#fossil fuel industry | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

contemplatingoutlander · 2 months

Text

Interesting proposal by Nate Loewentheil in a guest column in The New York Times. Not only was his proposal thought provoking, but two of the comments regarding it by readers were also worth contemplating. Below are some excerpts from the column, followed by the two comments.

Here is a proposal for the environmental movement: Pool philanthropic funds for a day, buy a small plot of land in Washington, D.C., and put up a tall marble wall to serve as a climate memorial. Carve on this memorial the names of public figures actively denying the existence of climate change. Carve the names so deep and large, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren need not search the archives. This is not a metaphor. The problem with climate change is the disconnect between action and impact. If politicians vote against construction standards and a school collapses, the next election will be their last. But with climate change, cause and effect are at a vast distance. We are already seeing the consequences of our past and present greenhouse gas emissions. In coming decades, those emissions will wreak their full havoc on the climate, and it will take hundreds, possibly thousands, of years for those pollutants to fully dissipate. But in the short term, the most immediate burdens are borne mostly by the poor in America and distant people in distant lands. Misaligned incentives are at the heart of why some political and business leaders deny and delay. [...] I would first nominate those who have sown confusion over climate science, like Myron Ebell, who recently retired as director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment, where he sought to block climate change efforts in Congress, and served as the head of Donald Trump’s transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Ebell has argued that the idea that climate change is “an existential threat or even crisis is preposterous.” Then there are lawmakers who have consistently stood in the way of federal action, like the recently retired senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the author of the book “The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.” [color emphasis added]

Below is the first thought provoking comment to this article:

There is, in Iceland, a memorial to a dead glacier - the Ok Glacier. It reads: "Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it." [color emphasis added] --Chris D., Colorado

Photo of the plaque at the at the Okjökull (OK Glacier) memorial.

Here is the second thought provoking comment to this article:

For reference this graph https://i.redd.it/ljifc828iui31.jpg is from the Exxon internal scientific report on climate change, 1982, produced by scientists working for that fossil fuel corporation. Look at what their graph predicted for 2020. Approaching 420 ppm CO2 and a rise of 1.2 C degrees above pre-industrial temperature - very close to what we actually got in 2020. Then look at what the graph shows for later this century, based on not reducing emissions. Very serious temperature rises, that could make agriculture very difficult in many countries. Yes, and then Exxon, having seen this, got involved in PR campaigns to "cast doubt" on climate science, to protect their assets. [color emphasis added] --Erik Frederiksen, Ashville, NC

1982 Exxon graph depicting average global temperature increases over time correlating with increases in atmospheric CO2. NOTE: Graph color was modified for greater clarity.

Fossil fuel companies like Exxon, and fossil fuel oligarchs like the Koch brothers should be included in any "Climate Wall of Shame."

#climate change #disinformation about climate change #climate change deniers #climate wall of shame #myron ebell #james inhofe #koch brothers #exxon #fossil fuel industry #ok glacier memorial #nate loewentheil #the new york times

69 notes · View notes

kp777 · 10 months

Text

By Jake Johnson

Common Dreams

June 28, 2023

Leading the effort is Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, an ally of the fossil fuel industry and recipient of Big Oil campaign cash.

Senate Republicans introduced legislation earlier this week that would prohibit President Joe Biden from declaring a national climate emergency as millions across the U.S. shelter indoors to escape scorching heat and toxic pollution from Canadian wildfires, which have been fueled by runaway warming.

Led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.)—a fossil fuel industry ally and the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee—the GOP bill would "prohibit the president from using the three primary statutory authorities available (the National Emergencies Act, the Stafford Act, and section 319 of the Public Health Service Act) to declare a national emergency solely on the basis of climate change," according to a summary released by the Republican senator's office.

Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), another friend of the oil and gas industry, is leading companion legislation in the House.

The updated version of the bill, first introduced last year, comes as Biden is facing mounting pressure from environmental groups to use all of the power at his disposal to fight the climate crisis as it intensifies extreme weather across the U.S. and around the world.

A climate emergency declaration would unlock sweeping executive powers that would allow the president to halt crude oil exports, block oil and gas drilling, expand renewable energy systems, and more.

"What will it take for Biden and the Dems to stop supporting the profits of fossil fuel executives and finally declare a climate emergency? How bad will all this need to get?"

While Biden reportedly considered declaring a climate emergency amid a devastating heatwave last year, he ultimately decided against it to the dismay of environmentalists.

But the impacts of Canada's record-shattering wildfires, which are likely to get worse in the coming weeks, have sparked another round of calls for Biden to follow in the footsteps of jurisdictions in more than 40 countries and declare climate change a national emergency.

"What will it take for Biden and the Dems to stop supporting the profits of fossil fuel executives and finally declare a climate emergency? How bad will all this need to get?" asked climate scientist Peter Kalmus. "These days ticking by are absolutely critical."

Pointing to the horrendous air quality that major U.S. cities are experiencing due to Canada's wildfires, the youth-led Sunrise Movement sent a simple message to Biden on Thursday: "Declare a climate emergency."

Capito's legislation is unlikely to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster in the narrowly Democratic U.S. Senate, but her attempt to bar the president from declaring a climate emergency has previously gained bipartisan support.

Last May, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Mark Kelley (D-Ariz.) joined Republicans in approving a nonbinding motion stating that the president "cannot use climate change as a basis for declaring an 'emergency' or 'national disaster.'"

#climate emergency declaration #joe biden #fossil fuel industry #republicans #shelley moore capito #climate crisis

97 notes · View notes

wewantclimateactionnow · 6 months

Text

A joyful and effective means of spreading your urgent message. Start up a Climate Choir in your community.

24 notes · View notes

dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year

Text

The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a new proposal Thursday to cut greenhouse gas emissions from thousands of power plants burning coal or natural gas, two of the top sources of electricity across the United States. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), criticizing the “radical” proposal, issued his own scorched earth ultimatum on Wednesday ahead of the announcement.

Manchin, chair of the Senate Energy Committee and the top recipient of contributions from the oil and gas industry during the 2022 election cycle, vowed Wednesday to oppose every one of President Joe Biden’s nominees for the EPA “until they halt their government overreach.”

“This Administration is determined to advance its radical climate agenda and has made it clear they are hellbent on doing everything in their power to regulate coal and gas-fueled power plants out of existence, no matter the cost to energy security and reliability,” Manchin wrote in a statement released Wednesday.

The EPA proposal would require most fossil fuel-fired power plants to slash their greenhouse emissions by 90% between 2023 and 2040. The EPA projects the emissions reduction would deliver up to $85 billion in climate and health benefits over the next two decades by heading off premature deaths, emergency room visits, asthma attacks, school absences and lost workdays.

“Alongside historic investment taking place across America in clean energy manufacturing and deployment, these proposals will help deliver tremendous benefits to the American people — cutting climate pollution and other harmful pollutants, protecting people’s health, and driving American innovation,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement issued Thursday.

By 2035, the Biden administration aims to shift all electricity in the U.S. to zero-emission sources including wind, solar, nuclear and hydropower, Roll Call reported. In a written statement, Manchin warned the administration’s “commitment to their extreme ideology overshadows their responsibility to ensure long-lasting energy and economic security.”

Manchin is up for reelection during the 2024 election cycle, but he has not yet announced whether he will run.

Last month, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) announced his campaign for Manchin’s seat. The Democrat-turned-Republican is among the most popular governors in the country and leads a state former President Donald Trump won by nearly 40 percentage points in 2020.

Manchin has hammered the Biden administration in recent weeks for its implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, the president’s signature climate change bill that the Democratic senator was instrumental in shaping.

“Neither the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law nor the IRA gave new authority to regulate power plant emission standards. However, I fear that this Administration’s commitment to their extreme ideology overshadows their responsibility to ensure long-lasting energy and economic security and I will oppose all EPA nominees until they halt their government overreach,” Manchin said in his Wednesday statement.

What Manchin did not disclose in his statement, however, is that the EPA proposal would jeopardize one West Virginia coal facility that’s particularly lucrative for Manchin’s family business, Enersystems Inc., POLITICO reported. Enersystems delivers waste coal to the Grant Town power plant, which was reportedly already struggling financially, troubles that are expected to deepen with the strict new climate proposal.

Manchin personally received $537,000 from Enersystems last year, according to POLITICO’s analysis of personal financial disclosures filed with the U.S. Senate, and he has been paid more than $5 million by the company since he was first elected in 2010. His son, Joe Manchin IV, now runs Enersystems. The Senator’s campaign has also benefited from political contributions from Enersystems, OpenSecrets reported last year.

“This is going to make it harder for them to stay around. You won’t find written anywhere in the rule that this is supposed to be putting coal plants out of business, but just do the math,” Brian Murray, director of the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke University, told POLITICO.

In 2020, Manchin’s home state of West Virginia generated about 90% of its power from coal, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. By contrast, less than 20% of the energy generated nationally comes from coal. Many states, including neighboring Virginia, are phasing out coal by replacing it with natural gas.

While the U.S. may show signs of moving away from coal, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission told the Senate Energy Committee earlier this month that the country was not prepared to abandon coal and maintain a reliable energy system.

“Coal is more dependable than gas and yes, we need to keep coal generation available for the foreseeable future,” said Commissioner Mark Christie.

Manchin took another swipe at the EPA on Thursday during an energy committee hearing on permitting reform, when he accused the agency of preventing the development of carbon capture technology by denying companies the permits they need to trap captured carbon underground.

“Don’t tell me that you’re going to invest in carbon capture sequestration when we can’t get a permit to basically sequester the carbon captured,” Manchin said. “This is the game that’s being played. I know it, they know I know it, and we’re not gonna let them get away with it.”

56 notes · View notes

smarmy-yet-satisfying · 8 months

Text

Assassinating fossil fuel executives is a form of self defense

#climate change #capitalism #eat the rich #climate crisis #joe biden #wealth inequality #late stage capitalism #us politics #climate emergency #fossil fuels #oil industry #fossil fuel industry #climate news #climate science #climate justice #climate solutions #climate activism

14 notes · View notes

someone---who---cares · 26 days

Text

#United States #big oil #fossil fuel #fossil fuel industry #global warming #climate change #climate collapse #capitalism #eat the rich #Ben See #@ClimateBen

4 notes · View notes

aunti-christ-ine · 5 months

Text

Justice Samuel Alito’s wife leased land to an oil and gas firm as her husband heard cases involving the fossil fuel industry.

In May, Alito penned the majority decision for Sackett v. EPA, a decision which drastically scaled back the Clean Water Act.

#supreme court #corruption #samuel alito #scotus #fossil fuel industry

7 notes · View notes

sataniccapitalist · 5 months

Text

youtube

They are making profits by killing people - it is as simple as that!

“They’re making profits by killing people, it’s as simple as as that!” Professor Saleemul Huq, speaking about fossil fuel companies at COP23. https://genn.cc/dr-saleemul-huq-cop23/

#thewaronyou

#capitalism #cop23 #fossil fuel industry #you

7 notes · View notes

prepareforclimatecrisis · 1 year

Text

“We need to build things that will last 50-100 years that will be resilient to these climate changes.”

"Met Éireann has also presented its latest data in relation to driving rain. Wind-driven rain against a wall may be partially absorbed or penetrate through cracks in the wall, therefore increasing the risk of damage to the building fabric. It is particularly prevalent in homes built in the west of Ireland.

“The current building standards use driving rain in their calculations of what blocks to use and in what construction methods to use in different parts of the country, but that data is 20 years old give or take,” he said."

#jail climate criminals #we want climate action now #climate change #cambio climático #climate crisis #prepare for climate change #greenwashing #big oil #fossil fuel industry #plastic #climate washing #floods #climate activism #calentamiento global #medio ambiente #IPPC #prepare for climate change #climate hope #sea level rise #late stage capitalism #victims of capitalism #klimakatastrophe #klimawandel #changement climatique #qihou bianhua #izmeneniye klimata #cambiamento climatico #気候変動 #जलवायु परिवर्तन #jalavaayu parivartan #das Alterações Climáticas

29 notes · View notes

nando161mando · 3 months

Text

"'Smoking gun proof': fossil fuel industry knew of climate danger as early as 1954"

"There is overwhelming evidence the oil and gas industry has been misleading the public and regulators around the climate risks of their product for 70 years. Trusting them to be part of the solutions is foolhardy."

6 notes · View notes

rjzimmerman · 18 days

Text

Excerpt from this story from the New York Times:

The Biden administration on Friday made it more expensive for fossil fuel companies to pull oil, gas and coal from public lands, raising royalty rates for the first time in 100 years in a bid to end bargain basement fees enjoyed by one of the country’s most profitable industries.

The government also increased more than tenfold the cost of the bonds that companies must secure before they start drilling.

The new rules are among a series of environmental regulations that are being pushed out as President Biden, in the last year of his term in the White House, seeks to cement policies designed to protect public lands, lower fossil fuel emissions and expand renewable energy.

While the oil and gas industry is strongly opposed to higher rates, the increase is not expected to significantly discourage drilling. The federal rate had been much lower than what many states and private landowners charge for drilling leases on state or private property.

#fossil fuel industry #mining #oil and gas wells #public lands

3 notes · View notes

gwydionmisha · 5 months

Text

#Fossil Fuel Industry #Anti-Protest Bills #1St Amendment #Capitalism #News

2 notes · View notes

kp777 · 10 months

Text

By Oliver Milman

The Guardian

July 5, 2023

Allstate, too, has pulled out of climate disaster-prone areas while hiring lobbyists who are also aligned to fossil fuel interests

The largest home insurer in the US, State Farm, which is halting new homeowner policies in California due to the “rapidly growing catastrophe exposure” posed by wildfires, has hired lobbyists who also work to advance fossil fuel industry interests across 18 states, a new database shows.

While State Farm in May refused to take new home insurance applications in California, it retains a lobbying firm in the state – the Sacramento-based KP Public Affairs – which also represents Tenaska, a gas developer. Across the US, State Farm shares lobbyists with a raft of oil and gas companies, including ExxonMobil, Calpine and Occidental Energy.

Allstate, another insurer that followed State Farm in pulling out from new policies in California due to the state’s worsening wildfire risk, has also contracted lobbyists who have fossil fuel clients, such as Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Kinder Morgan.

State Farm and Allstate are just two of more than 150 insurance companies and associations – part of an industry facing steepening losses from fires, floods and other disasters spurred by the climate crisis – that use state-based lobbyists also aligned to fossil fuel interests, according to F Minus, a new database of public disclosure records.

James Browning, executive director of F Minus, said that State Farm’s linkage to fossil fuels stretches to Florida, where its lobbying firm Dean Mead also represents the Williams Companies, a gas pipeline operator in the state. “This allegiance with gas interests clearly pits State Farm against the interests of its customers as they face increasingly severe hurricanes, floods, and soaring insurance costs,” said Browning.

The lobbying overlap between insurers like State Farm and the fossil fuel companies stoking the climate crisis is “problematic and potentially counterproductive”, according to Tom Corringham, a research economist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

Insurers and fossil fuel companies could be working at cross-purposes around issues such as climate risk disclosures, he said, which the insurance industry requires to accurately price risk for homes facing a rising threat of flooding or fire.