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Not so lionhearted, eh BP?

More out on the climate of fear and intimidation that prevented BP employees from reporting environmental safety concerns in the North Slope oil fields of Alaska.

As reported last week, a subcommittee of the House Energy & Commerce Committee has been interrogating BP executives on their failure to maintain pipelines, leading to several oil leaks in the past year.

At least one worker was summoned for firing because his bosses suspected he had filed a formal complaint that his inspection crew had been cut by 25 percent despite maintaining the same workload. The worker kept his job after denying any role in the complaint, but clearly this sort of threat sends a message to other employees.

Still cool

I love the idea of product service systems. (Upon reflection, that may be the geekiest single sentence I've ever written.) Sadly, I never get around to writing about them. Alex, however, does. This bit is particularly relevant to the question I asked the other day:

But he still understates the case

Al Gore's denials about a possible presidential run are getting more and more equivocal. Today, paleocon Pat Buchanan argues that Gore could beat Hillary to secure the Dem nomination and possibly the presidency.

If anything, I think he understates the case, particularly in two places. Here's the first, most relevant for our purposes:

A public service announcement

Today is my birthday, so feel free to use this thread to tell me just how empty your life was until you met me and/or encountered Gristmill.

It means less than you might think

Chevron's discovery of massive new oil deposits beneath the Gulf of Mexico has prompted a predictable flood of stupidity from the media. The theory of peak oil is being called into question. Our need to get off of oil is being called into question. The quality of our national dialogue is being called into question.

For one-stop shopping on what the new oil find means -- and doesn't mean -- see this definitive post over on Oil Drum.

Some tasty debunking

I was pleased and surprised to see that Consumer Reports devoted the cover story of its recent issue to a lengthy report debunking the alleged benefits of E85. This is part of a welcome new focus on green issues by the magazine.

Enviros should adopt some animal welfare concerns

Many environmentalists strongly advocate sticking with a platform that focuses exclusively on the large global challenges of biodiversity preservation and natural-resource sustainability, and stays clear of animal welfare. They correctly point out that environmentalism has traditionally concerned itself not with the treatment of individual animals, but with protecting whole populations. At a time when we face mass species extinctions, it is certainly a risky strategy to contemplate the expansion of environmentalism into a realm fraught with both ideological and political difficulties.

But I believe this is what environmentalism should do.

CEO of nation’s largest auto dealer gets behind the latter

"Who Killed the Electric Car?" conspiracies aside, why do I think plug-in hybrids will make it where strict plug-ins didn't?

Because, at a gut level, I think more people would buy them. Americans are congenital dreamers. No matter that most trips are under 25 miles. If the car purchase in question does not let you indulge in the fantasy that one day you might just take that road-trip to Jazzfest, wheels hissing on the wet moon-lit roads through the bayou, air heavy with frangipangi and Spanish moss; or a surfari to Baja, camping in the dunes and eating nothing but the fish you spear -- well, what's the point?

An electric car with a 200-mile range may get your groceries, but at the cost of cherished self-image. Practicality and reality have never been much of a driving force in purchasing decisions.

Just my opinion, which doesn't matter much in the scheme of things. But here's an opinion that matters a bit more: check out this op-ed from from the CEO of AutoNation, the nation's largest car dealer:

An interview

An interesting interview with James Lovelock, though his defense of nuclear power is maddeningly sketchy. I'd like to see the original transcript.

Advocate for eating horse needs to go

In a sane universe, if someone singlehandedly tried selling off America's national parks -- our collective inheritance -- they would be arrested.

In this world, we have to settle for voting them out of office.

So, if you were planning on getting involved in helping defeat Richard Pombo, chair of the House Resources Committee, big jerk, anti-ESA zealot, and single largest advocate of eating more horse and whale meat*, now would be a good time.

Not only is time growing short, but if you act now you can listen to a song and get a free CD, too.

* Short list.