By Simpson05-07-07 Students at UC Berkeley who don’t want the venerable institution transformed into UCBP as a result of a $500 million deal with the oil giant, plan a demonstration on Tuesday. Organizers say they…
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Archive | Author: John M. Simpson
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Let This Be A Lesson
By Simpson 05-04-07 Lord John Browne, widely perceived as a business titan, crashed and burned this week resigning as BP chief executive amidst messy, tabloid headlines exposing his gay lifestyle. But as Businessweek columnist Jeffrey…
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Chicken Biodiesel May Not Fly
By Simpson05-01-07 ConocoPhillips and Tyson Foods announced a green sounding deal to make biodiesel fuel from leftover chicken parts, but Congressional Democrats are skeptical of a tax break the plan rests upon. According to the…
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BP Chief Quits; Admits Lies
By Simpson5-01-07 Lord John Browne, the once high-flying executive who seemingly could do no wrong, resigned abruptly after admitting he lied to a court about how he had met his former gay companion. Browne had…
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It’s ALL about oil
04-27-07 by Simpson ExxonMobil is an oil company and Chief Executive Rex Tillerson sees no reason to broaden his horizon to include investing in alternate energy. "I don’t have a lot of technology to add…
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Will profs learn from students?
4-26-07 by Simpson UC Berkeley’s faculty members could learn something from their students. Unlike the faculty senate’s toothless compromise resolution about the proposed $500 million deal with oil giant BP that could transform the campus…
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Deal pushed at ‘warp speed’
Simpson4-23-2007 Why has UC Berkeley’s administration so vigorously pushed the $500 million deal with BP to fund a research institute? Prof. Anne Wagner offered an explanation to her colleagues last week. She is one of…
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It’s academic…
Simpson4-19-2007 Meeting in a special session, UC Berkeley’s faculty senate struggled with parliamentary procedures to reject resolutions that would have asked Chancellor Robert Birgeneau to delay signing a $500 million deal with oil giant…
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Who to believe?
By Simpson4-15-2007 Proponents of the plan to have BP fund an alternate energy research institute at UC Berkeley squared off in the San Francisco Chronicle opinion pages against those who think the university is selling…
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Humbled? Don’t take the money
By Simpson4-12-2007 It’s not just consumers who are outraged by Big Oil CEO compensation. Disgruntled BP shareholders said a planned payment of an estimated £72 million — $124.5 million — to outgoing chief executive John…
Press Release
Berkeley Deal w/BP Not “Open”;
NEWS RELEASE: April 12, 2007 CONTACT: John M. Simpson, (310) 392-0522, ext. 317, or cell: (310) 292-1902 Berkeley Chancellor Mischaracterized Dealings With BP As "Open"; Key proposal documents were withheld from public view until revealed…
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Conoco Takes The Plunge
By Simpson4-11-2007 ConocoPhillips finally took the plunge and became the first major oil company to call for regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. Other dirty Oil Giants have so far merely dabbled their toes in the…
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Conoco Pumps Cash to Big Oil U
By Simpson4-10-2007 ConocoPhillips is pushing to become a full-fledged sponsor of Big Oil U with a grant of $22.5 million to Iowa State University to develop technologies to produce biorenewable fuels. “We believe the key…