ExxonMobil

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, July 19, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• The corporate scramble for Africa's minerals: Britain's new colonialism - By Colin Todhunter, The Ecologist, July 14, 2016
• Taxpayer Groups, Environmentalists, Students Call on Congress to End $4 Billion Annual Oil Industry Subsidies - By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, July 14, 2016; [related]: Open Letter to Congress, various, July 14, 2016 [PDF]
• Being Present in this Moment: Climate Justice and Collective Dignity - By Everette R. H. Thompson, 350.org, July 13, 2016
• The Fight Against TTIP: a Green Pyrrhic Victory?  - By Georg Maisser, Green European Journal, July 11, 2016
• How Globalization Divides Us: Perspectives on Brexit from a Dual Citizen - By Kristen Steele, Local Futures, July 9, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• How the Right Wing Denial Machine Distorts the Climate Change Discourse - By Michael Mann, EcoWatch, July 15, 2016
• New Utah Lands Bill Includes Massive Gifts To The Cliven Bundy Land Seizure Movement - By Nicole Gentile and Matt Lee-Ashley, Think Progress, July 15, 2016
• New Rules Could Help Big Oil Escape Scrutiny at Fossil Fuel Auctions - By Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams, July 15, 2016; [related]: Legislation Would Marginalize Public Input on Offshore Fossil Fuel Leases - By Marissa Knodel, et. al., Friends of the Earth, et. al., July 13, 2016
• Lamar “McCarthy 2.0” Smith Subpoenas #ExxonKnew Investigators - By ClimateDenierRoundup, DeSmog Blog, July 14, 2016; [related]: Front Groups Attacking #WebofDenial Senate Action Took Over $92M in Dark, Dirty Money - By Cindy Baxter, Climate Investigations Center, July 14, 2016 | Republicans “Acting at Behest of Big Oil” Trying to Block Investigation of Exxon “Fraud” - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, July 14, 2016 | Republicans Escalate War on Attorneys General Over Exxon Climate Change Probe - By Climate Nexus, EcoWatch, July 14, 2016 | ExxonMobil Is Still Funding Climate Science Denier Groups - By Elliott Negin, EcoWatch, July 13, 2016 | The New Attack On Climate Scientists: Drain Their Funds With Frivolous Lawsuits - By Farron Cousins, DeSmog Blog, July 13, 2016 | How US Senators’ #WebofDenial Helped Spawn and Sustain Climate Science Denial in the UK - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog UK, July 13, 2016 | State Attorneys General Subpoenaed by Rep. Lamar Smith for Exxon Fraud Probe - By David Hasemyer, Inside Climate News, July 13, 2016 | #TimetoCallOut the Impressive McCarthy-Hypocrisy of the #WebofDenial Response - By ClimateDenierRoundup, DeSmog Blog, July 13, 2016
• Can A Once-Respected Science Group Give Up Exxon Funding? It Will Soon Have One More Chance - By Joe Romm, Think Progress, July 13, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• Cloc-Via Campesina Honduras statement on assassination of Lesbia Yaneth Urquía - By Cloc-Via Campesina, La Via Campesina, July 18, 2016 [related]: Murders of Activists Defending Safe Water and Environment Rise Sharply - By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue, July 13, 2016 | This Is Why You Could Lose Your Life Protecting Honduras’ Environment - By Alejandro Davila Fragoso, Think Progress, July 12, 2016
• Fear and uncertainty after Filipina anti-coal activist murder - By Megan Darby, Climate Change News, July 13, 2016; [related]: Murder of Filipina activist symptom of attempt to quash rising tide of anti-coal activism - By Bob Burton, CoalWire, July 13, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, July 12, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• Exxon Is Still Helping Fund The Spread Of Climate Denial - By Natasha Geiling, Think Progress, July 11, 2016; [related]: How Far Will Elected Officials Go to Protect One of World’s Biggest Carbon Polluters? - By Elliott Negin, EcoWatch, July 5, 2016
• Let's not mix xenophobia with legitimate resistance to corporate trade deals - By Linda McQuaig, Rabble.Ca, July 7, 2016
• There is a crisis erupting along Nicaragua's Northern Coast. Here's 5 ways you can help - By Carlos Enrique Maibeth-Mortimer, Intercontinental Cry, July 7, 2016
• Fate of Keystone XL Pipeline Could Be Decided in a Texas Courtroom Before NAFTA Tribunal Considers TransCanada’s Suit - By Julie Dermansky, DeSmog Blog, July 5, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• ExxonMobil: New Disclosures Show Oil Giant Still Funding Climate Science Denial Groups - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, July 8, 2016
• How The Arizona Corporation Commission Turned Anti-Solar In Just A Few Years - By Alex Kotch, DeSmog Blog, July 8, 2016
• Going to Extremes: The Anti-Government Extremism Behind the Growing Movement to Seize America’s Public Lands - By Aaron Weiss, Center for Western Priorities, July 7, 2016; [related]: Utah Representative Rob Bishop Once Again Taking Marching Orders from Oil and Gas Industry - By Jesse Prentice-Dunn, Center for Western Priorities, July 7, 2016 | Busted: Right-wing “environmental research” group uses falsified data to justify state land grab - By Aaron Weiss, Center for Western Priorities, July 5, 2016
• Mysterious EV Company Atieva Hires Climate Change Denying Lobbyist Ben Quayle - By Tina Casey, Clean Technica, July 7, 2016
• Bankrupt Coal Miner Peabody Energy Paid Climate Denialist Craig Idso To Write Greenhouse Gas Reports - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, July 6, 2016
• The Top 10 Garbage Climate Stories From The Koch Brothers’ Favorite Right-Wing Website - By Dee Robbs, Buzzfeed, June 29, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• North Carolina Congressman Wants To Ban EPA Employees From Flying For Work - By Natasha Geiling, Think Progress, July 11, 2016; [related]: Meaningless, Mean-Spirited McCarthyism: Lamar Smith’s Ironic Investigations - By ClimateDenierRoundup, DeSmog Blog, July 10, 2016 | Climate scientists are under attack from frivolous lawsuits - By Lauren Kurtz, Skeptical Science, July 7, 2016
• Jail sentences for 11 in France’s carbon scam of the century - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, July 8, 2016
• Another environmental activist killed in Honduras - By Freddy Cuevas, Washington Post, July 7, 2016; [related]: Violence against environmentalists is now at an all-time high - By Will Potter, Green is the New Red, July 8, 2016 | 'Horrific Human Rights Crime': Another Environmental Activist Slain in Honduras - By Nika Knight, Common Dreams, July 7, 2016
• Six Months After Malheur, Militants and Extremist Lawmakers Renew Land Seizure Efforts - By Aaron Weiss, Center for Western Priorities, July 7, 2016
• What to Do When Russian Commandos Seize Your Ship - By Peter Wilcox, Climate Desk, July 7, 2016
• The Alabama Landfill That Brought Noise, Health Woes, and a Lawsuit - By Kendra Pierre-Louis, Inside Climate News, July 5, 2016

Greenwashers:

• Inside Shell’s PR Strategy To Position Itself As A ‘Net-Zero Emissions’ Leader - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, July 10, 2016
• Green grabs are not the solution to land grabs - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, July 7, 2016
• Back to the Future with Laverne and Shirley: The Trivialisation of the GMO Debate - By Colin Todhunter, CounterPunch, July 6, 2016
• Lochwood Capital: “Your site has comments sections which defame one of my employees” - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, July 6, 2016
• Wisconsin Said Frac Sand Mining Is Safe In A Report That Groups Say Used Industry Data - By Alejandro Davila Fragoso, Think Progress, July 6, 2016
• American Petroleum Institute Forming Climate Change Task Force? - By Justin Mikulka, DeSmog Blog, July 5, 2016
• Rebutting the Latest “Fast Facts” from Delta Tunnels Backers - By staff, Restore the Delta, July 5, 2016
• Open Letter: E.On’s Ambitious Wood Power Station Plans in France Pose Threat to Forests - By Biofuelwatch, Denkhaus Bremen and SOS Forêt du Sud, Global Justice Ecology Project, July 1, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, July 5, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• ANOTHER Corporation Suing Our Government Thanks To Trade Agreements - By Dave Johnson, Campaign for America's Future, June 28, 2016
• Obama Admin Approved Over 1,500 Offshore Fracking Permits in Gulf of Mexico and Mainstream Media Has Ignored It - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 28, 2016; [related]: This Map Shows Where Offshore Fracking Has Occurred in the Gulf of Mexico - By Mike Ludwig, Truthout, June 30, 2016 | Obama Administration Permitted 1,200 Offshore Fracks in Gulf of Mexico - By Kristen Monsell, Center for Biological Diversity, June 28, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Does Exxon Have a Constitutional Right to Deny Climate Change? - By Natalie Schreyer, Climate Desk, July 5, 2016; [related]: Exxon was on the cutting edge of climate science 40 years ago. Watch what happened next: - By Zoë Wong-Weissman, 350.org, June 29, 2016 | Why won’t Exxon publish its 2015 denial funding? - By Cindy Baxter, Climate Investigations Center, June 27, 2016
• SEC Charges "Frack Master" Chris Faulkner, Shale CEO and Industry Advocate, with $80 Million Fraud - By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, July 3, 2016
• Pro-GMO Spin Masquerading as Science Courtesy of "Shameful White Men of Privilege" - By Colin Todhunter, Counterpunch, July 1, 2016; [related]: Genetically Engineered Crops: the Grand and Failed Promise - By Jim Goodman, Counterpunch, July 5, 2016
• 107 Nobel Laureate Attack on Greenpeace Traced Back to Biotech PR Operators - By Jonathan Latham, Counterpunch, July 1, 2016
• Wall St. Journal Shows Why It Is Under Attack For Climate Science Denial By Publishing Another Dodgy Column - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, July 1, 2016
• Public Lands Development Rigged in Favor of Oil and Gas - By Nada Culver, EcoWatch, June 30, 2016
• Fracked Gas LNG Exports Were Centerpiece In Promotion of Panama Canal Expansion, Documents Reveal - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 29, 2016
• Why does the Colombian coal industry need help from a London lobby group? - By Bob Burton, End Coal, June 29, 2016
• High-Level EPA Adviser Accused of Scientific Fraud in Methane Leak Research - By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, June 28, 2016
• Kochs Dump Trump to Fund Climate-Denying Senators in Ohio and Nevada - By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, June 28, 2016
• Benzene technical standards: Why Ontario’s bait and switch approach puts people’s health at risk - By Ian Miran, EcoJustice, June 27, 2016
• No denying it - By Charles Hatt, EcoJustice, June 27, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• Struggling on Dangerous Ground - By staff, 350.org, July 3, 2016
• Guatemala: Diodora’s Resistance to Goldcorp Mine - By Movimiento Mesoamericana Contra el Modelo Extractivo Minero, Translated by Earth First! Journal, July 1, 2016
• Anti-fracking campaigner tells court: “I won’t pay Cuadrilla’s £55k legal bill” - By Ruth Hayhurst, Drill or Drop?, June 24, 2016

Greenwashers:

• A jurisdictional approach will not solve the most serious REDD+ problems - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, July 1, 2016
• Ventura Oil Spill Highlights Big Oil Regulatory Capture - By Dan Bacher, Counterpunch, July 1, 2016
• “Trash and run”: The Melka Group plans to sell its destructive oil palm plantations in Peru - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 30, 2016
• After 6 years of working on climate at Harvard, I implore it to show the courage to divest - By Benjamin Franta, The Guardian, June 29, 2016
• Should North Americans subsidize oil, gas, and coal for another 10 years? - By Alex Doukas, Oil Change International, June 29, 2016
• The Park Service doesn’t need corporate sponsorship. It needs proper funding - By Tom Ribe, High Country News, June 28, 2016; [related]: Rudderless national parks adrift without a compass - By Stephen Duke, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, June 30, 2016
• The World Bank “provisionally” approves the Democratic Republic of Congo’s REDD programme - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 28, 2016

Disaster Capitalism:

• Climate Change’s Growing Impact On People Experiencing Homelessness - By Ryan Koronowski, Think Progress, June 29, 2016
• California: Fires Burn at "Exponential Rates" Amid Blistering Heat Wave and 5-Year Drought - Ken Pimlott interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, June 28, 2016
• Millions exposed to dangerous lead levels in US drinking water, report finds - By Oliver Milman, The Guardian, June 28, 2016; [related]: Dangerous Levels Of Lead Have Been Found In Water Systems Nationwide - By Bryce Covert, Think Progress, June 28, 2016
• Once-in-a-Thousand-Year Flooding Devastates West Virginia, Killing At Least 23 - Bob Henry Baber interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, June 28, 2016

Other News:

• Alaskan Coalition Calls on U.S. to Investigate B.C. Mines - By Judith Lavoie, DeSmog Blog, June 29, 2016
• Environmental Racism is Alive and Well in Grassy Narrows - By Stephen Bede Scharper, Free Grassy Narrows, June 29, 2016
• Java on brink of ecological collapse - By Hans Nicholas Jong and Bambang Muryanto, Jakarta Post, June 24, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 29, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• IEA report says fossil fuels killing three million people a year - By Tim Buckley, REnew Economy, June 27, 2016
• It’s Not Just Crimes Against Nature, It’s Crimes Against People - By Terry Odendahl, EcoWatch, June 22, 2016
• Why some of America’s richest people are living in the middle of nowhere - By Kim Soffen, Washington Post, June 22, 2016
• Scale of climate damages "could dwarf tobacco lawsuits" - By Megan Darby, Climate Change News, June 21, 2016
• Why Mining Corporations Love Trade Deals - By Ben Beachy, Huffington Post, June 21, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Brexiters, Climate Deniers and Trump: A Small World - By ClimateDenierRoundup, Daily Kos, June 27, 2016
• A Brief History of Fossil-Fuelled Climate Denial - By John Cook, The University of Queensland, June 23, 2016
• Australia’s big energy switch: from coal and gas to wind and solar - By Giles Parkinson, Deseret News, June 23, 2016
• How IOGCC Spawned the Lawsuit That Just Overturned BLM Fracking Regulations on Public Lands - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 23, 2016
• U.S. coal giant owed money to Canadian climate change deniers - By Charles Mandel, National Observer, June 16th 2016
• Exxon, Koch Ties May Help Explain Rep. Lamar Smith's Probing Request of "Exxon Knew" Environmental Groups - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 21, 2016
• Oil-Funded Groups Have Spent $2.7 Million To Defeat California Candidates Who Want Climate Action - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, June 21, 2016
• Proposal Sparks Monumental Debate At The Grand Canyon - By Doug Puppel, KNPR, June 21, 2016
• Buzz Kill: How the Pesticide Industry Blocks Bee Protections Nationwide - By Tiffany Finck-Haynes and Christopher D. Cook, EcoWatch, June 20, 2016
• Groups demand federal probe into Utah role in coal port - By Brian Maffley, Salt Lake Tribune, June 20, 2016; [related]: Groups write U.S. Attorney General asking for investigation of coal shipping terminal deal - By Ben Lockhart, Deseret News, June 20, 2016
• Koch Front Groups Are Defending ExxonMobil’s Anti-Science Campaigns - By Connor Gibson, Greenpeace, June 20, 2016
• Western States Petroleum Association wins the prestigious “Scummy” Award - By Dan Bacher, Red, Green, and Blue, June 18, 2016
• Hot Mess: How Radioactive Fracking Waste Wound Up Near Homes And Schools - By Glynis Board, Ohio Valley Resource, June 17, 2016
• Peabody Coal’s Unprecedented Support for Climate Denial - By Aliya Haq, NRDC, June 17, 2016
• Exxon Has No Free Speech Rights to Commit Fraud, say Climate Groups - By Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams, June 17, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• Berta Cáceres's name was on Honduran military hitlist, says former soldier - By Nina Lakhani, The Guardian, June 21, 2016; [related]: Appeal to the world's free people: UAWC condemns the killing of Berta Cáceres - By Union of Agricultural Work Committees, La Via Campesina, June 22, 2016
• 185 Environmental Activists Across 16 Countries Were Killed in 2015 - By Emily J. Gertz, EcoWatch, June 20, 2016; [related]: 2015 Deadliest Year for Environmentalists on Record, Finds Report - By staff, Yale Environment 360, June 20, 2016 

Greenwashers:

• Obama Administration Approved Gulf Fracking During Deepwater Horizon Disaster - By Mike Ludwig, Truthout, June 24, 2016
• Some questions for WWF about its partnership with logging company Rougier in Cameroon - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 22, 2016
• FCA charges five people with £2.75 million boiler room scam, including Michael Nascimento and Jeannine Lewis - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 21, 2016
• Fracking, the Failure of Mainstream Greens and the Corporate Control of U.S. Energy Policy - By Mark Hand, CounterPunch, June 22, 2016 

Disaster Capitalism:

• Railroad blamed for fiery oil train derailment along Columbia River Gorge - By KATU News and Matthew Brown and Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press, KOMO News, June 23, 2016

Other News:

• Sacramento Judge Rules Delta Plan Is "Invalid" - By Dan Bacher, Indybay, June 23, 2016; [related]: C-WIN, Senator Lois Wolk Praise Judge's Decision To Toss Delta Plan - By Dan Bacher, Daily Kos, June 24, 2016
• Movie Review: There’s a Vast Cowspiracy about Climate Change - By Doug Boucher, Union Concerned Scientists, June 10, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 21, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• TISA 'free trade' deal to force draconian social, environmental, financial deregulation - By Pete Dolack, The Ecologist, June 17, 2016
• Oil Train Tank Cars Are Getting Safer But What About The Tracks? - By Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting, June 15, 2016
• UK fracking policy founded on scientific fraud, misrepresentation and prevarication - By Nick Cowern, The Ecologist, June 15, 2016
• Goldman Sachs Just Ate Denmark for Breakfast - By Jonas Schmidt Hansen, Occupy.Com, June 13, 2016
• My Dishwasher Is What’s Wrong With Capitalism - By Peter Dreier, LA Progressive, June 13, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Denialist Blogger Anthony Watts Posts Error Strewn “Aerial Survey” of Climate Scientists’ Homes - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, June 19, 2016
• Exxon Sues MA Attorney General In Retaliatory Attempt To Intimidate ‘Exxon Knew’ Climate Accountability Movement - By Brendan DeMelle, DeSmog Blog, June 16, 2016; [related]: Exxon Sues Second Attorney General In Response To Fraud Investigation - By Sydney Pereira, Think Progress, June 17, 2016
• Were Historical Pictures of Great Barrier Reef Degradation Really Misused, as The Australian Newspaper Claimed? - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, June 16, 2016
• Conservative Funders of Climate Denial Are Quietly Spending Millions To Generate More Partisan Journalism - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, June 15, 2016
• Court Documents Show Peabody Energy Funded Dozens of Climate Denial Groups - By Climate Denier Roundup, EcoWatch, June 14, 2016; [related]: Dirty money bought one coal company a whole lot of denial - By Katie Herzog, Grist, June 14, 2016
• GOP ‘Conservationist’ Running For Senate Has Ties To Companies That Pollute The Environment - By Alejandro Davila Fragoso and Josh Israel, Think Progress, June 14, 2016
• Wall Street Journal Runs Ad Trashing WSJ’s Climate Science Denial - By Joe Romm, Think Progress, June 14, 2016; [related]: Wall Street Journal publishes call for climate action...for cash money - By Katie Herzog, Grist, June 14, 2016
• World’s Biggest Banks Are Driving Climate Change, Pumping Billions Into Extreme Fossil Fuels - By Rainforest Action Network, EcoWatch, June 14, 2016; [related]: Shorting the Climate: Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card 2016 - By Collin Rees, Oil Change International, June 15, 2016; [and]: Green Climate Fund partners condemned for fossil fuel funding - By Ed King, Climate Change News, June 14, 2016
• The Lie That “China Wins” if the TPP Kangaroo Tribunals are Stopped - By William K. Black, New Economic Perspectives, June 5, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• Record number of environmental activists murdered in 2015 - By Megan Darby, Climate Change News, June 20, 2016
• Peaceful protest under attack in Sweden’s climate test - By Melanie Mattauch, 350.org, June 16, 2016
• One Indian killed in Brazil, five wounded as tribal community attacked - By staff, Survival International, June 15, 2016
• Will outrage over recent murders help Honduran environmental activists achieve their goal? - By Victoria Molina, Ensia, June 13, 2016

Greenwashers:

• From the chaos of REDD-plus towards the Bonn Challenge’s maze - By Yvette Aguilar, REDD Monitor, June 17, 2016
• Change The System; Not The Climate - By Asoka Bandarage, The Ecologist, June 16, 2016
• World Bank on REDD in the Democratic Republic of Congo: “Rome wasn’t built in a day” - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 15, 2016; [related]: World Bank on REDD: “We have made great achievements in 2015 and we’re now focussing on implementation” - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 14, 2016  

Disaster Capitalism:

• Deleting the Real Story Behind the Great Canada Fire - By Paul Street, CounterPunch, June 16, 2016; [related]: Gas Stations Close as Fire Rages Near Alberta Oil Sands - By Jan Lee, The Triple Pundit, June 14, 2016 

Other News:

• The human cost of privatization-MARTA Outsourcing Mobility Leaving Workers and Riders Behind - By staff, ATU, June 16, 2016
• Superbugs to kill 10 million a year by 2050 - By James Plested, Red Flag, May 31, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 14, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• In Louisiana Shrimping Communities, Globalization's Effects Imperil US Fishers - By Michael Stein, Truthout, June 12, 2016; [related]: Africatown Supporters Travel to Washington DC in Search of Environmental Justice - By Joe Womack, Bridge the Gulf, June 12, 2016 
• Bridging the Trust Gap in Energy Justice Battles - By Mark Hand, CounterPunch, June 10, 2016
• After Keystone XL: TransCanada Building North American Fracked Gas Pipeline Empire - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 9, 2016
• The Book the Fracking Industry Doesn’t Want You to Read - By Wenonah Hauter, EcoWatch, June 7, 2016
• ‘Free Trade’ Will Kill Progress on Climate Change, 450 Groups Warn Congress - By Nika Knight, Common Dreams, June 6, 2016
• For Oil Industry, Clean Air Fight Was Dress Rehearsal for Climate Denial - By Neela Banerjee, David Hasemyer, and Lisa Song, InsideClimate News, June 6, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Biggest US coal company funded dozens of groups questioning climate change - By Suzanne Goldenberg and Helena Bengtsson, The Guardian, June 13, 2016 [related]: Court Documents Show Coal Giant Peabody Energy Funded Dozens Of Climate Denial Groups - By Farron Cousins, DeSmog Blog, June 13, 2016
• Internal Documents Reveal How MSNBC Show Worked To Promote Fracking - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 13, 2016
• Meet the climate sceptics backing the Brexit campaign - By Ed King, Climate Change News, June 13, 2016
• Fox in Hen House: Online Auctions For Oil and Gas Leases On Public Lands May Be Industry-Owned and Run - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 10, 2016
• How a Senator Turned Exxon Lobbyist Limits Access to His Public University-Based Archives - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 10, 2016
• EU energy chiefs favouring fossil fuel lobbyists, says report - By Megan Darby, Climate Change News, June 9, 2016
• Green PR Firm Secretly Working for Oil and Petrochemical Industry - By Eric de Place and Nick Abraham, Sightline Institute, June 9, 2016
• Revealed: The Brussels Breakfast Lobby Group Exxon and BP Don’t Want You To Know They’re Part Of - By Kyla Mandel, DeSmog UK, June 9, 2016
• The Australian Newspaper Misrepresents Science In Great Barrier Reef Bleaching Editorial, Says Scientist It Quoted - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, June 7, 2016
• This lobbyist denied climate change for ExxonMobil. Now he’ll do it for Trump - By Melissa Cronin, Grist, June 7, 2016
• Peabody's Outlier Gang Couldn't Shoot Straight In Minnesota Carbon Case, Judge Rebuffs Happer, Lindzen, Spencer, Mendelsohn, Bezdek - By John Mashey, DeSmog Blog, June 7, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• Earth Minute: Anne Petermann on “Guardian of the Forests” Movement in Mexico - By staff, Global Justice Ecology Project, June 8, 2016
• Indigenous Forest Defender Illegally Jailed in Mexico - By Rick Kearns, Indian Country Today, June 3, 2016

Greenwashers:

• The thirst for the sea: lack of water and new extractivist markets - Translated by Pietro Casati, Theory Without Borders, June 13, 2016
• CA Officials Want To Allow Oil Industry To Dump Toxic Waste Into Aquifers, Exempt Them From Federal Protection - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, June 12, 2016
• Indigenous Peoples’ rights in the REDD+ Ngoyla-Mintom project in Cameroon - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 10, 2016
• WWF scandal (part 7): WWF teams up with loggers rather than indigenous peoples in Cameroon - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 7, 2016
• Timber Regulating Timber - By Will Parrish, Anderson Valley Advertiser, June 1, 2016

Disaster Capitalism:

• The role of climate change in the Syria crisis: how the media got it wrong - By Alex Randall, New Internationalist, June 10, 2016
• 777 days later, Congress hasn’t lifted a finger for Flint - By Katie Herzog, Grist, June 10, 2016; [related]: Flint: The conditions for riots - By Justin King, The Fifth Column, June 2, 2016
• ‘They Did Everything They Could Have Done’: The Tragedy Of The Oregon Oil Derailment - By Natasha Geiling, Think Progress, June 8, 2016
• Union Pacific Apologizes for “Inconvenience” as Oil Drips Onto Tracks and Trains Resume after Explosion - By Mike M, Portland Rising Tide, June 8, 2016
• Fukushima: Worse Than a Disaster - By Robert Hunziker, CounterPunch, June 7, 2016

Other News:

• Privatizing Public Services: A Free-Market Fiasco - By Gregory N. Heires, The New Crossroads, June 12, 2016
• The Great Unraveling: Oil, Gas and the Future of Colorado - By Philip Doe, CounterPunch, June 8, 2016
• Texas consumers pay more in deregulated electricity markets, study says - By Jordan Blum, FuelFix, June 8, 2016
• The fight against TTIP is not over ‘till it’s over - By Tony Burke, Left Foot Forward, June 6, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

By Paul Stevens - Energy, Environment and Resources, May 5, 2016

The future of the major international oil companies (IOCs) – BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total – is in doubt. The business model that sustained them during the 20th century is no longer fit for purpose. As a result, they are faced with the choice of managing a gentle decline by downsizing or risking a rapid collapse by trying to carry on business as usual.

Most commentary on the IOCs’ problems has focused on the recent fall in oil prices and the growing global commitment to tackle climate change. Important though these are, the source of their predicament is not confined to such recent developments over which they have no control. Their problems are more numerous, run deeper and go back further. The prognosis for the IOCs was already grim before governments became serious about climate change and the oil price collapsed.

Read the report (Link).

By Dan Bacher - IndyBay, July 27, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The biggest, most explosive story in California environmental politics is the capture of the regulatory apparatus by the regulated, but you wouldn’t know it if you rely on the mainstream media for your information.

While corporate agribusiness, the timber industry, insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry and other corporate interests spend many millions of dollars every year on lobbying and campaigning in California, Big Oil is the largest, most powerful corporate lobby in Sacramento.

No industry has done a better job of capturing the regulatory apparatus than Big Oil. The oil industry exerts inordinate influence over the regulators by using a small fraction of the billions of dollars in profits it makes every year to lobby state officials and fund political campaigns.

Big Oil spent an amazing $266 million influencing California politics from 2005 to 2014, according to an analysis of California Secretary of State data by StopFoolingCA.org, an online and social media public education and awareness campaign that highlights oil companies’ efforts to “mislead and confuse Californians.”

The industry spent $112 million of this money on lobbying and the other $154 million on political campaigns.

2014 was the biggest year-ever for Big Oil spending on lobbying and campaigns. The oil industry spent a combined total of 38,653,186 for lobbying and campaigns in 2014. That is a 129 percent increase from the 2013 total of $16,915,226!

The top lobbyists in the oil industry during this 10-year-period were:

• Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA): $50,111,867
• Chevron: $23,442,629
• BP: $6,788,261
• Shell: $4,536,112
• Occidental: $4,315,817

The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), an oil industry trade association that every year tops the list of spenders among the state’s lobbying groups, spent a record $8.9 million on lobbying in 2014, nearly double what it spent in the previous year. WSPA spent $4.67 million in 2013.

WSPA spent much of its lobbying money on stopping a fracking moratorium bill in the Legislature and trying to undermine California’s law to lower greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

The group also successfully opposed legislation by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson to protect the Vandenberg State Marine Reserve and the Tranquillon Ridge from offshore oil drilling plans. In a bizarre scenario that could only take place in the "green" state of California, Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the President of WSPA and Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create questionable “marine protected areas” in Southern California, lobbied against marine protection in a "marine protected area" that she helped to create!

But for all of the millions WSPA and the oil companies spend every year on lobbying, they dumped even more money, $154 million, into political campaigns during the ten-year-period.

By Dan Bacher - Daily Kos, May 25, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The same region devastated by the Santa Barbara Oil Spill of 1969 is now the scene of a massive clean up of crude oil by the state and federal governments and volunteers. The international and national media have spread throughout the world the startling images of the oil soaked beaches, birds, fish and ecosystem in a deluge of TV, radio, newspaper and internet reports.

The oil spill resulted from the rupture of an oil pipeline owned by Plains Pipeline, a subsidiary of Plains All-American Pipeline, near Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County on Tuesday, May 19. A 24-inch wide, 11-mile long section carrying oil from offshore platforms and an Exxon Mobil processing plant onshore leaked as much as 105,000 gallons of crude oil. An estimated 21,000 gallons made into the ocean, devastating nine miles of coastal waters and beaches.    

The oil spill that began off Refugio State Beach was inevitable, when you consider the capture of the regulatory apparatus by the oil industry in California. Until people challenge the power of Big Oil in California and the industry's control over the state and federal regulatory agencies, we will see more of the Refugio-type of oil spill disasters in the future.

During the privately funded Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative process from 2004 to 2012, state officials and corporate "environmental" NGOs made sure that Big Oil and other corporate polluters weren't impacted by the creation of alleged "marine protected areas" along the California coast. The MLPA Initiative, a controversial "public-private partnership" between the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation (RLFF), was supposed to create a network of "marine protected areas" along the California coast.

In an article published widely in June 2010, I warned that the "marine protected areas" created under the MLPA Initiative don't protect the ocean from oil spills and pollution. (http://yubanet.com/...)

"These marine protected areas, as currently designed, don't protect against oil spills," said Sara Randall, then the program director of the Institute for Fishery Resources and Commercial Fishermen of America. "What's the point of developing marine protected areas if they don't protect the resources?"

MLPA Initiative advocates claimed that other state and federal laws and administrative actions "protect" the ocean from oil spills and new offshore oil drilling, so there was no need for specific bans or restrictions on oil industry activities in and near "marine protected areas."  

In violation of the provisions of the landmark Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) of 1999, the "marine protected areas" failed to protect the ocean from oil spills, oil drilling, pollution, military testing, corporate aquaculture, military testing and all human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and gathering.  

Of course, MLPA Initiative advocates neglected to address why Catherine Reheis-Boyd, the President of the Western States Petroleum Association in Sacramento, was allowed to CHAIR the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force for the South Coast and to sit on the task forces for the Central Coast, North Central Coast and North Coast, as well as on a NOAA federal marine protected areas panel. (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/...)

They dismissed any questioning of why a Big Oil lobbyist was allowed to oversee "marine protection" in California as "wild conspiracy theories."

To make matters even worse, the WSPA President's husband, James Boyd, served on the California Energy Commission from 2002 to 2012. From 2007 to 2012, he served as the Commission's Vice Chair, the second most powerful position on the Commission! (http://www.energy.ca.gov/...)  

However, as we can see from the current oil spill disaster off the coast of Santa Barbara, the state and federal regulatory agencies and the MLPA Initiative's so-called "marine protected areas" weren't able to prevent a big oil spill like the one now taking place from occurring - and the fishermen, Tribal members and grassroots environmentalists who criticized oil industry lobbyist oversight of the MLPA Initiative process were absolutely right about their fears that the new "Yosemites of the Sea" wouldn't protect the ocean.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, March 19, 2015; image by Jon Flanders

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• Register now for the Future of Railroads: Safety, Workers, Community & the Environment Conference: Olympia, Washington (March 21, 2015) - railroadconference.org
• Florida’s Climate Change Gag Order Claims Its First Victim - By Farron Cousins, DeSmog Blog, March 18, 2015
• A Rational Agriculture Is Incompatible with Capitalism - By Fred Magdoff, Monthly Review, March 2015
• Who Controls Our Food? - By Nick Dearden, New Internationalist, March 4, 2015

USW Refinery Workers Strike News:

• After 6-Week Strike, Oil Workers Say They Have “Won Vast Improvements in Safety and Staffing” - By David Moberg, In These Times, March 16, 2015
• All across Australia, solidarity with USW oil workers - United Steelworkers, March 17, 2015
• Holding the line against Big Oil - By Lee Sustar, Socialist Worker, March 18, 2015
• Minor fire extinguished at Shell Martinez, Calif. refinery - Reuters, March 13, 2015
• New Fire At Troubled Exxon Refinery Quickly Extinguished -By Sacha Feinman, Think Progress, March 12, 2015
• Refinery deal struck, Bay Area gasoline prices set to fall - By George Avalos, Bay Area News Group, March 13, 2015
• Solidarity in the heartland: Chicago Fight for $15 joins striking BP oil workers on the picketline - By Bob Simpson, Daily Kos, March 13, 2015
• Striking Motiva workers approve contract - By Sarah Scully, Houston Chronicle, March 16, 2015
• Striking oil workers emerge victorious thanks in part to green group solidarity - By Kate Aronoff, Waging Nonviolence, March 13, 2015
• Striking refinery employees could come back to work by end of March - By Andrea Rumbaugh, FuelFix, March 18, 2015
• Striking workers days away from returning to plants - By Sarah Scully, Houston Chronicle, March 16, 2015
• U.S. Refinery Strikes Now Turn to Local Negotiations - By Lynn Doan and Barbara Powell, Bloomberg, March 12, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Bakken Oil: The Anarchy of the Market - By Richard Mellor, We Know What's Up, March 17, 2015 [editor's note: the IWW EUC does not endorse the article writer's definition of "anarchy", so please do not send us angry letters!]
• Carbo Ceramics cuts jobs, dividend as oil plunges - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, March 17, 2015
• ConocoPhillips to lay off 200 Canadian workers - By Robert Grattan, FuelFix, March 18, 2015
• Evacuate the Economy (or By the Way, Your Home Is On Fire) - By Rebecca Solnit, Common Dreams, March 11, 2015
• Faces of Coal - By Nuck Mullins, The Thoughtful Coal Miner, March 17, 2015
• Global Wave of New Coal Plants is Going Bust, New Report Finds - By Mary Anne Hitt and Nicole Ghio, The Sierra Club, March 16, 2015
• Legendary Coal Miner Says We Must Stop the Insane Practice of Mountaintop Removal - By Jeff Biggers, EcoWatch, March 16, 2015
• Oil producer Nexen cuts workforce by 400 - By Ryan Holeywell, FuelFix, March 17, 2015
• Texas Oil/Gas Industry Barometer Falling; Job Losses Climbing - By Joe Fisher, NGI Shale Daily, March 13, 2015

Health and Safety:

• America is literally on fire: How out-of-control oil spills are destroying our population centers - By David Dayen, Salon, March 10, 2015
• Amid Evidence of Illnesses, Activists Call on Electronics Industry to Boost Workplace Safety - By Nicki Lisa Cole, Truthout, March 17, 2015
• Cement-factory roof collapses in Bangladesh, dozens feared trapped - By Julhas Alam, Associated Press, March 12, 2015
• Dangerous Trains, Aging Rails - By Marcus Stern, New York Times, March 12, 2015
• Oilfield safety a concern as companies cut costs during downturn - Bloomberg, March 12, 2015
• Friday the 13th Nightmare for Workers on Chevron’s Barrow Island - By Ashleigh Telford, Maritime Union of Australia, March 13, 2015
• Kelowna man dies fracking - By Bill Everitt, Kelowna News, March 12, 2015
• Linc Energy alleged to have exposed workers to dangerous gases at experimental plant near Chinchilla, west of Brisbane - By Mark Willacy and Mark Solomons, Australian Broadcasting Company News, March 17, 2015
• McDonald’s Workers Nationwide File OSHA Complaints Alleging Hazardous Work Conditions - By Jennifer Baker, Revolution News, March 17, 2015
• Rail workers initiate forums to discuss fight for safety - By Jack Parker and Jim Altenberg, The Militant, March 23, 2015
• 10 Reasons Why BP Got Off and Offshore Oil Drilling Just Got More Dangerous - By Antonia Juhasz, Rolling Stone, March 12, 2015
• A Terrible, Terrible Choice; Gulf of Mexico Oil Industry Veteran Speaks Out - By Cherri Foytlin, Bridge the Gulf, March 13, 2015
• Union alleges Kitimat smelter emissions turn residents into 'guinea pigs' - The Canadian Press, March 17, 2015
• Union warnings of lethal overcrowding ignored - By RMT Press Office, RMT.ORG, March 13, 2015

Other News:

• Building people power before the Paris climate summit - By Jeremy Brecher, Waging Nonviolence, March 5, 2015
• Seattle doesn’t want Shell’s stinkin’ Arctic drilling fleet - By Ana Sofia Knauf, Grist, March 5, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC