energy

Chevron's history of denial, delay, and defamation in the Ecuadorian Amazon

It has been 15 years since a group of Ecuadorian indigenous people filed a lawsuit against Texaco for oil contamination, resulting from 26 years of substandard oil extraction efforts. In those years, Texaco -- acquired by Chevron in 2001 -- consistently has denied responsibility, delayed justice, and defamed the Ecuadorian people who need help the most. In other words, the oil giant has acted like most people expect Big Oil companies to act -- like bullies -- instead of the good corporate citizens that Chevron's advertising campaigns like to portray.

Meanwhile, the Ecuadorians living in Texaco's former dumping ground suffer every day. Texaco released over 18 billion gallons of oil and toxic water into the rainforest from 1964 to 1990. Experts indicate that over 1,000 people have died from cancer. Spontaneous abortions are two to three times more likely to occur in the concession area than in other parts of Ecuador. It's almost impossible to find a family not touched by the illnesses.

Until you see the extent of the contamination, it is hard to believe. Almost 1,000 pits the size of large swimming pools scar an area the size of Rhode Island. Texaco built the pits to dump the remaining oil and toxic water after drilling. To reduce costs, Texaco violated standard industry practice and never lined the pits. As a result, the toxins have flowed directly into the streams and underground water supply. Texaco eventually covered the pits with dirt -- as if hiding the pollution would make it go away -- but never took any real steps to clean up the area. Some people even built their houses on top of the covered pits, thinking that the pits were safe.

McKinsey 2008 Research in Review: Stabilizing at 450 ppm has a net cost near zero

The McKinsey Global Institute has done some of the most comprehensive and credible recent analyses on energy efficiency potential and carbon mitigation cost curves (see here). They have summarized their work in “2008 Research in Review,” so this is a good opportunity to create one universal link for their work. One core MGI factoid you […]

Oprah gained weight and confused the public about renewable energy

If I weren’t on vacation, I wouldn’t have read Oprah magazine. No really. But then I would have missed a piece of misinformation gratuitously foisted on her readers. For her legion upon legion upon legion of fans, the big news is the O has recently been losing her battle with weight (one legion does not […]

Clean coal, dirty press

The coal industry cannot be liking the kind of coverage they’re getting on, e.g., ABC. (Watch that video and tell me Joe Lucas doesn’t look like a buffoon.)

The right questions

This WaPo op-ed on the electrical grid is ho-hum. Turns out we need to improve the grid! But one thing jumped out at me: For real long-term progress, our leaders must invest in research so that we can find a way to capture and permanently store carbon emitted by coal-fired power plants. If we can […]

Report highlights vital fact on energy: Efficiency gets cheaper the more you spend on it

A while back I did a roundup of reports. I left one out because I wanted to highlight it in its own post: Synapse Energy Economics Inc.: Costs and Benefits of Electric Utility Energy Efficiency in Massachusetts [PDF] Massachusetts recently passed the Green Communities Act, which significantly ramps up the state’s utility efficiency programs, mandating […]

Tennessee ash spill more than three times larger than originally thought

NYT: “Coal Ash Spill Is Much Larger Than Initially Estimated“ Initially authorities said there were 2.6 million cubic yards of ash in the pond, and 1.7 million spilled. Now they’re saying 5.4 million cubic yards have spilled — more than double the original estimate of the total in the pond. Fills you with trust in […]

American taxpayers help pay for coal sent to China

Lee Buchsbaum writes that U.S. coal producers increasingly find it more profitable to export their product: With the falling dollar, selling to Asia, Europe or South America is giving coal producers a higher return than selling into the United States. "If I were running a coal company and I looked at what’s happening on Capitol […]

Brookings and RMI bring energy stakeholders together to forge areas of agreement

A fleet of oil industry reps, enviros, venture capitalists, national-security hawks, and think-tankers walk into a room. After a day and a half of debate, can they walk out with at least three oil-related policy recommendations for the next president? That was the challenge presented by the Rocky Mountain Institute and the Brookings Institution, which […]