Charleston, SC Becomes First City in U.S. South to Sue Big Oil for Climate Costs
11 September
Climate
The number of flood days in Charleston, South Carolina has risen from around four to around 89 in the last 50 years. Diane Cook and Len Jenshel / The Image Bank / Getty Images Plus
The city of Charleston, South Carolina made history Wednesday when it became the first in the U.S. South to sue the fossil fuel industry for damages caused by the climate crisis.
<p>The city sued 24 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil" target="_self">oil</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="_self">pipeline</a> companies, including major players like <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/exxonmobil" target="_self">ExxonMobil</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chevron" target="_self">Chevron</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bp" target="_self">BP</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/royal-dutch-shell" target="_self">Royal Dutch Shell</a>, <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/news/charleston-sues-big-oil-for-flooding-in-sc-lowcountry-caused-by-global-warming/article_a97f761c-f297-11ea-b9b6-07c93643bc83.html#:~:text=The%20city%20of%20Charleston%20filed,disastrous%20flooding%20in%20the%20city" target="_blank">The Post and Courier reported</a>. The lawsuit contends that the companies knew that their products were heating the global climate but denied the fact in public. It further seeks to charge them for the costs of protecting Charleston from increased <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/flooding" target="_self">flooding</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" target="_self">extreme weather</a> events.</p><p>"As this lawsuit shows, these companies have known for more than 50 years that their products were going to cause the worst flooding the world has seen since Noah built the Ark," Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg said during a press conference announcing the suit, as <a href="https://www.live5news.com/2020/09/09/charleston-mayor-holding-news-conference-wednesday-afternoon/" target="_blank">Live 5 News reported</a>. "And instead of warning us, they covered up the truth and turned our flooding problems into their profits. That was wrong, and this lawsuit is all about holding them accountable for that multi-decade campaign of deception."</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="30f8c9a63724b0972d3d8af2ea247346"><div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=360821064951694" data-allowfullscreen="true"></div></div>
<p>Charleston, a low-lying city built on a peninsula between three rivers, is especially vulnerable to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-level-rise" target="_self">sea level rise</a>, according to <a href="https://apnews.com/fdd1235388b266ded96e4547524a3510" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a>. In the last 50 years, the city has gone from seeing around four flood days a year to almost 89, the suit contends. In addition, the city will feel the impacts of extreme weather events like <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/heat-waves" target="_self">heat waves</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes" target="_self">hurricanes</a>. The suit was filed days before the third anniversary of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/hurricane-irma-flooding-records-2484349881.html" target="_self">Hurricane Irma</a>, which inundated Charleston with a nearly 10-foot storm surge, the third highest in the city's history.</p><p>Tecklenburg made his announcement in front of The Battery, where construction crews were working to lengthen an existing sea wall, The Post and Courier reported. The sea wall extension is the city's first project to adapt to rising sea levels. Others include building more than 8,000 feet of new flood drainage tunnels and installing check valves to prevent tidal water from entering the city's storm drain system, according to Live 5 News.</p>
<p>The city expects sea levels to rise two to three feet in the next 50 years and it predicts that adapting to these changes will cost $2 billion, according to The Post and Courier. However, the lawsuit is not asking for a particular amount from the companies, instead hoping a jury will decide what is fair.</p><p>Many of the companies named in the suit did not reply to requests for comments. Those that did said that lawsuits were not the right way to address the climate crisis.</p><p>"Legal proceedings like this waste millions of dollars of taxpayer money and do nothing to advance meaningful actions that reduce the risks of climate change," ExxonMobil spokesperson Casey Norton told The Associated Press.</p><p>Charleston is now the 21st U.S. community to disagree and file a lawsuit against big oil.</p><p>"With today's filing, Big Oil is facing climate lawsuits on both coasts, in the Northeast, the Midwest, the South, the Rocky Mountains, and even Hawaii," Center for Climate Integrity Executive Director Richard Wiles told The Post and Courier by email. "The public is ready to hold this corrupt industry accountable for causing and lying about climate change, and officials across the country are stepping up to take action."</p><p>Charleston's suit comes about a week after a similar lawsuit was <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/big-oil-hoboken-lawsuit-2647462366.html" target="_self">filed by the city of Hoboken, New Jersey</a>.</p><p>It was also followed one day later by another climate liability lawsuit from the state of Delaware Thursday.</p>
<div id="00ba7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3f5e3d8ac183e5a9a93d3b8aa254e743"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1304084807564111872" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🚨BREAKING: It's gonna be one of those weeks. Delaware is the latest state to announce another climate lawsuit again… https://t.co/0ljwUNZLqS</div> — Jennifer Hijazi (@Jennifer Hijazi)<a href="https://twitter.com/JenHijaz/statuses/1304084807564111872">1599753021.0</a></blockquote></div>
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The corner of Jefferson and 7th in Hoboken, N.J., is flooded on Oct. 30, 2012 following Superstorm Sandy. Alec Perkins / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 2.0
By Kenny Stancil
The city of Hoboken on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against multiple Big Oil players—including ExxonMobil, incorporated in New Jersey—joining an increasing number of state and local governments using litigation in efforts to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for defrauding the public about foreseen climate crisis damages and to make companies "pay their fair share" of the costs of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to a warming planet.
<p>The <a href="https://payupclimatepolluters.org/uploads/media/Hoboken-v-Exxon-et-al_Complaint_9-2-20.pdf" target="_blank">lawsuit</a> argues that the defendants—ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips, and the American Petroleum Institute—knew that "their production, marketing, and sale of fossil fuels would cause global climate change," but they engaged in a massive "disinformation campaign" to protect their profits, which would diminish in conjunction with decreased fossil fuel use.</p><p>Big Oil began redesigning its own assets to adapt to rising sea levels at the same time it was "telling the world that climate change was a hoax," the lawsuit states. </p><p>According to the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI), Hoboken is the 20th community to take fossil fuel giants to <a href="https://payupclimatepolluters.org/cases/" target="_blank">court</a> to "recover billions of dollars in damages caused by the oil and gas industry's deception about climate change."</p><p>Richard Wiles, executive director of CCI, said in a statement that "with climate costs surging everywhere and local budgets depleted, more and more communities are turning to the courts as their only recourse to make polluters pay for their fair share of the wreckage they knew their products would cause."</p>
<p>Wiles continued:</p><blockquote>Exxon and their co-conspirators can't run from this growing wave of climate lawsuits. Thanks to Hoboken, for the first time, Exxon will have to defend its shameful record of climate damages, disinformation, and denial on its home turf. It takes guts to sue the most ruthless, deceitful, and unapologetic climate polluters on the planet. Hoboken's elected leaders should be applauded. <br></blockquote><p><a href="https://patch.com/new-jersey/hoboken/hoboken-files-lawsuit-against-oil-companies-over-climate-change" target="_blank">According to</a> local reporters, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla's announcement of the legal action came one month after "the low-lying city suffered two flooding events that theoretically should have occurred once in 50 years." </p><p>In addition, residents remember the devastating <a href="https://www.nj.com/news/2020/09/nj-city-makes-history-is-1st-to-sue-oil-giants-for-climate-change-damages.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">impact</a> that Superstorm Sandy had in 2012, when a 14-foot storm surge overwhelmed outdated sewer systems to cause over $100 million in damage in the city. </p><p>At Wednesday morning's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Hoboken" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">press conference</a>, Bhalla described his intentions to get Hoboken off the list of coastal communities at risk of becoming inundated within the next five decades. </p>
<p>The mayor <a href="https://www.hobokennj.gov/news/hoboken-sues-exxon-mobil-american-petroleum-institute-big-oil-companies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a>:</p><blockquote>At the same time we've invested hundreds of millions of dollars adapting to the realities of climate change, Big Oil companies have engaged in a decades long campaign of misinformation that has contributed to global warming which has disproportionately impacted our residents. We cannot stand idly by and allow Big Oil to continue profiting at the expense of Hoboken residents. It's time these companies pay their fair share and be held accountable for their actions.<br></blockquote><p>Over the past decade and in response to rising sea levels, Hoboken has invested $140 million in climate change adaptation, including several projects that are part of its Rebuild by Design comprehensive water management strategy, according to a <a href="https://www.hobokennj.gov/news/hoboken-sues-exxon-mobil-american-petroleum-institute-big-oil-companies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">statement</a> from the city.</p><p>Hoboken's lawsuit aims to "recover funds to pay for the costs that the city is undertaking, and will undertake as a result of the substantial impacts of climate change, which has been exacerbated by Big Oil."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/02/city-hoboken-files-climate-suit-against-exxon-most-ruthless-deceitful-and" target="_blank">Common Dreams.</a></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Climate change protesters disrupt Joe Biden during a campaign event on Oct. 9, 2019 in Manchester, New Hampshire. Scott Eisen / Getty Images
By Jake Johnson
A diverse coalition of nearly 150 progressive advocacy groups is demanding that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden ban fossil fuel executives and lobbyists from his 2020 campaign and commit to barring them from his administration if elected in November, warning that a cabinet stocked with Big Oil representatives would render empty the former vice president's vows to confront the climate crisis with ambition and urgency.
<p>In a <a href="http://oilchangeusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Letter-to-VP-Biden-%E2%80%94-No-Fossil-Fuel-Representatives.pdf" target="_blank">letter</a> Tuesday morning, 145 organizations representing a wide array of progressive interests called on Biden to "ban all fossil fuel executives, lobbyists, and representatives from any advisory or official position on your campaign, transition team, cabinet, and administration," arguing there are countless qualified experts and advocates who have not attempted to benefit financially from polluting and extractive industries.</p><p>"People who left government to serve on a fossil fuel industry board, enrich themselves as oil and gas advisors, receive funding from fossil fuel companies to espouse 'reasonable' climate positions, or work with industry front groups should have no role in a Biden administration or campaign," the groups wrote. "Neither should fossil fuel backers on Wall Street, who have attempted to profit off pollution."</p>
<p>The letter's signatories — which include Oil Change U.S., Greenpeace, Justice Democrats, Sunrise Movement, People's Action, and Public Citizen — raised alarm at a Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/climate-hawks-urge-biden-to-shun-obama-era-energy-moderates" target="_blank">report</a> earlier this month indicating that industry-tied individuals like Jason Bordoff, a member of the <a href="https://www.npc.org/members/byNamcon.html" target="_blank">National Petroleum Council</a>, are advising the Biden campaign in an informal capacity.</p><p>"Joe Biden can't address the climate crisis while listening to people taking checks from the fossil fuel industry like Ernest Moniz, Jason Bordoff, Ken Salazar, and Heather Zichal," Collin Rees, senior campaigner at Oil Change U.S., said in a statement. "Biden must act boldly in collaboration with grassroots leaders fighting for environmental and climate justice — which means ruling out positions for dangerous 'all-of-the-above' boosters whose time has passed."</p>
<p>The letter points to <a href="https://filesforprogress.org/datasets/2020/9/dfp_ff_executives_polling.pdf" target="_blank">polling</a> from progressive policy shops Data for Progress and Fossil Free Media showing that 61% of Democratic voters oppose "fossil fuel industry lobbyists or representatives working in the White House and other government agencies." Voters overall oppose fossil fuel industry representatives serving in the federal government by a 22-point margin, the survey found.</p><p>"Banning fossil fuel representatives isn't just good policy — it's good politics," the groups wrote. "Ruling out positions for fossil fuel executives, lobbyists, and representatives is a critical way to show your commitment to a future that prioritizes people, not polluters."</p><p>The groups' call comes hours after Biden, speaking in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Monday, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/08/31/despite-poll-showing-aggressive-climate-action-winning-issue-biden-boasts-i-am-not" target="_blank">told</a> supporters that contrary to President Donald Trump's claims, he has no plan to ban fracking even as he pushes for <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/14/more-work-do-major-step-forward-progressives-welcome-bidens-2-trillion-green-energy" target="_blank">large investments</a> in clean energy and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/20/901380014/fact-check-bidens-address-to-the-dnc-annotated" target="_blank">promises</a> to treat the climate crisis like the "existential threat" that it is.</p>
<p>Tamara Toles O'Laughlin of 350 Action said Biden's approach to the climate emergency will be judged not by soaring rhetoric and promises but by his actions during the presidential campaign and, if elected, while in office.</p><p>"Thanks to the environment and climate movement's decades of tireless work to make decision-makers act boldly, the Biden-Harris campaign has adopted the strongest climate platform of any presidential ticket in history," said O'Laughlin. "However, real progress will be measured by relationship to communities most impacted and investments in the same."</p><p>"Fossil fuel representatives have no place at the table except to hand over their dirty profits to rebuild what they have broken," O'Laughlin continued. "Any accommodation to fossil fuel executives will undermine the promise of our shared work and throw away our chances of a livable future in the climate decade."</p>
<p>Read the full letter:</p><blockquote><em>Dear Vice President Biden,</em><br><em>Congratulations on your nomination as the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. As you have said, this is a historic time for our nation. Over 180,000 Americans have lost their lives to theCOVID-19 pandemic that continues to ravage the nation. Millions are rising up to demand racial justice and an end to white supremacy. Donald Trump has put our democracy on the line with his attacks on our right to vote and threats to contest the election. Meanwhile, the climate emergency is ravaging our country, as supercharged wildfires burn across western states, climate-intensified floods and derechos slam the Midwest, and sea level rise threatens our coasts.<br></em><br><em>We want to thank you for your bold plans to combat the climate crisis and create millions of good-paying, union jobs in a clean energy economy. We applaud the ways in which you have put environmental justice at the heart of your plans, making sure that the communities of color who are on the frontlines of this crisis are at the forefront of its solutions. Implementing your plans would be a major step toward putting this country back on track to meet our global commitments under the Paris Agreement while centering the communities most harmed by environmental injustice.<br></em><br><em>Your leadership on climate and environmental justice is why we urge you to ban all fossil fuel executives, lobbyists, and representatives from any advisory or official position on your campaign, transition team, cabinet, and administration.<br></em><br><em>For decades, oil, gas, and coal executives have lied to the American people about the threat of climate change and lobbied against government action, all while attempting to present themselves as part of the solution. During this election, the American Petroleum Institute is spending <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-gas-climatechange-insight/in-the-run-up-to-u-s-election-drilling-lobby-promotes-natural-gas-as-clean-idUSKCN25E1DB" target="_blank">upwards of $24,000 per day</a> to mislead voters into thinking that fossil gas is "clean" energy, even though methane emissions associated with gas can make it worse than coal. Meanwhile, fossil fuel corporations have continued to expand their operations, destroy our environment, and pollute communities—especially communities of color—across this nation and around the world.<br></em><br><em>The Trump Administration has fully embraced these fossil fuel interests. Former oil and gas lobbyists now run the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior. At their behest, the Trump administration has instigated <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks.html" target="_blank">100 environmental rollbacks</a>, putting our health and safety at risk. During the coronavirus pandemic, the administration has continued to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/21/white-house-coronavirus-regulations/" target="_blank">slash environmental protections</a> and give <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-15/-stealth-bailout-shovels-millions-of-dollars-to-oil-companies" target="_blank">billions of dollars</a> in bailouts to fossil fuels.<br></em><br><em>These abuses have real costs in the communities that you have pledged to serve. <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2020-04-21/nearly-half-of-americans-breathe-polluted-air" target="_blank">Nearly half of Americans</a> now breathe polluted air, the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5800116/#B17-ijerph-15-00016" target="_blank">vast majority</a> of which comes from burning fossil fuels, according to research by the American Lung Association. According to a 2016 NAACP report, <a href="https://www.naacp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Coal_Blooded_Action_Toolkit_FINAL_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">71% of African Americans</a> live in counties in violation of air pollution standards. Indigenous people have seen their rights trampled to build dangerous new pipelines like Dakota Access and Keystone XL. Latina women in Texas who live near gas flaring are seeing a <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Risk-of-premature-births-50-higher-for-mothers-15408663.php" target="_blank">50% increase</a> in premature births.<br></em><br><em>To advance environmental justice, you must stand up to fossil fuel CEOs, stop the expansion of oil, gas, and coal production, and rapidly transition us away from fossil fuels. A Biden administration free of fossil fuel interests would signal your commitment to restoring a government by and for the American people.</em><br><em>Banning fossil fuel representatives isn't just good policy—it's good politics. According to a new <a href="https://filesforprogress.org/datasets/2020/9/dfp_ff_executives_polling.pdf" target="_blank">Data for Progress poll</a>, American voters oppose fossil fuel industry lobbyists or representatives working in the executive branch by a 22-point margin. Sixty-one (61) percent of Democrats oppose fossil fuel industry representatives working in the administration, while only 22 percent are open to the idea. Ruling out positions for fossil fuel executives, lobbyists, and representatives is a critical way to show your commitment to a future that prioritizes people, not polluters.<br></em><br><em>This critical need to advance climate and environmental justice is why we are concerned by initial <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-05/climate-hawks-urge-biden-to-shun-obama-era-energy-moderates" target="_blank">reports</a> that people with ties to fossil fuel interests have been advising your campaign and may be angling for roles in your administration. People who left government to serve on a fossil fuel industry board, enrich themselves as oil and gas advisors, receive funding from fossil fuel companies to espouse "reasonable" climate positions, or work with industry front groups should have no role in a Biden administration or campaign. Neither should fossil fuel backers on Wall Street, who have attempted to profit off pollution.</em><br><em>We appreciate your team's recent reiteration of your commitment to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies as part of your comprehensive approach to climate action and environmental justice. A commitment from you to ban all fossil fuel executives, lobbyists, and representatives from your administration would go far to assuage any lingering concerns about your climate commitments that may have been raised when the <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/democratic-national-committee-climate_n_5f3c2907c5b6d8a9173f0268" target="_blank">DNC dropped support</a> for ending fossil fuel subsidies from the 2020 Platform.<br></em><br><em>Many thousands of talented experts, advocates, and community leaders who do not represent coal, oil, and gas companies would gladly serve in your administration and help move our country forward into the clean energy future. They've shown the expertise, principles, and dedication that should be a requirement for any administration role. We urge you to choose them over the fossil fuel CEOs, lobbyists, and representatives who are profiting from climate destruction.<br></em><br><em>We thank you for making combating the climate crisis a top priority for your campaign. We look forward to working alongside you to build back better, create a new, clean energy economy that creates millions of good-paying, union jobs, and address the crises of climate change, Covid-19, mass unemployment, and the environmental injustice and racism that have plagued our nation for too long. Millions of us are ready to get to work: There's no need to slow us down with people tied to fossil fuel interests.</em></blockquote>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/01/isnt-just-good-policy-its-good-politics-145-groups-demand-biden-ban-fossil-fuel" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a></em><em>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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A British Petroleum petrol station on March 10, 2017, in Ciudad Satelite, Naucalpan de Juarez municipality, Mexico State. The company will reportedly start to offer electric vehicle recharging stations at its retail gasoline stations. RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP via Getty Images
BP, the energy giant that grew from oil and gas production, is taking its business in a new direction, announcing Tuesday that it will slash its oil and gas production by 40 percent and increase its annual investment in low-carbon technology to $5 billion, a ten-fold increase over its current level, according to CNN.
<p>Despite losing $16.8 billion in the second quarter of 2020, the ambitious plan to become a leading purveyor of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/" target="_self">clean energy</a> sent the company's share price soaring 7 percent Tuesday, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/business/energy-environment/bp-renewable-investment.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>"This coming decade is critical for the world in the fight against climate change, and to drive the necessary change in global energy systems will require action from everyone," BP said in a statement, as CNN reported.</p><p>As part of its plan, the company will stop its oil and gas exploration in new countries and reduce its current production and carbon emissions by one-third, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/08/04/bp-built-its-business-oil-gas-now-climate-change-is-taking-it-apart/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p>
<p>In a discussion with analysts on Tuesday, BP's Chief Executive Bernard Looney set his company apart from its European counterparts, which have made vague commitments to address the climate crisis. Looney's pledge to invest around $5 billion a year in renewable energy like wind, solar and hydrogen, a clean-burning gas, made it the first oil and gas giant to specify its investment goal, according to The New York Times.</p><p>"This makes the BP the first supermajor to spell out, in detail, what the energy transition will actually entail, in practical terms," said Pavel Molchanov, senior energy analyst for the investment firm Raymond James, to The Washington Post.</p>
<p>"BP today introduces a new strategy that will reshape its business as it pivots from being an international oil company focused on producing resources to an integrated energy company focused on delivering solutions for customers," the company said, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bp-outlook/bp-to-cut-fossil-fuels-output-by-40-by-2030-idUSKCN2500NH" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>The company expects demand for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a> to fall by 75 percent by 2050, if the increase in global temperatures is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or by 50 percent if warming is less than 2 degrees, BP head of strategy Giulia Chierchia told investors, as CNN reported.</p><p>BP said its will cut its oil and gas production by at least one million barrels a day by 2030, a 40 percent reduction from 2019 levels, as CNN reported.</p><p>While the company will dramatically expand its portfolio of clean energy technologies, the next five years will see BP continue to invest most of its money in oil and gas production, according to CNN.</p>
<p>"We believe our new strategy provides a comprehensive and coherent approach to turn our net zero ambition into action," Looney said in a statement Tuesday, as The Washington Post reported.</p><p>The investment in low-carbon initiatives is set to jump to more than $3 billion by 2025 and $5 billion by 2030, "en route to 50 gigawatts of renewable generation capacity by 2030 alongside scale-up of other clean tech businesses," Molchanov said, as The Washington Post reported.</p><p>The company sees a profitable future in providing clean energy to cities. According to The Washington Post, BP plans to advise cities on "power packages" with renewables, back-up batteries and financing. It also will also start to offer <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/electric-vehicles">electric vehicle</a> recharging stations at its retail gasoline stations.</p><p>Oswald Clint, an analyst at Bernstein, a market research firm, told The New York Times that BP's plans were "peer-leading" and that its potential to smoothly manage large projects in the renewables area was "underappreciated."</p><p>Environmental activists were lukewarm about the plans. Greenpeace UK described the announcement as a "necessary and encouraging start," but said BP must go further. "BP has woken up [to] the immediate need to cut carbon emissions this decade," senior climate campaigner Mel Evans said in a statement, as CNN reported.</p>
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U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) and U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in Washington, DC in June 2019. Michael Brochstein / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
By Eoin Higgins
Progressive Democrats led by Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday introduced a bill to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and other industry giveaways, calling taxpayer support of the climate-killing business — a counterproductive and dangerous use of federal funds as the climate crisis worsens and Americans suffer through an economic downturn sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.
<p>"It's past time we end the billions of taxpayer subsidies to fossil-fuel companies," <a href="https://omar.house.gov/media/press-releases/omar-sanders-merkley-markey-barrag-n-introduce-bill-end-corporate-handouts" target="_blank">said</a> Omar, a Minnesota Democrat. "Our focus right now needs to be on getting the American people through this difficult, unprecedented time, not providing giveaways to polluters."</p>
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<div id="6d862" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b0fde7f0ac38139045994304ecafe6b3"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1286711571457150977" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Fossil fuels are destroying our planet — yet the federal government gives oil, gas and coal companies nearly $15 BI… https://t.co/MoRpsw9U3h</div> — Friends of the Earth (@Friends of the Earth)<a href="https://twitter.com/foe_us/statuses/1286711571457150977">1595610919.0</a></blockquote></div><p>The bill would close tax loopholes, end taxpayer-funded subsidies, and bar the use of federal lands for resource extraction and federal funding for fossil fuel research. </p><p>"It is ridiculous that the federal government continues to hand out massive giveaways to antiquated fossil fuel industries that are not only financially risky, but are also destroying our planet," said Merkley.</p><p>President Donald Trump's administration has prioritized giveaways to the fossil fuel industry throughout his presidency, including as the pandemic wreaks havoc on the country.</p><p>The legislation is co-sponsored in the House by Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Jesús "Chuy" Garcia (D-Ill.), Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.).</p>
<div id="cf9c2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ad8aa79d78cc9d0b3b60fbbcdb441330"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1286675641501470727" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">It’s past time we end the billions of taxpayer subsidies to fossil-fuel companies.
Today, @SenSanders,… https://t.co/kdafv03WE4</div> — Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Rep. Ilhan Omar)<a href="https://twitter.com/Ilhan/statuses/1286675641501470727">1595602352.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"Taxpayers provide $15 billion in direct federal subsidies to the fossil fuel industry every year," she added. "That ends with this bill."</p><p>Omar and Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, were joined in leading the <a href="https://omar.house.gov/sites/omar.house.gov/files/Bill%20Text%20-%20EPWA.pdf" target="_blank">End Polluter Welfare Act</a> by Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) as well as Rep. Nanette Barragan (D-Calif.). </p><p>"At a time when we are dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and an economic decline, it is absurd to provide billions of taxpayer subsidies that pad fossil-fuel companies' already-enormous profits," said Sanders.</p><p>"We need more safe, healthy, good paying jobs," he added, "not more corporate polluter giveaways."</p>
<div id="3c3af" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d3fe9d6f402f7af1ac4ba245f81b30aa"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1286680600456421376" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The legislation aims to cut off oil, gas and coal companies reaping billions from federal COVID-19 relief and annua… https://t.co/tvHL0Trx2w</div> — Climate Desk (@Climate Desk)<a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateDesk/statuses/1286680600456421376">1595603535.0</a></blockquote></div><p>According to a press release from Omar's office, the bill:</p><blockquote>would also guarantee the continued solvency of the Black Lung Disability Fund to ensure continued medical care for tens of thousands of working-class Americans who worked hard for decades to provide energy for the nation. Fossil fuel drilling and transportation also disproportionately impact indigenous communities and communities of color, who have long opposed extraction on their land.<br></blockquote><p>Activists and climate advocates like Greenpeace USA climate campaigner Charlie Jiang <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/07/24/greenpeace-usa-applauds-omar-sanders-end-polluter-welfare-act" target="_blank">welcomed</a> the legislation. </p><p>"It is outrageous that the federal government has exploited a pandemic to throw even more public money at the industry that created and profited from the climate crisis," said Jiang. "A bill to end giveaways for the fossil fuel industry—which is saddled with debt and recklessly polluting Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities—is long overdue. It's time to shift our investments to protect people on the frontlines of the climate crisis and support fossil fuel workers in the transition to a world beyond fossil fuels."</p><p>While the bill faces an uphill battle, it was nonetheless seen as a good sign by Earth Island Institute's International Marine Mammal Project, executive director Mark Palmer said in a statement.</p><p>"The fossil fuels industry must change to avoid the worst effects of global warming, which is already upon us," Palmer said. "This legislation is a giant step towards reining in the pollution from oil and gas development, and we wholeheartedly endorse it."</p><p>As the country reels from the coronavirus pandemic, said Oil Change International senior campaigner Collin Rees, the bill represents an important readjustment of priorities.</p><p>"The End Polluter Welfare Act is critically needed legislation at a pivotal moment," said Rees. "We must stop propping up oil, gas, and coal with public money and invest in the people and communities most impacted by systemic oppression, Covid-19, and the climate crisis."</p><p>Markey, who was also a lead sponsor of <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/07/major-party-backing-ocasio-cortez-and-markey-unveil-green-new-deal-outlining-wwii" target="_blank">bicameral Green New Deal legislation</a> along with Ocasio-Cortez, sounded a similar note in comments about the new bill.</p><p>"We should be providing support for workers and those affected by Trump's criminally-negligent response to the pandemic — not bailing out the fossil fuel industry and propping up its profit margins," said Markey. "Trump is only trying to add to these decades-long payouts for polluters, when we should be directing our resources to keeping people safe."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/24/greener-future-omar-sanders-lead-bill-end-destructive-taxpayer-subsidies-fossil" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a></em><em>.</em></p>Related Articles Around the Web
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Climate activists rally to urge politicians to stand against climate denial on Jan. 9, 2017 in New York. DON EMMERT / AFP via Getty Images
The attorney general for Washington, DC filed a lawsuit on Thursday against four of the largest energy companies, claiming that the companies have spent millions upon millions of dollars to deceive customers in about the calamitous effect fossil fuel extraction and emissions is having on the climate crisis, according to The Washington Post.
<p><br/></p>
<p>The suit names ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Chevron as the defendants, and argues that the companies "systematically and intentionally misled consumers in Washington, DC ... about the central role their products play in causing climate change," according to The Hill.</p><p>Karl A. Racine, the DC attorney general, said in a news conference on Thursday that the four companies painted a false picture of what effect their products had and therefore violated consumer protection laws.</p><p>"For decades, these oil and gas companies spent millions to mislead consumers and discredit climate science in pursuit of profits," Racine said in a <a href="https://oag.dc.gov/release/prepared-remarks-exxon-mobilbpchevronshell-lawsuit" target="_blank">statement</a>, as <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/about/news/dc-sues-exxonmobil-and-other-companies-deceiving-public-about-product-harm" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported. "OAG filed this suit to end these disinformation campaigns and to hold these companies accountable for their deceptive practices."</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/exxonmobil-climate-lawsuit-2641328126.html" target="_self">New York</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/massachusetts-sues-exxon-mobil-2641105588.html" target="_self">Massachusetts</a> have both sued ExxonMobil for fraud related to the climate crisis, though New York lost its case against the energy giant. California and Baltimore have filed similar suits. On Wednesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a <a href="http://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ExxonKochAPI_Complaint.pdf" target="_blank">complaint</a> in state court accusing ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, Flint Hills Resources and the American Petroleum Institute of consumer fraud, failure to warn, deceptive trade practices, and fraud and false advertising, as <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/minnesota-sues-oil-giants-over-climate-change-effects/amp/" target="_blank">Courthouse News</a> reported.</p><p>Ellison's complaint said that Minnesota was already feeling the effects from the climate crisis as droughts, flooding and crop failures have damaged the state's economy. That has all happened while the companies named in the suit invested in public relations campaigns that denied the climate crisis and even promoted increased CO2 as a solution to world hunger, according to <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/minnesota-sues-oil-giants-over-climate-change-effects/amp/" target="_blank">Courthouse News</a>.</p><p>"Impacts from climate change hurt our low-income residents and communities of color first and worst. The impacts on farmers in our agricultural state are widespread as well," Ellison said in a statement. "Holding these companies accountable for the climate deception they've spread and continue to spread is essential to helping families to afford their lives and live with dignity and respect."</p>
<p>The two suits drew praise from environmental activists and the science community.</p><p>In a statement Thursday, Greenpeace USA climate campaign director Janet Redman said, "<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-denier">Climate denial</a> is not a victimless crime. Now, one by one states and local governments are stepping up to hold the perpetrators accountable," as <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/25/dc-sues-fossil-fuel-giants-decades-spending-millions-mislead-consumers-and-discredit" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a> reported. "Just yesterday it was Minnesota Attorney General Ellison standing up to big oil, today it's D.C. Attorney General Racine."</p>
<p>The Union of Concerned Scientists also issued a <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/about/news/dc-sues-exxonmobil-and-other-companies-deceiving-public-about-product-harm" target="_blank">statement</a> noting that the fossil fuel industry long knew about the devastating impacts of burning fossil fuels, but followed the Big Tobacco playbook and waged a disinformation campaign.</p><p>"When scientists, including some employed by ExxonMobil, warned that burning fossil fuels could catastrophically alter the climate, ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and Shell funded decades-long disinformation campaigns designed to undermine climate science, while simultaneously unleashing an army of lobbyists to block state and federal policies that sought to limit global warming emissions to protect communities across the country," said Rachel Licker, senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists in a <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/about/news/dc-sues-exxonmobil-and-other-companies-deceiving-public-about-product-harm" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p><p>"As a result, the nation's capital and communities across the country and world now have to battle worsening floods, heat waves, wildfires and many other avoidable climate impacts," she added.</p>
<p>In the DC suit, Racine specifically mentioned the fossil fuel companies' strategy lifted from Big Tobacco. "The companies not only employed the Advancement of Sound Science Coalition — a fake grassroots citizen group created by Big Tobacco as part of the industry's misinformation campaign — they also funded and promoted some of the same scientists hired by tobacco companies," he said in a <a href="https://oag.dc.gov/release/prepared-remarks-exxon-mobilbpchevronshell-lawsuit" target="_blank">statement</a>.</p><p>The lawsuit also alleges that the companies have recently exaggerated their investments and commitments to renewable energy.</p><p>"Defendants have shifted their advertising strategies to mislead DC consumers into believing that buying Defendants' products supports companies committed to reducing and reversing the effects of climate change," the lawsuit asserts, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/dc-attorney-general-sues-oil-and-gas-companies-alleging-industry-misled-public-about-climate-change/2020/06/25/7b633584-b705-11ea-a8da-693df3d7674a_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported. "In fact, the opposite is true."</p>
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Fisherman push their boat during low tide on oily mud in the river at Ogoniland's village of K-Dere, near Bodo, which is part of the Niger Delta region, on Feb. 20, 2019. Decades of oil spills has left the Ogoniland region in southern Nigeria an environmental disaster zone — but now hopes are high of a rebirth of farming, fishing and clean water. YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP / Getty Images
By Jenna McGuire
In 2011, a ground-breaking report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on oil pollution in Ogoniland highlighted the devastating impact of the oil industry in the Niger Delta and made concrete recommendations for clean-up measures and immediate support for the region's devastated communities.
<p>Now, nearly ten years later, a new <a href="http://www.foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/extractive_industries/2020/no_clean-up_no_justice_final.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> published Thursday by Friends of the Earth Europe, Amnesty International, ERA and Milieudefensie, details Shell's failure to implement the "emergency measures" laid out by UNEP and says only 11 percent of contaminated areas in the Niger Delta have begun the clean-up process.</p>
<p>Titled "No Clean-Up, No Justice," the new report explains that for "more than five decades, the people of Ogoniland, in the Niger Delta, have struggled against oil pollution, destruction of the environment and human rights violations." </p><p>According to estimates, Shell Oil has <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/07/new-report-details-how-fossil-fuel-industrys-climate-destruction-also-exacerbates" target="_blank">dumped</a> an estimated nine to 13 million barrels of crude oil into the Niger Delta since 1958.</p><p>"Oil and gas extraction has caused large-scale, continued contamination of the water and soil in Ogoni communities," <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/06/18/shells-oil-pollution-niger-delta-people-sick-waiting-justice" target="_blank">said</a> Friends of the Earth in a statement. "The continued and systematic failure of oil companies and government to clean up have left hundreds of thousands of Ogoni people facing serious health risks, struggling to access safe drinking water, and unable to earn a living."</p>
<p>As Common Dreams <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/07/new-report-details-how-fossil-fuel-industrys-climate-destruction-also-exacerbates" target="_blank">reported</a> earlier this year, the local government has also worked with Shell to suppress the right of people in Ogoniland to fight against pollution.</p><p>"The discovery of oil in Ogoniland has brought huge suffering for its people," said Osai Ojigho of Amnesty International Nigeria. "Over many years we have documented how Shell has failed to clean up contamination from spills and it's a scandal that this has not yet happened."<br><br>The ecological damage, Ojigho added, "is leading to serious human rights impacts — on people's health and ability to access food and clean water. Shell must not get away with this — we will continue to fight until every last trace of oil is removed from Ogoniland."</p>
<p>Almost a full decade after the UNEP findings, the new report concluded that:</p><ul> <li>Work has begun on only 11 pecent of polluted sites identified by UNEP, with only a further 5 percent included in current clean-up efforts, and no site has been entirely cleaned up;</li></ul><ul> <li>Actions classified by UNEP as "emergency measures" - immediate action on drinking water and health protection - have not been implemented properly; there are still communities without access to clean water supplies;</li></ul><ul> <li>Health and environmental monitoring has not been carried out;</li></ul><ul> <li>There has not been any public accounting for how the 31 million USD funding provided since 2018 has been spent;</li></ul><ul> <li>11 of 16 companies contracted for the clean-up are reported to have no registered expertise in oil pollution remediation or related areas;</li></ul><ul><li>HYPREP has numerous conflicts of interest as Shell continues to be involved in the governing boards for the clean-up and even places its own staff in HYPREP.</li></ul><p>The report also lays out a set of demands for a rapid clean-up and funding for regional recovery, with chief responsibility for that effort aimed at the Nigerian government, Shell, and other governments — mostly in Europe — home to other major oil companies operating in the Niger Delta.</p><p>"After nine years of promises without proper action and decades of pollution, the people of Ogoniland are not only sick of dirty drinking water, oil-contaminated fish and toxic fumes," said Godwin Ojo of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria.<br><br>"They are sick of waiting for justice," Ojo added. "They are dying by the day."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/19/shell-must-not-get-away-niger-delta-still-waiting-big-oil-clean-devastating" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><br/></p>From Your Site Articles
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A general view of BP (British Petroleum) refinery in the Port of Rotterdam on April 23, 2020 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images
Fossil fuel giant BP made headlines earlier this year when it announced it would target net zero emissions by 2050. Now, it is in the headlines again, since it announced on Monday that it would slash 10,000 jobs, roughly 15 percent of its workforce, as it struggles during a downturn in the oil market and transitions its practices towards renewable energy, as CNN reported.
<p>In an email to staff on Monday that was also <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/reinventing-bp-next-steps-bernard-looney/?trackingId=h8FmFLmIQ7mh3i9%2BTbC29w%3D%3D&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosgenerate&stream=top" target="_blank">published on LinkedIn</a>, BP CEO Bernard Looney announced the layoffs, which mostly affect senior office-based positions and not front-line operational staff. He called it part of some "tough decisions" but said that "we must do the right thing for bp and this is that right thing," as <a href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/bp-ceo-calls-plan-to-lay-off-10-000-workers-the-right-t-1843954641" target="_blank">Gizmodo</a> reported.</p><p>BP currently employs 70,100 people. "We will now begin a process that will see close to 10,000 people leaving BP – most by the end of this year," Looney said in a statement, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bp-jobs-exclusive/exclusive-bp-to-cut-15-of-workforce-sources-idUSKBN23F1D9" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p>
<p>BP also said it will not give any raises to senior executives this year and it will not hand out any cash bonuses. Like all the world's top energy companies, BP has cut its 2020 spending plans after the coronavirus pandemic brought an unprecedented drop in demand for oil, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bp-jobs-exclusive/exclusive-bp-to-cut-15-of-workforce-sources-idUSKBN23F1D9" target="_blank">Reuters</a>.</p><p>In his <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/reinventing-bp-next-steps-bernard-looney/?trackingId=h8FmFLmIQ7mh3i9%2BTbC29w%3D%3D&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosgenerate&stream=top" target="_blank">email to staff</a>, Looney said: "The oil price has plunged well below the level we need to turn a profit. We are spending much, much more than we make - I am talking millions of dollars, every day," as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-52966609" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported.</p><p>"It was always part of the plan to make BP a leaner, faster-moving and lower carbon company," wrote Looney. "Then the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. You are already aware that, beyond the clear human tragedy, there has been widespread economic fallout, along with consequences for our industry and our company."</p>
<p>The price of crude oil fell precipitously this year. It started the year at $66 per barrel, but dropped below $20 during the pandemic and has now inched its way up to $42 barrel. That slow recovery in the price and the continued low demand for oil means the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel</a> industry is losing money hand over fist, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/08/business/bp-job-cuts/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p><p>The drop in oil prices has accelerated the push toward renewable energy sources, Looney said on Monday, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/08/business/bp-job-cuts/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. "To me, the broader economic picture and our own financial position just reaffirm the need to reinvent [BP]," Looney wrote in his note to employees. "While the external environment is driving us to move faster — and perhaps go deeper at this stage than we originally intended — the direction of travel remains the same."</p>
<p>Prior to the coronavirus, demand for oil was expected to peak around 2040 due to the rise of electric cars, increased energy efficiency and a switch to alternative sources. That combination puts pressure on energy companies to decrease their reliance on fossil fuels. BP started out ahead in that department, having committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions from its global operations, as well as emissions that result from the oil and gas it produces, to net zero by 2050. BP wants to halve the carbon intensity of the products it sells by 2050, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/08/business/bp-job-cuts/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>The drop in demand has affected other companies, too. Chevron Corp, the second-largest U.S. oil producer, said that it would cut between 10 and 15 percent of its global workforce as part of an ongoing restructuring, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bp-jobs-exclusive/exclusive-bp-to-cut-15-of-workforce-sources-idUSKBN23F1D9" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. Also, Royal Dutch Shell cut its dividend and started a layoff process.</p>
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A woman wearing a protective mask walks her dog past a gas station amid the coronavirus pandemic on April 21 in New York City, Alexi Rosenfeld / Getty Images
By Eoin Higgins
Sen. Bernie Sanders was among critics outraged that the fossil fuel industry is using tax breaks in the CARES Act meant to help businesses keep workers employed to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes — and then delivering that money to executives.
<p>"Good thing President Trump is looking out for the real victims of the coronavirus: fossil fuel executives," Sanders tweeted sarcastically Friday.</p>
<div id="bc2f8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="904244ece7b166b288ef24f4dcd5d829"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1261353825094549506" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Coronavirus has killed more than 85,000 people. Some 36 million workers have lost their jobs. Good thing President… https://t.co/53JsMguSMT</div> — Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders)<a href="https://twitter.com/SenSanders/statuses/1261353825094549506">1589565161.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Reporting Friday from Bloomberg News <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-15/-stealth-bailout-shovels-millions-of-dollars-to-oil-companies" target="_blank">showed</a> that "$1.9 billion in CARES Act tax benefits are being claimed by at least 37 oil companies, service firms, and contractors" — what watchdog group Documented senior researcher Jesse Coleman described as a "stealth bailout" of the climate-killing industry.</p><p>"In the name of 'small business,' we're shoveling out billions of dollars to big corporations and rich guys," Steve Rosenthal, a senior fellow with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, told <em>Bloomberg</em>.</p>
<p>Bloomberg used the example of how Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. manipulated the bailout to explain the tax scheme:</p><blockquote>As it <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-26/diamond-offshore-files-for-bankruptcy-amid-historic-crude-crash-k9hfegfh" target="_blank">headed toward</a> bankruptcy, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/DOFSQ:US" target="_blank">Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc.</a> took advantage of a little-noticed provision in the stimulus bill <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/0248133Z:US" target="_blank">Congress</a> passed in March to get a $9.7 million tax refund. Then, it <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/terminal/Q9TKZ0DWLU69" target="_blank">asked a bankruptcy judge</a> to authorize the same amount as bonuses to nine executives.<br></blockquote><p>According to Bloomberg's reporting, Diamond's refund pales in comparison to some of its larger competitors, "including $55 million for Denver-based <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/AM:US" target="_blank">Antero Midstream Corp.</a>, $41.2 million for supplier <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/OIS:US" target="_blank">Oil States International Inc.</a> and $96 million for Oklahoma-based producer <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/DVN:US" target="_blank">Devon Energy Corp</a>."</p>
<div id="310e7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9e8434fba6442af10c694580f8ac7a22"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1261293784387772416" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">OIL CAPITALISM -- Diamond Offshore takes $9.7m from American taxpayers, then earmarks the same amount to execs as b… https://t.co/0P0eDOTCvO</div> — Kevin Crowley (@Kevin Crowley)<a href="https://twitter.com/CrowleyKev/statuses/1261293784387772416">1589550846.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The fossil fuel industry was already in financial trouble before the outbreak, which has effectively crippled Big Oil's ability to make money — even with the generous subsidies given by the federal government. Access to bailout tax break funding is helping fossil fuel companies prosper, along with other climate-destroying industries like mining companies, which have also reaped millions from coronavirus relief legislation. </p><p>"The Trump administration's favor factory hasn't stopped with a global pandemic," Accountable U.S. spokesperson Jayson O'Neill said in a statement Friday. "As millions of jobs <a href="https://act.myngp.com/el/NNe9rBdrJeeN3RQ36Wh73G89VGE1NNSyYG_6gVF5hhU=/Ev9zD4WLPn--xfOGpN_FaBID9-fsxnkfm6L6gL044rw=" target="_blank">disappear</a> week after week, the Trump administration is prioritizing aid for wealthy, well-connected corporations before small businesses."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/16/big-oil-taking-19-billion-cares-act-tax-breaks-aimed-helping-small-businesses" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><em></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette says that Secretary Steven Mnuchin, pictured, worked with the Federal Reserve to bail out mid-size oil companies.
Two top administration officials, at the direction of President Trump, helped the Federal Reserve alter its lending program intended to bail out small businesses specifically to aid mid-size oil companies, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told Bloomberg TV this week.
<p>"Secretary Mnuchin worked very closely with the Federal Reserve ... and made that program available to what we refer to as mid-cap-sized companies," Brouillette said Tuesday. The Fed, which is legally prohibited from targeting specific sectors for relief, denied that it changed the emergency lending program in order to aid the oil sector. Oil and gas companies lobbied the Fed over the first weeks of the pandemic to ease eligibility requirements and use restrictions for the program, and the Fed altered its requirements in late April, a move praised by oil-state lawmakers and the oil and gas industry.</p>
<p><strong>For a deeper dive:</strong></p><p><em>Brouillette claims: <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-05-12/energy-chief-says-fed-was-asked-to-expand-lending-for-oil-firms?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87851446&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8NmrI66CzajonN3JQNlAne8qxX2lcRj3Jtb7PUK0Xt-8eepJvd7qHlAP-_yfBQ80kRH5i67doW75pf_Rg_i1txI8l6Ib6fpZTUqPsFu1BXW9Ihfdo&_hsmi=87851446" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a>. April Fed program changes: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/30/main-street-loans-coronavirus/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87851446&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8NmrI66CzajonN3JQNlAne8qxX2lcRj3Jtb7PUK0Xt-8eepJvd7qHlAP-_yfBQ80kRH5i67doW75pf_Rg_i1txI8l6Ib6fpZTUqPsFu1BXW9Ihfdo&_hsmi=87851446" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>, <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2020/05/11/oil-and-gas-companies-asked-then-received-changes-to-fed-coronavirus-stimulus-program/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87851446&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8NmrI66CzajonN3JQNlAne8qxX2lcRj3Jtb7PUK0Xt-8eepJvd7qHlAP-_yfBQ80kRH5i67doW75pf_Rg_i1txI8l6Ib6fpZTUqPsFu1BXW9Ihfdo&_hsmi=87851446" target="_blank">NPR State Impact</a>, <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/2020/04/30/fed-change-allows-oil-companies-to-qualify-for-recovery-loans/?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87851446&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8NmrI66CzajonN3JQNlAne8qxX2lcRj3Jtb7PUK0Xt-8eepJvd7qHlAP-_yfBQ80kRH5i67doW75pf_Rg_i1txI8l6Ib6fpZTUqPsFu1BXW9Ihfdo&_hsmi=87851446" target="_blank">Roll Call</a>, </em><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/30/feds-expansion-of-lending-program-sparks-oil-bailout-worries-227545?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87851446&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8NmrI66CzajonN3JQNlAne8qxX2lcRj3Jtb7PUK0Xt-8eepJvd7qHlAP-_yfBQ80kRH5i67doW75pf_Rg_i1txI8l6Ib6fpZTUqPsFu1BXW9Ihfdo&_hsmi=87851446" target="_blank"><em>Politico</em></a><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-11/buffett-backed-solar-project-near-vegas-wins-trump-blessing?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=87782018&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--TNVauhW3bvDHKpcc7GzS09_vXwDgTZ1ok8ohBT7dEKo4yo_-GOJeQxLtP5ZVk4pJVt4Y4QHQZWtAUpYbnAyjiPb-xVUTAkSMs9abNMrNgYCbQ_UM&_hsmi=87782018" target="_blank"></a></p><p class=""><em>For more </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" target="_blank"><em>climate change</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank"><em>clean energy</em></a><em> news, you can follow Climate Nexus on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateNexus" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ClimateNexus/" target="_blank"><em>Facebook</em></a><em>, and sign up for daily </em><a href="http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa" target="_blank"><em>Hot News</em></a><em>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Trending
A gas flare from the Shell Chemical LP petroleum refinery illuminates the sky on August 21, 2019 in Norco, Louisiana. Drew Angerer / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
As calls for a People's Bailout in response to the coronavirus pandemic continue to grow across the United States, a new analysis warns that the country's Big Oil companies "stand to reap yet another billion dollar bailout" thanks to the Federal Reserve's plans to buy up to $750 billion in corporate debt.
The analysis (pdf), released Wednesday by the advocacy group Friends of the Earth (FOE), explains that this expected bailout for polluters relates to a controversial $500 billion corporate slush fund included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that Congress passed in March.
<p>According to FOE's report, <em>The Big Oil Money Pit</em>:</p><blockquote>Of that amount, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin enjoys direct control over a comparatively small $46 billion reserved for aviation and industries deemed essential to "national security." But the remaining $454 billion went to the Federal Reserve, which will use the money to implement emergency lending programs for corporations and municipalities. Secretary Mnuchin must approve these lending programs and wields considerable power over their design, but the money itself will move through the Fed.<br>After weeks of unprecedented human suffering and an ongoing failure to support frontline workers, the Fed announced on April 9, 2020 how it would spend the first $195 billion of the slush fund. A full $75 billion would go to buy corporate debt. But because the Fed can leverage money appropriated by Congress, the real size of this program is $750 billion. Considering that a majority of the money from the first stimulus [is] still unspent, there is plenty of room for this program to grow.<br></blockquote><p>FOE found that the fossil fuel giants ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Conoco "are together eligible for a maximum $19.4 billion in benefits, based on their credit ratings and outstanding long-term debt."</p>
<div id="0f3d4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ffa4587779be08a5a8dff623feb89e8b"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1250456629532692481" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">NEW ANALYSIS: Trump’s admin just announced a $750 billion corporate slush fund -- money that will enrich oil execs… https://t.co/9fz8NWZzDv</div> — Friends of the Earth (@Friends of the Earth)<a href="https://twitter.com/foe_us/statuses/1250456629532692481">1586967067.0</a></blockquote></div><p>The Fed <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/03/24/blackrock-must-manage-climate-risk-it-takes-fed-debt-buyout-program" target="_blank">has hired</a> BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, to administer part of its debt-buying efforts related to the pandemic. "As BlackRock begins purchasing 'high yield' exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to bolster corporate debt markets," FOE warns, "energy companies (predominantly oil and gas) stand to benefit disproportionately as the largest single issuer of junk bonds, at 11% of the entire U.S. market."</p>
<p>Other key takeaways from the report include:</p><ul><li>There are 12 fracking-focused oil and gas companies that could potentially qualify for the new program. Together, they may be eligible for over $24.1 billion in potential benefits.</li><li>Major fracking company Continental Resources, whose debt was recently downgraded to below investment grade by S&P, is potentially eligible for as much as $1.5 billion under new, weaker standards announced by the Federal Reserve.</li></ul>
<p>Echoing climate campaigners' <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/we-need-peoples-bailout-not-polluters-bailout-climate-groups-move-preempt-big-oil" target="_blank">comments</a> after President Donald Trump met with fossil fuel executives at the White House earlier this month, FOE senior policy analyst Lukas Ross <a href="https://foe.org/news/new-report-big-oils-money-pit-to-reap-stimulus-billions/" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement Wednesday that "oil company bailouts are simply throwing good money after bad."</p><p>"Congress and the Democrats must stop this endless stream of handouts to an industry that is exploiting a public health crisis for financial gain," Ross declared. "These potential payoffs to major campaign contributors are the least efficient way of re-starting the economy and will just serve to enrich oil executives."</p><p>"Oil companies are trying to punt the financial reckoning of their fracking debacle and Congress should not enable their addiction with public tax dollars," he added. "Instead of pumping money into an irresponsible industry that plays shell games with its debt, Congress should focus on providing direct support to workers and communities on the frontlines of coronavirus."</p><p>As the Trump administration has<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/19/amid-climate-crisis-and-raging-pandemic-trump-blasted-morally-bankrupt-multibillion" target="_blank"> tried</a> to spend billions of taxpayers dollars to "fill up" the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and major banks are <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/10/critics-decry-massive-step-wrong-direction-big-banks-move-buy-fracking-industry" target="_blank">reportedly preparing</a> to take over fossil fuel assets with CARES Act funding, climate action advocates have <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/we-need-peoples-bailout-not-polluters-bailout-climate-groups-move-preempt-big-oil" target="_blank">charged</a> that "we need a people's bailout, not a polluters' bailout!"</p><p>Hundreds of community leaders, lawmakers, and groups—including FOE—have joined the demand for Congress to pursue a <a href="https://thepeoplesbailout.org/" target="_blank">people's bailout</a> guided by five key principles:</p>
<div id="90a82" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d4dd414f6709a83588b90e27c5ce37cb"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1250127963166826497" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The response to one existential crisis must not fuel another. Let's not perpetuate the status quo of fossil fuel pr… https://t.co/VJPOCAFuxd</div> — Sierra Club (@Sierra Club)<a href="https://twitter.com/SierraClub/statuses/1250127963166826497">1586888707.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The new FOE report includes some specific calls to action directed at Congress:</p><ul> <li>Prioritize direct aid to still neglected workers and communities on the frontlines of the crisis.</li><li>Engage in aggressive oversight to ensure BlackRock does not benefit unfairly from purchasing its own products or needlessly bolster fossil fuel assets.</li><li>Eliminate Secretary Mnuchin's authority to waive crucial protections banning companies receiving bailouts stock buybacks.</li><li>Make future stimulus aid conditional on new and binding protections for workers and the environment.</li><li>Make oil, gas, and coal companies ineligible for support from existing stimulus programs, unless it is conditioned on a phaseout of existing production and an iron-clad commitment to existing pension and environmental liabilities.</li></ul><p>"Much more work needs to be done, both to support workers and families in the face of COVID-19 and to prevent a runaway bailout of the fossil fuel industry," the report says. "Congress cannot afford to wait."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/15/amid-calls-peoples-bailout-feds-corporate-debt-buying-could-mean-billion-dollar-big" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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'We Need People's Bailout, Not Polluters' Bailout': Climate Groups Move to Preempt Big Oil Giveaway Amid Pandemic
05 April
Politics
President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable meeting with energy sector CEOs in the Cabinet Room of the White House April 3 in Washington, DC. Doug Mills-Pool / Getty Images
By Andrea Germanos
A coalition of climate organizations strongly criticized President Donald Trump's in-person Friday meeting with the chief executives of some of the biggest fossil fuel companies in the world, saying the industry that fueled climate disaster must not be allowed to profiteer from government giveaways by getting bailout funds or preferred treatment during the coronavirus pandemic.
<p>The CEOs attending the White House <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/02/moving-rob-us-blind-broad-daylight-trump-hold-person-meeting-big-oil-ceos-discuss" target="_blank">meeting</a>, scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday, have been <a href="ttps://twitter.com/jamieclimate/status/1245833208828014592" target="_blank">dubbed</a> "the seven oily henchman of the climate apocalypse" and reportedly include ExxonMobil's Darren Woods, Chevron's Michael Wirth, and Energy Transfer's Kelcy Warren, as well as billionaire and fracking pioneer Harold Hamm, who recently stepped down as CEO of Continental Resources CEO.</p>
<div id="78f3f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="575447fe0d2868ff4f1624d4c7bae8af"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1245830362174902277" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Where the rest of the world sees a global health and economic crisis, fossil fuel CEOs see an opportunity to line t… https://t.co/It14306Bif</div> — Greenpeace USA (@Greenpeace USA)<a href="https://twitter.com/greenpeaceusa/statuses/1245830362174902277">1585864079.0</a></blockquote></div><p>The summit comes on the heels of a month in which more than 10 million Americans <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/02/never-seen-anything-it-economists-warn-66-million-new-jobless-claims-portend" target="_blank">lost</a> their jobs, and millions of Americans <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/unacceptable-trump-administration-says-millions-may-have-wait-5-months-receive-1200" target="_blank">may be stuck</a> waiting weeks to receive their one-time stimulus check while big businesses stand ready to <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/27/there-should-be-shame-watch-ocasio-cortez-excoriate-gop-over-massive-corporate" target="_blank">reap</a> <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/02/coronavirus-corporate-bailout-deal-161374" target="_blank">benefits</a> of their share of $500 billion in corporate bailout funds that were part of the coronavirus relief package passed last week.</p><p>"If corporations are people, they shouldn't be getting more financial assistance than the American people," said Mary Gutierrez, executive director of Earth Ethics. "This isn't the time for bailouts, it's the time for transitioning. We need to be transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources."</p><p>Earth Ethics is part of the <a href="https://stopthemoneypipeline.com/" target="_blank">Stop the Money Pipeline</a> coalition, which advocates for financial institutions to stop funding and investing in projects the group says amount to "climate destruction." </p><p>The big oil summit, the coalition warned, must not lead to a bailout for the industry, especially at a time working Americans' needs must be centered and as the climate crisis necessitates huge investments away from dirty energy towards renewables.</p><p>The meeting's agenda "is reportedly expected to include discussions about federal storage of oil, tariffs on foreign oil, and drilling on public land," CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/02/trump-seen-as-moderator-in-world-oil-talks-as-he-prepares-to-meet-us-oil-ceos-over-price-collapse.html" target="_blank">reported</a> Thursday. CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/stock-market-news-today-040220/index.html" target="_blank">added</a>, "The American Petroleum Institute, the industry's biggest lobby, has said oil companies aren't seeking a bailout from Trump."</p><p>But the climate coalition isn't convinced of that API claim.</p><p>"Let's not be fooled by these CEOs' claims that they don't want bailout money: if they're going to the White House, it's either to ask for yet another spigot of federal government money for corporations or for yet another relaxation of environmental protection rules," said Moira Birss, Amazon Watch's climate and finance director.</p><p>"It's unacceptable that Trump is more focused on serving corporate interests that are destroying our climate than responding to the urgent needs of workers, the unemployed, and the sick. We need a people's bailout, not a polluters' bailout!" she added.</p><p>New polling also indicates the American public has little appetite for bailing out the fossil fuel industry.</p><p><a href="https://morningconsult.com/2020/04/02/energy-bailouts-coronavirus-pandemic/%20" target="_blank">According to</a> a Morning Consult poll released Thursday, just 38% of voters support a bailout for the oil and gas industry, while 54 percent back a renewables industry bailout.</p><p>Jamie Henn of the Stop the Money Pipeline Coalition <a href="https://twitter.com/jamieclimate/status/1245718326069751812" target="_blank">said</a> the fossil fuel sector has been up to "terrible things" amid the pandemic. As one example, he pointed to the industry getting "the Environmental Protection Agency to stop enforcing environmental and public health protections indefinitely."</p>
<div id="bffd8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7f49bb64ae83d203086da14f9f34c1e1"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1245779765400932354" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">One of the more important twitter threads in a long time. The fossil fuel industry is dirty in every way https://t.co/D1eymMRkr7</div> — Bill McKibben (@Bill McKibben)<a href="https://twitter.com/billmckibben/statuses/1245779765400932354">1585852016.0</a></blockquote></div><p>The industry has friends in Congress helping it get its wishes. Twelve Senate Republicans <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/02/pandemic-paralyzes-global-economy-world-awash-seas-oil-nowhere-left-store-it" target="_blank">urged</a> Interior Secretary David Bernhardt this week to give the industry help during the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis by suspending federal royalty payments for fossil fuels.</p><p>"Oh, so we have to pay our rent, but now Big Oil doesn't have to pay anything for destroying our public lands? Cool, cool," <a href="https://twitter.com/jamieclimate/status/1245103901759528960" target="_blank">said</a> Henn.</p><p>Janet MacGillivay, executive director of the Indigenous women-led group <a href="https://seedingsovereignty.org/" target="_blank">Seeding Sovereignty</a>, said it's clear who needs to get help right now.</p><p>"Sending a financial liferaft to failing fossil fuel corporations while so many are losing jobs and hope for recovery is a slap in the face to hardworking American families," said MacGillivay.</p><p>"While many are struggling to breathe, oil fat cats are looking for yet another handout for their businesses that pump pollution into our finally clearing air and lungs. With EPA pollution enforcement sidelined during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Trump administration's rollback of health-based fuel efficiency standards during a climate crisis, now is the time to put the brake — not the gas — on oil company handouts. Let's invest in renewable, safe energy jobs," she added.</p><p>There may be an even bigger prize than a bailout on the table.</p><p>"The biggest win the fossil fuel industry could receive during the coronavirus crisis," <a href="https://heated.world/p/whats-better-than-a-bailout-silencing" target="_blank">according to</a> Emily Atkin, who writes the Heated newsletter, is "the ability to silence their most effective political opponents — climate activists — by threatening them with hefty financial penalties, felonies, and prison time for protesting their operations."</p><p>That's because other states could follow in the footsteps of three states that have passed so-called "critical infrastructure bills" since the coronavirus outbreak that bar climate activists from engaging in civil disobedience.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/03/we-need-peoples-bailout-not-polluters-bailout-climate-groups-move-preempt-big-oil" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><em></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Petrochemicals are rapidly becoming the largest driver of global oil consumption. Stas_V / iStock / Getty Images Plus
By Ajit Niranjan
As wind farms, solar plants and electric cars threaten demand for fossil fuels, oil and gas executives are betting big on another environmental vice: plastic.
<p>In the last 10 years, companies including BP, ExxonMobil and Shell have invested $89 billion (€82 billion) in 210 chemical projects linked to America's shale gas boom alone, according to the American Chemistry Council. And a further 133 projects are being planned or in the process of being built.</p><p><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/the-plastics-issue-we-seem-to-ignore/a-47307954" target="_blank">Petrochemicals</a>, which make up 99% of all plastics, are the versatile building blocks of modern life. Derived from petroleum and fossil gas, they are found in clothes, paper, fertilizers and cleaning products — and even food preservatives and medicine.</p>
<p>Petrochemicals are rapidly becoming the largest driver of global oil consumption, a <a href="https://www.iea.org/news/petrochemicals-set-to-be-the-largest-driver-of-world-oil-demand-latest-iea-analysis-finds" target="_blank">report </a>by the International Energy Agency found in 2018. They are set to account for a third of the growth in demand to 2030 and half of the growth to 2050, ahead of trucks, planes and ships.</p><p>As demand for fuel peaks, petrochemicals may be the "last man standing," said Theo Jan Simons, a plastics and chemicals expert at consultancy McKinsey.</p>
<p>Energy companies have recognized that shift in official documents.</p><p>Saudi Aramco said in a recent investor report that its chemical investments have removed risk from its portfolio. Shell, in a 2018 energy transition report, said that strong earnings from its downstream business — which includes petrochemicals — have helped offset a downturn in oil and gas prices.</p><p>ExxonMobil said last year that growth in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chemicals">chemicals</a> could counter falling fuel demands from electric cars, <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2020/03/your-plastic-addiction-is-bankrolling-big-oil/" target="_blank">Mother Jones reported</a> earlier this month, while BP has excluded petrochemicals from its recent pledge to go carbon-neutral by 2050.</p><p>With fuel demand depressed by coronavirus and a price war threatening to pump out more oil, the industry's traditional revenue streams <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-what-countries-are-doing-to-minimize-economic-damage/a-52816921" target="_blank">are on even shakier ground</a>. That could spur them to make more petrochemicals for a market that some analysts warn is already saturated.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjg5ODY5OC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNTI2MzAzNH0._ZFPtMkS5wzHPZA6m4TuQd7YmygxVwqVsvYFwt9tA8g/img.png?width=980" id="76b70" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="537be25e5fc108654160aca51ad38be3" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<h3>Plastic Pollution Already Dangerous</h3><p>Plastic production has increased about 200-fold since 1950, but only 9% of the plastic ever made has been recycled, <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/7/e1700782" target="_blank">according to a study</a> published in the journal Science Advances in 2017. The rest of the waste was burned or thrown into landfills and nature, where it is growing into a symbol of ecological neglect.</p><p>Each year millions of tons of plastic flood into <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans">oceans</a> and wash up on beaches, killing fish and other <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life">marine life</a>.</p><p>What's more, plastic also carried a carbon footprint in its production and when burned as waste. This is responsible for about 2% of global emissions, though the net effect on the climate may be lower, because plastic packaging reduces food waste and lightweight plastics save fuel in transport.</p><p>The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) projected in a report last year that annual global plastic emissions will rise from 0.86 gigatons of carbon dioxide in 2019 to 2.8 gigatons by 2050 — or the equivalent of building 400 medium-sized coal plants.</p>
<h3>Supply, Demand for Plastics an Illusion?</h3><p>Despite its many uses, some experts say the proliferation of plastics is not driven by demand.</p><p>For decades, oil and gas companies needed to create markets for byproducts or manage them as waste streams, and responded by creating new markets, said Carroll Muffett, president of the Center for Environmental Law and lead author of the report on plastics and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a>.</p><p>"We're seeing that very clearly with the market for single-use plastics. Much of that increase is driven not by consumer demand but [the] need to offload supply," said Muffett.</p><p>A spokesperson for Shell disputed this, saying that the company was expanding its chemicals business to meet the rising demand from economic growth. Echoing this, Simons, the McKinsey consultant, also said the rise in petrochemicals is in line with growth of the overall economy.</p><p> Still, in a market beset by green technology and volatile geopolitics, petrochemicals may represent a more stable source of revenue than fuel.</p><p>There is a growing emphasis by the fossil fuel industry to make more plastic because of falling oil demand and prices, said Kevin Stairs, chemicals policy director at Greenpeace EU.</p><p>A price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia on the back of the coronavirus pandemic pushed oil prices down 30% at the start of March. The fall, according to market research from Wood Mackenzie, is set to result in a "severe overcapacity" of ethylene, the biggest petrochemical by volume and value and the foundation of plastic bags and bottles. Other experts argue that a slowdown in the economy might decrease demand and spur the industry to cut production.</p>
<h3>Plastic Falling out of Favor With the Public</h3><p>From coastal villagers lamenting spoiled beaches to citizens concerned about microplastics in drinking water, communities have pressured governments into regulating plastics.</p><p>Across Africa, 34 countries have banned or taxed single-use plastics, according to the United Nations. China and India plan to phase them out by 2022. A rise in alternative materials and a shift toward circular economies have put petrochemical producers under pressure, said Hans-Josef Fell, president of think tank Energy Watch Group.</p><p>Oil and gas companies have taken a "huge gamble" on demand for plastic that hasn't materialized, said Muffett. "What they're running up against is that the global south is increasingly rejecting plastics in a growing number of forms."</p><p>As more and more countries turn away from plastic, "the case that there's some massive unmet market out there begins to crumble," he added.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/oil-gas-industry-look-to-profit-rich-plastics-as-revenue-plunges/a-52834661?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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