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Tag:

oil industry

OIl Companies Admit Climate Change Is Real In Court Case

written by Sponsored Content

By Steve Hanley

William Alsup is a federal district court judge for the northern district of California. His courtroom is in San Francisco, where he is presiding over a case brought by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland against 5 major oil companies — Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell, and BP.

 

The cities allege they will be on the hook for billions of dollars worth of infrastructure upgrades to protect their citizens from rising ocean levels brought on by global warming. Climate scientists say that temperatures in the Arctic this winter have been as much as 30 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than usual. Those warm temperatures are causing glaciers and sea ice in the region to melt faster than anyone expected. All that melting water is making ocean levels rise.

 

The plaintiffs in the suit claim the higher temperatures are directly related to higher levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere caused by burning fossil fuels. The two cities say the oil companies have known about the connection between fossil fuels and global warming for decades, but kept their knowledge secret in order to continue doing business as the usual manner.

Naturally, the oil companies dispute those claims, saying it was impossible to predict the impact of burning fossil fuels until quite recently. They deny misleading the public about the harm that could come from using their products.

Judge Alsup is a bit of a legend in legal circles. In a patent infringement case some years ago, he taught himself the computer program Java so he could better understand the technical aspects of the case. Recently, he presided over a high profile case in which Waymo accused Uber of stealing proprietary information about self driving car technology.

To school himself to hear this current litigation, the judge propounded a set or 8 questions for the litigants to answer. This is what the judge came up with:

  • What caused the various ice ages (including the “little ice age” and prolonged cool periods) and what caused the ice to melt? When they melted, by how much did sea level rise?
  • What is the molecular difference by which CO2 absorbs infrared radiation but oxygen and nitrogen do not?
  • What is the mechanism by which infrared radiation trapped by CO2 in the atmosphere is turned into heat and finds its way back to sea level?
  • Does CO2 in the atmosphere reflect any sunlight back into space such that the reflected sunlight never penetrates the atmosphere in the first place?
  • Apart from CO2, what happens to the collective heat from tail pipe exhausts, engine radiators, and all other heat from combustion of fossil fuels? How, if at all, does this collective heat contribute to warming of the atmosphere?
  • In grade school, many of us were taught that humans exhale CO2 but plants absorb CO2 and return oxygen to the air (keeping the carbon for fiber). Is this still valid? If so, why hasn’t plant life turned the higher levels of CO2 back into oxygen? Given the increase in human population on Earth (four billion), is human respiration a contributing factor to the buildup of CO2?
  • What are the main sources of CO2 that account for the incremental buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere?
  • What are the main sources of heat that account for the incremental rise in temperature on Earth?

Those questions have sparked a lively date on social media. Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M created a forum on Twitter where people could post their answers.

The major development in the case so far is that the oil companies have admitted, on the record in open court, that climate change is real. That flies in the face of the furious denials emanating from political leaders in Washington who are in thrall to organizations like the American Petroleum Institute and Koch Industries.

That admission may mark a change in how investors value fossil fuel stocks. Savvy investors are using tools like spread betting from CMC Markets to manage their portfolios in uncertain times. The world of investments can change rapidly. Online tools from CMC Markets can help.

This post is supported by CMC Markets; images from StockSnap



March 26, 2018 0 comment
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Government Subsidies to the Oil Companies

written by Walter Wang

All Americans should be aware of what’s happening in Washington in this critically important area that affects every one of us. Earlier this week, 48 Senators, including three Democrats and all but two Senate Republicans voted to defeat a bill that would have ended tax breaks for the five biggest oil companies.

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May 20, 2011 1 comment
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Politicians Play Ping Pong Over Energy Policy

written by Walter Wang

Gas prices continue to rise at local gas stations. I generally try to stay on the sidelines of politics, but simply cannot do so anymore. The partisan bickering is Washington is enough to give anyone a headache.

Last week, House Majority Leader John Boehner suggested that incentives for the oil industry ought to

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May 1, 2011 1 comment
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Late-Night Radio Show Caller Throws Tantrum Over Subsidies for Renewables

written by 2GreenEnergy

I got a call shortly after dinner last night from a radio host in Denver, explaining that due to a last-minute cancellation, he had an hour-long opening on his show. He asked if he could call me for the interview – at 1 AM!

I agreed, stayed up late, reading, checking out Jay Leno, and fighting off the yawns.

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March 24, 2011 0 comment
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End the Oil Subsidies, for Common Sense’s Sake!

written by Justmeans

As President Barack Obama prepares to release his proposal for the next year’s budget this month, he is expected to call for eliminating $4 billion per year in subsidies to the oil industry. This is money that could be re-channeled into spurring clean energy development, reducing the deficit, and paying for basic government services during hard economic times. This common sense proposal should logically

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February 2, 2011 1 comment
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