Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Friday, May 16, 2008
Annell Bay, vice president of exploration for Shell in the Americas,
February 2008……”This is a tremendous opportunity, and with that comes a tremendous responsibility to Alaska and the offshore area,”……
Been there done that! Talk is so cheap.
Shell bid a record-breaking $105.3 for one of 448 tracts that went on the auction block in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea.
Don Cornett, Exxon, was the guy that told the citizens of Prince William Sound in 1989 “You have had some good luck and you don’t even realize it. You have Exxon and we do business straight.”
Cornett must have been thinking of the straight shot he would be firing off at consumers when gas prices rose 8 cents per gallon nation wide after the spill and admitted that Exxon would add some of the cleanup costs to the price of its products. Cornett said,” “If it gets to the consumer, that’s where it gets. It’s just like any other cost of doing business.”
Exxon’s profits in 1988 were $5.3 BILLION. Exxon Mobil profited a staggering $1,287.00 per second for every second of 2007, $40.61 Billion.
After 500,000 gallons, that’s half a million gallons of oil shot into the Arthur Kill waterway between Jew Jersey and Staten Island from a leaking pipeline on January 1, 1990, Douglas Walt, spokesman for Exxon in Linden, N.J., acknowledged that there had been “regrettable accidents,” but defended the company’s overall
environmental record.
Earlier this month ConocoPhillips, Shell, Marathon, Chevron and BP about 12 oil companies that reached a settlement for knowingly contaminating the drinking water of some 153 municipal water providers in 17 states. Exxon was one of 6 companies that did not settle. The oil companies added methyl tertiary butyl ether,(MTBE) to their gasoline to reduce air pollution and hid information showing MTBE causes massive contamination when discharged into the air.
Bill Day, Valero “The settlement agreement is being reviewed by the court and is not yet final.” Bill Tanner, ConocoPhillips “…there are still other issues that are outstanding, that are still subject to litigation.” Don Campbell, Chevron…declined to comment. Valerie Corr, BP didn’t immediately return requests for comments along with Thomas Golembeski, Sunoco and the oil companies lawyers
James Pardo, and Peter Sacripanti….Linda Casey, Marathon, ‘We consider our portion of the settlement to be minor.” “It’s not material to the company.”
The same mistakes are being made today that were made more than 20 years ago in Alaska when the oil companies ‘promised to use great care to avoid a spill’. Knowing Alaska was not equipped to contain a large oil spill and that more than 8.4 million gallons couldn’t be contained and would result in long term adverse consequences to the environment.
Exxon knew the icy waters of Prince William Sound were extremely treacherous to move supertankers through; and yet they knowingly allowed a known drunkard and relapsed alcoholic to operate the Valdez. Hazelwood wasn’t even allowed to drive a car to the Quicky Mart for a doughnut, having lost his license for driving drunk.
The fox doesn’t have a very good record when it comes to guarding the hens. A glance at the oil industry’s safety record indicates there is a wolf dressed up in sheep’s, or in this case a polar Bear’s clothing. Did you get the polar bear memo?
Please link over to our friends at PEER and read the full details on what is really going on…Read how the Interior Department deals with it’s own scientists when there is dissent.
Read internal emails
Read how scientific warnings on the dangers of the oil industry’s new stampede into Arctic drilling are being disregarded.
The Whole Truth Prince William Sound, Alaska History of the Spill
Polar Bears Message
Labels: MTBE
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing. Cheap talk from some expensive oil reps.
