oil
In Pennsylvania, Home to the Nation’s First Oil Well, Environmental Activists Stage a ‘People’s Filibuster’ at the Bustling State Capitol
HARRISBURG, Pa.—In the East Wing of the ornate Pennsylvania State Capitol, Karen Feridun stood at a simple podium and read an essay aloud as part of what she and other environmental activists were calling a “People’s Filibuster.” “We are here to remind you that you serve us, not the fossil fuel industry,” Feridun read into […]
Read MoreEduardo Mendúa, Ecuadorian Who Fought Oil Extraction on Indigenous Land, Is Shot to Death
Eduardo Mendúa, an Indigenous activist who was fighting to protect Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest from oil extraction, has been killed by gunmen, the Indigenous organization CONAIE reports. Mendúa, the director of international relations for CONAIE, or the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, and a member of the A’i Cofan people, was part of a group […]
Read MoreQ&A: California Drilling Setback Law Suspended by Oil Industry Ballot Maneuver. The Law’s Author Won’t Back Down
State Sen. Lena Gonzalez had a lot to celebrate at a press conference last fall when California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a sweeping package of bills to accelerate the state’s transition to clean energy. As California moves toward a fossil fuel-free future, “it’s imperative that Latino, Black, Indigenous and other communities of color know that […]
Read MoreCalifornia Activists Redouble Efforts to Hold the Oil Industry Accountable on Neighborhood Drilling
By all appearances, California environmental justice leaders should be taking a victory lap to celebrate recent laws and policies designed to rein in oil industry pollution and profiteering. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors officially approved an ordinance, unanimously passed in September, to prohibit new oil and gas wells and phase out […]
Read MoreTexas Regulators Won’t Stop an Oilfield Waste Dump Site Next to Wetlands, Streams and Wells
PAXTON, Texas—In the depths of the Piney Woods, a landfill developer wants to build an oil sector dumpsite some 500 yards from this small town’s wells. In Paxton, water lies just a few feet below ground. Ponds and wetlands dot the boggy forests. The East Texas town, population 850, has plenty to drink. But residents […]
Read MoreArmy Corps of Engineers Withdraws Approval of Plans to Dredge a Superfund Site on the Texas Gulf Coast for Oil Tanker Traffic
The Army Corps of Engineers has reversed its decision to dredge the Matagorda Bay Ship Channel through a federal Superfund site on the Texas coast midway between Galveston and Corpus Christi. The withdrawal of the Army’s 2020 ruling, announced in a court filing last week, follows a legal challenge this year by Earthjustice, an environmental […]
Read MoreFracking Waste Gets a Second Look to Ease Looming West Texas Water Shortage
Fracked wells in West Texas don’t just produce petroleum. Much more than anything else, they spit up salty, mucky water. Typically, companies have discarded that fluid, hundreds of millions of gallons per day, by injecting it back underground, occasionally causing small earthquakes. But as water becomes more scarce, they’re beginning to reconsider. For now, hydraulic […]
Read MoreTheir Lives Were Ruined by Oil Pollution, and a Court Awarded Them $9.5 Billion. But Ecuadorians Have Yet to See a Penny From Chevron
Steven Donziger is back in his airy mid-century modern apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, engaged over Zoom on a marketing call with a representative of the online publishing platform Substack. Back and forth, they wrestle with a complicated question—who is Steven Donziger—and quickly realize there is no easy answer. Donziger is a […]
Read MorePetition Circulators Are Telling California Voters that a Ballot Measure Would Ban New Oil and Gas Wells Near Homes. In Fact, It Would Do the Opposite
Beth Harvey had just finished grocery shopping when someone asked her to sign a petition outside a Trader Joe’s in an affluent Oakland neighborhood. The petition would keep oil companies from drilling near homes, schools and other sensitive sites, the canvasser told her. “I was relying on what he said,” Harvey recalled. “I was putting […]
Read MoreBiden Administration Quietly Approves Huge Oil Export Project Despite Climate Rhetoric
The Biden administration has approved plans to build the nation’s largest oil export terminal off the Gulf Coast of Texas, which would add 2 million barrels per day to the U.S. oil export capacity. The approval by the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration was filed in the federal register on Monday without any public announcement, […]
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