The Lies of Coal and Oil Companies Cost Lives
Every time I see those clean coal or oil company commercials for Chevron, I grit my teeth.
What a pack of lies.
Clean coal is a myth. Check here, here, or here. And companies such as Chevron try and polish their terrible environmental record.
Prior to the recent mining disaster in West Virginia that killed 29 miners, an avoidable tragedy by a deliberately negligent company,
there was the Sago mining disaster of 2006 a mine that was also a death trap.
And then there is the deep well oil rig blast in Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday with 11 workers missing and presumed dead, which the NYTimes reported "may also serve as a disturbing reminder to states like Florida that offshore drilling holds environmental risks, even though the industry has long claimed that big spills are a thing of the past and that improved technologies have lowered the chances of spillage." Maritime authorities were unable to determine at what rate crude oil was pouring into the sea.
But, as the Wonk Room reports: "The oil rig which exploded off the Louisiana coast on Wednesday, a tragic reminder of why the movement that mobilized forty years ago for Earth Day is still so necessary, has now sunk below the waves in a fiery grave, potentially spilling thousands of gallons of oil underwater. Hope for the eleven men left missing in the explosion has now grown slim. Grist’s Jonathan Hiskes notes that this comes within weeks of:
"Heritage Foundation: Thanks to technological advances, offshore energy production has become very safe, as is witnessed by the excellent record of recent years.
"Consumer Energy Alliance: The federal government must recognize the tremendous economic opportunity that safe and responsible offshore energy exploration presents to the citizens of coastal Atlantic states and the nation at large.
"These lies cost lives."
What a pack of lies.
Clean coal is a myth. Check here, here, or here. And companies such as Chevron try and polish their terrible environmental record.
Prior to the recent mining disaster in West Virginia that killed 29 miners, an avoidable tragedy by a deliberately negligent company,
there was the Sago mining disaster of 2006 a mine that was also a death trap.
And then there is the deep well oil rig blast in Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday with 11 workers missing and presumed dead, which the NYTimes reported "may also serve as a disturbing reminder to states like Florida that offshore drilling holds environmental risks, even though the industry has long claimed that big spills are a thing of the past and that improved technologies have lowered the chances of spillage." Maritime authorities were unable to determine at what rate crude oil was pouring into the sea.
But, as the Wonk Room reports: "The oil rig which exploded off the Louisiana coast on Wednesday, a tragic reminder of why the movement that mobilized forty years ago for Earth Day is still so necessary, has now sunk below the waves in a fiery grave, potentially spilling thousands of gallons of oil underwater. Hope for the eleven men left missing in the explosion has now grown slim. Grist’s Jonathan Hiskes notes that this comes within weeks of:
"The cold reality is that fossil fuel production, just like its combustion, is neither clean nor safe, despite the endless propaganda from the mouthpieces of Big Oil and King Coal [such as]:– The awful coal-mine explosion that killed 29 men under the criminal safety record of Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship.
– The crash of a coal freighter into the fragile Great Barrier Reef as it tried to take a shortcut from Australian mines to Chinese furnaces.
– The Tesoro oil refinery explosion that killed five workers in Washington state.
– The spillage of 18,000 gallons of crude oil from a Chevron into a canal in the Delta National Wildlife Refuge, also in Louisiana.
"Heritage Foundation: Thanks to technological advances, offshore energy production has become very safe, as is witnessed by the excellent record of recent years.
"Consumer Energy Alliance: The federal government must recognize the tremendous economic opportunity that safe and responsible offshore energy exploration presents to the citizens of coastal Atlantic states and the nation at large.
"These lies cost lives."
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