A memo sent to union leaders by Shell before an appearance by Donald Trump — displayed by a recipient via Twitter — warns against protests and threatens pay reduction.
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Shell memo sent to union leaders before an appearance by Trump warned against protests and threatened pay reduction
QUARTZ: Virgin plastic pellets are the biggest pollution disaster you’ve never heard of
Before plastic is made into anything else, it is made into pellets. And those pellets are leaking everywhere. When completed, the new facility will pump out 1.8 million tons (1.6 million metric tons) of plastic each year. The vast majority of that plastic, like the vast majority of all plastic made up to now, will likely not be recycled. And it will exist virtually forever, crumbling into microplastics that show up most everywhere scientists look for them. Those small spheres, sometimes known as “nurdles,” are a massive source of plastic pollution, escaping into the environment before they have a chance to be molded into a useful shape. With roughly 22,000 nurdles per pound of plastic, the Shell plant intends to produce the rough equivalent of 80 trillion nurdles per year. As the Royal Dutch Shell plant rises in Pennsylvania, environmental groups and scientists are worried about the lack of regulation to specifically address plastic pellet pollution. (Shell did not return a request for comment.)
By Zoë Schlanger: 19 Aug 2019
Some 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a township adjacent to a state forest, oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell is building a sprawling new plant to support what it sees as the future of its business: making millions of tons of new, virgin plastic.
US president Trump visited the facility last week, highlighting the 5,000 construction jobs it has created. The plant is just one of more than 300 new plastic facilities proposed or permitted for the US in the near future. Shell, along with other major oil and gas companies like Exxon, sees plastic as one avenue for growth as natural gas prices plummet—and, longer-term, as a way to weather the world’s slow rejection of fossil fuels as an energy source.
Jeering, protesting or shouting not tolerated during Trump campaign speech at Shell microplastics plant
“Jeering, protesting or shouting was not tolerated, a leaked memo said. Staying away was allowed, but then the overtime allowance would be reduced.”
Printed below is an English translation of an article published today by the Dutch FT, Financieele Dagblad.
With the call, the contractors wanted to improve the fragile relationship between the unions and President Donald Trump. Photo: Justin Merriman / Bloomberg
Construction workers at Shell factory were asked to treat Trump kindly
Van onze redacteur: 19 August 2019
To the great satisfaction of the contractors, the thousands of construction workers from a Shell plant under construction northwest of Pittsburgh received President Donald Trump on Tuesday with loud applause.
The construction companies had asked their employees to treat the president in a friendly manner in an attempt to improve the fragile relationship between the White House and the trade unions. Jeering, protesting or shouting was not tolerated, a leaked memo said. Staying away was allowed, but then the overtime allowance would be reduced.
Trump Shell factory speech crowd members were paid to listen to him and banned from ‘anything viewed as resistance’
Workers ordered not to criticise the president
Workers at a Royal Dutch Shell plant in Pennsylvania were forced to choose between attending a speech by Donald Trump or earning less than their coworkers who did.
Attendance was optional, but contract workers who chose not to stand in the crowd would not qualify for time-and-a-half pay when they arrived at work on Friday, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
Workers at the unfinished Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex had to arrive at 7am, scan their ID cards and stand for hours until the US president’s speech began.
The Washington Post: Trump’s speech at a Shell plant drew thousands of workers. They were paid overtime to be there.
Workers at a Royal Dutch Shell plant in Monaca, Pa., were forced to choose Tuesday between attending a speech by President Trump or forgoing overtime pay that their co-workers would earn.
Attendance was optional, but contract workers who chose not to stand in the crowd would not qualify for time-and-a-half pay when they arrived at work Friday, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. Several companies with thousands of unionized workers have contracts with Shell, one the world’s largest oil and gas companies.
Workers had 3 options: Attend Trump’s speech, use paid time off or receive no pay
“This is just what Shell wanted to do, and we went along with it”
Washington (CNN)Workers at the Pennsylvania petrochemical plant where President Donald Trump spoke Tuesday were told that if they didn’t attend the event, they either had to use paid time off or receive no pay for the day.
At least some of the workers who attended the speech were instructed not to protest the President, who told the crowd of workers at the Royal Dutch Shell plant he would be imploring their union leaders to support his reelection.
SHELL TO BE A BIG PLAYER IN CONTROVERSIAL MICROPLASTICS
SHELL TO BE A BIG PLAYER IN MICROPLASTICS
By John Donovan
The timing of President Trump’s delayed visit to Shell’s new Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex, which will produce more than a million tons of plastic in the form of tiny pellets, turned out to be unfortunate.
It happened to coincide with the release of scientific research and evidence about the unknown consequences of airborne microplastics on the heath of “birds, fish, whales and people”.
Please read the extracts below from various news organisations covering the Trump visit, which inevitably was surrounded by controversy and scandal.
Shell ethane cracker plant: a massively subsidised health hazard
Guest Opinion: Jobs and health hazards: Don’t let Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ come to Pennsylvania
By Julieta Biegner, Global Witness: 13 August 2019
Today, President Trump is set to visit a Shell petrochemical plant where state subsidies cost $2.75 million per permanent job created.
The White House has made clear that it expects Pennsylvania to play a key role in its U.S. energy dominance agenda, citing the cusp of an “Appalachian Petrochemical Renaissance.” So it comes as no shock that Trump will visit a Beaver County petrochemical plant today.
The apparent purpose of the trip is to tout domestic manufacturing and energy production.
Shell’s new plant will produce more than a million tons of plastic
Royal Dutch Shell’s plant will produce more than a million tons of plastic, in the form of tiny pellets
Michael Corkery: 2 August 2019
The 386-acre property looks like a giant Lego set rising from the banks of the Ohio River. It is one of the largest active construction projects in the United States, employing more than 5,000 people.
When completed, the facility will be fed by pipelines stretching hundreds of miles across Appalachia. It will have its own rail system with 3,300 freight cars. And it will produce annually more than 1 million tons of something that many people argue the world needs less of: plastic.
As concern grows about plastic debris in the oceans and recycling continues to falter in the US, the production of new plastic is booming. The plant that Royal Dutch Shell is building about 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh will create tiny pellets that can be turned into items like phone cases, auto parts and food packaging, all of which will be around long after they have served their purpose.
After Being Harassed And Pushed Out Of A Shell Oil Refinery, This Woman Pushed Back
Ciara Newton had her dream job at a Shell refinery. But she was fired after enduring months of harassment, including sexist comments from supervisors and a lewd sticker.
Zahra Hirji: BuzzFeed News Reporter: Reporting From Oakland, California
Last updated on August 6, 2019, at 1:14 p.m. ET
Posted on August 6, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. ET
OAKLAND, California — She walked toward the witness stand at eight months pregnant, her slow steps echoing in the cavernous federal courtroom.
Two years earlier, she had been fired from her dream job at a Shell refinery after enduring months of harassment — sexist comments from two male supervisors, reprimands for documenting her coworkers’ mistakes, a lewd sticker on her desk. She got the termination notice just days before the end of her job’s nine-month probation period. The fallout was devastating. She lost the loan needed to buy her recently widowed mother’s house, spiraled into depression and anxiety, and ended up working at an airline two hours from her home for half the pay.
Shell Chemical workers diagnosed with cancer secure cash benefits
Asbestos-laced products were used for decades at Shell Chemical.
Shell Chemical workers diagnosed with cancer secure cash benefits from multiple private trusts
Federal courts require asbestos manufacturers to compensate cancer victims
Plant workers employed before 1981 diagnosed with various cancers are entitled to special benefits. Lung cancer, esophageal cancer, laryngeal cancer, pharyngeal cancer, stomach cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, and mesothelioma are frequently caused by asbestos exposure. Asbestos-laced products were used for decades at Shell Chemical. Neither employees nor management were aware of the asbestos risk.
Asbestos is a mineral that in its natural state is harmless. It becomes harmful when it is pulled apart or ground up into flexible fibers. Then, when inhaled or swallowed, microscopic asbestos fibers may be permanently affixed to body tissue. Over many years, these fibers may cause genetic changes that can lead to cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute, “It can take from 10 to 40 years or more for asbestos-related cancers to appear.”
Climate Suit Vs. Shell Allowed to Continue
Climate Suit Vs. Shell Allowed to Continue in Rhode Island
By Karen Savage
A lawsuit against Shell for failing to protect its Providence Terminal from the impacts of climate change will be allowed to continue with the addition of a new claim and two new defendants, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
In the ruling, U.S. District Court Judge William Edward Smith approved a motion by the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), an environmental law and advocacy group, to amend its complaint to add another hazardous waste claim and to add two Shell subsidiaries, Triton Terminaling and Equilon, to the suit. Royal Dutch Shell, the parent company based in the Netherlands, was dismissed because is no longer listed on the facility’s permits, but could be brought back in at a later date.
Shell, Jiffy Lube Face Suit Over ‘Oppressive’ Pricing Scheme
Shell was charging the Plaintiffs prices that were over 260% higher than that of other petroleum suppliers for the same exact products with identical specifications…
The next paragraph only is from an article by Law360. The rest is from information in the featured legal documents filed days ago.
Law360 (July 10, 2019, 6:18 PM EDT) — Two companies that own and operate Jiffy Lube motor oil change service centers in Illinois are suing Shell Oil Products US over what they called an “oppressive and arbitrary pricing scheme”…
The Plaintiffs allege that Shell Oil Products US (“SOPUS”) would continuously, unilaterally, and without reason, increase the price it was charging Plaintiffs for SOPUS Products.
REUTERS: Shell confirms two killed after accident at Auger platform in Gulf of Mexico
By Reuters• last updated: 01/07/2019 – 16:04
(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> confirmed two fatalities as a result of an incident at its Auger Tension Leg Platform in the deep-water U.S. Gulf of Mexico on Sunday morning.
“One other non-life-threatening injury was sustained, and that individual is being treated at a nearby hospital,” Shell said in an emailed response on Monday.
The accident occurred around 9:00 a.m. CST during a routine and mandatory test of a lifeboat launch and retrieval capabilities at the platform, located 214 miles south of New Orleans.
Defendant Shell Pipeline Co ‘acted with malice, oppression or fraud’
A verdict returned June 14 states defendants Shell Pipeline Co. and Alon USA Paramount Petroleum Corp. “acted with malice, oppression or fraud”…
BY JOHN COX [email protected]
A federal jury has awarded $40.6 million to Bakersfield developers who sued after discovering three petroleum pipelines under a property they were planning to turn into a logistics center just north of Meadows Field Airport.
A verdict returned June 14 states defendants Shell Pipeline Co. and Alon USA Paramount Petroleum Corp. “acted with malice, oppression or fraud” in connection with three pipelines found to have trespassed on land purchased in 2013 from Chevron USA Inc. by developers C&C Properties Inc., JEC Panama LLC and Wings Way LLC.
Oil giants including Shell defy sanctions threat with Russia
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European oil giants, including Royal Dutch Shell and OMV, have signed cooperation deals with Russian energy companies during the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, despite risks of potential new western sanctions.
Since the 2014 invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions, Russian oil firms have operated with limited access to western financing and limits on production technology.
Multinational oil firms have wound down cooperation that could be in breach of sanctions but work on conventional hydrocarbons projects continues to grow. Deals signed this week included Shell, Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of the state-run gas giant, and Spain’s Repsol agreeing to jointly develop fossil-fuel projects in the melting Russian Arctic.
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