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 have been consulted on the terms. “We are confident that when those objections are considered, this sweetheart plea bargain will be ultimately rejected,” said David Perry, lead attorney for the victims. Continue reading ‘Court Rules BP Blast Victims Rights’ Have Been Violated’

Democrats in the US Senate yesterday called for a temporary special tax on oil companies’ profits and a rollback of $17 billion in oil industry tax breaks as part of an energy package.

The proposed 25 percent profits tax would apply just to oil company earnings above what would be considered “reasonable” and only if those profits are not reinvested in expanding refinery capacity or renewable energy sources. Continue reading ‘Democrats Seek Special Tax on Oil Profits’

First it was the polar bear, now its the Koala. Both are threatened by climate change.  The bears are threatened by the rising level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because it saps nutrients from the eucalyptus leaves they feed on.

According to Ian Hume, emeritus professor of biology at Sydney University, the amount of toxicity in the leaves of eucalyptus saplings rose when the level of carbon dioxide within a greenhouse was increased. Continue reading ‘Koalas at Risk from Climate Change’

Do you remember the days when oil was only $100? Although there has been speculation in recent days concerning the oil price, one of the most authoritative predictions so far has the price of crude oil at $200 within as little as six months.

The prediction by Goldman Sachs was made as benchmark US light crude passed the $123 mark for the first time.  Surging demand was increasingly likely to create a “super-spike” past $200 in six months-to-two years’ time, said Goldman Sachs. Continue reading ‘Oil Price “May Hit $200 A Barrel”’

Another day, another court room battle concerning big oil. This time its oil sands in the dock. Imperial Oil’s (majority owned by Exxon) fight to win the right to drain muskeg at an oil sands project begins today in an Alberta courtroom.

At a time of intense public scrutiny of the region and the way the oil is extracted from the ground, the stakes have never been higher. At stake is the proposed $8-billion Kearl oil sands mine as well as the widening debate about the ecological costs of oil sands. Continue reading ‘Oil Sands Project in the Dock’