British oil giant BP would like us all to forget its record oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, a deadly 2005 explosion at its Texas City oil refinery and a major Alaskan…
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Wall Street Oil Speculators Hurt Families, U.S. Economy
OilWatchdog and other critics of commodity speculation have long said that rampant speculation in oil futures markets has hurt families, cost jobs and kept the U.S. economy teetering on the edge of recession. Energy analyst…
Blog Post
Fracking and Yakking
Exxon Mobil, which is making big bets worldwide on hydraulic fracturing for deeply buried natural gas, is also making big bets on its sincere, earnest advertising about clean, safe natural gas. The ads turn me into a…
News Clipping
State’s Drivers Ease Up On The Gas
“The pain in their wallets is causing them to rethink their lifestyles,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica, a frequent critic of Big Oil. “People tend to be a lot more environmentally conscious when just ignoring it is going to cost them something.” The changes are even more significant, Court said, given the steady rise in the number of drivers. “It shows that ultimately we can solve both the higher emission problem and the higher consumption problem associated with more drivers if we can continue to improve fuel efficiency technology,” Court said.
Take Action on Gas Prices
Here’s a petition from our ally Public Citizen, calling on federal regulators to quit stalling and rein in the financial speculators who are jacking up gasoline prices. It’s well worth the few seconds to click…
Chevron Oil Leak in Gulf of Mexico?
Hard to interpret the technical language in this early Reuters report, but not good that Chevron refused to comment. When the screwup is not an explosion in view of the world, it’s all too easy…
Blog Post
Report on Gas Blast Sounds Too Familiar
A deadly brew of corporate carelessness and failed regulation caused the natural gas pipeline explosion that killed eight residents in a quiet neighborhood of San Bruno, CA., says a long-awaited report by the National Transportation Safety Board….
News Clipping
Oil Drops 14%, Gas Only 3.4% – Fuel Prices Vary Significantly
“There’s an old saying in [the] gasoline [industry],” Judy Dugan, research director for Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica, Calif., said Monday. “Prices go up like a rocket and down like a feather. There is a higher disconnect between the actual price of oil and the price of gasoline.” Gasoline prices have been viewed as the “last bastion of competition,” Dugan said, “but in this case that appears to have failed.” Still, gasoline prices in the state vary significantly.
Blog Post
Why Is Gasoline Price Staying High?
The old adage about gasoline prices, “up like a rocket, down like a feather,” has never been so true. The price of crude oil in recent days has been down near $80 a barrel, translating…
Blog Post
Natural Gas Drillers: ‘We Don’t Need Your Stinking Air Rules’
Whenever regulators try to clean up our air or water, industry issues its standard “job killer” press release. Let your children keep their asthma and we won’t shut down our (oil, gas, coal) (refinery, drilling…
Blog Post
Oil Will Grease a Debt-Limit Recession
If the U.S. ends the coming weekend without national debt limit deal, it won’t just be bond defaults sending the nation back into a deep, ugly recession. A hint came Tuesday as the price of…
Blog Post
If Exxon Can’t Deal With the Montana Spill…
Exxon is still fumbling to deal with a 42,000-gallon oil pipeline spill on the Yellowstone River west of Billings, Montana. Its initial response was pathetic–it was slow to turn off the gushing pipeline, had no…
Energy Drillers: Water Pollution Info Is Our Secret
The surge in energy company drilling for deep-rock natural gas has generated a matching surge in complaints of water contamination, including faucets pouring out so much methane gas that you can light it (video) with…