Posts in refining
“Everything Koch stood for was a lie”
Ever since Greenpeace outed the Koch brothers as the largest financiers of climate change denial, the secretive brothers have started getting much more media attention. The fact that they are also major backers of the controversial Tea Party movement – with its loathing of environmental protection and dismissal of climate change – has added to…
Continue reading ‘“Everything Koch stood for was a lie”’.The Good News, the Bad and the Ugly
First the good news. BP says its “static kill” on its Macondo well has succeeded so far, describing the moment as a “significant milestone”. The “static kill”, which started yesterday, involved pumping heavy drilling mud from the top of the well slowly down, pushing the oil back down into the reservoir. The oil was stopped…
Continue reading ‘The Good News, the Bad and the Ugly’.Putting Tar Sands in Your Tank …
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…
Continue reading ‘Putting Tar Sands in Your Tank …’.Valero’s Flawed “Voices for Energy”
So the trickle turns into a tide. They are all at it now. There is a sudden rush amongst oil and gas companies in the US to garner grasssroots support to attack the Climate bill. Just days after Greenpeace released an internal memo from the oil boys at the American Petroleum Institute, detailing plans to…
Continue reading ‘Valero’s Flawed “Voices for Energy”’.Going backwards, further and faster…
Happy World Environment Day! Not so in America, though. It may be the most polluting and dirty oil on the planet, but American refiners are tripping over themselves to make investments to dramatically increase imports from Alberta’s oil sands. Figures released yesterday show that the oil industry is spending about $53 billion to expand or…
Continue reading ‘Going backwards, further and faster…’.Court Rules BP Blast Victims Rights’ Have Been Violated
A US federal appeals court has ruled that the rights of victims in BP’s fatal Texas City explosion in March 2005 were violated by US prosecutors who reached a secret plea agreement with the UK oil group late last year before consulting victims. The victims insist the plea deal is too lenient and they should…
Continue reading ‘Court Rules BP Blast Victims Rights’ Have Been Violated’.Another US Refinery Blows Up
A huge explosion rocked a Texan oil refinery yesterday in a violent blast that shook buildings miles away and injured at least four people. One employee was hospitalized for burns, while three contractors were treated and released, said Blake Lewis, a spokesman for refinery owner Alon USA.
BP’s Browne Could Escape Court Grilling
The former chief executive of British oil giant BP, Lord Browne, can avoid extensive face-to-face grilling from plaintiffs’ lawyers about the deadly March 2005 explosion at the company’s Texas City refinery, the Texas Supreme Court has ruled. While the ruling directed a judge to enforce an agreement allowing for John Browne to give a one-hour…
Continue reading ‘BP’s Browne Could Escape Court Grilling’.Kurds Continue to Expand Oil Industry
The row between the Kurds and Southern Iraq over is oil reserves and development of the oil industry (see yesterday’s blog) looks set to intensify. The Kurds are negotiating with two Canadian firms on a joint venture to construct an oil refinery and continue work on a second one to boost its fledgling oil industry.
Shell Sued for Refinery Pollution
Several green groups have sued Shell Oil and its affiliates, claiming the oil giant has for years released pollutants from its suburban Houston refinery that are well above state and federal limits. In their federal lawsuit, the Sierra Club and Environment Texas claim the excess air pollutants, including toxic chemicals benzene and 1,3-butadiene, are a…
Continue reading ‘Shell Sued for Refinery Pollution’.
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