Years ago, when the environmental organisation Greenpeace was running a campaign against Ford in the UK, the liberal Guardian newspaper refused to run one of Greenpeace’s anti-Ford adverts. At the time, Ford was one of the largest advertisers in the Guardian and it threatened to pull all its adverts if the Guardian ran the Greenpeace … Read More
oil spills
Investors Warned Tar Sands are a “Slow Motion” Oil Spill
Earlier this month, I blogged how the tar sands lobby was trying to exploit BP’s Gulf of Mexico spill. Well the pro-tar sands argument has once again been blown out of the water by a report from the social investment network, Ceres. It argues that the environmental and financial risks of producing oil in Canada’s … Read More
Could the Spill Sink BP?
First it was a question, said more like a whisper. Surely BP will survive the spill? The concept that such a corporate giant could be felled by one outrageous irresponsible act would have been unthinkable even a few weeks ago. But more and more people are asking could the spill sink BP? Already the future … Read More
Don’t Worry: It’s only a drop in the ocean
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 … Read More
Unanswered Questions
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 … Read More
You Can Hide, But You Can’t Run
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 … Read More
Message from a Blow-out: Don’t Blame Me
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 … Read More
Voters demand clean energy as Big Oil squabbles over spill
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 … Read More
EPA Says Effect of Dispersants at Depth “Unknown”
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 … Read More
The Gulf of Oil
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 … Read More