When I was in college, Mexico announced it’s discovery of massive oil reserves in the Gulf of Mexico. At the time, I had a neighbor who happened to be a professor of Latin American studies. I asked him what he thought of this, and I offered that Mexico would be a very wealthy country soon. He disagreed. He cited one reason: corruption. I’m not sure he was correct, but Mexico’s oil wealth didn’t turn out the way I had expected. A good read on our neighbor to the south. The comments are also worth reading.
US Drought Map
I knew it was pretty bad here in Texas and much of the west, but I didnt realize the extent of this summer 2022 drought. Similar in lots of other places around the world. And the places that aren’t in a drought are mostly flooding. From US Drought Monitor.
The Fracking Boondoggle
The data has been out there for a long time. Fracking was a money pit for investors. I heard $500 billion in capital lost. Everyone should read this. From the New York Times:. Hardly Anyone Talks About How Fracking Was an Extraordinary Boondoggle
From 2006 to 2014, fracking companies lost $80 billion; in 2014, with oil at $100 a barrel, a level that seemed to promise a great cash-out, they lost $20 billion. These losses were mammoth and consistent, adding up to a total that “dwarfs anything in tech/V.C. in that time frame,”
US power companies secretly spending millions to protect profits and fight clean energy
From The Guardian. Have to go the the UK press to get this sort of investigative journalism these days.
US power companies secretly spending millions to protect profits and fight clean energy
Big Oil vs the World
It looks like there is a new four part series currently airing on the BBC about the petrochemical industries public relations efforts to deny climate change. Will post when it is available for viewing in the US.
The audacious PR plot that seeded doubt about climate change
Texas’ early season heat wave in May exposed the myth of fossil fuel reliability
From the Houston Chronicle.
Texas’ early season heat wave in May exposed the myth of fossil fuel reliability
How two Texas megadonors have turbocharged the state’s far-right shift
I usually don’t watch CNN but stumbled on this hour long piece. Worth watching. Explained lots of thing about Texas politics that I didn’t understand. A good quote:
Kel Seliger, a longtime Republican state senator from Amarillo who has clashed with the billionaires, said their influence has made Austin feel a little like Moscow. “It is a Russian-style oligarchy, pure and simple,” Seliger said. “Really, really wealthy people who are willing to spend a lot of money to get policy made the way they want it — and they get it.”
How two Texas megadonors have turbocharged the state’s far-right shift
Oil Sector Profits
$3 billion a day in profits. $16 billion a day in subsidies ($11 million per minute).
Steven A. Guccione 