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Big Tech Joins Big Oil In Ruining Summer

July 17, 2026 Clara Vondrich, DeSmog. , , ,
More than a century ago, Czech writer Karel Čapek invented the word “robot” for his play R.U.R., Rossum’s Universal Robots, about a factory that churned out humanoid machines whose mission was to liberate real people from work. Instead, the robots fomented a rebellion and killed off the human race.  Some version of this tale has played out in dozens of books and movies ever since. Now, with the runaway expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and the data centers needed to feed its insatiable maw, we will have the dubious privilege of seeing if life imitates art.

Campaigners Disrupt Event Demanding Venues Stop Hosting Fossil Fuel Firms

July 16, 2026 The Canary. , , ,
Amidst the third heat storm of this year, campaigners demanded an end to London venues hosting events for fossil fuel companies. Fossil Free London campaigners disrupted inside the QEII Centre in Westminster while the venue hosted its annual Summer Showcase. This is an invitation-only event marketed to the events industry where companies can find suitable locations for their corporate events. In protest over London venues hosting oil and gas events, five campaigners entered the 40th birthday party event at the QEII Centre and disrupted the event. They requested to give a birthday speech within the DJ booth.

Exxon’s Lawyer Joining DOJ Division That Dubs Itself ‘Nation’s Largest Environmental Law Firm’

July 14, 2026 Rachel Santarsiero, DeSmog. , , , ,
“In one of the executive orders, President Trump described the coal industry as beautiful,” said Robert L. Levy, ExxonMobil’s executive counsel, at a 2025 event organized by the Federalist Society.  “No such reference to the beauty of the oil and gas side of the industry,” he went on, “but we are very appreciative of the support that the administration has given.” Now Levy is poised to help lead the Trump administration’s efforts to protect companies like Exxon from climate lawsuits. In a mid-June social media post, Levy announced that he was leaving his job at Exxon to take an environmental litigation role at the Justice Department, in a division that calls itself the nation’s environmental lawyer and the largest environmental law firm in the country

Colorado Cut $11.4 Million In Penalties For Oil Firms Submitting Fake Cleanup Data

July 9, 2026 Sarah Hofmann, DeSmog. , , , ,
After a nearly two-year inquiry, Colorado’s Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) approved deals allowing firms owned by its largest oil and gas companies to avoid the majority of assessed penalties for falsified data submitted by their contractors. Collectively, the oil firms stand to pay roughly $2 million, less than 15 percent of the original millions in proposed penalties. ECMC’s lone dissenting commissioner called the fraudulent data a “deep violation of the public trust.” Christiaan van Woudenberg, an Erie, Colorado, resident turned anti-fracking activist who works with community groups like Erie Protectors, likewise criticized the agreements.

To Protect Its Drinking Water, City Has To Appeal To Oil Regulators

June 30, 2026 Nick Bowlin and Al Shaw, Pro Publica. , , , ,
Down a dirt road in northwest Oklahoma, only a few hundred yards from where the city of Enid draws its drinking water, a company injects the toxic byproduct of oil production deep underground. That close proximity violates a state rule meant to protect public groundwater supplies from oil field wastewater, which can be saltier than the sea and laden with toxic metals. Injection operations are banned within a half-mile of public water wells unless regulators hold a hearing to ensure that such activity will not pollute the water. 

Colorado Gave $1.3 Billion Carve-Out To Oil Companies

June 3, 2026 Joe Fassler, DeSmog. , , ,
When Christiaan van Woudenberg moved to Erie, Colorado in 2007, he never imagined he’d become an anti-fracking activist. He simply thought he was buying his dream home — a four-bedroom with a panoramic mountain view, 30 minutes north of downtown Denver.  Then, in 2014, the drilling started. Oil and gas rigs sprang up, some just 800 feet from his bedroom window. The dream turned to nightmare: Loud noises rumbled all night long, and the air stank like exhaust. Neighbors started getting headaches and nosebleeds, and van Woudenberg developed new respiratory issues. He kept his windows shut and worried about his daughters going outside. 

Lockout At Largest Inland Oil Refinery Continues

March 28, 2026 Matthew Gutowski, People's World. , , ,
Whiting, IN—A fire is burning in Whiting, Indiana. At midnight on March 19, some 800 Steelworker union members at the largest inland oil refinery in the United States were locked out of the expansive facility south of Chicago on the shore of Lake Michigan. The lockout was the culmination of a months-long negotiation between USW Local 7-1 and multinational energy giant BP. United Steelworkers represents workers across various industries including oil, steel, glass, and other energy producing industries. Since the lockout, picket lines are positioned at each entrance to the facility.

Big Oil Knew It Was Wrecking Louisiana’s Coast

March 17, 2026 Emily Sanders, DeSmog. , , , ,
Scott Eustis is doing what he can to keep Louisiana afloat. As a veteran wetland and fisheries researcher and lifelong resident, he says he is sure of what caused the damage to the state’s delicate marshlands and drowning coast: the oil drilling that employed his grandfather decades prior. “My granddad worked for these companies,” said Eustis. “If he were still alive, he would tell you, straight up: They owe us the land.”  For a century, oil companies dredged canals through coastal wetlands, dissecting marshes to get to and from wells, and dumped toxic wastewater into marshes and unlined earthen pits. Those wells, canals, pits, and leftover pollution were largely abandoned.

Iran War Described As ‘Biggest Opportunity’ At US Oil Lobby Summit

February 14, 2026 Max Blumenthal, The Grayzone. , , ,
When the American Petroleum Institute (API) gathered oil industry leaders and lobbyists for a “State of American Energy” summit on January 16, 2026, the geopolitical landscape seemed to be shifting dramatically in their favor. However, an attendee of the resource extraction cartel’s most important annual lobbying conference told The Grayzone that participants privately grumbled about President Donald Trump’s heavy-handed attempts to steer their agenda, particularly in Venezuela, where he has demanded they immediately restart operations.

Michigan, The Auto State, Is Suing Big Oil

February 8, 2026 Emily Sanders, ExxonKnews. , , , ,
Imagine, if you will, a parallel universe. The state of Michigan, home of America’s auto industry, is a thriving hub for electric vehicles. They are not “a fringe technology or a luxury alternative,” but rather, “a common sight in every neighborhood — rolling off assembly lines in Flint, parked in driveways in Dearborn, charging outside grocery stores in Grand Rapids, and running quietly down Woodward Avenue.” That Michigan could have existed by now, a new lawsuit brought by state Attorney General Dana Nessel argues, if four major oil companies and their biggest trade group hadn’t conspired to block it for decades.

ExxonMobil Moves To Reshape Global Climate Accounting

January 26, 2026 Sharon Kelly, DeSmog. , , ,
“Pollution is everybody’s business,” Imperial Oil, Exxon’s Canadian affiliate, wrote in a 1970 report, “because essentially all of it results from the activities of men working to satisfy the needs and desires of men.” Fast forward over a half century and Imperial’s old argument is taking a new form. Today, ExxonMobil is seeking to upend how carbon emissions are accounted for — by changing the rules of the game. An ExxonMobil-backed initiative, Carbon Measures, is pushing to reshape how the world does the math on climate change. Their system, outside analysts point out, leaves consumers holding the bag.

Oil Executives Rebuff Trump’s Demands For Investment In Venezuela

January 11, 2026 News Desk, The Cradle. , , , ,
At a meeting at the White House on 9 January, the CEOs of major US energy firms expressed skepticism about participating in President Donald Trump’s scheme to invest $100 billion to “revive” Venezuela’s sanctions-battered oil sector. The meeting took place one week after US Special Forces abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and transferred them to New York to stand trial on trumped-up “narco-terrorism” charges. After abducting Maduro, Trump said the US would “take over” Venezuela’s oil reserves, which are considered the largest in the world.

Campaigners Disrupt Oil Executive Awards Dinner In London

December 4, 2025 The Canary. , , ,
To highlight damage caused by the oil and gas industry, campaigners from Fossil Free London interrupted the World Energy Council Assembly’s dinner at the Hilton in Mayfair on 3 December. Oil and gas executives had gathered to present and receive industry “achievement awards”. Award nominees and attendees included Shell, BP, and Ithaca Energy. Campaigners chanted “no awards for climate criminals”, as they were dragged out of the building by security. The protest comes after devastating flooding has killed at least 1,250 people across much of southeast Asia in recent days.

How Exxon Exported Climate Denial To The Global South

November 4, 2025 Geoff Dembicki, DeSmog. , , , ,
In early September, the Danish climate crisis denier Bjørn Lomborg travelled to São Paulo to deliver a stark warning. On the sidelines of a conference called the Forum Caminhos da Liberdade, happening just as Brazil was gearing up to host annual global climate talks (known as “COP30”) in November, Lomborg claimed that if implemented poorly, government efforts to address climate change could “destroy economic growth.” Lomborg had some behind-the-scenes assistance to help his message land, because one of the top 2025 sponsors of the conference (whose speakers in previous years have included Silicon Valley billionaire and Donald Trump ally Peter Thiel), was Atlas Network, a United States-based worldwide coalition of more than 500 free-market think tanks and allied partners.

Fast Tracking A Pipeline To BC’s Coast Will Undermine Canada’s Security

July 16, 2025 Mitch Anderson, DeSmog. , , , ,
“Now the real work starts.” These words from Prime Minister Mark Carney marked the rapid passage of Bill C-5, which grants sweeping powers to his cabinet to fast-track infrastructure projects. While his recent meeting with Canada’s premiers was described as a love-in, the love may be short lived if certain powerful industries don’t get the pony they thought they were promised. I speak of course of the oil patch and their relentless demands for more pipelines, whether they are needed or not. The long-dead Northern Gateway proposal to B.C.’s north coast seems to be top of the fossil fuel wish list, backed up by recent comments from Carney. 
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