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Agribiz giant ADM gets taste of Hugo Chavez’s wrath
Longtime Grist readers might recall reading here about a Mexico-based transnational company called Gruma. I’ve written two articles (in 2006 and 2007) about how, after Mexico’s privatization bonanza in the early ’90s, this well-connected company managed to industrialize one of the world’s greatest foodstuffs, the tortilla, strip it of its flavor and much of its […]
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BP chief says catastrophic oil spill really not all that big
“The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.” — Tony Hayward, CEO of British Petroleum, attempts to put the now-underestimated Deepwater Horizon oil spill into perspective with that big, blue ocean thing
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The federal MMS: a wholly owned subsidiary of the oil industry
The Deepwater Horizons rig goes boom, killing 11 people and starting a massive and ongoing oil leak. If the Minerals Management Service had been a functional, independent oversight agency, this disaster would likely have never happened. (Photo: U.S. Navy) Has the government surrendered its ability to rein in corporate excess? Yes, says the New York […]
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American PRIDE – alternative to the Lieberman-Kerry Disaster
The leading U.S. bill in tackling the climate crisis is so flawed and weak and full of concessions to major polluters that even centrist environmental groups like Greenpeace have noticed that it is worse than nothing. It fails to take advantage of the many opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in ways that strengthen our […]
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From above and below, Gulf oil leak looks bad on video
The Waterkeeper Alliance provides aerial footage of the Gulf oil leak, shot last week. And BP, after initially refusing, releases underwater footage of the leak. From above: From below: One more from last week: Writes Jed Lewison at DailyKos, “BP is trying to position itself as a responsible corporate citizen, but its [temporary] decision to […]
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Disaster contingency plans are ‘fantasy documents’ when it comes to big oil spills
Lee Clarke.Am I the only one mystified — and, OK, horrified — by British Petroleum’s apparent failure to have a contingency plan in place for just the kind of worst-case scenario that happened in the Gulf on April 20? Thankfully not. “Fantasy documents” is how author and sociologist Lee Clarke describes most corporate contingency plans […]
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A three-way blame game at oil-spill hearing
Here’s your 30-second wrap of the first congressional hearing on the BP Gulf oil disaster: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hauled in executives from BP America, which leased the Deepwater Horizon rig; Transocean, which owned the rig; and America’s favorite, Halliburton, which laid cement for the rig. Executives from the three companies — […]
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Criticizing Cap-and-Dividend by inventing something worse
Sean Casten’s criticism of Cap-and-dividend[1] seems to indicate that he had a really bad day. Implying that former former CEO Peter Barnes, and former software corporate executive Senator Maria Cantwell are Marxists is simply not a propitious way to begin a critique or proposal. The substance does not seem any better. One of his criticisms […]
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Poorly timed Sodexo ad boasts ‘safer’ oil rigs [UPDATE]
UPDATE: Only a few hours after I posted this, Sodexo took down the video. Sorry if you weren’t able to have the same WTF?! moment I had, but Sodexo made the right decision. UPDATE: We tracked down a file of the original video for your viewing pleasure. Call it bad timing, tone deaf PR, or […]
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BP’s donations to Congress are more worrying than its donations to Obama
The Sunlight Foundation reports on the slick of BP money that’s already spread far and wide through the American political system. The oil and gas giant is a major campaign contributor, giving more than $6 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years. President Obama has received the most — $77,051 — which might […]
