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Inside the Oil Industry Resistance Magazine, Fall 2009 Issue One of the world's primary sources of carbon dioxide emissions comes from the combustion of oil and oil derivatives. While oil is cleaner in use than coal, and dirtier than natural gas, it continues to present a disastrous pollution problem and an energy source that is not only unreliable and vanishing, but is additionally the source of military conflicts around the planet. The oil industry has presented a significant threat to marine ecosystems and sea life that is caused by spillage from oil tankers. Between the 1950s and 2009 there have been over 70 documented large oil spills resulting in an unbelievable 14.8 billion gallons (U.S.) of crude oil released into international waterways and land. Oil released into waterways suffocates plants and animals threatening their existence. Marine plants can be covered in a layer of oil, which prevents oxygen and water exchange causing the plants to die. Marine life that feeds on this vegetation is the next link in the chain struggling to survive. Oil spills additionally can kill mammals and birds through suffocation. It strips the water resistant coating from their feathers and a bird weighed down by oil may experience difficulty flying and will develop hypothermia resulting from exposure to cold weather. The coats of mammals are also harmed as oil removes water resistant compounds from marine life including seals and otters. Spills also affect filter feeders by concentrating in the flesh of the animals. Toxics that accumulate in oysters, clams and mussels are lethal and are passed up the food chain. Human populations throughout the world that consume sea creatures are not only taking lives, but ingesting all of the contaminants and toxic oil residue that come with them. In addition to the pollution caused to waterways, oil combustion adds to the problem of acid rain and climate change. This occurs from most oil having a sulfur content that when burns reacts with oxygen to create sulfur dioxide. When it comes in contact with atmospheric water vapor, sulfuric dioxide becomes sulfuric acid and this acid rain can destroy forests along with wreaking havoc on human created structures. The process of oil production in itself is an incredibly damaging process. The first stage typically involves exploration usually consisting of seismic surveying. Massive underwater explosions from air guns assist explorers in locating possible reserves. This 250 decibel noise displaces fish, which in turn affects the birds and other marine life that feed on them. These blasts can damage tissues including ears, lungs, and guts in mammals, and swim bladders in fish. Once a possible site has been located, the drilling stage begins. Lubricants, typically called "muds," are pumped down into the earth to prevent the drill bit from overheating and assist the regulation of oil and gas flow. These "muds" consist of heavy metals (mercury, lead, cadmium), hydrocarbons, corrosion inhibitors, biocides, and detergents. The drill cuttings are then typically dumped onto the sea floor, smothering wildlife and affecting ecosystems. Commonly consisting of rock pieces from the bottom of the sea floor, these scattered shavings are usually contaminated with oil and the other lubricant chemicals. The installation of rigs and pipelines also poses serious risks to marine life. This process commonly involves dredging, filling, and anchoring that has disastrous consequences for seabed ecosystems. Structures that are underwater are typically treated with protective chemicals that release toxins into the water. And from the rig itself, there are constant discharges from deck drainage, cooling water from machinery, sewage, light and noise pollution. In many developing countries the effect of the oil industry has been one of environmental devastation and exploitation and abuse of local communities. There are the more famous cases of Shell and Chevron funding the military that killed protesters in Nigeria. But these incidents are not isolated. In the early 1990s British Petroleum (BP) was funding the military in Columbia that murdered multiple local people who had protested against BP's oil exploration in the area. In the mid-1990s Premiere Oil and Total Oil used forced labor in Burma to help build their pipelines. If that wasn't enough, the companies funded the military to guard the pipelines, which then subjected local communities to rape, torture, forced relocations and murder. In the 1970s and 1980s, Texaco (now owned by Chevron) dumped more than 19 billion gallons of toxic waste and millions of gallons of crude oil in Ecuador. This ended up in the waste pits in forests, leading to more than 1,400 cancer deaths and devastation of indigenous communities. ExxonMobil (then just the Mobil half) funded the military in Indonesia in the 1990s that committed rape, torture, sex crimes, kidnapping and murder against local communities. Occidental Petroleum was complicit in the 1998 Santo Domingo Massacre in Colombia. Occidental was funding the security forces that ended up killing 18 civilians, including nine children. More recently, indigenous protests against cutting down the Amazon for drilling operations and logging resulted in 30 protesters killed. These are just a few examples. There is a very lucid pattern at play in the above occurrences. Oil companies have been operating under the assumption that they can explore, drill, and lay pipeline anywhere they please to maximize profits. These profits, as demonstrated in even the few cases listed above, have come at the price of environmental devastation and of the murder, exploitation, and abuse of local communities. And the meager fines the companies occasionally must pay to make lawsuits disappear are just considered another cost of doing business. These companies are largely unregulated, they are out of control, and consumer society continues to hand them billions of dollars in profits because so much of many of our economies are based on oil or oil-based products. In addition to oil that is refined and used for transportation purposes or for heat, the following is a list of just a few of the products created from oil: Air conditioners, ammonia, anti-histamines, antiseptics, artificial turf, asphalt, aspirin, balloons, bandages, boats, bottles, bras, bubble gum, butane, cameras, candles, car batteries, car bodies, carpet, cassette tapes, caulking, CDs, chewing gum, combs/brushes, computers, contacts, cortisone, crayons, cream, denture adhesives, deodorant, detergents, dice, dishwashing liquid, dresses, dryers, electric blankets, electrician’s tape, fertilizers, fishing lures, fishing nets, fishing rods, floor wax, footballs, glues, glycerin, golf balls, guitar strings, hair, hair coloring, hair curlers, hearing aids, heart valves, heating oil, house paint, ice chests, ink, insect repellent, insulation, jet fuel, life jackets, linoleum, lip balm, lipstick, loudspeakers, medicines, mops, motor oil, motorcycle helmets, movie film, nail polish, nylons, oil filters, paddles, paint brushes, paints, parachutes, paraffin, pens, perfumes, petroleum jelly, plastic chairs, plastic cups, plastic forks, plastic wrap, plastics, plywood adhesives, refrigerators, roller-skate wheels, roofing paper, rubber bands, rubber boots, rubber cement, rubbish bags, running shoes, saccharine, seals, shirts (non-cotton), shoe polish, shoes, shower curtains, solvents, spectacles, stereos, sweaters, table tennis balls, tape recorders, telephones, tennis rackets, thermos, tights, toilet seats, toners, toothpaste, transparencies, transparent tape, TV cabinets, typewriter/computer ribbons, tires, umbrellas, upholstery, vaporizers, vitamin capsules, volleyballs, water pipes, water skis, wax, and or wax paper… These products pose serious health threats to the planet, not only with refinery and manufacturing processes in their creation, but in the disposal of the items once their use has been completed. Additionally, the packaging of items for consumption in many oil-based products has been shown to be harmful to human health through leeching. And it is common knowledge that the gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel used everyday internationally for consumer and commercial uses is one of the top three causes of global warming. These gases when combusted release carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases that is melting glaciers worldwide and resulting in a rise in ocean levels. So, with modern technology and an international community concerned about the problems associated with non-renewable fossil fuels, it seems it would be plausible to wean ourselves off of our addiction to oil. And yet here we are in 2009. The environment is worse off today than at any point in human history. Yet companies such as ExxonMobil and Chevron posted record annual profits in 2008 (ExxonMobil $45.2 billion, Chevron $18.7 billion). It seems not everyone is eager to end the global reliance on fossil fuels. Without significantly restructuring oil companies to manufacture and sell different products, the oil mafia inevitably stands to suffer extreme financial loss. So naturally they are going to fight like hell to ensure that their ride to the end of the oil supply is as financially fruitful as possible. One of the documented ways oil companies have been trying to stop any transition away from reliance on oil is through misinformation. And ExxonMobil has been one of the leading advocates of this strategy. Between 1998 and 2005, ExxonMobil funneled nearly $16 million to a network of 43 advocacy organizations whose chief purpose was to mislead the public on the dangers of global warming and to cloud scientific understanding of climate change. When science doesn't appear to be on your side, just trick the public into believing it is. Unfortunately for ExxonMobil, their strategy was exposed. Then in August this year, an insider memo sent by the American Petroleum Institute and leaked to a U.S. environmental advocacy organization urged oil companies to recruit their employees for events that will "put a human face on the impacts of unsound energy policy" and will urge senators to "avoid the mistakes embodied in the House climate bill." Essentially, the plan was to create "astroturf rallies" where industry employees posing as "citizens" would urge members of Congress to oppose climate change legislation. They are unchecked. They are out of control. They are getting away with murder. Extreme financial loss will be the only value that registers with the CEOs, boards and shareholders of these companies. Take a lesson from the Nigerians who after the measly $15.5 million Shell verdict was announced, destroyed Shell oil rigs, pipelines and distribution centers in protest. |