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Posts in August 2010

• It’s as if Deepwater Never Happened..

  Andy Rowell

  Aug25

  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…
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• Nigeria: Independent Figures Dispute UN’s Findings

  Andy Rowell

  Aug24

  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…
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• From Brazil to Nigeria, Shell Fights Pollution Allegations

  Andy Rowell

  Aug23

  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…
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• “Probably the most notorious branding crisis in memory”

  Andy Rowell

  Aug19

  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…
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• Scientists Say Health and Seafood At-Risk from Spill

  Andy Rowell

  Aug18

  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…
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• Upto 80% of BP oil still in the Gulf, say scientists

  Andy Rowell

  Aug17

  When the US government announced three-quarters of the oil from BP’s leak “has already evaporated, dispersed, been captured or otherwise eliminated” and what was left posed no risk, I said that the findings would be controversial. What I didn’t say is that they would be blatantly challenged by scientists as wildly wrong. Scientists from the…
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• The UK Coalition Ain’t Green, Its Dirty Brown

  Andy Rowell

  Aug16

  So the UK Coalition government between the Tories and Liberal Democrats is 100 days old this week. While this political milestone is somewhat meaningless, it does give political commentators a moment to measure how things are going. When British Prime Minister David Cameron took power, he said he wanted the new coalition administration to be…
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• Ability to Find New Reserves Now on a “Knife Edge”

  Andy Rowell

  Aug13

  Well we always knew that the oil spill disaster would have severe repercussions for the industry, a fact now conceded by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA has warned that the spill from BP’s Macondo’s well “places the ability of the industry to access important new reserves on a knife edge“. Its latest monthly…
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• Scientists told to “Shut Up” Over Spill

  Andy Rowell

  Aug12

  Yesterday the environmental campaign group Greenpeace announced it was launching a three-month expedition to analyse the impact of BP’s oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico. The Greenpeace ship, the Arctic Sunrise will “host independent scientists who will be researching the impacts of oil and chemical dispersants on Gulf ecosystems and marine life,” said John…
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• Lawyers not yet born look set to work on this one too

  Andy Rowell

  Aug11

  When the Exxon Valdez oil spill happened the chair of the Trustees panel said simply: “lawyers not yet born will work on this one”. His prediction essentially came true as the spill lawsuits grinded backwards and forwards through the courts as Exxon did everything in its power to delay and derail the legal process. As…
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