In the middle of potentially Americaâs worst environmental disaster, BP is attempting to squarely shift the blame for the Deepwater Horizon disaster from itself to Transocean. As BPâs CEO Tony Hayward prepares to meet key Congressmen in Washington today, you can see part of BPâs PR strategy in play with the simple message: We are … Read More
Public Relations
Avatar director: Tar sands Are âBlack Eyeâ to Canada
When faced with a PR battle, one of the fossil fuel industryâs tactics is to set up a supposed grass-roots organisation or âAstroturfâ organisation. So Citizens for the Environment had no citizens in it â it was just a front for big oil and other polluting industries. The Global Climate Coalition was also no such … Read More
21 years later oil still pollutes Prince William Sound
For those of you who have not seen the film the Age of Stupid, Pete Postlethwaite, puts in a great performance as a despairing archivist wondering how we allowed the world to be ravaged by climate change. You could imagine Pete putting in a similar performance as an archivist looking back at how the oil … Read More
A green oil industry: a contradiction in terms..
No one would like to consider their job to be an oxymoron, essentially a contradiction in terms. But that is what you could describe the job title for the editor of a new online magazine called âGreening of oil magazineâ. The new mag says it will be dedicated to âtracking energyâs environmental footprintâ, but you … Read More
Meet the Top Dozen “Climate Killers”
As promised from yesterday, here are the top dozen Climate Killers from Rolling Stones list. According to the magazine, âthe polluters and deniers are aiding Big Oil and Big Coal’s campaign to block progress on global warmingâ. I am sure you wonât agree with everyone on the list (as I donât) so here goes: 1.   … Read More
âIts easier to defeat Hitler than Big Coal and Oil…â
Its not often now in journalism that someone tells you how it is and puts their neck on the line in no nonsense language. So good old Rolling Stone – the grandfather rock and roll mag that has a great article on how the oil and gas killed hopes of a climate deal in the … Read More
The Angry Mermaid Strikes Back
All the news reports this morning are that a deal at Copenhagen is dead. Barack Obama has said that we had run out of time to secure a deal in December. This will please the corporate lobbyists no end. The longer they can delay action on climate the better. But now Copenhagenâs iconic mermaid is … Read More
Debunking the Tar Sands Propaganda
Canadaâs tar sands lobby is getting desperate, clutching at straws as to how to revitalise the flagging industry that is being squeezed by a stagnant oil price and looming carbon regulations. They will use any excuse to try and spin their case. Take the report earlier this week by the International Energy Agency, that actually … Read More
Big Oil Front Group Fights for Tar Sands
The debate on energy and climate is littered with corporate front groups scare-mongering over action on climate change at the moment. On the blog we have recently talked about the American Petroleum Instituteâs astroturf âEnergy Citizenâ campaign and American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCE)âs fake letter writers.
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 … Read More