Most recent 10 articles: Drilled News
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How Exxon is leveraging Texas courts to silence its climate critics - Drilled News  (Jan 18, 2022) |
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Jan 18, 2022 · ExxonMobil is attempting to use an unusual Texas law to target and intimidate its critics, claiming that lawsuits against the company over its long history of downplaying and denying the climate crisis violate the US constitution’s guarantees of free speech. The US’s largest oil firm is asking the Texas supreme court to allow it to use the law, known as rule 202, to pursue legal action against more than a dozen California municipal officials. Exxon claims that in filing lawsuits against the company over its role in the climate crisis, the officials are orchestrating a conspiracy against the firm’s first amendment rights. The oil giant also makes the curious claim that ... Read more ... |
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Offshore oil and gas worker fatalities are underreported by federal safety agency - Drilled News  (Aug 18, 2021) |
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Aug 18, 2021 · Nearly half of known Gulf of Mexico worker fatalities didn’t fit the agency’s reporting criteria Leo Linder felt safer on BP’s Deepwater Horizon than he had on other offshore oil drilling rigs. On April 20, 2010, he ended his shift and went to his sleeping quarters two hours before the platform exploded, killing 11 workers and triggering one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history. The man who replaced him was among the crew members who died. “I’m cynical, but I really thought the system would work,” he said. “There were certainly signs in hindsight. My faith in the system working was pretty solid, even after the initial explosion I couldn’t fathom it was a ... Read more ... |
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The Supreme Court’s Obscure Procedural Ruling in Baltimore’s Climate Case, Explained - Drilled News  (May 26, 2021) |
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May 26, 2021 · Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on an important case about whether major oil and gas companies should be held accountable for engaging in a systematic marketing campaign to deceive the public about the catastrophic threat that fossil fuel products pose to the planet. The Court didn’t consider the merits of the case but rather answered an obscure procedural question in a way that permits the defendants to continue to delay litigation in state court, and thereby also serves to deny the public essential information about the fossil fuel industry’s attempt to spread disinformation about its products’ role in fueling the climate crisis. In the case, Baltimore ... Read more ... |
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Climate Accountability Is a Solution - Why Isn’t It Treated Like One? - Drilled News  (May 06, 2021) |
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May 06, 2021 · What can we do about climate change? Which policies will work? Which technologies? What can individuals do, and what sort of collective action should they support? The appeal of “solutions journalism” addressing climate change is undeniable, but there is a large hole in much of it: understanding the root causes of the problem. Catastrophic climate change is a symptom of an intertwined web of problems. Untangling that web and the various forces that created it is not just a worthy exercise, it’s absolutely critical to developing solutions that actually work. The focus on technological and policy solutions to climate has put the cart before the horse, and in ... Read more ... |
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Climate accountability is a solution—why isn't it treated like one? - Drilled News  (May 06, 2021) |
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May 06, 2021 · What can we do about climate change? Which policies will work? Which technologies? What can individuals do, and what sort of collective action should they support? The appeal of “solutions journalism” addressing climate change is undeniable, but there is a large hole in much of it: understanding the root causes of the problem. Catastrophic climate change is a symptom of an intertwined web of problems. Untangling that web and the various forces that created it is not just a worthy exercise, it’s absolutely critical to developing solutions that actually work. The focus on technological and policy solutions to climate has put the cart before the horse, and in ... Read more ... |
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Gulf Coast Oil Workers Are Building America’s Offshore Wind Industry - Drilled News  (Apr 20, 2021) |
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Apr 20, 2021 · “The biggest misconception about transitioning from offshore drilling to offshore wind is the idea that oil platforms can be reused to hold wind turbines,” Louisiana state Representative Joseph Orgeron said in a recent phone interview. Offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico weren’t designed to handle that sort of load. The weight distribution of an offshore wind turbine is like trying to mount a “pumpkin on a pole,” Orgeron said. To function, the vertical base needs to be stout enough to handle the movement of the blades spinning and the face rotating directions with the wind. But while offshore drilling platforms don’t quite work as offshore wind platforms, what can ... Read more ... |
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Big Oil, Big Profits, Big Brother - Drilled News  (Jan 26, 2021) |
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Jan 26, 2021 · The multi-billion-dollar digital services Microsoft provides to the oil and gas industry could help delay the energy transition - and threaten worker privacy. In June, as 15 million people nationwide marched in Black Lives Matter protests and employees at tech companies called on their bosses to cancel company contracts with law enforcement, Microsoft announced that it would temporarily restrict sales of its facial recognition software to police departments. In July, as temperatures in the far north climbed to record highs and wildfires raged on the frozen shores of the Arctic ocean, Microsoft said in a statement that it would expand its in-house carbon tax, and unveiled ... | By Maddie Stone Read more ... |
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White House Removes Scientists After Rogue Climate Denial Publications - Drilled News  (Jan 14, 2021) |
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Jan 14, 2021 · Papers promoting debunked views on climate science were published under the Office of Science and Technology Policy seal without approval. They've now been removed, along with their authors. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has dismissed David Legates and Ryan Maue, two controversial Trump appointees to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, following their role in publishing a series of climate denial papers falsely attributed to the OSTP. The “Climate Change Flyers” were published last week on the website of the Center for Environmental Research and Earth Sciences (CERES), an organization affiliated with former Harvard ... | By Maddie Stone Read more ... |
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Michigan Pipeline Fight Intensifies as Permit Deadline Nears - Drilled News  (Jan 14, 2021) |
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Jan 14, 2021 · Enbridge is defying Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's move to shut down the Line 5 underwater pipeline, which environmentalists and tribes fear could cause an environmental disaster. Under the strong and fickle currents of the Straits of Mackinac, which flow through a four-mile gap between Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas, twin pipelines have transported two million gallons of petroleum products daily for seven decades. This year they may shut down for good. In November, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer revoked the 1953 easement allowing the twin pipelines, known as Line 5, to run under the straits, and gave its owner, Enbridge Inc., 180 days to shut them ... | By Andrew Blok Read more ... |
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Ohio Passes Fossil Fuel-backed Anti-protest Legislation - Drilled News  (Dec 24, 2020) |
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Dec 24, 2020 · It’s not clear whether Gov. Mike DeWine will sign the bill, which would criminalize protests by groups and individuals at pipelines and other energy infrastructure. Barring a last-minute veto from Gov. Mike DeWine, Ohio is poised to become the fourteenth state to pass legislation criminalizing pipeline protests by both individuals and organizations. The legislation, known as Senate Bill 33, would allow operators of facilities deemed “critical infrastructure” to initiate civil actions against protesters “who willfully [cause] damage” to those facilities, including non-violently trespassing on the surrounding property. Protesters found guilty could face fines and charges ... | By Amy Westervelt Read more ... |
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