Tom Raftery's Library tagged exxon →  View Popular, Search in Google

The grilling of the major oil executives at Tuesday's Congressional hearing into America's energy future got off to an early start.

The topic: walruses.

Noting that most oil producers included walruses in their oil spill regional response plans despite the fact that the mammal is not native to the Gulf of Mexico, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) asked ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson:

"As I'm sure you know, there aren't any walruses in the Gulf of Mexico and there have not been for three million years. How can Exxon Mobil have walruses in their response plan for the Gulf of Mexico?"

exxon bp Gulf of Mexico oilspill Congressional hearing walrus walruses

In fact, more oil is spilled from the delta's network of terminals, pipes, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico, the site of a major ecological catastrophe caused by oil that has poured from a leak triggered by the explosion that wrecked BP's Deepwater Horizon rig last month.

That disaster, which claimed the lives of 11 rig workers, has made headlines round the world. By contrast, little information has emerged about the damage inflicted on the Niger delta. Yet the destruction there provides us with a far more accurate picture of the price we have to pay for drilling oil today.

nigeria exxon ogoni Niger Delta oilspill

More than one in four shareholders of Exxon Mobil Corp. supported a resolution Wednesday demanding more disclosure about the energy giant’s oil sands holdings, the largest protest to date over the amount of information available regarding the multi-billion dollar energy projects.

About 26.4% of investors at Exxon’s annual general meeting in Dallas voted in favour of shareholder motion asking the company to produce a report detailing the financial risks associated with the oil sands projects. The board recommended investors shoot down the proposal.

financial risks greennumbers investors exxon exxon mobil shareholders disclosure oil sands oil sands holdings

It appears that Exxon ran a competition for solar house designers in 1977, then took out ads showcasing their work in major newspapers

exxon solar

Exxon’s $600 million deal with Synthetic Genomics to brew fuel from algae could mark a coming of age for alternative fuels.

exxon synthatic genomics craig venter algae biofuel greenmonktv