KENT, OHIO -- Dan Compton and Susan McElree are taking aim at big oil companies and big oil profits.
The small town couple has created a new grass-roots group, the Fed Up Energy League (FUEL), and started a new Web site: www.angryatthepump.org.
Their efforts have earned FUEL more than 600 members since Memorial Day, but they say that millions of members will be needed if they are to be successful with a proposed consumer boycott of a major oil company to get gasoline prices lowered.
Their plans still are taking shape, but what they envision is a boycott that would force a single oil company to lower its prices in order to win its customers back. They hope other major oil companies would lower prices to remain competitive.
Which of the big oil companies - Exxon/Mobile, Texaco, Conoco/Phillips or Shell - might be the target still has not been determined.
They feel that the oil companies could do well financially even with lower profits. "It may work. It may not. But it's worth the try,'' they say of a boycott. "What we're trying to do is huge and has never been done. But it can be done.''
"If we can hurt them in the pocketbook, it will get their attention," McElree said.
Taking action
Compton and McElree may seem an unlikely pair to lead such a campaign.
Compton, 55, a one-time Marine Corps Captain, and a former telecommunications executive. McElree, 49, is a former pharmacist.
The pair were discussing their unhappiness with oil companies and what they call the companies' excessive profits for a long time, but decided to take action around Memorial Day when gas prices climbed above $3 a gallon.
"When the prices went through the roof, we decided it was time to do something," Compton said. "We had to do something besides just complain. Prices are lower now but no one expects them to stay that way, so we need to prepare now."
Membership
FUEL has attracted 432 members in Ohio, mostly in Northeast Ohio, along with over 200 in 8 other states. It is spreading mostly by word of mouth and from media coverage, he said.
People can sign up online and become a member for free. There also are paid memberships that help FUEL with funds to advertise and to offset the costs of membership materials.
Compton and McElree are both unpaid volunteers. Compton said he is willing to devote two years to the campaign.
FUEL wants to have a detrimental effect on the selected big oil company but not mom-and-pop operators of the stations. Toward that end, his group will urge motorists to buy items but not gasoline.
FUEL also is researching the fuel supply network to determine the flow of oil from the companies to the service stations, an issue that must be resolved before any action can be taken.
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