May | 2010 | The Price of Oil

Posts in May 2010

Don’t Worry: It’s only a drop in the ocean
Andy Rowell
May14
BP’s CEO Tony Hayward has come up with the ultimate excuse for the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, claiming it is “relatively tiny” compared with the “very big ocean”. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Hayward tried to claim that the spill should be put into context. “The Gulf of Mexico is a…
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Unanswered Questions
Mark Floegel
May13
It’s now been over three weeks since BP’s oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded, burned and sank in the Gulf of Mexico. These have been hectic weeks for all concerned, no doubt, but the paucity of information available to the public is at best, discouraging. How much oil is flowing / has flowed into the Gulf…
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Meanwhile in Africa its rip-offs and resource wars ..
Andy Rowell
May13
As the world watches and waits for the British company BP to stop the ecological disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico, you would be forgiven for forgetting that elsewhere round the globe the oil industry is just getting on with it. Away from the glare of the cameras, there is the routine business of…
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You Can Hide, But You Can’t Run
Mark Floegel
May12
Now that BP’s jury-rigged contraption to contain its massive Gulf of Mexico oil spew has failed, the company’s only resort is to continue pumping massive amounts of dispersant into the water near the wellhead, in an attempt to – what exactly? The dispersant goes by the trade name “Corexit.” It’s supposed to be a pun…
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Message from a Blow-out: Don’t Blame Me
Andy Rowell
May12
Predictable and cynical. Two words used by the New York Times in its editorial today to describe the behaviour of Big Oil at a Senate hearing yesterday. The three senior executives from BP, Halliburton and Transocean – predictably and cynically – tried to blame each other for the spill, to the point that the “hearings…
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Voters demand clean energy as Big Oil squabbles over spill
Andy Rowell
May11
New research by the influential pollster Joel Benenson, who was the key strategist for Barack Obama during the 2008 election, shows that in the aftermath of the Gulf oil disaster, American voters “overwhelming support a comprehensive clean energy bill.” Nearly two thirds of Americans – some 61% of voters – now support a bill “that…
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Putting Tar Sands in Your Tank …
Andy Rowell
May10
Disaster One. New estimates put the amount of oil per day pouring into the Gulf of Mexico at one million gallons a day. If this is so, BP’s disaster may have spilt more oil than the Exxon Valdez, when at least eleven million gallons poured from the stricken tanker. Disaster Two. There is another ecological…
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EPA Says Effect of Dispersants at Depth “Unknown”
Andy Rowell
May07
Just days ago, BP’s CEO Tony Hayward said that the company would keep the oil from the beaches. It is yet another broken promise from the oil giant. Oil has now reached shore in Louisiana on the Chandeleur Islands, an important breeding and nesting area for birds. So far oiled birds such as gannets and…
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The Gulf of Oil
Mark Floegel
May06
Venice, LA – I’m down at the oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico or what for now is the Gulf of Mexico. Rick Steiner, a marine conservationist and oil spill expert flew over the gulf Wednesday morning and said, “It’s not the Gulf of Mexico any more. It’s the gulf of oil.” Rick’s been…
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Exclusive: No Toxicity Tests on BP’s Dispersant
Andy Rowell
May06
Whilst the media have been focussing on the untested nature of the 4 story dome or “cofferdam” that is going to be lowered over BP’s spill at the sea bed, its use of dispersant is also coming under scrutiny. Alarmingly, according to the dispersant manufacturer, no toxicity tests have been conducted on this product. The…
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