office in Vermont,” Ward said. “And when they hear from us, they work with us, and good things happen.”
Bread and Puppet was on hand with its larger-than-life-sized puppets with a show that abstractly demonstrated the tension between the environment and corporate or government structures.
Caitlin Ross, a Bread and Puppet puppeteer, said the show — while it can be abstract and bizarre — aimed to give viewers hope.
“A lot of what’s great with the imagery, it’s these big symbols, so I think people are able to place their own interpretations and their own feelings of catharsis [on them],” Ross said. “Something about seeing something being torn down in this symbolic way gives people hope and motivation to act.”
