Three prominent environmental groups in New Jersey say they will call for a nationwide boycott of BP gas stations until the company fixes the oil rig disaster spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico.
"It outraged me so much as a parent and as somebody that cares about life on the Planet Earth," said Robert Spiegel of the Edison Wetlands Association, in explaining why he decided to lead the boycott.
Also joining in will be the NY/NJ Baykeeper group, which is part of the nationwide Riverkeeper organization, as well as the Sandy Hook-based Clean Ocean Action.
"We're very sorry if that were the case," responded BP's Toby Odone in a telephone interview. "It's clear from our side we're doing everything we can to clean this up as fast as possible."
But it is not fast enough for the New Jersey environmental groups.
"We want to send out a message loud and clear that echoes across the entire country--when people think of BP we want them to think of 'Boycott Polluters,'" said Spiegel, standing next to a BP gas station on Route 1 in his group's namesake community of Edison.
But BP's Odone noted "people make their own choice on how they react to this."
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"Thousands of people are offering their support to help us -- that's very encouraging," he added.
Exxon faced a similar boycott by some consumers for years after the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound.
Spiegel said this boycott will continue "until they clean up and stop the pollution and restore that area."
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