Skip to main content

Refinery Safety Campaign Frays Blue-Green Alliance

Steve Early CounterPunch
demonstration signs At 350-person rally organized by Torrance Refinery Action on the third anniversary of a giant explosion at Exxon Mobil’s facility there, people were eager to hear about how Richmond is working to hold Chevron accountable for its pollution. His piece ref

Trump’s California Henchmen: Stanford and Big Oil Cast Long Shadows

Maria Bustillos Capital & Main
Aside from California’s obedient Republican congressional delegation, Stanford is perhaps the most powerful locus of Trump’s support in the state with close ties to the energy industry and its lobbyists, the center of an even more powerful web of connections to Donald Trump, whose administration has moved to help industry in general, and Big Oil in particular—doing away with climate and environmental protections, opening public lands up to mining and drilling, and so on.

Exxon - Oil, Oil Spills, Climate Denial and "America Uber Alles"

Erika Spanger-Siegfried; Antonia Juhasz Union of Concerned Scientists
Rex Tillerson stands a good chance of being confirmed as Secretary of State. His statements about climate change adaptation, whether, hubris, ignorance, or deception talking-it's a dangerous view. It's playing with other people's lives. So why does Rex Tillerson want a job that could easily be seen as a step down in power and influence? He has unfinished business, particularly in Russia, which he likely does not trust the Trump administration to handle.

Oilfield Wastewater Used to Grow Food in California May Contain Toxins

Maureen Nandini Mitra Earth Island Journal
Did you know that some of the fruits and veggies out on supermarket shelves are grown using wastewater from oil and gas operations? For the past several years, many drought-stricken farms in California’s Central Valley, which produces 40 percent of the nation’s fruits and vegetables, have been increasingly irrigating their crops with wastewater. Chemicals present include 16 the state classifies as carcinogens or reproductive toxicants, says EWG report.

Hydrocarbons and the Illusion of Sustainability

Kent A. Klitgaard Monthly Review
A system based on the fair distribution of use values, decent work, and production and consumption levels that remain within nature’s biophysical limits cannot occur without the abandonment of a social order based on profit and accumulation.

Why There Could Be More Blasts Like 2015 ExxonMobil Torrance Oil Refinery Explosion, Putting Millions At Risk

Larry Buhl DESMOG
On the morning of February 18, 2015, the ExxonMobil oil refinery in Torrance, California exploded, causing chemical ash to rain on the surrounding community for hours. Eight workers had to be decontaminated and four were sent to hospitals with minor injuries. With new evidence that the explosion could have been much worse, and that other aging refineries around the country are also at risk, scientists, industry watchdogs and a few lawmakers are sounding an alarm.

Big Oil Braced for Global Warming While It Fought Regulations

Amy Lieberman and Susanne Rust Los Angeles Times
“What is most unfortunate is that polarization around climate change ... was manufactured by those whose financial and political interests were most threatened.” Even today, that polarization has crippled any hopes for bipartisan policy solutions.

‘Somebody Intervened in Washington’

lec MacGillis Pro Publica
How ConocoPhillips overcame years of resistance from courts, native Alaskans, environmental groups and several federal agencies is the story of how Washington really works.

Why It's so Hard to Regulate Fracking

Justin Miller The American Prospect
The initial scope of the EPA fracking study was ambitious, though certainly not unachievable. The inherent problem, however, with technical studies of complex industry practices is that the EPA relies heavily on the willingness of the industry to give the agency access.
Subscribe to big oil