Some in Sierra Club feel sullied by Clorox deal

updated 6:11 p.m. ET July 16, 2008

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - Some Sierra Club chapters are crying foul, and officers in northern Michigan even quit, after the venerable environmental group signed up with a new partner: The Clorox Co.

Better known for suing corporations than forging alliances with them, the Sierra Club this year agreed to promote a new line of eco-friendly Clorox products in exchange for a share of the profits.

"They sold their soul to the highest bidder," said Monica Evans, who helped reactivate the club's nine-county Traverse Group in 2000. She and the group's other five executive committee members resigned in May but only recently made their decision public.

The walkout highlights the passionate debate among members of the Sierra Club over the partnership with Clorox, named one of a "dangerous dozen" chemical companies by the Public Interest Research Group in 2004. PIRG contended in the report that Clorox's handling of chemicals at U.S. production facilities left some 14 million people vulnerable to contamination in the case of an accidental release.

"The Sierra Club has been fighting against Clorox for decades, trying to get them to be responsible," Evans said. "Now we're partners with them? It doesn't make any sense."

Partner terms not disclosed
The Sierra Club says it won't disclose how much money it will get from the sale of Clorox's "Green Works" cleansers, saying it has the same policy for all donations.

Clorox's first new product line in 20 years consists of five cleansers for bathrooms, toilets, glass, surfaces and other uses. They are made from natural ingredients such as coconuts and lemon oil, contain no phosphorus or bleach, are biodegradable and are not tested on animals.

Their packaging bottles are recyclable — and bear the Sierra Club's name and logo, a giant sequoia tree framed by mountain peaks.

The arrangement is the first of its type for the 116-year-old, San Francisco-based club, which has 1.3 million members and supporters, but it may not be the last.

"One of the Sierra Club's primary goals is to foster vibrant, healthy communities with clean water and air that are free from pollution," Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said in the press release issued by Clorox on Jan. 14. "Products like Green Works help to achieve this goal in the home. We're looking forward to working with Clorox and the Green Works team to promote a line of natural cleaning products for consumers who are moving toward a greener lifestyle."

With increasingly eco-savvy consumers demanding sustainable products and services, going green is good business. For some companies, a stamp of approval from a high-profile environmental group may become more valuable than a celebrity endorsement.

"Green is in," said Noah Hall, an environmental law professor at Wayne State University. "This is a very good time to be in the environmental protection business."

But Hall, who has represented the Sierra Club in court and also worked for the National Wildlife Federation, said he wasn't surprised that some club members would find the Clorox deal distasteful.

Critics say Clorox will continue to manufacture cleansers with toxins, primarily its signature household bleach. PIRG officials declined to comment on the arrangement, saying the authors of the 2004 report had left the group.

Group: Clorox 'among the best'
Sierra Club leaders said they carefully studied Clorox's environmental performance. Its manufacturing plants have generally good ratings, the group says on its Web site, and despite some minor recent violations and more serious ones in the 1990s, Clorox appears to be "among the best" in comparison to similar companies.

Clorox bleach consists mostly of water and a small amount of sodium hypochlorite — a relatively safe chemical for disinfection, the Web site says. When flushed down the drain, it's reduced to water and salt.

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