In addition to the on-going BP Gulf oil catastrophe, a Chevron leak in Salt Lake City this weekend released anywhere from 400-12,000 gallons of oil into a creek that feeds into the Great Salt Lake. In both cases safety procedures failed. Given the lax level of regulatory oversight on the oil industry, it is only a matter of time before additional accidents contaminate our land, water and wildlife with oil.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
This is a critical moment when we can change our country’s unhealthy relationship with oil. One of the first steps is holding the oil companies accountable for their actions and impacts. So, if you had the CEOs of five of the largest oil companies in the country in one room, what would you ask them? What do you want to know?
Tomorrow morning, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment will hold a hearing entitled “Drilling Down on America’s Energy Future: Safety, Security, and Clean Energy,” featuring such infamous VIPs as:
- Rex Tillerson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, ExxonMobil
- John Watson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Chevron Corporation
- James Mulva, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, ConocoPhillips
- Lamar McKay, President and Chairman, BP America, Inc.
- Marvin Odum, President, Shell Oil Company
Please leave questions in the comments – they will be submitted to the Subcommittee and may be asked at the hearing tomorrow.
[UPDATE: If you want to attend the hearing in person, join the group of young people going to hold oil companies accountable (details here). You can also follow the hearing on twitter @ChangeChevron.]
I have one question.
“How do you feel about going down as the ‘Darth Vaders’ of this generation?”
“Of course profits are important, and so is national security, but how do you feel that much of the horror of war and atrocities that have occurred in the last 50 years have been caused or been connected to you and your predecessors decision to increase your profits at any cost?”
“How upset would you be if one/one millionth of the oil spill were poured over your house?”
Oil is a risky business with high potential for environmental and human damage. Why are safety precautions not inspected by non-industry bodies?
What will you do if (when) a hurricane hits the Gulf and spreads oil further across the Gulf and Southern states? What will you do between now and then to minimize the damage?
Why do you not take the same safety precautions in foreign countries like Nigeria as you do in the United States?
Ask them just how long it is before they unveil their plan to capture the wind and solar and tide markets. Clearly all the obfuscation is them buying time until they can release their technologies and sustain their bottom lines. The corollary to that is clearly, “Is the obfuscation worth the destruction?”
Do you feel that your companies should be held responsible for the damages they inflict upon the environment to the full value of their cost? There is a strong push for accountability on the gulf oil spill right now, but how will your companies mitigate the damages inflicted by climate change and the inevitable future spills that will result from drilling and transport? If you cannot be responsible for these costs, what is your plan for transitioning to cleaner energy sources?
CONTAIN OIL
Put large pipe together like they do when building a bridge footing and pumping out the remaining water in order to put the rebar and pour concrete footing.
Drop large pipe down until it fits over the leak and pipe all the way to the surface, as if you were making a bridge footing. Make the top large enough to contain the gushing oil. Use pumps at the top to pump the oil into ship tankers or storage containers. This would allow moving the oil to refineries, giving BP or someone smart enough time to figure out how to fix leaking problem.
Oil Bigwigs:
Do you have children/grandchildren? What would you say is your legacy? If you could leave Earth and safely inhabit another planet, would you? Why?
Two questions:
1) Is allowing these kinds of mistakes to continue really all that profitable to their companies? Would it not be more profitable to extract oil in a non-destructive way to the environment considering the significant overall damages that they must pay for in the long run?
2) If they poison their consumer base by destroying the environment, who exactly will be buying their product in the future?
My question:
If you are serious about investing in a cleaner and safer energy future, why aren’t your companies pushing as hard as possible for strong national climate legislation that includes a cap on carbon emissions and incentives to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy? As leaders in some of this country’s largest corporations, you no doubt understand that market incentives are needed to shift the direction of the economy. So why are your companies either opposing climate legislation outright, or advocating for only the mildest possible sort of climate bill?