La Mode Verte
Environmental Awareness Through Media ProductionsArchive for ExxonMobil
Hackers Turn Their Attention onto Monsanto
www.lemonde.fr 18th July 2011
The hacking group ‘Anonymous’ has turned its attention to environmental causes by launching an attack on US agribusiness giant Monsanto. Famous for previous attacks on everything from the Pentagon to the Egyptian government (prior to its collapse in the Arab Spring) to Visa and Mastercard for their action against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Anonymous now cite Monsanto’s production and promotion of GM crops and toxic herbicide ‘Round Up’. 2,500 employees of the company will have their personal details released on Wikileaks in two weeks time. These include names, addresses, phone-numbers and email). Monsanto is not the only victim of Anonymous’ new eco-outlook. Oil giants Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Canadian Oil Sands Limited and Imperial Oil are also being targeted for their work ‘destroying’ the Montana wilderness to ship oil to Canada. A quote from Anonymous read: “Anonymous can not stand by and let these environmental atrocities continue.”
Workers Scramble to Clean Up ExxonMobil Spill on Yellowstone River
www.latimes.com 3rd July 2011
An ExxonMobil oil pipeline crossing the Yellowstone River in Montana has been damaged spilling around a 1,000 barrels (42,000 gallons) of crude into the marine environment. It took ExxonMobil engineers 6 minutes to shut the pipeline down after pressure readings dropped on Sunday. The last inspection of the pipeline (December) showed the pipe 5-8 feet below the riverbed but heavy rains and melted snow are believed to have removed the sediment on top. This exposed the metalwork to floating debris which damaged the structural integrity of the pipeline, resulting in the spill. The pipeline is only 20 years old but was already shut in May this year due to worries about seasonal flooding. It was reopened however after it was deemed safe based on the pipeline’s record. It is too early to tell the impact on the surrounding environment although local residents are concerned that when the high river waters recede, they will leave oil on farmers’ land.
New ‘Bubble-Maker’ Wins Royal Society Innovation Award
www.guardian.co.uk 15th October 2010
A bubble-maker has been awarded the £250,000 Brian Mercer award for innovation from the Royal Society for its ability “to transform the cost and effectiveness of growing algae for biofuel, treating sewage and cooling computers.” It was invented by Professor Will Zimmerman of the University of Sheffield and is currently undergoing field trials in the chimneys of the steel manufacturer Corus. The smaller bubbles made by the Y-shaped device feed algal blooms with CO2. The advantage of the smaller bubbles is that they take away the waste product oxygen allowing 100% of the algae to survive. Prof. Zimmerman’s creation requires ’80% less energy than existing methods of creating bubbles for chemical processes.’ The reduced cost has caught the attention of Anglican Water and Yorkshire Water who are working with the Professor in speeding up the process of bacteria breaking down sewage. Shell and ExxonMobil have invested heavily in this technology with the latter company putting up $600 million and the hiring of human genome decoder Craig Venter to produce an algae that makes oil. However Ben Graziano of the Carbon Trust has stated that this technology is a decade away from being commercialised.
