How much are you paying Exxon Mobil?

Source: Environmental Law Institute (.pdf)

Last night while heading home from work I heard on the radio that America's biggest company Exxon Mobil's 4th quarter profits were down 23% to a measly $6 billion. Before you start feeling too bad for them remember that in 2008 when oil prices rose to $100 barrel, Exxon Mobil became the world’s most profitable corporation with earnings over $45 billion.

What's amazing to me is that despite these incredible profits, we continue to subsidize these hugely profitable and highly polluting companies.

The graph above makes is pretty clear that part of the transition from carbon-based fossil fuels to renewables will require that we stop subsidizing the most profitable and polluting companies and move that support to renewable energy sector.

Oil Versus Seafood in Alaska; Protecting Beaches and a Marine Sanctuary in Florida

Alaska

Oil Versus Your Seafood: Breaking the bounty of Bristol Bay
http://news.discovery.com/earth/oil-versus-your-seafood-breaking-the-bounty-of-bristol-bay.html
"The U.S. Mineral Management Service predicts oil drilling is expected to generate $7 billion over 25 to 40 years. Yet sustainable fisheries in the bay and the southeast Bering Sea that could be affected by drilling are valued at more than $2 billion every year, according to the Alaska Marine Conservation Council. The potential for environmental disaster is real. The Interior Department’s own environmental assessment predicts one large oil spill and numerous smaller spills during the undetermined amount of time that oil projects would continue. A large spill could contaminate Bristol Bay’s shores, inter-tidal waters and fish habitat for many years. Bristol Bay is too valuable to risk harming. Let’s not sacrifice our seafood and an ecological treasure for oil."

Florida

Marine sanctuary advisors to hear drilling report
http://www.keysnet.com/news/story/183481.html
“The sanctuary council has a history of opposing any gulf drilling. A 2007 resolution declares, "We support the strongest possible protection for Florida and other fragile marine environments from the impacts of offshore oil and gas exploration and development." The council reaffirmed that position in 2009.”

Protect state's beaches, economy

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/letters_from_readers/2010-01-30/story/oil_drilling_protect_states_beaches_economy

Oil drilling bill must balance our interests
http://www.news-press.com/article/20100130/OPINION/100129044/1015/Oil-drilling-bill-must-balance-our-interests

Candidates Cold to Near-Shore Drilling http://www.theledger.com/article/20100131/COLUMNISTS/1315017/1342/SPORTS?Title=Candidates-Cold-to-Near-Shore-Drilling

Gulf Oil Spill History

Here's a summary of the major oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico in the last 30 years or so. These are from drilling, shipping and on-shore infrastructure. You lay down with dogs, you get fleas. You invite the oil industry in, you get..................oil.

1979
· June 3, Gulf of Mexico: Exploratory well Ixtoc 1 blows out, spilling some 140 million gallons of crude into the open sea.

1990
· June 8, off Galveston: Mega Borg releases 5.1 million gallons of oil some 60 nautical miles south-southeast of Galveston after a pump room explosion and fire.

2000
· Nov. 28, Mississippi River south of New Orleans: Tanker Westchester loses power and runs aground, dumping 567,000 gallons of crude oil. The spill was largest in U.S. waters since Exxon Valdez in 1989.

2005
· August-September, New Orleans: The Coast Guard estimates that more than 7 million gallons of oil spilled from various sources during Hurricane Katrina.

2006
· June 19, Calcasieu River, La.: Some 71,000 barrels of waste oil are released from the CITGO refinery during a violent storm.

2008
· July 25, New Orleans: A 61-foot barge, carrying 419,000 gallons of heavy fuel, collides with a 600-foot tanker in the Mississippi River. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel leak from the barge, halting all river traffic.

2009
· September, Houston Ship Channel: An oil spill prompted a three-day closure to accommodate cleanup efforts. A 458-foot vessel was trying to turn around when it struck a barge, gouging a hole in the vessel's fuel tank and leaking 10,500 gallons of oil.
· October, 40 miles offshore of Galveston, Texas: a supply vessel crashed against a Liberian-flagged oil tanker, resulting in an 18,000 gallon oil spill.

2010
· January 23, Port Arthur, Texas: About 462,000 gallons of oil spilled when an 800-foot tanker headed for an Exxon Mobil Corp. refinery in Beaumont collided with a vessel pushing two barges.
Sources:

http://www.infoplease.com/

http://blogs.chron.com/newswatchenergy/archives/2010/01/the_port_arthur.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+houstonchronicle%2Fnewswatchenergy+%28NewsWatch%3A+Energy%29

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6833095.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704562504575021540843701582.html?mod=rss_Today%27s_Most_Popular

Green Light for Offshore Drilling..........or Not?

This is from President Obama's State of the Union address last night:

“But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. And that means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development. It means continued investment in advanced biofuels and clean coal technologies. And yes, it means passing a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America.”

So the question is, what does "It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development" mean? Is it a tough decision when you say yes, or when you say no?

Stay tuned.

Rethinking Virginia Drilling; Both Florida Candidates Oppose Drilling

VIRGINIA

US Govt pushes any drilling off Virginia past 2011
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2610221420100126?type=marketsNews
“The Obama administration put that plan under review when it came into office, and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says he will decide by this summer whether the prior Bush plan will go forward. However, the department's Minerals Management Service, which oversees offshore drilling, said the proposed Virginia leasing plan will be delayed. The department may still decide against any energy exploration in the area.”

McDonnell concerned about a new possible delay in offshore oil drilling http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/01/post_557.html
"Any delay beyond 2011 I would strongly oppose,'' McDonnell said. "A delay of a year in the lease means yet another delay in the revenue...I am dead serious about trying to make Virginia the energy capital of the East Coast. We have every God-given natural resource that a state could want to make that happen and a big piece of that goal of energy independence is offshore production of oil, gas and wind and we don't need federal government delays. We need cooperation."

Thank You, Interior Department: Oil Drilling Off Virginia Delayed Indefinitely
http://rootswire.org/content/thank-you-interior-department-oil-drilling-virginia-delayed-indefinitely

FLORIDA

Candidates for governor agree offshore oil drilling a threat
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100127/BREAKINGNEWS/100127021/Candidates-for-governor-agree-offshore-oil-drilling-a-threat
Also: http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20100127/CAPITOLNEWS/100127012/Poll-shows-McCollum-ahead-of-Sink-in-race-for-governor
“Proposals to drill for oil and natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico are also pending before the 2010 legislative session. Sink said she is totally opposed while McCollum said he thinks three to 10 miles from the coast is too close, and that he does not like what he's seen so far. "This is not a proposal for offshore drilling," said Sink. "This is a proposal for near-beach drilling." McCollum said, "I'm a huge skeptic" and that an oil spill "would just completely terrorize our beaches.””

Protect Florida’s Beaches with Hands Across the Sand (Audubon of Florida)
http://audubonoffloridanews.org/?p=3767
Also: Be a Part of "Hands Across the Sand" at Shell Point Beach
http://www.wakulla.com/Announcements/Community_Service/Be_a_Part_of_%22Hands_Across_the_Sand%22_at_Shell_Point_Beach_201001269423/

CALIFORNIA

More PXP Deal Fallout
http://www.calbuzz.com/2010/01/i-jerry-how-brown-campaign-will-be-run/
“After AP picked up our story last week on the once-secret offshore oil drilling agreement between PXP oil company and the Environmental Defense Center, Calbuzzer and campaign media consultant Don Ringe worked up an animated political cartoon featuring a monologue by “Mr. PXP” about the deal, which you can find here.
And special Calbuzz T-Ridge props to KQED’s John Myers, who closely questioned Schwarzmuscle about the issue at the governor’s Monday appearance at the Sacto Press Club and offers a smart take on the exchange on his blog at Capital Notes.
Two points worth noting here: a) As Myers reports, it’s interesting to see how breezily Arnold is in abandoning the notion of “principles” when the going gets tough; b) the governor clearly formulates the deal on T-Ridge as a “budget-driven” decision, not an energy vs. environment balancing act.
That is precisely the point that most concerns many environmental opponents of the deal: that California’s landmark environmental protections should be conditioned on the ebb and flow of the budget. In other words, any time Sacramento is in the red, just suspend the Coastal Sanctuary Act or AB 32 or local development guidelines and generate some fresh cash. Laissez les bons temps rouler.
The environmentalists who support the deal, like the EDC, do not agree with this fiscal argument of Arnold’s for the deal: to them T-Ridge has always been a pathway to end some offshore oil drilling permanently, essentially by horsetrading a lease to slant drill in state waters for a promise to decommission four operations in federal waters.
But: Lay down with dogs, wake up with fleas.”

Shock Waves in the Atlantic; Arnold's World in California

Interior to look at drilling in Atlantic Ocean
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/25/AR2010012503085.html
Government plans cautious moves on Atlantic drilling
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6835125.html
"Before deciding on those requests, the Interior Department first is required by federal law to study the potential environmental impacts of the seismic testing. Some environmental advocates have said the shock wave surveys can injure whales and other marine life or cause them to change their breeding habits and other behavior."

North Carolina - Perdue's offshore drilling panel meets
http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/6883866/

California - Schwarzenegger: "Look Beyond" One's Principles
http://blogs.kqed.org/capitalnotes/2010/01/25/schwarzenegger-look-beyond-ones-principles/
"It will be satisfying so many ends," he said. "First of all, we get less dependent on foreign oil. Second, we will get extra revenues. The environmentalists are happy, business is happy, so everyone is happy, so why not go ahead with it?" My question is, what world is this guy living in?

Alaska - Off Shore Oil Drilling Threatens Marine Life

Shell faces legal fight over Arctic wells
http://surfspots-gps.com/off-shore-oil-drilling-threatens-marine-life

Big Texas Oil Spill; Follow the Money in CA

Texas

Collision Causes Crude Oil Spill in Texas
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704562504575021540843701582.html?mod=rss_Today%27s_Most_Popular
The U.S. Coast Guard says about 450,000 gallons of crude oil has spilled into the Port of Port Arthur area in southeast Texas after two vessels collided. "This is a big one," said Petty Officer Third Class Richard Brahm. The Port Arthur spill can be described as large, according to the classification established by the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Ltd., which tracks oil spills around the world. According to the ITOPF, large spills are those that are over 700 metric tons. The size of the Port Arthur spill is estimated at about 1,500 metric tons. The spill is the second to afflict the Texas coastline recently; in October, a supply vessel crashed against a Liberian-flagged oil tanker offshore of Galveston, resulting in an 18,000 gallon oil spill—equivalent to about 429 barrels of oil or 58 metric tons.

Texas Spill: Oil and Water Still Don't Mix (Mother Jones)
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/01/texas-spill-nope-oil-and-water-still-dont-mix?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+motherjones%2FTheBlueMarble+%28Mother+Jones+%7C+The+Blue+Marble%29
“In a healthy dose of irony, the Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce's motto is, "Where oil and water mix, beautifully." Proponents of drilling often tout how environmentally friendly their practices are these days. But Saturday's spill is a healthy reminder that no matter what you do to oil, there's nothing very green about it.”

California

AP Article Says Environmentalists Paid Thousands By Oil Company
http://www.keyt.com/home/ticker/82431007.html
Oil company, environmental groups in secret deal
http://calcoastnews.com/2010/01/oil-company-environmental-groups-in-secret-deal/

Maldonado and Nava clash over offshore oil
http://calcoastnews.com/2010/01/maldonado-and-nava-clash-over-offshore-oil/

Firms, trade group helped fund GOP legislators' retreat
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-junket24-2010jan24,0,7805604.story
“Chevron and other oil companies have long battled a proposed oil-extraction tax. One such proposal was vetoed last year by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.Asked why Chevron donated the money for the retreat, Comey said, "We wanted to attend the event and we made the contribution." He added that the firm supports such conferences for legislators of both parties "to facilitate their ability to reinvigorate the economy."Plains Exploration would have been the major benefactor of a bill last year to open the door to more oil drilling in the Tranquillon Ridge field off the coast of Santa Barbara County. Fourteen of the 15 Republicans in the state Senate voted for the legislation. The bill failed, but the proposal is back in Schwarzenegger's proposed budget for the next fiscal year.The company sent a representative to the retreat "to get the message out on the Tranquillon Ridge project," Plains Exploration spokesman Steve Rusch said.”

Florida

Offshore drilling resolution delayed again
http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/offshore-drilling-resolution-delayed-again/1067505
“Commissioners agreed with the draft's main premises: that the city's economy relies heavily on tourism revenues tied to the beaches, especially the centerpieces of Honeymoon and Caladesi islands, and that oil wells within 3 miles of the coastline could risk Dunedin's "largest industry and quality of life."”

Nelson: Oil drilling is incompatible with military training
http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2010/01/nelson-oil-drilling-is-incompatible-with-military-training.html
"It remains the Defense Department's policy that military exercises and training in the eastern gulf are incompatible with oil drilling operations.''