Tag Archives: oil industry

Two major oil companies cancel Arctic drilling plans

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Greenpeace activists scale Statoil drilling rig shortly before the company announces its canceling its drilling plans this year

This morning two polar bears scaled Norwegian oil company Statoil’s rig bound for the world’s northernmost drilling sites in the Arctic this summer. Just a few hours later Statoil announced that their Arctic drilling will not take place this year. ConocoPhillips announced today that they too will be cancelling 2014 Arctic drilling plans north of Alaska due to “regulatory irregularities”.

Take action now and tell Secretary of State John Kerry to protect the Arctic!

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The Keystone XL Coverup: The State Department’s Attempt to Hide Oil Industry Connections

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Originally posted to PolluterWatch.

The Alberta Tar Sands, the source of oil for Keystone XL

Mother Jones Magazine has uncovered a new twist in the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline. As it turns out, the authors who drafted the environmental review of the Keystone XL pipeline worked for Transcanada, Koch Industries, Shell Oil, and other oil corporations that stand to benefit from building the Keystone XL. Not only did the State Department know about these conflicts of interest, they redacted this information from public filings in attempt to conceal the truth. Continue reading →

Dubious LNG exports study was conducted in secret by contractor with ties to coal and oil industries

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File:Methanier aspher LNGRIVERS.jpg

A study on the economic effects of exporting gas fracked in the US has opened the door for what Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA) have called “a transfer of wealth from consumers to oil and gas companies.”

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PHOTOS: BP oil pollutes Louisiana marshes after Hurricane Isaac

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Greenpeace researcher Jesse Coleman shows oil churned up by Hurricane Isaac that has polluted the marshes of Barataria Bay, Louisiana, one of the areas hardest hit by the BP oil disaster, September 6, 2012

Oil from the 2010 BP disaster is polluting marshes and beaches in Louisiana, churned up by Hurricane Isaac more than two years after that spill devastated this area and other parts of the Gulf Coast. After documenting oil this week on a National Wildlife Refuge in Alabama and islands off the coast of Mississippi, Greenpeace and the Gulf Restoration Network investigated the marshes of southern Louisiana, and took samples of oil among the grass, water and soil. According to the New York Times, oil sampled from these Louisiana marshes this week by state wildlife officials has been fingerprinted as oil from the BP disaster.

Oil churned up by Hurricane Isaac pollutes the marshes of Barataria Bay, Louisiana, one of the areas hardest hit by the BP oil disaster, September 6, 2012

In addition to the lasting impacts of the BP oil disaster, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that Hurricane Isaac triggered at least 93 pollution incidents, revealing the oil, coal, and chemical industries’ lack of preparedness and the consequences of allowing these industries to police themselves. We documented one of these major incidents at the Kinder Morgan coal export terminal, which is pumping coal blackened water out of the facility into the surrounding environment.

A dead crab lies in oil churned up by Hurricane Isaac in the marshes of Barataria Bay, Louisiana, September 6, 2012

Some of the oil we found in the Louisiana marshes is weathered tar balls, but much of it is viscous oil that is more toxic and difficult or impossible to remove. Despite BP’s advertising campaigns, there is a huge quantity of oil left in the marine environment from the disaster, as Garrett Graves, who oversees the ongoing BP cleanup for the state of Louisiana told CBS News, “BP has up to 1 million barrels of unaccounted oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and I think it will continue to manifest like this hurricane after hurricane for 10 to 20 years unless BP goes out and does a proactive cleanup effort.”

Oiled boom sits in the marshes of Barataria Bay, Louisiana after Hurricane Isaac churned up oil left in the Gulf of Mexico from the 2010 BP disaster, September 6, 2012

As Gulf Coast residents face years or decades of impacts from the BP oil disaster, this is a reminder of what happens when we let oil companies write this country’s energy plan and endanger our coastlines.

Tar Sands Blockade Stands Strong in Texas

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TransCanada quietly starts construction on Keystone XL - Activists expose them with banner drops across Texas and Oklahoma.

Guest blog from Tar Sands Blockade, a nonviolent direct action campaign uniting Texas and Oklahoma landowners and activists to halt the Keystone XL pipeline.

Follow them @KXLBlockade

Remember a year ago when 1,253 people got arrested in front of the White House? We came in waves day after day, for weeks, vowing that we would lay our bodies on the line to halt the permitting of the dreaded Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

Well, in case you haven’t heard since then Big Oil has been up to its old tricks and recently secured all the necessary permits to build the southern section of Keystone XL to the Gulf. The Canadian oil corporation, TransCanada, is planning to break ground “within weeks.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on letting them build anything that could spell “game over” for the global climate.

Fortunately, I’m not alone. I’m proud to be part of Tar Sands Blockade, a growing movement of Texas landowners and activists ready to use nonviolent direct action to stand up to Big Oil and say; “Don’t Mess with Texas.”

We need your help! Together we can halt this dirty pipeline in its tracks and build the healthy, clean energy future we know is possible. We’re an open grassroots organization so sign up on our website to learn more about how to get involved.