Message From the Editor

Do you remember last September? The international grassroots momentum for climate action was unprecedented. DeSmog was covering the climate strikes and United Nations meetings from the ground and we were joined by hundreds of other news outlets in focusing on climate as part of the Covering Climate Now collaboration.

This coming week we’re joining that collaboration again, but the world looks very different amid the pandemic.

Big banks are weighing whether to seize assets from the collapsing oil and gas industry, whose woes predated, and will outlive, the pandemic. Largely African-American communities who’ve spent years fighting for their lives against toxic air pollution are now fighting for their lives against the coronavirus.

This week, we’ll examine a framework for phasing out fossil fuels that could save a World Heritage Site threatened by coal, the climate “solutions” pushed by the fossil fuel industry over the years, and the climate denial machine pushing to rush back to business-as-usual during the pandemic. We’ll explore the obstacles and solutions for supporting the electrification of transportation and reflect on the Gulf of Mexico a decade after the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, a region now grappling with the COVID-19 outbreak.
Follow all our coverage here.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: editor@desmogblog.com.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Get all our latest reporting and analysis during the week on Twitter @desmogblog.

Big Banks Pull Financing, Prepare To Seize Assets From Collapsing Oil and Gas Industry

— By Justin Mikulka (6 min. read) —

The finances of the oil and gas industry are so dismal that the major banks that have funded the money-losing fracking boom are now exploring taking the unusual step of taking over the oil companies that cannot afford to pay back the banks' loans.

Reuters reported that banks are exploring the option of seizing oil company assets because the more traditional route of bankruptcy will result in huge losses for the banks — while seizing assets and holding them until oil prices increase would likely minimize those losses.

Oil, Gas, Petrochemical Financial Woes Predate Pandemic — And Will Continue After, Despite Bailouts, Report Finds

— By Sharon Kelly (7 min. read) —

The oil, gas, and petrochemical industries have taken a massive financial blow from the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) concludes, but its financial troubles preexisted the emergence of the novel coronavirus and are likely to extend far into the future, past the end to measures aimed at curbing the spread of the disease.

“Oil and gas are among the industries hardest hit by the current economic crisis, with leading companies losing an average of 45 percent of their value since the start of 2020,” the report finds. “These declines touch on nearly every facet of the oil and gas sector’s business, including the petrochemical sector that has been touted in recent years as the primary driver of the industry’s future growth.”

Long Exposed to Polluted Air, Louisiana’s Cancer Alley Residents Are Now in a COVID-19 Hotspot

— By Julie Dermansky (10 min. read) —

Confirming fears, cases of COVID-19 have been spreading at an alarming rate in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, an 80 mile stretch along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge that is lined with refineries and petrochemical plants.

From a safe distance, I met with activists in St. James Parish and St. John the Baptist Parish, both located on the river’s banks and where predominantly black communities have been fighting for clean air for years. They shared concerns that African Americans are dying of COVID-19 at a disproportionate rate and that toxic air pollution they’re still exposed to is increasing their vulnerability to the virus.

Public Ownership of Fossil Fuels a Potential Solution to Multiple Crises, Says New Report

— By Nick Cunningham (6 min. read) —

At a time of overlapping crises, putting fossil fuel assets into public ownership offers a way to slash carbon emissions and pave the way for a just transition for oil and gas workers who find themselves without a job, according to a new report.

Fracking was a loss-making enterprise before the global pandemic — more than 200 North American oil and gas companies have gone bankrupt since 2015 — but with oil prices crashing below $20 per barrel, many more companies will go under.

‘We Need Water Before Oil’: Kenyan Communities Scarred by Chinese Oil Exploration

— By David Njagi (8 min. read) —

The repeated honking of a speeding Tawakul shuttle announces the return of travelers to Merti from distant towns at dusk. It also marks the close of another searing and slow day in this part of northern Kenya.

Idling villagers’ faces are suddenly lit by the prospect of seeing their families as they rush to meet the late arrivals, stirring this sleepy shopping centre into activity.

Baltimore, Rhode Island Argue They’re Suing Fossil Fuel Companies Over Climate Deception

— By Dana Drugmand (5 min. read) —

At a time when fossil fuel companies are using a public health crisis to demand financial and regulatory support, the governments of Baltimore and Rhode Island are calling out a “decades-long campaign of deception” by these companies in urging courts to advance lawsuits trying to hold polluters responsible for climate damages.
Over a dozen of these climate liability lawsuits are currently pending, brought by cities, counties, one state, and one trade association seeking payments to help cover climate change-related costs. The lawsuits target major fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, and BP, alleging they deliberately deceived the public and policymakers on the dangers of fossil fuels.

Some Oil Producing Nations Agree to Cut Production 10%

— By Jordan Davidson, EcoWatch (4 min. read) —

Oil-producing nations led by Russia, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia reached an unprecedented agreement on Sunday to cut oil production by 9.7 million barrels per day, or nearly 10 percent of what is currently produced, as The New York Times reported.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered lockdowns around the world, the demand for oil has plummeted nearly 35 percent, causing huge surpluses in oil supply and deep drops in the price of crude oil, which fell to 18-year lows. The new agreement to slash oil production starting in May is twice the size of the cuts agreed to during the global financial crisis 12 years ago and signals a truce in a growing price war between Russia and OPEC's de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, according to The Guardian.

A Decade After the Deepwater Horizon Explosion, Offshore Drilling Is Still Unsafe

— By Donald Boesch, University of Maryland (6 min. read) —

Ten years ago, on April 20, 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 crew members and starting the largest ocean oil spill in history. Over the next three months, between 4 million and 5 million barrels of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico.

I was a member of the oil spill commission appointed by President Obama to investigate the causes of the disaster. Later, I served as a courtroom witness for the government on the effects of the spill. While scientists now know more about these effects, risks of deepwater blowouts remain, and the energy industry and government responders still have only very limited ability to control where the oil goes once it’s released from the well.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Martin A. Armstrong

Martin Armstrong is the CEO of Armstrong Economics. In September 1999, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission prosecuted Armstrong for fraud, and he served time in prison. He started Armstrong Economics in 2007 while he was still in prison. Armstrong has promoted climate science denial, describing climate change mitigation measures as an “agenda to eliminate your freedom” and “move toward an authoritarian state.” Recently, he has published conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic on his blog.

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database or our new Koch Network Database.