Industry

ODAC Newsletter – July 23

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As dozens of ships at the BP spill site are forced to head for harbour by the approach of Tropical Storm Bonnie, work to plug the well permanently could be delayed by up to two weeks. But eight days on the temporary cap is still holding, and officials are now ‘encouraged’ by the results. Earlier this week they were concerned that seepage near the well might be evidence of damage from the disaster that could lead to a further leak…

Oil, civil liberties, and the G20 Summit in Toronto

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Canada seems to be heading into authoritarianism and corruption which is similar to conditions in Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and other countries in which extractive industries are leading centres of national cash flow, which props up industry and state regimes. (Some people describe those international trends as a “resource curse.”) Lobbying, revolving doors between industry and government, and oil subsidies are three of the sides of Canada’s petro-regime.

A cooperative approach to renewing east Kentucky

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Models of transition in eastern Kentucky must simultaneously address a host of interrelated regional challenges in order to bring sustainable success. The region’s economy is under-developed, with extremely high poverty and unemployment rates; housing stock is inadequate and energy-inefficient; and rural electric cooperatives are more than 90 percent dependent on coal, increasing the vulnerability of their customers in the face of rising prices.

BP: Running the odds during the planning stages

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This pair of items will illustrate BP’s extraordinary confidence during its planning for the Macondo well. The first item consists of selected quotes from BP’s Initial Exploration Plan (Feb. 2009). The second item is a review of the recent presentation by two veteran drilling specialists from Shell. The primary purpose of their presentation was to contrast the differences between the way Shell designs its deepwater wells and the way BP designed the Macondo well. An underlying theme of both items is the fact that the various aspects of the BP plan were conducted under the oversight of senior industry administration and federal regulators.

Big Oil makes war on the earth: The Gulf Coast joins an oil-soiled planet

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If you live on the Gulf Coast, welcome to the real world of oil — and just know that you’re not alone.  In the Niger Delta and the Ecuadorian Amazon, among other places, your emerging hell has been the living hell of local populations for decades.