All Your Green Blog

Chevron (who I chose to pick on at random) is sure a bunch of swell guys. They spend so much money to protect the environment. They even have a whole section of their website deticated to outlining their "environmental responsibility." It begins with "Using definitions and guidelines established by the American Petroleum Institute..."

Wait, who? That doesn't sound like an institute I'd trust for defining my environmental definitions and guidelines. Well, Chevron spends an amazing $2.2 billion dollars on stuff that this API defines as "environmental spending." Well, I did a quick check on this API to find out just how green they are. Well... do you know what their tagline is on their homepage? "Putting Earnings into Perspective." No really. Now, in some sort of grand way, that could mean "look at how little the earnings are compared to the impact on our planet!" Well, of course that's not the case.

Who is this API? Well, to quote: "They are producers, refiners, suppliers, pipeline operators and marine transporters, as well as service and supply companies that support all segments of the industry." What industry, praytell? Oil and gas. So, basically, the $2.2 Billion dollars Chevron claims in its PR is money spent on what Chevron thinks is environmentally friendly. This includes such incredible charity as "prevention, control, abatement or elimination of hazardous substances and pollutants from operating, closed or divested sites."

If I had a steaming cup of toxic goo, and it cost me a dollar to pour it into another cup, instead of onto the ground, Chevron would claim that dollar as part of their "environmental responsibility." Why not just not make a cup of toxic goo? I'm a devout capitalist. I generally hesitate to interfere in the way companies to business. But there's just no positive side to these kinds of entities. If I needed any motivation to continue improving my environmental footprint, the Chevron Corporate Responsibility Report is all I needed. Just think of how much they spend on such charitable ventures as "costs to remediate previously contaminated sites."

There's a cliche involving a choice regarding the use of one's own back yard as an outhouse... they're doing it wrong.