Joseph J. Romm's Blog, page 1246

Fishermen hired by BP for oil clean up weren't provided protective equipment, have now fallen ill.

The Los Angeles Times reports that some fishermen have "become ill after working long hours near waters fouled with oil and dispersant."  This is a TP repost.

With last month's massive oil spill at the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico threatening the livelihood of the area's fishermen, BP said it would "hire as many local residents as possible to clean the beaches and distribute booms through the surrounding marshes and waterways." But the effort has hit a few bumps with...

Brulle: "The NY Times doesn't need to go to European conferences to find out why public opinion on climate change has shifted…. Just look in the mirror."

The NYT's Elisabeth Rosenthal had another front-page "teach the controversy" piece yesterday, "Climate Fears Turn to Doubts Among Britons."  That has apparently become a specialty of the one-time paper of record (see NYT faces credibility siege over unbalanced climate coverage and The NYT once again equates non-scientists — Bastardi, Coleman, and Watts (!) — with climate scientists).

I asked Dr. Robert J. Brulle of Drexel University, whom the NYT itself quoted last year as "an expert on...

Will eco-disasters destroy Obama's legacy?

[image error]That's the headline of my new piece in Salon (click here).

The president is in now in genuine political trouble over the BP disaster, some of his own making, some not.

Here are my thoughts — as always, I'd love to hear yours:

The truth is that there's not much more that President Obama can do to stop the eco-disaster now hitting the Gulf of Mexico. But his response to our fossil fuel-driven crises — so far — can still be deemed grossly inadequate.

That's because the Gulf spill is actually...

BP runs full-page ads in major newspapers defending its oil spill response: "We have taken full responsibility" - Plus a must-see spoof TV ad: "Brown. It's the New Green."

Two new ironic ads on the BP oil disaster — though only the first one is intentionally ironic:

What follows is a Think Progress repost.

Since the disastrous Gulf Coast oil spill, BP and the other companies responsible for the tragedy have been beefing up their lobbying and public relations efforts. Today, the oil giant has full-page ads in the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today defending its response to the oil spill. From the ad:

Since the tragic...

Energy and Global Warming News for May 26: Oil to Reach $108 by 2020, $133 by 2035, EIA Says in big global forecast [seriously]

JR:  If you think we're going to have to wait until 2020 to see $108 oil and 2035 to see $133, then I have some credit default swaps to sell you (see Deutsche Bank: Oil to hit $175 a barrel by 2016 and World's top energy economist warns peak oil threatens recovery: "We have to leave oil before oil leaves us").  This is one reason EIA's long-term forecasts are not viewed as terribly useful by a lot of folks.

Oil to Reach $108 by 2020 as Economy Grows, EIA Says [seriously:]

Oil prices...

JP Morgan invented credit-default swaps to give Exxon credit line for Valdez liability

Credit-default swaps are widely seen as a major contributor to the recent financial meltdown. But the origin of CDS's with the Exxon Valdez oil disaster isn't as widely known.

The New Yorker has a long review of a couple of financial books, including Fool's Gold: How the Bold Dream of a Small Tribe at J.P. Morgan Was Corrupted by Wall Street Greed and Unleashed a Catastrophe.  It details the history of the CDS, an idea that came out of a June 1994 JP Morgan off-site in Boca Raton (where...

Stunning video makes clear prevention is the only cure: What dispersants have really done to Gulf - BP's name being dragged 'literally through the muck.'

Back on May 6, I discussed how dispersants do not solve the Gulf Coast's oil problem (see "Out of Sight: BP's dispersants are toxic — but not as toxic as dispersed oil").  They do decrease the amount of oil that directly reaches the shores or the creatures that live on the shores or sea surface. But they increase the exposure to oil by creatures that live in the water or on the sea floor — like, say, shrimp or oysters.

Now, finally, we have some must-see video of the hidden...

BP had central role in the Exxon Valdez disaster

The AP drops this bombshell today about the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster:

… the leader of botched containment efforts  in the critical hours after the tanker ran aground wasn't Exxon Mobil Corp. It was BP PLC, the same firm now fighting to plug the Gulf leak.

Pretty scary, when you consider that BP's undersea volcano of oil is spewing some 2 Exxon Valdezes a week or more.  That said, it bears repeating what 20-year veteran of the Coast Guard Dr. Robert Brulle has written:  "With a spill of...

Energy and Global Warming News for May 25: Semiconductor technique holds promise for solar energy; Postal Service inks $28M efficiency deal

Semiconductor Manufacturing Technique Holds Promise for Solar Energy

Thanks to a new semiconductor manufacturing method pioneered at the University of Illinois, the future of solar energy just got brighter.

Although silicon is the industry standard semiconductor in most electronic devices, including the photovoltaic cells that solar panels use to convert sunlight into energy, it is hardly the most efficient material available. For example, the semiconductor gallium arsenide and related...

Palin charges Obama response to oil disaster is driven by BP contributions - Center for Responsive Politics: "The $71,051 that Obama received during the 2008 election cycle was entirely from BP employees" and constituted under 0.01% of his total contribut

Weeks after BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Politico reported that during the last 20 years, the company and its employees gave more money to President Obama than any other federal political candidate.

On Fox News Sunday, Sarah Palin tried to make it into a wider narrative. "I don't know why the question isn't asked by the mainstream media and by others if there's any connection with the contributions made to President Obama and his administration and the support by the oil c...