The Best Of The Worst?
So if you own a car, chances are you are buying gas. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. Either way we can vote with out dollars and try and choose the companies that hurt us (and the planet) the least. This rewards these companies for trying to do good, and punished the other companies that fail to give a care. The Sierra Club has compiles a lovely little list of who sucks and who doesn’t in the oil industry. With over 400 million (!!!) gallons of gas purchased every single day it becomes clear that a concerted effort from consumers can very quickly change the way in which these companies operate.
These companies are among the largest and most powerful enterprises on the planet. The complexity of their organization and activities, the vastness of their reach, and the huge number of variables involved make objective ranking difficult. That said, it is possible to lump them into three general categories, as Sierra editorial interns Robynne Boyd and Sarah Ives do below: the “bottom of the barrel” (ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips), the “middle of the barrel” (Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, Valero Energy Corporation, and Citgo), and the “top of the barrel” (BP and Sunoco). But you don’t have to take our word for it: Review the information we’ve gathered, and make your own choice.
Read the full article here
Bottom of the Barrel
Middle of the Barrel
Top of the Barrel
Here is a little taste of the worst and the best.
The worst Exxon
Black Marks
ExxonMobil has received numerous fines and penalties from the EPA for its environmental violations. International human-rights and environmental organizations from Amnesty International to Greenpeace have called for boycotts in response to the company’s stance on climate change and its troubling human-rights history:
- It’s been more than 17 years since the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, and ExxonMobil still refuses to pay punitive damages. Although the company has given $2.2 billion to help clean up Prince William Sound, many organizations say that amount is far too little to address lingering environmental problems. In the past decade, ExxonMobil has also been responsible for hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil spilled in Nigeria and New York.
- In 2001, Sierra reported that ExxonMobil’s pipeline project from Chad to the coast of Cameroon cuts through indigenous communities’ rainforest homes. Last January, the project generated new controversy when Chad’s government diverted money generated from petroleum revenue away from poverty-relief and social programs.
- In 2002, the Political Economy Research Institute rated ExxonMobil the sixth-worst polluter in the United States based on EPA emissions data.
- In 2005, the EPA levied an $8.7 million civil penalty on ExxonMobil for its nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions in Illinois, Louisiana, and Montana. According to the EPA, these pollutants can increase the risk of childhood asthma and cause other environmental and health damages. In addition to the penalty, the company will have to spend $9.6 million on environmental programs in communities near the refineries.
- That same year, ExxonMobil emitted nearly 150 million metric tons of greenhouse gases.
- A 2005 report by Jantzi Research ranked ExxonMobil below average for its social and environmental practices.
- ExxonMobil has long maintained a close relationship with the Indonesian military, infamous for its human-rights abuses. According to Amnesty International, Indonesian soldiers guarding the company’s buildings have tortured and killed civilians.
- Despite protests from millions of U.S. citizens, ExxonMobil still seeks to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The Best Sunoco
Black Marks
- In 2000, a Sunoco pipeline spilled almost 200,000 gallons of oil into the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge near Philadelphia. In 2005, Sunoco reached a settlement with the EPA and agreed to pay a $2.7 million fine.
- In 2005, Sunoco paid more than $8 million in fines and penalties, which included two violations of the Pennsylvania Title V permit emission cap from 2001 to 2004 at the Marcus Hook Refinery, and a disagreement over Sunoco’s compliance with the Reasonably Available Control Technology regulations. The RACT process determines and requires the use of available control mechanisms to reduce or limit air emissions.
So as you can see its kind of a tossup. Do you go with the REALLY evil company, or with the one that is just kind of evil. You know the Devil, or maybe just a lesser imp. Read the Full article for an eye opening look at the oil industry.
- Posted in : Environment
- Author :The Naib
Comments»
Great info. I do want to vote with my dollars for good or at least relatively better corporate citizenship. So, of my choices w/respect to environmental evidence, it looks like BP and Sunoco.
I’d like to go a little further, though, and factor in how these huge corporations treat the communities who are impacted by extraction and who SHOULD get significant benefit for allowing their resources to be drained and their communities dislocated.
I don’t know how to add this info to the equation. I’ve seen some of the wellsites in Alaska. And, I understand that Hugo Chavez is using some/alot/who knows of the oil revenues to provide healthcare, education, and other community improvements for a very poor population.
So, wish I had some way to know about this facet of citizenship.
thanks for posting this.
I think you should be careful putting BP so high on the list. They are being accused of price fixing the propane market. http://energy.seekingalpha.com/article/13639
Hi Dan.
I didn’t make the list the sierra club did, and like the title says none of these companies are “good” but some are “less bad”.