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Shell Oil will drop its membership in ALEC, citing differences over climate change

Aug 7th, 2015
by John Donovan.
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The washingtonBy Steven Mufson August 7, 2015

Shell Oil will not renew its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council, citing differences with the controversial corporate lobbying group over the issue of climate change.

“ALEC advocates for specific economic growth initiatives, but its stance on climate change is clearly inconsistent with our own,” said Curtis Smith, a spokesman for Shell. “We have long recognized both the importance of the climate challenge and the critical role energy has in determining quality of life for people across the world.  As part of an ongoing review of memberships and affiliations, we will be letting our association with ALEC lapse when the current contracted term ends early next year.” read more

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‘Shell No!’: Dangling from a bridge to stop Arctic drilling

Jul 30th, 2015
by John Donovan.
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By Justin Wm. Moyer July 30, 2015

In the annals of extreme protesting, there are tree-sitters and there are sleeping dragons. Add to these the bridge-dangle — a technique craftily employed by 13 environmental activists in Portland, Ore., who wish to prevent a ship vital to Royal Dutch Shell Arctic drilling from leaving the Lower 48.

“They are creating a human barricade so that the Shell icebreaker cannot get through,” Annie Leonard, the executive director of Greenpeace USA, told KATU in Portland. “They are prepared to stay up there for days because that’s what it is going to take to save the Arctic.”

The protesters took to the St. Johns Bridge over the Willamette River early Wednesday to block the icebreaker, named the Fennica, from heading north to protect Shell’s fleet from ice and respond to an oil spill, should one occur. As the Associated Press reported, the ship is being repaired after its hull was gashed in the Aleutian Islands after a collision with an underwater object. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Big Oil seems to be acting like Big Tobacco

May 31st, 2015
by John Donovan.
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Article by Sheldon Whitehouse published Sunday 31 May 2015 by The Washington Post/Associated Press

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Fossil fuel companies and their allies are funding a massive and sophisticated campaign to mislead the American people about the environmental harm caused by carbon pollution. 

Their activities are often compared to those of Big Tobacco denying the health dangers of smoking. Big Tobacco’s denial scheme was ultimately found by a federal judge to have amounted to a racketeering enterprise.

The Big Tobacco playbook looked something like this: (1) pay scientists to produce studies defending your product; (2) develop an intricate web of PR experts and front groups to spread doubt about the real science; (3) relentlessly attack your opponents.

Thankfully, the government had a playbook, too: the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. In 1999, the Justice Department filed a civil RICO lawsuit against the major tobacco companies and their associated industry groups, alleging that the companies “engaged in and executed — and continue to engage in and execute — a massive 50-year scheme to defraud the public, including consumers of cigarettes, in violation of RICO.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Interior Dept. criticizes Shell’s Arctic drilling

Mar 15th, 2013
by John Donovan.
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By , Published: March 14

The Interior Department issued a report sharply critical of Shell’s exploration drilling efforts in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska last year, but Secretary Ken Salazar gave the company the go-ahead to try again in 2014.

Environmental groups harshly criticized the report and said it raised questions about the department’s ability to conduct independent regulatory oversight.

“Exploration in the Arctic is a key component of the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, and is important to our understanding of the oil and gas potential in this frontier region,” Salazar said after the completion of a 60-day review by the department that recommended companies follow “Arctic specific” standards.

Shell has already announced a “pause” in its drilling plans after a series of delays and mishaps culminating in its rig, the Kulluk, getting damaged in a storm when it ran aground on its way to port.

Shell has spent nearly $5 billion and several years preparing to drill for oil in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s Arctic coast. Harsh weather limits the drilling season there to about three or four months and Shell’s plans were delayed both by its trouble getting federal approval of its containment system and by an unusually late ice season. Eventually the company pared back its plans and instead of completing two to six exploration wells it installed blowout preventers on the top of partially drilled wells. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell CEO: America can be energy independent in 20 years; company profit drops on lower prices

Jul 26th, 2012
by John Donovan.
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By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, July 26, 5:18 PM

AMSTERDAM — The chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell PLC on Thursday said that whichever political party wins the U.S. presidential election in November should formulate an energy policy with a view to achieving “near energy independence” within 20 years.

Swiss CEO Peter Voser, who heads Europe’s largest oil company, was speaking after his company’s second quarter earnings showed a greater than expected decline in profits, due mostly to lower oil prices.

At a meeting with analysts in London, Voser said that energy independence could be possible using a combination of newly-available technologies for extracting oil in difficult-to-reach areas, including the icy Alaska seas where Shell is undertaking exploratory drilling this summer, deep sea operations in the Gulf of Mexico, heavy oil sands, and especially developing the US’s large natural gas reserves would all help. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Arctic drilling close for Shell, but still elusive

Jul 21st, 2012
by John Donovan.
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By and , Published: July 20

ANCHORAGE — Seven years and $4.5 billion after it bought leases to explore for oil off Alaska’s Arctic coast, Royal Dutch Shell is finally close to drilling a well in the pristine Chukchi Sea, confident that it will discover a vast oil reservoir buried thousands of feet below the seafloor.

“This is kind of like Christmas Eve,” said Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell (R). “We can’t wait to see if Santa comes.”

But Santa’s path has not been smooth.

The thickest ice in a decade, along with problems in obtaining a permit for a 4,700-ton oil spill containment system, pushed Shell’s July 15 start date back three weeks. These glitches have postponed the first offshore drilling in the American Arctic in 15 years, a massive undertaking that could eventually yield 400,000 barrels of oil per day.

The Coast Guard delayed the firm’s oil recovery barge Arctic Challenger from leaving the Pacific Northwest earlier this month after raising questions about its ability to withstand a severe storm. Then, Shell petitioned the Environment Protection Agency to modify an air emission permit on the grounds that the technology did not exist to meet one of the requirements. Finally this past Saturday, Shell’s drill ship Noble Discoverer dragged its anchor off Alaska’s Aleutian islands and drifted to within 100 yards of shore. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Brazil judge: Shell, BASF must put $382 million into workers compensation fund pending suit

Jul 3rd, 2012
by John Donovan.
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SAO PAULO — A Brazilian judge has ruled that the local subsidiaries of oil company Shell and the world’s largest chemical company, BASF, must pay $382 million into a compensation fund to potentially cover more than 1,000 workers who allege they were contaminated and sickened at an agricultural chemical plant.

By Associated Press, Published: July 2

SAO PAULO — A Brazilian judge has ruled that the local subsidiaries of oil company Shell and the world’s largest chemical company, BASF, must pay $382 million into a compensation fund to potentially cover more than 1,000 workers who allege they were contaminated and sickened at an agricultural chemical plant.

BASF SA said in a Monday statement that it would appeal the ruling by judge Maria Ines Correa Targa. Shell SA said it would abide by the decision pending a higher court’s ruling on the workers’ class-action lawsuit that is before a court in the national capital, Brasilia.

Prosecutors said any money actually paid into the fund would be frozen until the workers’ damage suit is finalized — but they wanted it in the fund as a guarantee.

The companies were earlier ordered to make payments by two courts. But the case revolving around a plant in the city of Paulinia, 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Sao Paulo, was appealed to a higher court.

Targa wrote in her ruling Thursday that Shell and BASF engaged in “reprehensible conduct” seeking to “circumvent their obligation.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Critics continue objections, but Arctic offshore drilling moves forward for 2012, future years

Jul 2nd, 2012
by John Donovan.
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By Associated Press, Monday, July 2, 12:11 AM

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — In choppy water under blue sky off Bellingham, Wash., a Shell Oil crew on Monday lowered a “capping stack” 200 feet in the water and put it through maneuvers with underwater robots connected by cable to operators on the surface, a test that fulfilled one of the final steps required for permission to drill exploratory wells in Arctic waters.

The capping stack looks like a giant spark plug and is designed to kill an undersea oil well blowout by providing a metal-to-metal seal on a malfunctioning blowout preventer.

Shell is sending the capping stack, skimmers, boom and a containment dome on board a flotilla accompanying drill ships to Alaska’s northern shores as part of a spill response plan that has the blessing of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. Shell expects final approvals within weeks and drilling by late this month.

But environmental groups contend the government has it wrong. Despite reforms put in place after the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, their basic objections remain. Shell has vastly overstated its ability to respond to a worst-case scenario spill in open water, said attorney Holly Harris of Earthjustice, and no oil company has demonstrated it can clean up a spill that lingers into the Arctic’s eight months of sea ice. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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