When the Deepwater disaster occurred in the Gulf of Mexico four months ago, many commentators argued that this was a “game changer” that would change the energy debate forever.

Politicians and the public would realise that the ecological and social cost of offshore drilling was becoming unacceptable, the thinking went.

If you morph the lessons of the Deepwater disaster as well as the Exxon Valdez, it is that the risks of deepwater drilling are huge. Continue reading ‘It’s as if Deepwater Never Happened..’

If a tobacco company gave the World Health Organisation a $10 million grant to examine the health effects of smoking, health campaigners would be outraged.  They would also treat the results with great suspicion.

And the fact that Shell gave UNEP $10 million dollars to examine the cause of oil spills in Ogoni means that – for many people in the Delta – they do not believe the results, even before they are announced. Continue reading ‘Nigeria: Independent Figures Dispute UN’s Findings’

Firstly pollution in Brazil:

At the end of last week a Brazilian court fined the local units of Shell  and BASF a total of BRL1.1 billion ($654 million) in compensation and medical costs to workers who were harmed by contamination at a chemicals plant in Paulinia, Sao Paulo.

The Paulinia unit was built by Shell in the late 1970s and was sold to Cyanamid in the early nineties. BASF later bought Cyanamid and shut the Paulinia plant down in 2002. Continue reading ‘From Brazil to Nigeria, Shell Fights Pollution Allegations’

First Greenpeace ran a competition to help BP redesign its logo, and now the Washington Post is running a competition for the public to suggest slogans to help BP repair its battered image.

The competition is running until tomorrow noon, if anyone wants to have a go. So far the entries are pretty predictable:
BP=Best Poison
BP=Better Pollution
BP…Gas for your car and stomach.
BP…makes your car and stomach lurch.
BP…Blame the Public Continue reading ‘“Probably the most notorious branding crisis in memory”’

BP’s spill does pose threats to human health and seafood safety, according to a new study published by the peer-reviewed scientific Journal of the American Medical Association.

The report comes days after President Obama swam in the Gulf at Panama City Beach and made of point of eating seafood for the cameras.

“Beaches all along the Gulf Coast are clean, they are safe, and they are open for business,” Obama told reporters. Continue reading ‘Scientists Say Health and Seafood At-Risk from Spill’