Before you do anything else, see this, because despite the fact that it is focused from a global perspective, it is extremely useful…

Fossil Fuels

FOSSIL FUELS

Fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) are non-renewable sources of energy formed in the earth over the past 550 million years, typically from the remains of marine microorganisms and plants. Sealed off from oxygen and put under ever-increasing amounts of heat and pressure, this organic matter undergoes a thermal breakdown process that ultimately converts it to hydrocarbons.

When fossil fuels are burned, they release pollutants which contribute to global warming and acid rain.

The United States gets 80% of its total energy from fossil fuels. They heat our homes, run our vehicles, power industry and manufacturing, and provide us with electricity. Eventually, the degree to which we depend on fossil fuels will have to decline as they are non-renewable resources, as the difficulty and cost of tapping remaining reserves increase, and as the effect of their continued use on our planet grows more critical 

In 1950, nearly equal amounts of U.S. residential energy came from petroleum, coal, natural gas, and wood, and relatively little came from electricity (5%). In 2018, the U.S. residential sector consumed natural gas (43%) and electricity (42%) in nearly equal shares. Similarly, the U.S. commercial sector’s 2018 energy consumption was also mostly natural gas (38%) and electricity (50%).

CURRENT NEWS

Pincushion America revisited: The legacy of fracking on our drinking water

By Kurt Cobb 09/24/23
Eleven years ago, I wrote about the how millions of holes drilled deep into American soil were already destined to pollute groundwater across the United States, making many areas uninhabitable to humans who rely on…
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California opens the floodgates on Big Oil

09/18/23
The state of California just launched a game-changing climate lawsuit against oil majors, bringing the weight of one of the world’s largest economies and the most populous state in the nation to bear against some…
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California sues five major oil companies for ‘decades-long campaign of deception’ about climate change

By Louis Sahagún 09/16/23
California is suing five of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, alleging that they engaged in a “decades-long campaign of deception” about climate change and the risks posed by fossil fuels that…
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Meet the Oil Man in Charge of Leading the World Away From Oil

By Max Bearak 09/15/23
On a craggy desert plateau in Uzbekistan, a renewable energy company from the United Arab Emirates is putting up more than 100 wind turbines.
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Inside Exxon’s Strategy to Downplay Climate Change

By Christopher M. Matthews and and Collin Eaton 09/14/23
Mobil issued its first public statement that burning fossil fuels contributes to climate change in 2006, following years of denial. In public forums, the company argued that the risk of serious impact on the environment…
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Big Oil’s Climate Fix Is Running Out of Time to Prove Itself

By Stephen stapczynski 09/13/23
Get within a few dozen meters of one of the world’s biggest carbon capture projects on Australia’s remote Barrow Island, and normal conversation quickly becomes impossible.Emanating from the dense maze of pipes and towers the…
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Group of 20 countries agree to increase clean energy but reach no deal on phasing out fossil fuels

By Sibi Arasu 09/09/23
Group of 20 leaders agreed Saturday to triple renewable energy and try to increase the funds for climate change-related disasters but maintained the status quo with regards to phasing out carbon spewing coal. At a…
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Oil giant led by COP28 boss to spend an ‘eyewatering’ $1 billion a month on fossil fuels this decade, Global Witness says

By Sam Meredith 09/04/23
UAE oil giant ADNOC — run by the president of the COP28 climate conference — is expected to spend more than $1 billion every month this decade on fossil fuels, according to new analysis by…
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An “Unabated” Disaster

09/02/23
Last month, COP28 president, oil CEO Al Jaber unveiled his "action plan" for this year's climate summit. Amidst a lot of big talk about fossil fuel phase down was one little word that puts the…
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The staying power of fossil fuel subsidies

By Ben Geman 08/25/23
Well over a decade after high-profile international vows to rein in subsidies for producing and using fossil fuels, they remain deeply woven into government policies. Driving the news: Two new reports reach similar conclusions, 14…
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API, State of Louisiana, Chevron U.S.A. Inc. Challenge Lease Sale 261 Final Notice of Sale

08/24/23
The American Petroleum Institute (API) today joined with the State of Louisiana and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. in filing a challenge to the Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Ocean Management’s (BOEM) Final Notice of…
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The Climate Culprits Hiding Their Role In California’s Extreme Weather

By Rebecca Burns 08/21/23
One of the nation’s most important climate fights is currently playing out under the radar in California, where state residents are weathering an unprecedented tropical storm. Oil and industry lobbying groups are spending millions in…
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KEY RESOURCES

Products Made From Oil And Natural Gas

08/23/23
When you think about oil, there is probably one thing that immediately comes to mind: motor oil for your car or lawn mower. And, when you hear about natural gas, you may think about heating…

Is Natural Gas A Fossil Fuel? Here’s What to Know

02/18/22
Is natural gas a fossil fuel? The answer to this question is a bit complicated. Natural gas is, in fact, a fossil fuel, but it is not the same type of fossil fuel as coal…

What’s the Deal With This Whole Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Anyway?

11/24/21
The news that President Joe Biden is releasing millions of barrels of oil from a federal stockpile raises a question. Well, a few actually. Namely, wait, what the hell? We have a huge stockpile of…

Committed emissions from existing energy infrastructure jeopardize 1.5 °C climate target

10/06/20
Net anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) must approach zero by mid-century (2050) in order to stabilize the global mean temperature at the level targeted by international efforts.

Greenhouse gas emissions results modelling from 26 countries

10/01/20
This working paper models 26 countries and finds national average emission reductions of 6 per cent from the removal of fossil fuel subsidies.

Assessing ExxonMobil’s climate change communications (1977–2014)

10/01/20
This paper assesses whether ExxonMobil Corporation has in the past misled the general public about climate change.

Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions

08/20/20
New data shows how fossil fuel companies have driven climate crisis despite industry knowing dangers

It’s time to rein in the fossil fuel giants before their greed chokes the planet

08/20/20
We’ve long known that the big fossil fuel companies are responsible for a huge share of the world’s carbon emissions. Now the Climate Accountability Institute is publishing new data quantifying how much each of these…

Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth

02/19/20
With her trademark black humor, Maddow takes us on a switchback journey around the globe, revealing the greed and incompetence of Big Oil and Gas along the way, and drawing a surprising conclusion about why…

The future is now: How oil and gas companies can decarbonize

01/01/20
As the pressure to act on climate change builds, the industry should consider a range of options.

Exxon’s Own Research Confirmed Fossil Fuels’ Role in Global Warming Decades Ago

09/16/15
Top executives were warned of possible catastrophe from greenhouse effect, then led efforts to block solutions

MORE NEWS

Stop Giving Big Oil a Carbon Fig Leaf

By Dr. Jonathan Foley   08/17/23  
Record heat waves. Widespread fires. Devastating storms. The tragic toll of climate change is becoming more evident every day. To avoid even more severe impacts in the future, we must quickly and dramatically cut greenhouse…
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Texas sues Shell over May fire at Houston-area petrochemical plant

08/15/23  
Texas is suing Shell and is seeking more than $1 million, alleging a fire at the oil giant’s Houston-area petrochemical plant damaged the environment.
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Maui is suing Big Oil

08/15/23  
The county is seeking to recover the costs of climate-fueled disasters Big Oil knowingly caused — including increasingly destructive wildfires.
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Opinion: The terrible climate hypocrisy at the top of Southern California Edison

By Leah C. Stokes   08/05/23  
With nearly 200 million Americans frying under extreme heat, and water off the coast of Florida reaching hot tub temperatures, Americans can see the climate crisis with their own eyes. We know we must cut…
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Corporate Cash Derails Train Safety Bill

By Matthew Cunningham-Cook and Julia Rock   08/03/23  
The company that manufactured the toxic chemicals that were released and incinerated in the wake of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment this winter gave $2 million to the primary Senate GOP super PAC as…
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BLM proposes end to new oil leases on 1.6M acres in Colorado

By Scott Streater and Heather Richards   08/03/23  
The Bureau of Land Management proposed Thursday removing more than a million acres of public lands in Colorado from future oil and gas leasing, while also designating tens of thousands of acres of new protected…
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‘Vicious cycle’: Heat waves ramp up global burning of fossil fuels

By Timothy Puko   07/28/23  
The United States is setting records for natural gas consumption this week at the power plants that keep the nation’s air conditioners humming, according to estimates from S&P Global Commodity Insights. In China, power plants…
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Pollution from fossil fuel combustion deadlier than previously thought

07/24/23  
A new study found that fine particulate pollution generated by the burning of fossil fuels was responsible for one in five early deaths worldwide in 2018—far more than previously thought. Harvard T.H. Chan School of…
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She’s on a Mission From God: Suing Big Oil for Climate Damages

By David Gelles   07/19/23  
Missy Sims carefully picked her way through a field of ruined tombs in central Puerto Rico, in a cemetery where walls of water from Hurricane Maria had smashed open some coffins and sent others careering…
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Mountain Valley pipeline turns to Supreme Court

By Niina H. Farah   07/19/23  
The Supreme Court may soon step into a legal brawl over whether Congress violated the Constitution when it passed a law ensuring completion of the Mountain Valley pipeline — a fight that could have important…
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Big oil quietly walks back on climate pledges as global heat records tumble

By Dharna Noor   07/16/23  
It was probably the Earth’s hottest week in history earlier this month, following the warmest June on record, and top scientists agree that the planet will get even hotter unless we phase out fossil fuels.
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Big Heat and Big Oil

By Bill McKibben   07/16/23  
In the list of ill-timed corporate announcements, historians may someday give pride of place to one made by Wael Sawan, the new C.E.O. of Shell, the largest energy company in Europe. In 2021, Shell said…
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Mea Culpas Are Great, But Climate Leaders Need to Model Real Accountability

By Amy Westervelt   07/14/23  
This week, Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2010-2016, key architect of the Paris Agreement, and longtime supporter of the idea that fossil fuel companies…
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Fossil fuel workers are dying inhaling gases – despite US warnings to big oil

By Sara Sneath   07/13/23  
After multiple worker fatalities, the US government warned manual gauging was dangerous. The oil industry seems to have not taken note, activists say...
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Court Halts Section of Construction on Mountain Valley Pipeline

07/12/23  
A federal appeals court has ordered a halt to construction of a section of the Mountain Valley Pipeline that runs through the Jefferson National Forest, as it reviews a challenge by environmental groups. Last month’s…
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How Biden’s environmental justice dilemma is playing out in Port Arthur

By James Osborne   07/09/23  
John Beard spent almost 40 years working in the refineries and petrochemical plants that surround his home in Port Arthur. But after an accident at the Valero refinery in Port Arthur in 2007 released large…
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Oil giant Shell warns cutting production ‘dangerous’

By Simon Jack   07/07/23  
Cutting oil and gas production would be "dangerous and irresponsible", the boss of energy giant Shell has told the BBC. Wael Sawan insisted that the world still "desperately needs oil and gas" as moves to…
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‘Double agents’: fossil-fuel lobbyists work for US groups trying to fight climate crisis

By Oliver Milman   07/05/23  
More than 1,500 lobbyists in the US are working on behalf of fossil-fuel companies while at the same time representing hundreds of liberal-run cities, universities, technology companies and environmental groups that say they are tackling…
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So what if fossil fuel lobbyists have to declare themselves at Cop28? That won’t curb their power| Amy Westervelt

By Amy Westervelt   06/28/23  
Earlier this month, the UN announced it will require fossil fuel lobbyists to identify themselves as such when registering for the Cop28 climate summit. The move was applauded by campaigners and politicians alike, but it’s…
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Enabling Fossil Fuel Addiction: It’s About More Than Money

06/23/23  
A new climate case was filed this week. Multnomah County, the Oregon county that includes Portland, filed suit against several oil majors for their role in exacerbating the climate change that led to the county's…
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Oregon County Sues Fossil Fuel Companies Over 2021 Heat Dome

By David Gelles   06/22/23  
The Oregon county that includes Portland on Thursday filed a lawsuit against several fossil fuel companies and their business partners in an effort to hold them responsible for a deadly heat wave in 2021.
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Peak Oil Demand Is Coming Soon for Transportation

By Tom Randall   06/13/23  
For more than a century, two trends in global transportation have been relentless: humanity’s desire for more cars and the consumption of ever-more oil to fuel them. The second part, at least, may finally be…
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Oil Lobby Pushed Pollution Loophole for Wildfire Smoke

By Rebecca Burns   06/09/23  
Climate change is intensifying toxic wildfires, but Big Oil has pushed to exempt the resulting pollution from federal air quality standards.
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US Interior boosts investment in plugging orphaned oil, gas wells on public lands

By Jasmin Melvin   06/08/23  
The Biden administration is stepping up efforts to advance environmental justice through the cleanup of toxic, legacy pollution sites, announcing a near doubling of investment this fiscal year to $64 million to plug, remediate and…
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Does oil and gas production consume too much water?

By Jennifer Oldham   06/06/23  
A multiwell oil and gas project proposed for a drought-ridden Denver suburb would require 4.4 trillion gallons of water — enough to fill 6,679 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
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Supreme Court won’t review ruling barring offshore fracking in California

By Zack Budryk   06/05/23  
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined a request by the oil industry to review a lower court ruling barring fracking off California’s shore. In 2014, the Environmental Defense Center (EDC) sued to halt offshore…
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It’s Payback Time

By Mark Schapiro   06/01/23  
Until now the fossil fuel industries have not had to account for the full costs to society of their products. Billions of dollars in climate-related expenses have been hidden inside the budgets for disaster recovery,…
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Shell agrees to pay $10 million for air pollution at massive new Pennsylvania petrochemical plant

By Michael Rubinkam   05/25/23  
Shell has agreed to pay $10 million to resolve allegations that it polluted the air around its massive new petrochemical refinery in western Pennsylvania, the administration of Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Wednesday.
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The fossil fuel industry is donating hundreds of millions to university climate and energy research

By YCC Team   05/24/23  
Fossil fuel companies profit from the world’s dependence on coal, oil, and gas. Some climate activists are concerned that some of these same companies fund university research about climate and energy. “I don’t think there…
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What Exxon Won’t Tell You About Climate Costs

By Mark Gongloff and Liam Denning   05/24/23  
Paying for restaurant meals is a cost. Taking classes to learn how to cook your own meals is an investment. Similarly, suffering through the effects of climate change is a cost, but spending money to…
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Fossil fuel firms owe climate reparations of $209bn a year, says study

By Nina Lakhani   05/19/23  
Groundbreaking analysis by One Earth is first to quantify economic burden caused by individual companies. The world’s top fossil fuel companies owe at least $209bn in annual climate reparations to compensate communities most damaged by…
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Fossil Fuel Companies Should Pay Trillions in ‘Climate Reparations,’ New Study Argues

By Nicholas Kusnetz   05/19/23  
One of the most contentious climate policy debates revolves, unsurprisingly, around money. Who should pay the monumental sums needed to protect against extreme weather and transition to clean energy, particularly because the damage has been…
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California bill would hit oil companies with $1 million penalty for health impacts

By Aaron Cantú   05/18/23  
Monic Uriarte was thrilled to get approved for an affordable apartment in Los Angeles’ University Park, close to USC. But soon after she and her family moved there in 2004, they started experiencing headaches and…
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Could Guyana’s Exxon ruling scare big oil off risky exploration?

By Amy Westervelt   05/17/23  
Ruling requiring ‘unlimited guarantee’ from oil firms to cover costs of spills could change offshore drilling throughout region
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Kerry challenges oil industry to prove its promised tech rescue for climate-wrecking emissions

By Ellen Knickmeyer   05/17/23  
Oil and gas producers talk up technological breakthroughs they say will soon allow the world to drill and burn fossil fuels without worsening global warming. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry says the time is here…
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Fossil Fuel Companies and Cement Manufacturers Could Be to Blame for a More Than a Third of West’s Wildfires

By Wyatt Myskow   05/16/23  
The climate-warming emissions from the world’s 88 largest fossil fuel companies and cement manufacturers are behind more than one third of the wildfires that have increasingly plagued Western North America in recent decades, according to…
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EPA says pollution limits proposed for U.S. coal, gas power plants reflect climate crisis ‘urgency’

By Matthew Daly   05/11/23  
The Biden administration proposed new limits Thursday on greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants, its most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change.
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Oil and gas health impacts cost $77 billion per year, study finds

By Ayurella Horn-Muller   05/10/23  
Air pollution from U.S. oil and natural gas production causes roughly $77 billion in health impacts nationwide every year, while also contributing to thousands of early deaths and health flare-ups, a new study finds...
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Clarence Thomas Reversed Position After Gifts And Family Payments

By Julia Rock and Andrew Perez   05/09/23  
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas changed his position on one of America’s most significant regulatory doctrines after his wife reportedly accepted secret payments from a shadowy conservative network pushing for the change. Thomas’ shift also…
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SCOTUS Says No to Exxon, Now the Corporate Free Speech Fight Begins

04/29/23  
On Monday this week the Supreme Court finally weighed in on whether it would take up the jurisdictional argument that oil companies are making in multiple climate liability suits. The companies have been arguing for…
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EPA plan would impose drastic cuts on power plant emissions by 2040

By Timothy Puko   04/22/23  
The Biden administration is preparing to unveil a proposal to require power plants to drastically reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions by 2040, another attempt to regulate one of the country’s biggest contributors to climate change after…
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The Great Gas Lock-In

04/14/23  
Long before Putin invaded Ukraine, the U.S. fossil fuel industry was preparing to turn Russian aggression into a boon for the gas industry. For months leading up to the invasion, the industry was busy highlighting…
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The Real Reason Big Oil Wants Climate Cases at the Supreme Court

04/07/23  
For more than five years now, fossil fuel companies have been arguing that the more than two dozen climate liability cases filed against them by counties, cities and states across the country belong in federal…
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Big Oil clashes with Biden in SCOTUS climate brawl

By Lesley Clark   04/06/23  
The fossil fuel industry rebuked the Biden administration on Wednesday for siding with local governments in their lawsuits against oil majors, calling the federal government's position "shot through with flaws" and driven by “a desire…
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With Russia’s Exit, Norway Becomes Europe’s Energy Champion

By Stanley Reed   04/06/23  
The new front line for Europe’s energy security is a modest office building overlooking a fjord in Stavanger, Norway. Inside, a company called Petoro oversees three dozen of the largest oil and natural gas fields…
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How Shell Is Selling the Petrochemical Buildout as ‘Sustainable’

By Emily Sanders   04/05/23  
If you take Shell’s word for it, the oil giant’s growing petrochemical operations are indicative of its “commitment” to a cleaner energy future. At new and expanding facilities, from northern Europe to Pennsylvania and Louisiana,…
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Lost Decade: How Shell Downplayed Early Warnings Over Climate Change

By Matthew Green   03/31/23  
Narrated in the upper-crust accent favoured by British documentary-makers of the era, Shell’s 1981 film Time for Energy assesses the scope for solar, wind, nuclear, and other sources of power to end the world’s dependence…
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Exxon’s Climate Opponents Were Infiltrated by Massive Hacking-for-Hire Operation

By Christopher M. Matthews   03/29/23  
In the midst of perpetrating what federal prosecutors say was a massive corporate hacking campaign, Israeli private detective Aviram Azari in 2017 received welcome news.
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Newsom signs law allowing California to penalize oil companies for ‘price gouging’

By Sharon Udasin   03/28/23  
California will soon be able to penalize oil companies that engage in “price gouging” behaviors, after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a first-of-its-kind bill into law on Tuesday evening.
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Climate cover-up? Federal appeals court rules Minnesota’s lawsuit can proceed

By News Staff   03/24/23  
Minnesota’s lawsuit alleges ExxonMobil, American Petroleum Institute, and Koch Industries systematically deceived and defrauded Minnesotans about the true causes and costs of climate change.
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