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Energy

Those who own, extract, process, and sell the fossil fuels on which modern culture is (often regrettably) based make up perhaps the single most powerful industry in the world. While energy policy in the United States is made behind closed doors with oil barons, wars are fought in the Middle East over oil & gas, and geopolitics in South America is revolutionized on the power of vast oil reserves.


News Articles

US/ECUADOR: New nonprofit uses Web to pressure Chevron
by David A. BakerSan Francisco Chronicle
November 16th, 2009
Retired retail executive Richard Goldman was astonished when he heard about the $27 billion pollution lawsuit against Chevron Corp. in Ecuador. SO he has created a nonprofit group, Ethos Alliance, that will use social-networking tools to spread word of the case and put pressure on Chevron.

UK: Friends of the Earth attacks carbon trading
by Ashley SeagerThe Guardian (UK)
November 5th, 2009
The world's carbon trading markets growing complexity threatens another "sub-prime" style financial crisis that could again destabilise the global economy, campaigners warn. In a new report, Friends of the Earth says that to date "cap and trade" carbon markets have done little to reduce emissions but have been plagued by inefficiency and corruption.

SOUTHEAST ASIA: Sizing up palm oil
by David GrantChristian Science Monitor
November 2nd, 2009
While it doesn’t sound (and need not be) nefarious, activist groups worldwide like the Rainforest Action Network argue that the production of palm oil is currently harming rain forests in Southeast Asia, orangutans, and the environment.

FRANCE: France jails 'Angolagate' power players
by Pascale JuilliardThe Times Online (South Africa)
October 27th, 2009
A French court slapped jail terms Tuesday on the main players in a network that smuggled arms to war-torn Angola and included an ex-minister and the son of the late president Francois Mitterrand.

FRANCE: French nuclear plant reveals plutonium level discrepancies
by AFP/ReutersDeutsche Welle
October 15th, 2009
The French government has demanded answers from a nuclear research facility after nearly triple the registered amount of plutonium was discovered there during its dismantling this summer.


CorpWatch Blog

Chevron Gets Fixed
by Antonia JuhaszHuffington Post
November 4th, 2009

Berkeley, Oakland urge oil money transparency
by Josh Richman
October 20th, 2009

Shell's Settlement Doesn't Hide Unsettling Reality in Nigeria
by Stephen Kretzmann
June 11th, 2009

What's not in Chevron's annual report
by Cameron Scott
May 26th, 2009

Not Quite Beyond Petroleum
by Philip Mattera
February 20th, 2009


CorpWatch Exclusives

Uranium Corporation of India Limited: Wasting Away Tribal Lands
by Moushumi BasuSpecial to CorpWatch
October 7th, 2009
In Eastern India's Jharkand State, tensions are mounting between Indigenous tribal communities and the Uranium Corporation of India Limited, or UCIL. Heavy security at a May public hearing in Jadugoda prevented many local activists and villagers from entering. But outside the hearing, activists from the Jharkhandi Organization Against Radiation (JOAR) argued their case for protecting their health and the environment from horrific impacts of radioactive contaminated waste resulting from uranium mining.

Damming Magdalena: Emgesa Threatens Colombian Communities
by Jonathan LunaSpecial to CorpWatch
July 21st, 2009
Near the town of La Jagua, overlooking the Magdalena River, the landscape is dotted with concrete markers declaring the land, river, and everything else a “public utility” that Colombia has given to the energy company Emgesa as part of the Quimbo Hydroelectric Project. A construction permit was granted in May, with the dam scheduled for full operation by 2014.

The True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report
by Antonia Juhaszhttp://www.TrueCostofChevron.com/
May 26th, 2009
Chevron's 2008 annual report is a glossy celebration of the company's most profitable year in its history. What Chevron's annual report does not tell its shareholders is the true cost paid for those financial returns, or the global movement gaining voice and strength against the company's abuses. This jointly-produced report documents negative impacts of Chevron's operations around the globe, in stark contrast to the message sent by the company's ubiquitous "Human Energy" advertising campaign.

Toyota: Auto Industry Race to the Bottom
by Barbara BriggsSpecial to CorpWatch
September 16th, 2008
Globally, Toyota is known for its innovation and quality of products like the Prius hybrid. A closer look at operations in Japan, the Philippines, Myanmar and the U.S. reveals a story of extreme working conditions, union-busting and other corporate abuses. In Japan and elsewhere, workers are speaking out.

Ducking Responsibility: Entergy Spins Its Nukes
by Shay TottenSpecial to CorpWatch
August 4th, 2008
Entergy Nuclear (part of the broader Entergy energy family) is spinning off its northeastern U.S.-based nuclear power plants into a related limited liability corporation, Enexus. Stakeholders in Vermont, home of the Yankee Nuclear power plant, are less than happy, with Entergy also reneging on prior commitments to cover eventual plant decommissioning costs, potentially stranding taxpayers with much of the bill.


Commentary & Analysis

US: Science a la Joe Camel
by Laurie DavidThe Washington Post
November 26th, 2006
The producers of former vice president Al Gore's film about global warming decided to offer 50,000 free DVDs to the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) for educators to use in their classrooms. It seemed like a no-brainer. The teachers had a different idea: Thanks but no thanks, they said.

Beyond Propaganda
by John KenneyThe New York Times
August 24th, 2006
An former advertising executive realizes he created one of the greatest greenwashing campaigns of all time.

WORLD: Behind the spin, the oil giants are more dangerous than ever
by George MonbiotGuardian (UK)
June 13th, 2006
For the past two or three years, environmentalists (myself included) have been publicising the idea that global oil production might soon peak and then go into decline. This possibility helps to demonstrate, we argue, that our dependence on oil is unsustainable, and we must find means of giving it up. The oil companies have seized our arguments and are using them for the opposite purpose: if oil supplies are in danger, they must be permitted to prospect in new places.