Vultures Picnic – My Home is Now a Strange Place (Installment 2)
By Zach Roberts It’s weird where life takes you. In 2006, I started working for Greg Palast. He was one of my heroes. Most people know him for breaking the story of the stolen 2000 election. That was how I was introduced to his work as well, but the story that made me want to work for him was one of the lesser known ones from his best-seller The Best Democracy Money Can Buy “A Well-Designed Disaster: The Untold Story of the Exxon Valdez.” It blew me away. Everything I knew about one of the most important events in American history…
Alaska Disasta! Conoco Net Income Looks Grim…
Forgive me a second while I try to calm down. I… it’s…. I’m sorry. Just… just give me a second. (You kindly wait while I compose myself) You know how Governor Parnell tells us that we have to give $2 billion back to the oil companies every year? It’s not that he really wants to, but you know, they have to make a living. They invest a lot in our state, and we need to show a little gratitude. We can’t be all greedy and hog it all to ourselves, or they will just be lose their incentive, and will…
Alaska’s Business Report Card – F is for Fabulous, and A is for Asshat
Senator Bill Wielechowski and Rep. Les Gara held a press conference yesterday talking about how corporations attempt to wield their power over the Alaska legislature through the use of the Alaska Business “Report Card.” Let’s listen to what this is all about from Rep. Les Gara. Now, think about corporations for a moment. I have equated corporations to polar bears before. Polar bears are not inherently evil, but they can be dangerous, and they do have an agenda that doesn’t always match that of people. The internal programming of a polar bear is simple – if it moves, it’s food….
The Bailout is Billions…Ten Specifically
The recent oil tax debate has raised more questions than answers for many Alaskans, including the majority of state Senators. Today, in a press release from Senator Bill Wielechowski, a few of those questions were answered. BREAKING: Data Shows Even As Companies Invest, Alaska Takes A $10 Billion Hit For Immediate Release: April 13, 2011 JUNEAU: Senator Bill Wielechowski (D–Anchorage) said new analysis shows that, even with the potential investment mentioned last week by ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva, under the Governor’s oil tax rollback proposal, the state would lose an estimated $10 billion over the next eight years. Last Thursday, Mr….
Employees Say BP’s Ombudsman’s Office Neglected Their Safety, Retaliation Concerns
By Jason Leopold [Jason Leopold is the Deputy Managing Editor at Truthout where this article is cross-posted. He is the author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller, News Junkie, a memoir. Visit newsjunkiebook.com for a preview. ] Over the past year, BP’s office of the ombudsman has been presented with dozens of safety concerns and evidence that would appear to support claims of widespread retaliation against employees who work for Acuren, one of the beleaguered oil company’s contractors on Alaska’s North Slope. But the watchdog has failed to investigate the allegations and in some instances has prematurely closed cases without conducting a thorough…
Documents, Employees Reveal BP’s Alaska Oilfield Plagued By Major Safety Issues
Jason Leopold has written an amazing piece on BP and how they handle safety in Alaska. Here is the article in full, which is cross-posted from Truthout. By Jason Leopold Nearly 5,000 miles from the oil-spill catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, BP and its culture of cost-cutting are contributing to another environmental mess. According to internal BP documents obtained by Truthout, and after interviewing more than a dozen employees over the past month, the Prudhoe Bay oil field, in a remote corner of North America on Alaska’s north shore, is in danger. After two serious oil spills and other mishaps,…