Are Oil Companies Going Green?

Chevron

The Ad: An inspirational piece about the progress of humankind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRAbc3hv1d4&feature=related to watch.
For the Record:

• In Ecuador, Chevron faces a $16 billion lawsuit for destroying the homes, health and environment of five indigenous groups and 80 Ecuadorian communities.
• Chevron has refused to clean up Ecuador
• In Richmond, California, Chevron’s produces over two million pounds of toxic climate-poisoning air and water pollutants each year.

Dirty Little Secret:
On Sept. 8th, the Chevron refinery in Richmond, CA cut a backroom deal to upgrade its facility to refine dirty crude. Three environmental groups are suing Chevron on the basis the upgrade will increase pollution and cause health problems in the low-income community.
Three days later, on Sept. 11th, the company won the Green Apple Award for Climate Change which recognizes the company’s work with schools. Coincidence? We think not.

BP - Beyond Petroleum

The Ad:
A car full of cute cartoon kids bypasses other evil gas stations, going gleefully out of their way to the Chevron station, with its happy, whistling gas pumps http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rklKyFMUME
For the Record:

• In 2000, British Petroleum re-branded and re-named itself Beyond Petroleum. The logo became a green and yellow sunflower.
• The company was the first to acknowledge the potential link between carbon emission and global warming
• In 2005, an explosion at BP’s refinery in Texas City killed 15 workers. The US Chemical Safety Board blamed BP for poor organization and safety
• In 2006, corroded pipelines broke, leaving a record 201,000-gallon oil spill in Alaska.

Dirty Little Secret:
In late 2007, the company moved into the development of perhaps the dirtiest of all oil sources with Husky Energy.