California protests against Chevron’s tax grab
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Dec 14, 2011
While times are hard and vast majority of us are feeling the squeeze, business is booming for oil multinationals. And it seems that companies will do anything to maximise their profits, even if tax payers bear the cost. Oil giant Chevron is demanding a $150 million tax refund from Richmond City Council, California. News from our...
Tax breaks ‘crucial’ for Arctic oil
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Oct 24, 2011
On Friday 14th October, Texas governor and US presidential candidate Rick Perry unveiled his ‘jobs and energy’ policy which “resembles a wish list for the oil and gas industry” according to the New York Times. The plan, available online, involves scaling down the “job-killing” Environmental Protection Agency and opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge...
The world’s biggest data leak
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Sep 3, 2011
On Friday 2 September, Wikileaks finally published the full batch of over 250,000 US diplomatic cables. The unredacted cables are now available online. The decision to dump the data in the open has landed Wikileaks in further controversy and drawn condemnation from its former media partners around the world, due to the possible risk of harm or...
Shell sponsors oil clean up competition
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Aug 10, 2011
I challenge anyone to find a more cynical example of corporate sponsorship than this one. (Thanks to @Adammaanit in Brighton and @MsVanessaMurray in Australia for bringing it to our attention). In the same week that Shell was condemned by the UN for its devastating oil spills in Ogoni, and admitted liability for 2 massive spills in Bodo village in the...
Donors warn US university over artist’s climate change work
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Jul 27, 2011
It’s 22nd July 2011, and another arts, fossil fuel sponsorship, censorship story breaks. There’s a furore over a newly commissioned public sculpture at the University of Wyoming. Wyoming is a US state which mines more coal than any other in the union. The piece, called Carbon Sink, What Goes Around Comes Around by British artist...
Wikileaks cables reveal BP cover-up in Azerbaijan
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Dec 23, 2010
New Wikileaks cables about another major offshore gas leak in the Caspian give a rare insight into how BP attempts to control the public narratives when it hits crisis and failure. Writing a book about the company’s Caucasus pipelines, we’ve been all over the region, digging for the truth behind these events. Now the sudden...
Wikileaks cable shines light on ENI corruption in Uganda; Heritage offered to pay bribes in Congo
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Dec 15, 2010
• SECRET US CABLE SHINES LIGHT ON ENI CORRUPTION IN UGANDA • HERITAGE OFFERED TO PAY BRIBES IN CONGO ‘’If Tullow’s allegations are true – and we believe they are …” US Embassy, Kampala, 17 December 2009 A secret United States diplomatic cable (below and here) published by Wikileaks last week has exposed the real politics...
Ballad of the Black Gold
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Jul 14, 2010
From the RSW blog: “New from Talib Kweli, this hard-hitting music video unpacks the story of of Nigeria’s oil curse, the Ogoni struggle and the complicit role of Western governments and companies. Warning: this video contains strong political lyrics.”
“Summer of Tears” in Louisiana’s Bayous
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May 25, 2010
Frontline waterkeepers from Louisiana’s bayous have begun to tell of the devastation caused by the Macondo rupture in the sea floor. Tracy Kuhns, is the Louisiana Bayoukeeper as well as running the Fishing Community Family Support Center. Her husband, Michael Roberts, is a fisherman and they live on Bayou Barataria where fishing is down for multiple reasons, one being...
Skytruth challenges BP attempts to downplay spill
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May 13, 2010
Tiny Skytruth have been challenging BP’s estimates on how much crude is spilling out of the Macondo well into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The organisation began analysing satellite & radar data soon after the Deepwater Horizon rig sank on April 22nd. BP initially claimed 1,000 barrels were spilling daily – after Skytruth pointed...
Who to blame for the Gulf of Mexico spill?
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May 10, 2010
As the leaking crude in the Gulf of Mexico chokes sperm whales, wipes out local fishing incomes and ruins tourist destinations, we’ll see continued debates over who is to blame. Obama is pointing at BP, insisting the company won’t be let off the hook. BP’s claiming that they weren’t really on the scene – Transocean...
Resistance to LNG across the Pacific Rim
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Apr 24, 2010
The Oregon (US) based community campaign against the LNG Palomar gas pipeline has been building solidarity connections and investigating impacts of LNG projects elsewhere in the world. In their own words, “In the Pacific Northwest, NW Natural Gas claims that the Palomar pipeline and Bradwood Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal will bring “clean” fuel to the United...
