CO2 is Green, Say Oil Execs in Ludicrous Ad

Attempts by dirty industries to fight the climate bill just keep getting more and more desperate and ridiculous. Care2 spotted a television ad campaign run by oil execs is actually trying to convince the public that excess CO2 is a good thing.

From The Washington Post, via Care2:

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) may be grappling with health care, but in Montana a new advocacy group opposed to climate legislation called CO2 Is Green is taking aim at the next big battle for Congress.

The group is already running television ads: “This will cost us jobs,” one says. “There is no scientific evidence that CO2 is a pollutant. In fact higher CO2 levels than we have today would help the Earth’s ecosystems.” It urges voters to contact Baucus, who in the past has backed bills to cap emissions and allow companies to trade pollution allowances.

The man behind the latest entry to the climate legislation wars is H. Leighton Steward, a veteran oil industry executive, co-author of the “Sugar Busters!” dieting books, and winner of an Environmental Protection Agency award for a report on damage being done to Mississippi wetlands. Now retired, he says he wants to “get the message out there” that carbon dioxide, which the Supreme Court has ruled a pollutant and which most scientists regard as a dangerous greenhouse gas, “is a net benefit for the planet.”

Well, thank the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster that we have oil company bigwigs to steer us in the right direction, not only with these super-intelligent and truthful ads, but by pumping as much CO2 into the atmosphere as humanly possible.

Link [Care2] via [Digg]

Big Oil Refuses to Let American Flags into Astroturf Rally

You’d think that Big Oil would be more than happy to wave a bunch of American flags around while holding their fake grassroots rallies – especially in Texas, of all places. Yet activists bearing the old Stars & Stripes were turned away at the American Petroleum Institute rally in Houston, where oil company employees gathered to hear oil billionaire Drayton McClane Jr. whine about Obama’s clean energy plans.

Check out the video:

Partial transcript from Wonk Room:

ACTIVIST: They said, “We won’t let you have an American flag either.” They said they won’t let you have this, and then the guy touched this, the American flag.

ANOTHER ACTIVIST: I got an email from Freedomworks saying, “Come, it’s free, free food,” doodah doodah. And then I get here and they say, “Well, it’s against fire code to let people in the door.” And then, they let all these people in. Granted, one of the people was Drayton McLane. He’s got more money than God, so, I guess…

Umm, it’s pretty obvious that the uninvited people trying to get into this rally are on the side of Big Oil, so WTF are they worried about? As if the old dude bearing a book called ‘Liberal Facism’ is a spy for the ‘other side’.

Could it be any more clear that this was anything but a grassroots rally? It was one big oil industry whack-a-thon. You would think that these pro-oil citizens (the real ones, not the energy employees) would have caught on by now that the oil industry doesn’t give a shit about them.

Link [Wonk Room]

Oil Industry Planning Town Hall Protests Against Climate Bill

As angry, misinformed mobs take over town halls to scream in people’s faces about health care issues they don’t understand, the oil industry is quietly taking notes – and planning to use similar tactics against the climate bill.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the American Petroleum Institute and other energy groups are funding rallies in 20 states where they will hand out a flier that says things like “Climate change legislation being considered in Washington will cause huge economic pain and produce little environmental gain.”

The flier says the bill passed by the House in June and expected to come to the floor for a vote later in the year, “will cost 2 million American jobs, raise gasoline and diesel prices up to $4,” and threaten both U.S. competition and energy security.

“Let our U.S. senators know they need to ‘get it right’ and not make the same mistakes as the House,” the flier reads. Local organizers fill in the location, date and time slots.

The rallies will be organized in about 20 states, include those whose Democratic Senators aren’t strong supporters of a stringent bill, such as Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Mark Begich of Alaska.

“We’ve all seen those angry folks raising heck about health care,” said Frank O’Donnell, head of the environmental advocacy group, Clean Air Watch. “So I guess it was inevitable a special interest would try the same thing on the climate legislation,” he said in an email.

The ultra-dirty tactics – like outright forgeries – didn’t work, so Big Oil figures that it will merely take advantage of the public’s fear about the economy and their jobs to manufacture an anti-climate movement.

What’s really scary is how easily people are manipulated. If millions of people are willing to swallow outrageous lies about health care reform (i.e. Sarah Palin’s “death panel” comment), there’s no telling what else they’ll believe.

Link [The Wall Street Journal] via [Treehugger]
Photo credit: The Huffington Post

Dozens Dead After Police Open Fire on Indigenous Oil Protesters in Peruvian Amazon

At least 60 and possibly up to 100 people are dead after a brutal confrontation Friday on the Fernando Belaunde Terry Road in the Peruvian Amazon. Police opened fire from helicopters on indigenous protesters, who were blockading a road to protect their land from oil companies opening wells and mines in their rainforests without their consent.

Police claim the protesters opened fire first, but the tribes were only armed with traditional spears.

The Peruvian government has declared a state of emergency, stripping citizens in some areas of the Amazon of their constitutional rights. Some reports say police have raided hospitals where indigenous people were recovering from their injuries and taken them to an unknown location. Tribe members say up to 35 people are missing and that three children are among the dead.

Peru has already opened up 75% of its Amazon territory to oil exploration and President Alan Garcia has signed contracts for 15 more oil concessions just in the past month.

From Reuters:

An indigenous leader said 40 protesters were killed and the government said 23 members of the security forces perished in two days of battles over Garcia’s push to open up the rainforest to billions of dollars in foreign investment.

Thousands of Indians armed with wooden spears vowed to dig in at blockades on remote Amazon highways to defend their ancestral lands from outside developers.

Dozens of police were held hostage by protesters, but most were freed hours later. On Sunday, two were still missing.

Hundreds of natives who sought refuge at a Catholic mission in Bagua Grande drew up a list of dozens of missing people and sought guarantees to search for bodies of the slain.

“We have been told that many of our dead brothers have been thrown into the Maranon river to cover up the killing,” said Carlos Anchanchi, one of the [indigenous] group’s leaders.

Video via BBC News

Many major news sources are only reporting on the dead police officers and playing down the violence against the indigenous tribes. Some human rights organizations are saying that the indigenous death toll is far higher than has been reported.

Amazon Watch has put out an urgent action alert asking people to send Peruvian President Garcia a message that the international community won’t stand for violent repression of indigenous people. Add your voice today.

Link [Reuters] + [Amazon Watch]
Photo credit: Peruanista

Activist Nuns Convince Chevron to Track its Carbon Footprint

As it turned out, after years of resistance, all it took to get Chevron to track its carbon footprint was a threat from activist nuns. A group of faith-based investors, including the Sisters of St. Domenic, filed a resolution to force Chevron into being more environmentally responsible.

After the oil giant agreed to comply, the resolution was withdrawn. Chevron will now become the largest oil company to track its carbon footprint, something another competitor – ExxonMobil – has yet to do.

From GreenBiz.com, via Digg:

“As shareholders, we appreciate the difficulties that Chevron management faces in the long-term in confronting the task to reduce GHG emissions,” Sister Patricia Daly, executive director of the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment and a member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), said in a statement. “The recent advancements Chevron has made in reducing its carbon footprint and preparing the company for viability in a low-carbon business environment cannot be ignored.”

Daly made the announcement the day before San Ramon-based Chevron’s annual stockholders meeting, where reports suggest it may address concerns about a legal case in Ecuador that could lead to a multi-billion dollar judgment against the company. The case stems from alleged environmental violations committed by Texaco, which Chevron later acquired.

In the corporate world, money talks, and if your investors want you to do something you do it. It’s no surprise that money was the only reason Chevron agreed to pay any attention to their carbon footprint at all.

Link [GreenBiz.com] via [Digg]

Dirty Industries Seek Free Pollution Credits from Government

The very same industries that have helped get the world into this global warming mess in the first place are now asking the government for free passes to keep on polluting under legislation for capping greenhouse gases. Electric utilities, automakers, oil companies and natural gas refineries are among the industries that believe they should get pollution credits, complements of the Obama administration.

From the Wall Street Journal:

The measure by Reps. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.) and Edward Markey (D., Mass.) calls for reducing U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions roughly 20% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83% below 2005 levels by mid-century. It is largely silent on how much companies would have to pay for pollution permits under a proposed cap-and-trade system that would allow companies to buy and sell such permits.

“There are a lot of things in the bill I need to have changed,” said Rep. Gene Green (D., Texas). Mr. Green, whose district is home to the largest petrochemical complex in the world, wants Mr. Waxman to give some pollution permits to oil refiners for free. “If that’s not in the bill, I can’t vote for it,” he said.

Refiners are lobbying to get for free 30% of the pollution permits, an amount that corresponds roughly to the share of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions produced by transportation fuel. Without such allowances, the industry says, it will lose out to refineries in India and the Middle East that ship their product to the U.S. and don’t operate under carbon caps at home.

“The electric utilities want 40%, and if they’re getting 40%, the refiners say ‘Why shouldn’t we get 30%?”‘ Mr. Green said. Mr. Green said he has asked Mr. Waxman to give the refining industry a smaller share of the allowances — roughly 5%.

These industries have had years to prepare – they should have known that greenhouse gas caps would go into effect eventually. Instead of being proactive and starting a long time ago to slowly reduce their emissions, they’re now finding themselves in the desperate situation of being forced into major changes in a short amount of time.

Link [Wall Street Journal]

More Polluter-Funded Front Groups Fighting Climate Action

Let’s face it: the general public doesn’t dig too deep into the background of organizations giving them supposed ‘facts’ about climate change. So, it’s all too easy for them to hear a name like ‘American Energy Alliance’ or ‘Institute for Energy Research’ and assume that these are reputable, non-biased groups that can provide them with information they can trust. But, these groups and many others like them are actually front groups for polluting businesses and for the energy industry.

NRDC explains:

Yesterday the American Energy Alliance announced it is running radio ads in the districts of some of the members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which is currently looking at a bill that would establish polluter penalties on global warming pollution. The ads repeat Newt Gingrich’s false- and thoroughly debunked – claim that a climate bill will cost every American $1,300 per year.

So who is the American Energy Alliance? Another offshoot of the ExxonMobil and Koch Industries families of polluter-funded advocacy, it turns out. Described by NPR as “a new advocacy organization with strong ties to the oil industry,” AEA was formed in 2008 and is led by long-time polluter-pal Thomas Pyle, who serves as President.

Pyle is also President of the AEA’s counterpart the Institute for Energy Research (IER). What’s that? Well, the tobacco industry had the Tobacco Institute to peddle its smoke screens, deceptions and other propaganda. The energy industry has the Institute for Energy Research, which Sourcewatch describes this way:  ” … founded in 1989 from a predecessor non-profit organization, [IER] advocates positions on environmental issues which happen to suit the energy industry: climate change denial, claims that conventional energy sources are virtually limitless, and the deregulation of utilities.”

As we reported yesterday, the energy industry has been perpetuating the myth that “clean energy is a dirty lie”. Not that this is any surprise. The energy industry will do practically anything to stay afloat during these times of changing public sentiment, including ignoring their own scientists’ data on climate change because it wasn’t convenient to the story they had concocted.

Link [NRDC]

Fossil Fuels Industry Ignored its Own Scientists on Climate

So deep in denial is the fossil fuels industry, it ignored its own scientists when they offered advice on climate change that the industry did not want to accept. The Global Climate Coalition, a group representing industries with profits tied to fossil fuels, had spent a decade leading an aggressive lobbying and PR campaign against the notion that greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change, and they weren’t about to screw it up with a silly thing like actual facts.

From The New York Times:

A document filed in a federal lawsuit demonstrates that even as the coalition worked to sway opinion, its own scientific and technical experts were advising that the science backing the role of greenhouse gases in global warming could not be refuted.

“The scientific basis for the Greenhouse Effect and the potential impact of human emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 on climate is well established and cannot be denied,” the experts wrote in an internal report compiled for the coalition in 1995.

The coalition disbanded in 2002, but some members, including the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute, continue to lobby against any law or treaty that would sharply curb emissions. Others, like Exxon Mobil, now recognize a human contribution to global warming and have largely dropped financial support to groups challenging the science.

Basically, the fossil fuels industry knew about the harm that rampant greenhouse gas emissions would cause, and not only didn’t act – but sought to convince the public that there was no tie between these emissions and global warming, a tactic that was also employed by the tobacco industry. British environmental activist and writer George Monbiot points out that the fossil fuels industry didn’t have to convince people of their point of view, but simply create as much confusion as possible.

And, to some degree, it worked. Much of the ‘evidence’ and ‘scientific opinion’ that global warming deniers and skeptics still use to refute the reality of climate change to this day originates from the misinformation deliberately injected into the argument by the fossil fuels industry. Luckily, the noise from the ‘global warming is a myth’ side has largely died down in the face of actual facts.

So, where’s the public anger? Why aren’t people pushing back against an industry that would sacrifice millions of lives and the future of our planet for their own financial gain? It might have something to do with the fact that most people still don’t think global warming is going to affect them personally. I hope, for everyone’s sake, that they aren’t forced to learn otherwise in the near future.

Link [The New York Times]

Oil Companies Actually Getting Less Green

Most of the major oil companies have spent the last few years trying to convince us that they’re going green. BP, Exxon, Shell and others started running advertisements proclaiming that they were investing in renewable energy technology – hell, Exxon went so far as to leave a comment here on EarthFirst about the company’s supposed efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, claiming frustration at their bad reputation among environmentalists.

But, all of the greenwashed facades are coming crashing down. The world’s oil giants aren’t exactly lining up to follow President Obama’s green lead, and some of them are even breaking commitments they’ve already made.

From The New York Times:

Royal Dutch Shell said last month that it would freeze its research and investments in wind, solar and hydrogen power, and focus its alternative energy efforts on biofuels. The company had already sold much of its solar business and pulled out of a project last year to build the largest offshore wind farm, near London.

BP, a company that has spent nine years saying it was moving “beyond petroleum,” has been getting back to petroleum since 2007, paring back its renewable program. And American oil companies, which all along have been more skeptical of alternative energy than their European counterparts, are studiously ignoring the new messages coming from Washington.

“In my view, nothing has really changed,” Rex W. Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, said after the election of President Obama.

“We don’t oppose alternative energy sources and the development of those. But to hang the future of the country’s energy on those alternatives alone belies reality of their size and scale.”

The New York Times reports that Exxon is counting on oil, gas and coal to be just as prevalent in 2050 as they are today.  Perhaps that would be true if we were counting on oil giants alone to fund the renewable energy industry – but thankfully, we’re not. They’re dragging their feet for a reason. Hydrocarbons are a huge source of revenue for them and they’re not prepared to let go of them.

The fact is, the world is ready to start moving beyond fossil fuels. Oil companies need to shape up and get serious about renewable energy if they want to survive. It’s possible to adapt instead of keeping a death grip on the ways of the 20th century. Actually following through on their own green claims would be a start.

Link [The New York Times]
Photo credit: London Rising Tide

Demand for Oil So Low, Producers are Running Out of Storage Space

Those poor, poor oil producers. They got really excited last year when oil prices rose to an all-time high of $147 per barrel, and they thought for sure that the prices would just keep on rising as demand continued unabated. But low prices haven’t raised demand, which has dropped dramatically in the past year – and producers are running out of room to store all of the excess.

From Twilight Earth:

Some countries, such as Iran, have filled their tankers with crude, taking it off the market to keep prices from dropping even more. The strategy is to sit on the supply until they can bring it to market for the best price, but oil producers, traders, and processors are unsure where the market is going.

“Nobody expected this. The majority of people out there thought the market would keep rising to $200, even $250, a barrel. They were tripping over each other to pick a higher forecast.” – Antoine Halff, Newedge analyst

The delivery point for oil traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Cushing, OK, has storage tanks that hold 10% of the US crude oil, and industry analysts are predicting that those tanks are rapidly nearing capacity. It looks like now is the time for any investor with storage options to stockpile it at a low cost and wait for the demand to catch back up and raise prices.

More than 30 tankers, rented by oil companies, with capacities of 2 million barrels of oil each, are now simply floating storage tanks. The crews are idle, and the companies have them moored all over the world, just waiting. It’s good business for the owners of the tankers, with rental charges up at $75,000 per day.

People are trying to save money, so they’re driving less – and last year’s high oil prices schooled many on the importance of switching to green energy. Demand will likely continue to fall as the economic recession circles the globe.

Does that mean the age of fossil fuels is over? Not quite, as much as we’d like it to be. China, for one, is showing signs that it won’t be moving on to cleaner energy any time soon – they’re stockpiling oil in mass quantities while prices are low.  The world’s number one producer of greenhouse gases went on an oil shopping spree that included deals with oil producers in Russia, Venezuela and Brazil.

Link [Twilight Earth] + [Sustainablog]

Photo credit: Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources

Can Companies be Shamed into Cutting Emissions?

A group of investors named a builder and 8 other companies to a “Climate Watch List” this week, hoping to force those companies into taking responsibility for their contributions to global warming. The environmental investor group, Ceres, cited concerns that the firms are undermining their own long-term competitiveness and lagging behind their peers by failing to respond to the business challenges posed by global warming.St

From Energy Priorities Magazine:

The Climate Watch List isn’t limited to coal and oil companies, although those dominate the widely publicized shame list. California homebuilder Standard Pacific was singled out for not responding to requests for energy efficiency measures.

Unlike other leading homebuilders, Standard Pacific has opposed shareholder requests the past three years to disclose its strategies and performance on energy efficiency and other climate-related issues. The resolution filed by the Nathan Cummings Foundation asks the homebuilder to adopt quantitative goals for boosting energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its products and operations. Homebuilders have an important role in mitigating climate change because 40 percent of GHGs come from building energy use, and building energy efficiency is one of the most cost effective means of reducing global warming pollution.

Among the companies named were ExxonMobil, Chevron, Massey Energy and General Motors. Two of the oil companies were targeted for their investments in Canada’s oil sands region, where more than a million barrels of oil are extracted every day using carbon-intensive technology. GM’s spot was earned for its “ongoing legislation to stop California’s clean car standards from being adopted”. You can read a full list of the companies over at Sustainable Business.

Green Biz gives more details:

Jack Ehnes, the CEO of the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), one of the largest pension investment funds in the country, explained on the press call yesterday that the groups involved in making the Climate Watch List see understanding and measuring climate risk as a fundamental business activity, like any other kind of business risk — and an ever-growing number of investors see these issues as key to making informed investment decisions.

So, will shame push these companies into action? It’s difficult to say. Ceres is trying to force the companies to shape up for their own good – so they can prepare for the “low-carbon global economy” that’s looming. In other words, they’re saying that cutting back their contributions to global warming is essential to survival. But companies like ExxonMobil are so deeply invested in dirty practices that it seems unlikely being named to this list will spur changes. But, money talks and if investors demand action, companies had better listen.

Link [Energy Priorities Magazine] + [Sustainable Business] + [GreenBiz]

Greenpeace Awards BP with ‘Emerald Paintbrush’ for Worst Greenwashing of 2008

‘Beyond Petroleum’. That was the slogan for BP’s ad campaign that sought to convince us that they’re a green company, investing in renewables and turning toward a clean energy future. Of course, they weren’t fooling anyone who knew better – BP was dropping mere pennies into renewable energy while continuing to make billions of dollars in profits off fossil fuels.

That’s how they managed to earn Greenpeace’s ‘Emerald Paintbrush’, awarded in a humorous ceremony at BP’s headquarters in London.

From Treehugger:

Greenpeace evidently chose BP as their first award recipients due to their expansive 2008 ad campaign which emphasized the company’s commitment to developing and investing in alternative energy sources. According to Greenpeace’s sources, BP instead devoted 93 percent of its investment fund for 2008 for development and extraction of fossil fuels.

Solar power development allegedly received just 1.39 percent, and total renewable energy investments were under 7 percent.

The Greenpeace spokesman who presented the award said, “You wouldn’t know it from their adverts, but BP bosses are pumping billions into their oil and gas business and investing peanuts in renewables. They’ve won the 2008 Emerald Paintbrush award because their slogans suggest that they are serious about clean energy, while their actions show they’re still hell-bent on oil extraction.”

According to Greenpeace, BP is responsible for the same amount of emissions as the entire nation of Portugal (64.96 metric tons).

BP definitely deserves the criticism. The Huffington Post called them out a couple weeks ago on having put $3 billion into the tar sands industry while simultaneously bragging about their so-called environmental responsibility. BP obviously thinks we’re an incredibly gullible bunch, so they deserve the little show Greenpeace put on in their lobby – and much, much worse.

Link [Treehugger] + [The Huffington Post] + [Greenpeace UK]

Why is Gas So Expensive? Here’s a Breakdown

As gas prices rise and fall seemingly on a daily basis lately, it might seem like the shift in price is totally arbitrary.  After all, what can happen during one weekend to make gas go from $3.69 to $3.09 and back up to $3.36? A complex set of transactions has to take place before the price of gas is calculated, and The Consumerist has broken it down for us.

From The Consumerist:

The Three Markets: Contract, Spot and Futures

Both oil and gas are traded on three markets: the contract market, the spot market, and the futures market. Each is influenced by different factors and impacts the price of gas at different stages of production. Unlike the futures market, the contract and spot markets are not the kind of markets found on Wall Street; they are informal networks of businesspeople.

The Contract Market
Though it seems like oil companies spend most of their time ruining your day by raising the price of gas, their primary business is exploration. Once an oil company finds a field and coaxes it into producing crude, it takes that unrefined oil and sells to refiners. The vast majority of oil is sold by contracts. A veritable orgy of contracts signed between oilcompanies and dealers, oil companies and refiners, refiners and independent dealers predetermine the fate of most oil and gas.

Refiners plan their purchasing and refining activity to ensure that these contracts are fulfilled. In exchanged for this privileged standing, refiners charge contract customers a premium.

Check out the article on The Consumerist for the rest, including the spot market, the futures market, refineries, gas stations, taxes, and more.  It’s a fascinating look into what causes prices to fluctuate, and as described by The Consumerist, sometimes all it takes is a butterfly flapping in the wind to send gas shooting up in price halfway across the world.  And remember – though you might not be able to do anything to control the price of oil, you can control how much you consume.

Link [The Consumerist]
Photo credit: Flickr user micah.d

Government Officials Took Drugs, Money and Sex from Oil Industry

The offshore drilling debate is about to get a whole lot messier.  This week, shocking new allegations came to light regarding corruption in the form of sex and drugs between government officials and oil and gas company officials. An interior department inquiry discovered that government employees whose job was to process permits, hold oil and gas companies to account and collect royalties for the federal government have been partying it up with their oil industry buddies, taking gifts, snorting cocaine and engaging in trysts.

From The Washington Post:

Investigators from the Interior Department’s inspector general’s office said more than a dozen employees, including the former director of the oil royalty program, took meals, ski trips, sports tickets and golf outings from industry representatives. The report alleges that the former director, Gregory W. Smith, also netted more than $30,000 from improper outside work.

In the report released yesterday, investigators said they “discovered a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity” in which employees accepted gratuities “with prodigious frequency.” The report cited one e-mail from a Shell Pipeline representative asking a woman in the royalty office to attend “tailgating festivities” at a Houston Texans football game: “You’re invited . . . have you and the girls meet at my place at 6am for bubble baths and final prep. Just kidding.”

Apparently, many of the employees named in the investigation said they ‘didn’t think ethics rules applied to them’ because of their ‘unique role’ in the agency which supposedly requires them to socialize with industry representatives for ‘market intelligence’.  Wow.  Creative excuse.  Sounds just like what millions of people across the world try to pull when they get caught doing something wrong, like Tatum O’ Neil’s “I was researching a role” ploy.

It’s just another example of how tight the oil industry’s grip on America really is.  They’ll do anything to stay on top, and taking advantage of government officials’ greed has proven to be a lucrative tactic.  Not only do they have the entire Bush administration in their pocket, they’ve got thousands of lower-level government officials doing their bidding as well.  Hopefully, we’ll see the Democrats take hold of this issue and use it to fight offshore drilling.

Link [The Washington Post]
Photo credit: The Propaganda Remix Project

GOP Senator Ted Stevens Indicted for Gifts from Oil Company

The longest serving Republican senator, Ted Stevens, was indicted yesterday on seven felony counts of concealing over a quarter of a million dollars in house renovations and gifts from an oil contractor that lobbied him for government aid. Stevens, 84, has been a central figure in Alaskan politics since before statehood and is the first U.S. senator to be indicted since 1993.

From Yahoo! News:

He is accused of lying on his annual Senate financial disclosure reports between 1999 and 2006 — an indictment that caps a lengthy FBI investigation that has upended Alaska politics and brought unfavorable attention to both Stevens and his congressional colleague, GOP Rep. Don Young. Both are running for re-election this year.

Stevens’ indictment further damages Republican prospects in the November election as Senate Democrats, who now enjoy a 51-49 majority, try to capture a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority. Stevens faces both Democratic and Republican challengers who are trying to capitalize on his legal woes.
The Justice Department accused Stevens of accepting expensive work on his home in Girdwood, Alaska, a ski resort town outside Anchorage, from oil services contractor VECO Corp. and its executives. VECO normally builds oil processing equipment and pipelines, but its employees helped do the work on Stevens’ home.

VECO’s requests included funding and other aid for their projects and partnerships in Pakistan and Russia, federal grants from several agencies and help in building a pipeline in Alaska’s North Slope Region. If convicted, Stevens will face up to five years in prison for each count. He’s expected to turn himself in.

Ha ha – jerkass. I wonder how many other GOP senators are up to the same game with oil companies? Undoubtedly plenty of them…

Link [Yahoo! News]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Top Climatologist Wants Oil Company CEOs on Trial for Crimes Against Humanity

Climate scientist James E. Hansen called for putting oil companies on trial for crimes against humanity last Monday on Capitol Hill. Hansen stated that the heads of oil companies, who knowingly delayed action on greenhouse gas emissions, are guilty of crimes against humanity and nature and should be prosecuted thusly.

From Hansen’s speech, via Dot Earth:

CEOs of fossil energy companies know what they are doing and are aware of long-term consequences of continued business as usual. In my opinion, these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature.

Conviction of ExxonMobil and Peabody Coal CEOs will be no consolation, if we pass on a runaway climate to our children. Humanity would be impoverished by ravages of continually shifting shorelines and intensification of regional climate extremes. Loss of countless species would leave a more desolate planet.

If politicians remain at loggerheads, citizens must lead. We must demand a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants. We must block fossil fuel interests who aim to squeeze every last drop of oil from public lands, off-shore, and wilderness areas. Those last drops are no solution. They yield continued exorbitant profits for a short-sighted self-serving industry, but no alleviation of our addiction or long-term energy source.

Hell yeah! We’ll sign that petition. A commenter calling himself ‘blindjester’ on a related story at The Huffington Post Green sums it up nicely: “If you cause the injury of a few people, you get sued. You cause the death of someone, you go to jail. If you’re wealthy enough and powerful enough to contribute to disease and death worldwide, you get to live in a mansion.”

Link [Dot Earth] + [The Huffington Post]

The Shadow Yacht: The Perfect Way to Showboat Your Distended Bank Account (Literally!)

For the billionaire who has everything, including a grossly bloated environmental footprint, comes the Shadow Yacht: think of it as a garage for your main 400-foot boat. If you’ve never seen those specials on TV that highlight the amazing ways Middle Eastern oil billionaires find to waste their money, here’s a quick education in Disgusting Wealth 101.

The Wall Street Journal has it:

A shadow yacht is a trailer yacht for your megayacht — a floating garage of a sort that tags along with your main yacht to carry your collection of helicopters, cars, motorcycles, jet skis and motorboats. That way, when you pull up to the docks of Monaco in your 350-foot main yacht, you can also pull into the local restaurants in your personalized drophead Rolls, without having to endure the indignity of a rented limo.

The boats can also pack fuel, water, spare parts and supplies, allowing more remote travel.

Shadow Marine, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., is the main builder of shadow yachts, and they’ve sold two already — both to Middle Eastern clients. The company recently released a new model, called the Allure, which is much more plush than the earlier versions. Replacing the garage-like décor is an interior complete with six staterooms, a pool, sky lounge, theater, game room and mini gym.

For just $35 million, you can have a shadow yacht of your very own. It’s the perfect way to get back at your father for saying you would never be as rich as your 12 brothers, attract a plastic-tittied golddigging trophy wife, and can even secretly house your bevy of bleached blond, lucite-stripper-heels-wearing mistresses. It’s SO classy, y’all – Price Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, net worth $20.3 billion, whose beautiful mug is pictured, agrees. Even better, you can convince yourself you’re doing something good for the environment: these babies are made from decommissioned oil-supply boats. Just ignore the fact that you’re using insane quantities of oil to run it, and you’re golden.

Link: [Wall Street Journal]
Photo credit: Wall Street Journal + YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images

Surprise! Politicians Threaten to Tax Big Oil, Big Oil Threatens to Raise Prices

The top 5 Big Oil companies pocketed a record $120 billion in 2007 alone, and they’re hissing and spitting at anyone who dares to come too close. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are pushing a windfall profits tax and House Democrats are threatening punitive measures if oil companies continue to amass evil overlord quantities of money at the expense of consumers.

CNN Money has it:

Oil industry: Hands off our cash. The industry, of course, doesn’t like the extra profit tax.

“If our profits are taxed, that means we’ll have less capital to invest in new production” and it could raise gas prices, John Hofmeister, president of Shell U.S., recently told CNNMoney.com.

Oil companies have been investing more in new production lately, but that argument is a little hard to swallow given the disparity between the huge amounts of money the big firms have been returning to shareholders versus the meager new oil discoveries.

Amy Myers Jaffe, a fellow in energy studies at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy just finished a two-year study looking at oil companies and how they spend their money.
“These companies are spending a very small amount of their operating cash flow on exploration,” she said. “They are spending the majority of their funds buying back stock.”

Big surprise: politicians threaten taxes, and the oil companies threaten to raise prices. These guys are hoarding money like – well, like people who see that new technology is being developed that might push them to the sidelines. How dare we talk about taking away some of their precious profits. Their precioussssssss……

Link [CNN Money]
Photo credit: Flickr user Refracted Moments

Jeebus! Indian Oil Magnate Builds $2 Billion 27-Story Skyscraper House in Mumbai

This might just be the ultimate in excess. The richest man in India, Mukesh Ambani, has built the world’s largest and most expensive home. Ambani is the head of India’s most valuable firm, Reliance Industries, an oil and petrochemicals giant. The home is 4,000,000 square feet and 550 feet high with 27 stories.

From the Times of India:

“The only remotely comparable high-rise property currently on the market is the 70 million dollar triplex penthouse at the Pierre Hotel in New York, designed to resemble a French chateau, and climbing 525 feet in the air,” Forbes said in its report titled, “Inside The World’s First Billion-Dollar Home.”

“At the request of Nita Ambani, say the designers, if a metal, wood or crystal is part of the ninth-floor design, it shouldn’t be used on the eleventh floor, for example. The idea is to blend styles and architectural elements so spaces give the feel of consistency, but without repetition,” it said.

“Atop six stories of parking lots, Antilla’s living quarters begin at a lobby with nine elevators, as well as several storage rooms and lounges. Down dual stairways with silver-covered railings is a large ballroom with 80 per cent of its ceiling covered in crystal chandeliers.”

The report said that Ambanis plan to use the residence occasionally for corporate entertainment also and they want its interiors to have a “distinctly Indian” look and feel.

Four million square feet… how could you not feel like an evil archlord living in this place? It’s like Castle Grayskull if Skeletor had been a modern corporate businessman.

Link [Times of India]

Photo credit: Wikipedia