oil

BP and the Myth of a World 'Beyond Petroleum'

"We can't put all our energy in one barrel," says the BP billboard poster. The slogan is accompanied by fetching images of green plants, wind turbines and the sun. And BP's own logo, with its green tagline: Beyond Petroleum.

But this is confection. Until 2004, BP was called British Petroleum. And in the real world of business, the giant energy company continues to plunder most of its profits from - and sink the great bulk of its investment into - barrels of oil. Who is it kidding?

Posted in coal, oil, pollution

Oil Shale Frenzy

It's still November, but Christmas is arriving early for fossil-fuel extraction companies that have had oil shale on their wish lists for years.

The Bush administration's Interior Department wants to open millions of public acres in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming to oil companies to extract kerogen, a sludgy form of oil, from shale rock. As Bush's days in Washington wind down, his agents are working to give Big Oil a firm toehold on public lands by sidestepping the usual public-appeal process and adopting regulations that give companies a deal on royalties.

Posted in conservation, oil

Ecuador Keeps Up Oil Cleanup Fight Against Chevron

Reporting from Coca, Ecuador - Abel Garrido has just struck oil and he's not happy about it.

Using a tree branch, the weathered farmer probed the edge of a pond that his cattle use for drinking water and soon turned up the smelly black sludge that he says has killed much of his livestock and sickened his family.

"I've lost 30 cows," Garrido said. "I cut them open and their insides are black."

Paying the medical bills to treat his three children for skin cancer has cost him his meager savings.

Posted in Corporatism, oil, ecuador, Latin America

IEA Stokes Doubts Over World's Climate Fight

$If the world carried on as normal without taking new steps to fight climate change temperature would rise in the long-term by up to 6 degrees. Above 2 degrees warming, \"hundreds of millions of people would face reduced water supplies,\" and above 3 degrees food production worldwide would be \"very likely to decrease,\" a U.N. panel of climate scientists said last year.(Photograph: David McNew/Getty images)$

LONDON - The world will have to bet on extreme measures to avoid serious global warming, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday, adding to growing worries that governments have under-estimated the problem.

The world will have to suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere because it was too late to rely on gradual curbs in heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions, it said.

Posted in Environment, oil, renewable energy

Probe Sought of Bush handling of Alaska Oil-Spill Case

WASHINGTON - An environmental watchdog group asked the Department of Justice's inspector general on Monday to investigate whether the department had prematurely halted a criminal prosecution of BP for a 2006 oil spill in Alaska.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility filed the complaint on behalf of Scott West, who as the special agent in charge for the Environmental Protection Agency participated in the federal and state investigation of the spill.

Posted in Government Oversight, oil

Obama's Toughest Challenge

Of all the challenges facing President Barack Obama next January, none is likely to prove as daunting, or important to the future of this nation, as that of energy. After all, energy policy -- so totally mishandled by the outgoing Bush-Cheney administration -- figures in each of the other major challenges facing the new president, including the economy, the environment, foreign policy, and our Middle Eastern wars. Most of all, it will prove a monumental challenge because the United States faces an energy crisis of unprecedented magnitude that is getting worse by the day.

The U.S.

Posted in coal, Energy, oil

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 6, 2008
12:56 PM

CONTACT: The Wilderness Society
Drew Bush, 202/429-7441, drew_bush@tws.org

A Bad Deal for America’s Wild Lands

Regulation Change and Environmental Rollbacks in the Bush Administration’s Waning Days

WASHINGTON - November 6 - Our public lands represent a heritage that belongs to all Americans, one that is critical to safeguarding clean water and air and reducing carbon emissions. The Bush administration has treated these lands as if they belong to industry. And they're not done yet.

###

The mission of The Wilderness Society is to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places.

Posted in climate change, coal, conservation, Environment, oil, Politics, pollution

Ft. Chip Residents, Activists Protest Oilsands Intrusion

Mike Mercredi is ready to fight what he calls the "slow industrial genocide" that oil companies are waging on the people in his hometown of Fort Chipewyan.

Last year there were over 20 deaths in the community of 1,200 people. Many were cancer-related deaths, which Mercredi said are linked to the oilsands activities in nearby Fort McMurray.

"Let's put a lid on it and slow things down," he said. "The graveyard is getting full."

Posted in oil, pollution

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30, 2008
5:15 PM

CONTACT: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Eric Young, NRDC, 202-289-2373 or 703-217-6814 (cell)

Bush Administration Christmas Gift to Oil Companies Will be Announced on Election Day

Sale of Pristine Wilderness Slated to Happen Six Days Before Christmas

SALT LAKE CITY - October 30 - On election day, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to announce that it will sell oil and gas leases on areas in eastern Utah, including sections of Desolation Canyon, White River, Diamond Mountain, Bourdette Draw, and other lands in the Nine Mile Canyon region. These public lands had largely been off-limits to new oil and gas leasing because of a series of federal court and administrative decisions overturning earlier illegal BLM leasing decisions.

###

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.2 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.

Posted in Corporatism, Energy, Environment, oil

Oil Company Bonanza Continues With Record Profits for Shell and Exxon

Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil emulated BP today by revealing record quarterly profits.

Royal Dutch Shell, the biggest oil company in Europe, beat City expectations with third-quarter current-cost-of-supply profits - which strip out unrealised inventory gains and losses - up 74% to $10.9bn (£6.7bn).

Posted in oil