Mayflower Oil Spill: Exxon Doesn't Want You to Know People Are Getting Very, Very Sick. The oil spill in Mayflower, Arkansas has left residents outside the evacuation zone complaining of illness. Exxon says the air is safe, but new documentation shows they lied and attempted to cover up the extent of the oil spill. We should trust residents who are suffering from spill-induced illness, not Exxon. "I could smell that horrible smell. I got really scared,"says Sherry Appleman , who awoke to a nightmare on March 29. As the Exxon Tar Sands oil flowed through their town, residents of Mayflower reported strong odors that lead to headaches and vomiting in areas that Exxon deemed safe and not in need of evacuation. Some of residents, like Scott Crowe, were deemed safe to remain in their homes where a mere 300 yards from the rupture site .
Ann Jarrell reports that she stayed at home with her daughter and a 3 month old grandchild despite the smells because they were told they didn't need to evacuate and were safe. Watch Mayflower residents discuss their situation below: Equateur : le congrès autorise l’exploitation de pétrole dans le parc de Yasuni. "BP Stands for Bad People": Film Brings Heartbreaking Stories From Residents of the Louisiana Bayou.
(Image: Cinema Libre Studio)"Dirty Energy is a powerful wake-up call, showcasing the dangers of offshore drilling, the lackadaisical response of the industry to potential environmental and health crises and the inevitable result of government pandering to corporate donors. " Dean Blanchard, owner of the largest shrimp business in Grand Isle, Louisiana, is hardly reticent when it comes to British Petroleum, the company whose Deepwater Horizon Oil rig exploded off the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010.
"BP stands for Bad People," he tells the producers of Dirty Energy: The Deepwater Horizon Disaster, First-Hand Stories From the Louisiana Bayou. Blanchard is one of the many outspoken Bayou residents who are interviewed in the film, all of them lamenting the losses they experienced in the aftermath of the largest environmental "accident" in US history. Margaret and Kevin Curole grew up shrimping and say that they wanted their kids to know how to live off the land. Dr. Self-injurious?
Total cède ses gazoducs à Snam, GIC et EDF. Le groupe pétrolier français Total a finalisé vendredi 5 avril un accord portant sur la vente de Transport Infrastructures Gaz France (TIGF), sa filiale de gazoducs, au consortium mis en place par les groupes français EDF, italien Snam et singapourien GIC. Total avait débuté en février les négociations avec ce consortium dont l’offre de 2,4 milliards d’euros avait surpassé le consortium rival, mené par la Caisse des dépôts. Toutefois, l’opération reste encore soumise au feu vert des autorités de la concurrence. « Nous sommes très heureux des échanges constructifs que nous avons eus avec les représentants du personnel et la direction de TIGF au cours du processus de consultation, et nous nous réjouissons de travailler avec Total et TIGF en vue de finaliser cette transaction » ont indiqué Carlo Malacarne et Thomas Piquemal, respectivement patron de Snam et directeur financier d’EDF.
Impact de la fracturation / ...of fracking. Positive Balance. Impact sur les Tremblements de terre / ...on Earthquakes. Pollutions pétrolières par pays / Oil & gaz pollution by country. US unveils Keystone pipeline environmental study. GlobalPost, March 1, 2013 US unveils Keystone pipeline environmental study Agence France-Presse The fate of the proposed pipeline, which many environmentalists fear could be damaging, is still awaiting approval from the State Department. "The analyses of potential impacts associated with construction and normal operation of the proposed project suggest that there would be no significant impacts to most resources along the proposed Project route," the report said.
But it said Keystone operator TransCanada would have to meet all the measures it has vowed to implement to mitigate any harm caused by the project. The new report will launch a 45-day period for public comments, after which a final decision will be taken. "It really has no recommendations one way or the other. "We want to make sure we serve the best interests of our country and so we are really taking a thorough look, and we are waiting for everyone to comment and to give us their feedback. " This article originally appeared here. The Arkansas oil leak: Proof the Keystone pipeline is dangerous. Un barrage de castor stoppe une fuite de pétrole. Willard Bay State Park Beaver Dam Partially Contained Chevron Oil Spill, Officials Say.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Talk about unlikely heroes. A group of at least six beavers at a Utah bird refuge have emerged as key players in helping contain a fuel leak that left half of them with severe burns. The Chevron fuel spill leaked about 27,000 gallons of crude oil into soil and marshes at Willard Bay State Park last week after a split in a Salt Lake City-to- Spokane, Wash. pipeline. The beavers' dam blocked a hefty portion of diesel from rolling onto the bay, though it's uncertain exactly how much, officials said. Three of the beavers were rescued earlier this week, and three more that were rescued Tuesday night are being cared for under a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah program. "That dam absolutely saved the bay," said Dalyn Erickson, a wildlife specialist running the program. The dam held fuel in place and kept it from going any further, she said.
One of the new beavers, a head-strong mother, is resisting the three-a-day cleanings with Dawn dish soap.
Promote transparency: End the secret payments in oil and mining industries. What’s wrong? Right now international oil companies are paying billions to governments, and no one can say where the money goes. In the Unites States, oil companies are suing the US government in a last-ditch effort to block a provision in a 2010 law that forces them to publicly disclose these payments. At the same time, some of the same companies go to international meetings to discuss more financial transparency, appearing to support progressive policies publicly while at the same time undermining the same transparency principles in court.
It’s time for big oil companies to stop the war on transparency: Citizens of the most impoverished, yet resource-rich countries have a right to know where their national wealth is going, and public information about payments from companies will help them track this money. Take action now: Tell Big Oil: drop your lawsuit against the SEC. Help defend a new global standard Right the wrong Where do your gas dollars go? Big Oil: What are you hiding? - Oxfam America - Take action. Oxfam calls on Exxon, Shell, BP and Chevron to withdraw support from oil industry lawsuit, 'get on transparency train' WASHINGTON, DC –International relief and development organization Oxfam America calls on the CEOs of Shell, Chevron, BP and Exxon today to withdraw support from a lawsuit filed by the American Petroleum Institute (API) aimed at overturning a sunshine law that would help stem corruption in resource-rich countries.
Known as Section 1504 or Cardin-Lugar provision of the Dodd-Frank Act, the law requires oil, gas and mining companies to disclose payments they make to countries where they do business. While fighting this law in the US courts, these four companies sit on the global board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) – a set of voluntary principles under which governments publicly disclose their revenues from oil, gas and mining projects, and companies make parallel disclosures regarding payments they make to host governments for oil and mineral extraction. “Transparency in the oil, gas and mining industry is now a global norm,” said Gary. Additional Resources: Gaz de schiste: les coûts 50 à 100% plus élevés au Royaume-Uni qu'aux Etats-Unis. Des policiers britanniques face à des manifestants contre le gaz de schiste, à Londres le 1er décembre 2012© AFP/Archives Justin Tallis Paris (AFP) – Les coûts d’exploitation du gaz de schiste au Royaume-Uni seront « 50 à 100% » plus élevés qu’aux Etats-Unis, en raison notamment d’une industrie du forage moins développée et du prix plus élevé des terrains, selon une étude présentée jeudi.
Le gaz de schiste y a « un potentiel significatif » mais son exploitation ne devrait pas entraîner une chute de la facture d’énergie britannique comme cela a été le cas outre-Atlantique, selon Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), branche de l’agence financière spécialisée dans les études énergétiques. Selon les estimations de BNEF, le coût de revient des gisements britanniques devrait être compris entre 7 et 12 dollars par million de BTU, l’unité de référence des marchés gaziers, ce qui est relativement proche des prix de marché européens actuels, d’environ 10-11 dollars. 409 milliards de subventions annuelles pour les énergies fossiles. Land Grab Cheats North Dakota Tribe Out of $1 Billion, Suits Allege.
(Photo: Paul Lowry)Click here to support courageous reporting and commentary by making a tax-deductible contribution to Truthout! Native Americans on an oil-rich North Dakota reservation have been cheated out of more than $1 billion by schemes to buy drilling rights for lowball prices, a flurry of recent lawsuits assert. And, the suits claim, the federal government facilitated the alleged swindle by failing in its legal obligation to ensure the tribes got a fair deal. This is a story as old as America itself, given a new twist by fracking and the boom that technology has sparked in North Dakota oil country. Since the late 1800s, the U.S. government has appropriated much of the original tribal lands associated with the Fort Berthold reservation in North Dakota for railroads and white homesteaders. A devastating blow was delivered when the Army Corps of Engineers dammed the Missouri River in 1953, flooding more than 150,000 acres at the heart of the remaining reservation.
"Mr. Groups seek probe into low-grade crude shipments to L.A. refineries. A coalition of environmental groups says it has discovered that large-scale shipments of low-quality heavy crude oil from Canada's tar sands are being delivered by rail for processing by Southern California refineries. The groups on Tuesday called for an investigation by air-quality officials to evaluate the effects on health, air quality, safety and the climate of processing the heavy Canadian crude, which requires intensive processing to remove higher levels of sulfur to meet U.S. standards. The Natural Resources Defense Council and Communities for a Better Environment say they worry that refineries now processing the semi-solid form of oil have increased their noxious emissions and raised risks of accidental spills and accidents.
The process of refining tar sands oil is more corrosive on refinery equipment and produces more greenhouse gases than liquid crude, environmentalists said. Oil company officials say they are operating within state and federal regulations.