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Fossil Fuels

Big Oil Pays $192 Million To Extract Fossil Fuels From The Gulf

November 19, 2021 Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch. , , ,
The Biden administration went through with the largest offshore oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history Wednesday. In the controversial sale, major fossil-fuel companies including ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron and BP bid a total of $192 million for the rights to drill a stretch of the Gulf of Mexico that is about double the size of Florida, The AP reported. The amount offered is the second-highest total since bidding resumed in the Gulf of Mexico in 2017. The Biden administration has been widely criticized for allowing the sale to proceed even after President Joe Biden promised U.S. climate action during the COP26 talks in Glasgow.

Judge Keeps Oil Pipeline Case In Federal Court

November 18, 2021 John Flesher, Indian Country Today. , , ,
A federal judge retained jurisdiction Tuesday in a dispute over a Canadian oil pipeline that runs through a section of the Great Lakes, rejecting Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's contention that the case belongs in state court. The clash over whether Enbridge Energy's Line 5 should continue operating raises issues “under consideration at the highest levels of this country's government” involving a U.S.-Canada treaty and federal pipeline safety regulation, U.S. District Judge Janet Neff ruled. The matter "is properly in federal court,” she wrote in a 15-page opinion that drew praise from Enbridge. Whitmer's office expressed disappointment and environmentalists ramped up pressure on President Joe Biden to intervene.

Shell Is Tricking Drivers With Its Carbon Neutral Campaign

November 15, 2021 Cloe Logan, National Observer. , , ,
The advertisements are for Shell Canada’s Drive Carbon Neutral program, which launched in November 2020. A company press release said from Dec. 31, 2020 onwards, customers at its pumps can contribute two cents per litre to various carbon offset projects. That program and its claims of carbon neutrality will be challenged Wednesday when environmental group Greenpeace is set to file a complaint to the Competition Bureau of Canada. The group argues the Drive Carbon Neutral program is greenwashing and is therefore tricking customers into participating in an initiative with false claims, which it says goes against the Competition Act: a federal law governing the majority of business conduct in the country.

Rally Calls For ISO To Fix The Grid In New England

November 15, 2021 Community Action Works, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Dozens of people gathered in Holyoke, Massachusetts to protest the New England electric system operator, known as ISO-NE, for ignoring public concerns and hampering the transition from dirty fossil fuels to clean solar and wind power. One speaker, Nathan Phillips, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University, summed up the prevailing spirit, “It's time for ISO to declare independence from our fossil fueled energy system and operate differently, with the urgency our climate crisis demands.” Mirelle Bejjani of Community Action Works said, “We’re having this rally because the electric system in the Northeast needs to be powered by renewable energy and the steps decision-makers are proposing are too little too late.”

Researchers Urge World Leaders At COP26 To Act On Science

November 14, 2021 Bob Berwyn, Inside Climate News. , , , ,
Glasgow, Scotland - As COP26 delegates went into overtime Friday night, shaping the language of their final climate communiques into something all 197 countries could agree on, scientists from around the world issued their latest, and perhaps starkest warning.  “We, climate scientists, stress that immediate, strong, rapid, sustained and large-scale actions are necessary to hold global warming to well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C,” they wrote in a Nov. 11 letter to the conference. More than 200 scientists from every continent signed the letter to remind delegates at the conference that there’s no negotiating with science, said Sonia Seniveratne, a climate researcher with ETH Zürich and lead author of the latest climate science report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

After COP26, Biden Under Fire For ‘Failing To Act On Fossil Fuels’

November 14, 2021 Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams. , , ,
As climate campaigners worldwide on Saturday slammed the United Nations summit in Scotland and its resulting Glasgow Climate Pact as betrayals of the Global South by rich countries that have polluted the planet, U.S. President Joe Biden faced growing pressure to improve both his national and global policies. The fresh demands built on previous comments and calls throughout COP26—such as a Friday statement Food & Water Watch, whose policy director Mitch Jones said that "this White House should fulfill its campaign promise to stop oil and gas drilling on public lands, put an end to oil and gas exports, and stop approving new dirty energy power plants and pipelines."

Judge Allows Testimony On Impacts Of Climate Change And Role Of Banks

November 13, 2021 Walk for Our Grandchildren, Popular Resistance. , , ,
In a trial that took place on the last scheduled day of the COP 26 global climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Judge Kerry Taylor allowed the 11 pro se defendants who last June sat in rocking chairs in the main thoroughfare in front of JP Morgan Chase Bank’s credit card headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, to submit testimony about the climate crisis and the role of banks in funding it. Defendants pursued a “choice of evils” strategy, which under Delaware law allows someone to break the law to prevent a greater “imminent” harm.  The prosecutor, who was the arresting officer, kept asking defendants who took the witness stand how their blocking the road prevented “imminent” harm that would justify the inconvenience to motorists who were delayed for a short time.

Indigenous Campaigners Demand JPMorgan End Fossil Fuel Finance

November 12, 2021 Phoebe Cooke, DeSmog Blog. , , ,
Glasgow, Scotland — Indigenous activists on Wednesday staged a protest outside JPMorgan Chase headquarters in central Glasgow as pressure on banks to halt oil and gas extraction grows. A crowd of over a hundred chanted “enough is enough” and “shame on you” outside the American multinational bank’s office building, just over a mile from where crucial talks at the COP26 climate conference are currently taking place. JPMorgan Chase is the world’s biggest financier of fossil fuels, according to environmental organisations. In 2020 the bank pledged to end fossil fuel loans for Arctic oil drilling and phase out loans for coal mining. However, a recent report shows the bank provided £230 billion in support for fossil fuels between 2016-2020.

Campaign To Shut Down New England’s Last Coal Plant Is Doing ‘What Must Be Done’ For The Planet

November 11, 2021 Arnie Alpert , Waging Nonviolence. , , ,
There’s one form of power that’s generated when hot water turns turbines to create electricity. There are other forms of power held by investors, property owners and regulatory agencies. And then there’s people power, which can be harnessed to affect decisions of investors, property owners and regulatory agencies — such that fossil fuel-burning operations cease running. That’s what the No Coal No Gas campaign seeks to do with its focus on shutting down New England’s last coal-burning power plant, Merrimack Station in Bow, New Hampshire. No Coal No Gas, which launched its first protest against the power plant in 2019, returned to Bow on Oct. 3 for a day of mass action. In addition to a rally on an adjacent ballfield and a flotilla of “kayaktivists” in the Merrimack River, campaign members planted gardens on company property, including a bed hacked out with pickaxes in the middle of an access road. 

Glasgow First Draft Text Revealed

November 9, 2021 Greenpeace International. , , ,
Glasgow, Scotland – The first draft of the Glasgow final decision text at COP26 completely fails to mention fossil fuels, despite expert consensus on the need to end new coal, oil and gas immediately to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement 1.5C goal. Thanks to blocking by fossil fuel interests, the first version of the official text, published by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, fails to acknowledge that fossil fuels are driving the climate crisis, nor does it make any commitment to tangible actions to end global reliance on coal, oil and gas. The text is just 850 words long.  Campaigners are gravely concerned because ordinarily, the first draft of a COP text is relatively ambitious, and becomes weaker over the second week as countries work in caveats for themselves. For the first draft to be so weak does not bode well.

The Dirty Dozen Documents Of Big Oil’s Secret Climate Knowledge

November 1, 2021 Paul D. Thacker, DeSmog. , , ,
“Did we aggressively fight against some of the science? Yes,” said ExxonMobil lobbyist Keith McCoy. “Did we join some of these ‘shadow groups’ to work against some of the early efforts? Yes, that’s true. But there’s nothing illegal about that.” These are the words McCoy was caught saying on a secretly recorded video released by Unearthed, Greenpeace U.K.’s investigative journalism arm, and the British Channel 4 News this summer exposing how the oil giant and lobby groups such as the American Petroleum Institute seed doubt about climate change and undermine legislation to stop global warming. These revelations quickly spurred calls for Congress to investigate Exxon’s and other fossil fuel companies’ efforts to obstruct climate action.

Climate Movement Hails $40 Trillion In Fossil Fuel Divestment Pledges

October 28, 2021 Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams. , , ,
Over the past decade, nearly 1,500 investors and institutions controlling almost $40 trillion in assets have committed to divesting from fossil fuels—a remarkable achievement that climate campaigners applauded Tuesday, while warning that further commitments and action remain crucial. "Amidst a depressing era in the race against climate change—with killer fires and titanic storms, political stalemate, and corporate greenwashing—the fossil fuel divestment movement is a source for tremendous optimism," states a new report—entitled Invest-Divest 2021: A Decade of Progress Toward a Just Climate Future—published Tuesday. "Ten years in, the divestment movement has grown to become a major global influence on energy policy," the publication continues.

Water Protectors Show ‘Another World Is Possible’

October 27, 2021 Eileen Flanagan, Waging Nonviolence. , , ,
A medic walked around the circle of 50 people occupying the lobby of the Department of the Interior, squirting water into our eager mouths before the police hauled us away. At the time, I had no idea that I wouldn’t be released until midnight, 12.5 hours after the action began. I just knew it was smart to stay hydrated, so I accepted every squirt of water offered, grateful for the care our Indigenous-led group was showing each other in circumstances designed to dehumanize us. The Oct. 14 action occurred during the People vs. Fossil Fuels mobilization in Washington, D.C., a historic week of civil disobedience to pressure President Joe Biden to stop fossil fuel projects and declare a climate emergency. For Indigenous people, the protection of Mother Earth is deeply intertwined with the long struggle for Indigenous sovereignty, as destructive fossil fuel projects — like Line 3 in northern Minnesota — continue to be built through their territories without their consent.

Double Standard For Jessica Reznicek And Energy Transfer Partners

October 25, 2021 Charlotte Grubb, Commondreams. , , ,
Jessica Reznicek was sentenced to eight years in federal prison, ordered to pay millions in fines and labeled a terrorist by the government for her actions of civil disobedience that damaged the equipment of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is owned by Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) a $54 billion dollar corporation that also co-owns the Bayou Bridge Pipeline. When ETP intentionally and illegally damaged the private property of hundreds of people in Louisiana, the company received no criminal consequences at all. Both actors damaged private property. Jessica Reznicek was labeled a domestic terrorist that is, “dangerous to human life.”  Even after the courts deemed Bayou Bridge’s property destruction illegal, the company received no criminal charges and the company was ordered by the district court to pay a mere $150 to each objector.

Enbridge Line 5 Shut Down In Accordance With Governor’s Order

October 21, 2021 Resist Line 3, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Vassar, MI - On Tuesday morning, an unidentified Michigain Water Protector turned a valve on Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, stopping the flow of oil through the line which has been operating illegally since May 12, 2021. The water protector called Enbridge so that they could safely halt the flow of oil before reading a statement and turning the valve to halt the operation of the pipeline. Governor Whitmer has stated in a press release, “Enbridge has imposed on the people of Michigan an unacceptable risk of a catastrophic oil spill in the Great Lakes that could devastate our economy and way of life.” The valve turner echoed this urgency, stating, “Enbridge has no legal right to operate this pipeline and the continued operation of Line 5 is an imminent threat to my life, and the lives of an untold number of other people and living beings.
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