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Vinyl Chloride Industry Keeps Expanding Despite East Palestine Disaster

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Saturday, February 3, 2024

When a Norfolk Southern train derailed last February in East Palestine, Ohio, igniting a chemical fire and releasing 1 million pounds of toxic vinyl chloride into the surrounding air and water, politicians rushed to express their support for the impacted community. Within a month, senators introduced the bipartisan 2023 Railway Safety Act, a crucial effort to strengthen safety regulations for the transportation of hazardous materials. In the year since the disaster, vinyl chloride has also faced heightened scrutiny. But despite a newfound focus on the chemical’s dangers, the market for vinyl products is continuing to grow. Major petrochemical companies are expanding their operations — and the vinyl industry is spending more money than ever before to lobby lawmakers on its talking points. Vinyl chloride is a key building block for the production of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, a plastic found in a range of construction materials, medical devices, and household items. For decades, environmental advocates have sounded the alarm over PVC, calling it the “poison plastic”: In addition to vinyl chloride, which is classified as a Group A human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency, PVC contains harmful additives like phthalates and flame retardants. The production process releases massive amounts of greenhouse gases, exposes workers to asbestos and the class of industrial “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, and sends toxic pollutants into front-line communities. “There’s been growing interest to regulate vinyl chloride, PVC plastic, and its additives at the state level, the national level, and the international level over the last year,” said Mike Schade, a campaign director for Toxic-Free Future, who has co-authored multiple reports on the dangers of producing, transporting, and disposing of vinyl chloride. “We’re definitely concerned that, at the same time as we’re learning more and more about the dangers of vinyl chloride and the chemicals associated with its life cycle, the plastics industry has been expanding in recent years, including the PVC plastics industry.” A towboat pushes a barge up he Houston Ship Channel on Sept. 30, 2022, in Houston, Texas. Last month, Amnesty International released a report that found the severity of toxic pollution in the Houston Ship Channel amounts to a human rights violation.Photo: Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images Betting on More Plastic Amid growing calls to phase out fossil fuels, the industry is now betting on plastic — created using petroleum-derived chemicals like vinyl chloride — as a lifeline. In recent years, OxyVinyls — a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum — Formosa Plastics, and Shintech have announced billion-dollar plans to expand their PVC plastic operations. Four months after the East Palestine disaster, chemical manufacturer Orbia declared its intentions to build a massive vinyl plant in the United States before 2028. Most petrochemical operations, including PVC plants, are sited in the Gulf Coast region, where marginalized communities bear the brunt of industrial pollution. Exposure to vinyl chloride is associated with an increased risk of liver, brain, and lung cancer, as well as lymphoma and leukemia. When vinyl chloride burns, it can cause even more harm, releasing a highly toxic class of chemical compounds known as dioxins. A 2023 Toxic-Free Future report noted that at least four low-income communities of color in Louisiana have been forced to relocate due to contamination from the vinyl plastics industry. This includes Mossville, one of the first towns founded by freed slaves in the South. Toxicology tests conducted by the federal government determined that Mossville residents, living in the shadow of pollution from vinyl chloride manufacturers, had elevated levels of dioxins in their bodies. That testing was completed in 1998. But the devastation wrought by vinyl chloride is ongoing: In January, the EPA released a risk assessment detailing findings of toxic emissions near a Westlake Chemical vinyl plant in Calvert City, Kentucky. After collecting air monitoring data for more than a year, the EPA determined that emissions exceeded the state’s acceptable levels of lifetime cancer risk. The findings arrive two months after Westlake made headlines for a different reason: The company is investing $134 million to expand its PVC pipe plant in Wichita Falls, Texas. Yvette Arellano, founder and director of the grassroots environmental justice organization Fenceline Watch, noted that the Houston area has also seen “massive investments” from petrochemical companies in recent years. The 52-mile Houston Ship Channel is already one of the country’s most polluted areas, home to more than 600 manufacturers of plastics and plastic feedstocks. Last month, Amnesty International released a report that found the severity of toxic pollution in the Houston Ship Channel amounts to a human rights violation. “The expansion in the Houston Ship Channel is largely fueled by the plastics industry, including PVC and vinyl,” said Arellano. “We’re talking about a public health threat that’s multiplied because of the cumulative impact of these facilities.” The Occidental Petroleum Headquarters is seen on Dec. 11, 2023, in The Woodlands, Texas.Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images Increased Lobbying In 2022, OxyVinyls, Shintech, Westlake, and Formosa collectively released more than half a million pounds of vinyl chloride into the air, according to an analysis of Toxic Release Inventory data by Material Research. But as members of the Vinyl Institute, the leading lobbying group for the PVC and vinyl chloride industry, the four companies are fighting hard to convince lawmakers that PVC is safe and sustainable. While the group has been active on Capitol Hill for decades, it upped its federal lobbying spend to $560,000 last year. According to disclosures, lobbyists met with lawmakers to discuss topics like the regulation of polyvinyl chloride and the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, which seeks to reduce the production of single-use plastics. The Vinyl Institute opposes the act, rallying for unproven chemical recycling technologies over source reduction strategies. At the state level, the Vinyl Institute’s website boasts that it “worked close with state partners to slow down or stop PVC bans around the nation.” Legislation introduced in Maine, California, and New York last year in the wake of the East Palestine derailment sought to ban the use of PVC and other toxic substances in consumer packaging. Maine’s bill quickly died and California’s went dormant; New York’s was referred to the Environmental Conservation Committee earlier this month. “Our industry is committed to improving our sustainable practices. Over three decades the industry has decreased ambient emissions of vinyl chloride by 87 percent per unit,” the Vinyl Institute wrote in response to questions from The Intercept. “While many unfortunately equate the state of the industry in the 1970s to today, we have made great strides in worker safety and emissions reductions in the five decades since, and part of our state efforts is to ensure lawmakers are making decisions with up-to-date scientific data.” PVC was also challenged at the international level last year, as the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution convened twice to discuss the proposed Global Plastics Treaty. The European Union and dozens of countries have advocated for a PVC ban. “Our team was on the ground at these meetings,” states the Vinyl Institute’s site, “to educate delegates on the positive impact that PVC products have on human rights, equity and public health around the globe.” Fenceline Watch has also been an observer at the treaty discussions, pushing for an approach to plastic management that protects human health and the environment. Arellano noted that the United States has taken a more “business-friendly approach” to the discussions — a “complete opposite stance” from small Pacific Island nations, which must contend with huge amounts of the world’s plastic washing up on their shores. “A ban on PVC would harm developing nations and undermine the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals,” the Vinyl Institute wrote to The Intercept. “We all agree with the overarching goal of eliminating plastic waste, and the Vinyl Institute is present at these meetings to educate the global community on the importance of PVC products in health care and clean drinking water.” Meanwhile, the petrochemical industry is ramping up efforts to undermine the EPA: In 2023, the Vinyl Institute sued the agency over an order it issued under the reformed Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA. The EPA designated 1,1,2-trichloroethane, a potentially carcinogenic chemical used to create vinyl chloride, as a “high priority” for risk evaluation and instructed companies to perform new toxicity tests on birds — something the Vinyl Institute has called “unnecessary,” “unjustified,” and “improper.” That hasn’t stopped the EPA from putting vinyl chloride itself in its crosshairs. On December 14, the agency announced it had added the chemical to its list of priorities for formal review under the TSCA, a step that could potentially lead to an eventual vinyl chloride ban. “We really need to be transitioning away from toxic petrochemicals and dangerous petrochemical plastics like vinyl, especially when we know there are viable, safer alternatives,” said Schade. “I think the tide is beginning to turn, and I think the East Palestine disaster this last year was a real wakeup call.” The post Vinyl Chloride Industry Keeps Expanding Despite East Palestine Disaster appeared first on The Intercept.

Proposed laws to curtail the use of PVC plastics have failed amid heavy lobbying. The post Vinyl Chloride Industry Keeps Expanding Despite East Palestine Disaster appeared first on The Intercept.

When a Norfolk Southern train derailed last February in East Palestine, Ohio, igniting a chemical fire and releasing 1 million pounds of toxic vinyl chloride into the surrounding air and water, politicians rushed to express their support for the impacted community. Within a month, senators introduced the bipartisan 2023 Railway Safety Act, a crucial effort to strengthen safety regulations for the transportation of hazardous materials.

In the year since the disaster, vinyl chloride has also faced heightened scrutiny. But despite a newfound focus on the chemical’s dangers, the market for vinyl products is continuing to grow. Major petrochemical companies are expanding their operations — and the vinyl industry is spending more money than ever before to lobby lawmakers on its talking points.

Vinyl chloride is a key building block for the production of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, a plastic found in a range of construction materials, medical devices, and household items. For decades, environmental advocates have sounded the alarm over PVC, calling it the “poison plastic”: In addition to vinyl chloride, which is classified as a Group A human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency, PVC contains harmful additives like phthalates and flame retardants. The production process releases massive amounts of greenhouse gases, exposes workers to asbestos and the class of industrial “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, and sends toxic pollutants into front-line communities.

“There’s been growing interest to regulate vinyl chloride, PVC plastic, and its additives at the state level, the national level, and the international level over the last year,” said Mike Schade, a campaign director for Toxic-Free Future, who has co-authored multiple reports on the dangers of producing, transporting, and disposing of vinyl chloride. “We’re definitely concerned that, at the same time as we’re learning more and more about the dangers of vinyl chloride and the chemicals associated with its life cycle, the plastics industry has been expanding in recent years, including the PVC plastics industry.”

HOUSTON, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 30: A towboat pushes a barge up he Houston Ship Channel on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022 in Houston. (Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
A towboat pushes a barge up he Houston Ship Channel on Sept. 30, 2022, in Houston, Texas. Last month, Amnesty International released a report that found the severity of toxic pollution in the Houston Ship Channel amounts to a human rights violation.
Photo: Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

Betting on More Plastic

Amid growing calls to phase out fossil fuels, the industry is now betting on plastic — created using petroleum-derived chemicals like vinyl chloride — as a lifeline.

In recent years, OxyVinyls — a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum — Formosa Plastics, and Shintech have announced billion-dollar plans to expand their PVC plastic operations. Four months after the East Palestine disaster, chemical manufacturer Orbia declared its intentions to build a massive vinyl plant in the United States before 2028.

Most petrochemical operations, including PVC plants, are sited in the Gulf Coast region, where marginalized communities bear the brunt of industrial pollution. Exposure to vinyl chloride is associated with an increased risk of liver, brain, and lung cancer, as well as lymphoma and leukemia. When vinyl chloride burns, it can cause even more harm, releasing a highly toxic class of chemical compounds known as dioxins.

A 2023 Toxic-Free Future report noted that at least four low-income communities of color in Louisiana have been forced to relocate due to contamination from the vinyl plastics industry. This includes Mossville, one of the first towns founded by freed slaves in the South. Toxicology tests conducted by the federal government determined that Mossville residents, living in the shadow of pollution from vinyl chloride manufacturers, had elevated levels of dioxins in their bodies.

That testing was completed in 1998. But the devastation wrought by vinyl chloride is ongoing: In January, the EPA released a risk assessment detailing findings of toxic emissions near a Westlake Chemical vinyl plant in Calvert City, Kentucky. After collecting air monitoring data for more than a year, the EPA determined that emissions exceeded the state’s acceptable levels of lifetime cancer risk.

The findings arrive two months after Westlake made headlines for a different reason: The company is investing $134 million to expand its PVC pipe plant in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Yvette Arellano, founder and director of the grassroots environmental justice organization Fenceline Watch, noted that the Houston area has also seen “massive investments” from petrochemical companies in recent years. The 52-mile Houston Ship Channel is already one of the country’s most polluted areas, home to more than 600 manufacturers of plastics and plastic feedstocks.

Last month, Amnesty International released a report that found the severity of toxic pollution in the Houston Ship Channel amounts to a human rights violation.

“The expansion in the Houston Ship Channel is largely fueled by the plastics industry, including PVC and vinyl,” said Arellano. “We’re talking about a public health threat that’s multiplied because of the cumulative impact of these facilities.”

THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS - DECEMBER 11: The Occidental Petroleum Headquarters is seen on December 11, 2023 in The Woodlands, Texas. Occidental Petroleum has announced a $10.8 billion agreement to buy the West Texas energy producer, Crown Rock. Occidental claims that the acquiring of Crown Rock will add approximately 170,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day to production in 2024. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
The Occidental Petroleum Headquarters is seen on Dec. 11, 2023, in The Woodlands, Texas.
Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Increased Lobbying

In 2022, OxyVinyls, Shintech, Westlake, and Formosa collectively released more than half a million pounds of vinyl chloride into the air, according to an analysis of Toxic Release Inventory data by Material Research. But as members of the Vinyl Institute, the leading lobbying group for the PVC and vinyl chloride industry, the four companies are fighting hard to convince lawmakers that PVC is safe and sustainable.

While the group has been active on Capitol Hill for decades, it upped its federal lobbying spend to $560,000 last year. According to disclosures, lobbyists met with lawmakers to discuss topics like the regulation of polyvinyl chloride and the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, which seeks to reduce the production of single-use plastics. The Vinyl Institute opposes the act, rallying for unproven chemical recycling technologies over source reduction strategies.

At the state level, the Vinyl Institute’s website boasts that it “worked close with state partners to slow down or stop PVC bans around the nation.” Legislation introduced in Maine, California, and New York last year in the wake of the East Palestine derailment sought to ban the use of PVC and other toxic substances in consumer packaging. Maine’s bill quickly died and California’s went dormant; New York’s was referred to the Environmental Conservation Committee earlier this month.

“Our industry is committed to improving our sustainable practices. Over three decades the industry has decreased ambient emissions of vinyl chloride by 87 percent per unit,” the Vinyl Institute wrote in response to questions from The Intercept. “While many unfortunately equate the state of the industry in the 1970s to today, we have made great strides in worker safety and emissions reductions in the five decades since, and part of our state efforts is to ensure lawmakers are making decisions with up-to-date scientific data.”

PVC was also challenged at the international level last year, as the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution convened twice to discuss the proposed Global Plastics Treaty. The European Union and dozens of countries have advocated for a PVC ban.

“Our team was on the ground at these meetings,” states the Vinyl Institute’s site, “to educate delegates on the positive impact that PVC products have on human rights, equity and public health around the globe.”

Fenceline Watch has also been an observer at the treaty discussions, pushing for an approach to plastic management that protects human health and the environment. Arellano noted that the United States has taken a more “business-friendly approach” to the discussions — a “complete opposite stance” from small Pacific Island nations, which must contend with huge amounts of the world’s plastic washing up on their shores.

“A ban on PVC would harm developing nations and undermine the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals,” the Vinyl Institute wrote to The Intercept. “We all agree with the overarching goal of eliminating plastic waste, and the Vinyl Institute is present at these meetings to educate the global community on the importance of PVC products in health care and clean drinking water.”

Meanwhile, the petrochemical industry is ramping up efforts to undermine the EPA: In 2023, the Vinyl Institute sued the agency over an order it issued under the reformed Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA. The EPA designated 1,1,2-trichloroethane, a potentially carcinogenic chemical used to create vinyl chloride, as a “high priority” for risk evaluation and instructed companies to perform new toxicity tests on birds — something the Vinyl Institute has called “unnecessary,” “unjustified,” and “improper.”

That hasn’t stopped the EPA from putting vinyl chloride itself in its crosshairs. On December 14, the agency announced it had added the chemical to its list of priorities for formal review under the TSCA, a step that could potentially lead to an eventual vinyl chloride ban.

“We really need to be transitioning away from toxic petrochemicals and dangerous petrochemical plastics like vinyl, especially when we know there are viable, safer alternatives,” said Schade. “I think the tide is beginning to turn, and I think the East Palestine disaster this last year was a real wakeup call.”

The post Vinyl Chloride Industry Keeps Expanding Despite East Palestine Disaster appeared first on The Intercept.

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How Promote Giving, a New Investment Model, Will Raise Millions for Charities

Joel Holsinger, a partner at Ares Management Corp., on Wednesday launched Promote Giving, an initiative encouraging investment managers to donate a portion of their fees to charity

The first foreign trip Joel Holsinger took in 2019 after joining the board of directors at the global health nonprofit PATH convinced him that he needed to do more to raise money for charities.The investment manager, who is now also a partner and co-head of alternative credit at Ares Management Corp., saw firsthand how a tuberculosis prevention program was helping residents of Dharavi, India's largest slum. He also saw that the main hurdle to expanding the program’s success was simply a lack of funding.“I wanted to do something that has purpose,” Holsinger told The Associated Press. “I wanted a charitable tie-in to whatever I do.”Shortly after returning from India, Holsinger created a new line of investment funds where Ares Management would donate at least 5% of its performance fee, also known as the “promote,” to charities. The first two funds of the resulting Pathfinder family of funds alone have raised more than $10 billion in investments and, as of June, pledged more than $40 million to charity.Holsinger wanted to expand the model further. On Wednesday, he announced Promote Giving, a new initiative to encourage other investment managers to use the model, which launches with funds from nine firms, including Ares Management, Pantheon and Pretium. The funds that are now part of Promote Giving represent about $35 billion in assets and could result in charitable donations of up to $250 million over the next 10 years.Unlike broader models like ESG investing, where environmental, social and governance factors are taken into account when making business decisions, or impact investing, where investors seek a social return along with a financial one, Promote Giving seeks to maximize the return on investment, Holsinger said. The donation only comes after investors receive their promised return and only from the manager's fees. “We’re not doing anything that looks at lower returns,” Holsinger said. “It’s basically just a dual mandate: If we do good on returns for our institutional investors, we will also drive returns that go directly to charity.”Charities, especially those who do international work, are in the midst of a difficult funding landscape. The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development and massive cuts to foreign aid this year have affected nearly all nonprofits in some way. Those nonprofits who don't normally receive funding from the U.S. government still face increased competition for grants from organizations who saw their funding cut.Kammerle Schneider, PATH’s chief global health programs officer, said this year has shown how fragile public health systems are and has reinforced the need for “agile catalytic capital” that Promote Giving could provide.“There is nothing that is going to replace U.S. government funding,” said Schneider, adding that the launch of Promote Giving offers hope that new private donors may step in to help offer solutions to specific public health problems. “I think it comes at a time where we really need to look at the overall architecture of how we’re doing this and how we could be doing it better with less.”Sal Khan, founder and CEO of Khan Academy, which offers free learning resources for teachers and students, says the structure of Promote Giving could provide nonprofits stable income over several years that would allow them to spend less time fundraising and more time on their charitable work. “It's actually been hard for us to raise the philanthropy needed for us to have the maximum impact globally,” said Khan. While Khan Academy has the knowledge base to expand rapidly around the world and numerous countries have shown interest, Khan said the nonprofit lacks enough resources to do the expensive work of software development, localization and building infrastructure in every country.Khan hopes Promote Giving can grow into a major funder that could help with those costs. "We would be able to build that infrastructure so that we can literally educate anyone in the world,” he said.Holsinger hopes for that kind of growth as well. He envisions investment managers signing on to Promote Giving the way billionaires pledge to give away half their wealth through the Giving Pledge and he hopes other industries will develop their own mechanisms to make charitable donations part of their business models. Kate Stobbe, director of corporate insights at Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, a coalition that advises companies on sustainability and corporate responsibility issues, said their research shows that companies that establish mission statements that include reasons for existing beyond simply profit generation have higher revenue growth and provide a higher return on investment.Having a common purpose increases workers' engagement and productivity, while also helping companies with recruitment and retention, said Stobbe, who said CECP will release a report that documents those findings based on 20 years of data later this week. “Having initiatives around corporate purpose help employees feel a connection to something bigger,” she said. "It really does contribute to that bottom line.”That kind of win-win is what Holsinger hopes to create with Promote Giving. He said many of the world's problems don't lack solutions. 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EU's Von Der Leyen Says Private Sector Deals Could Unlock 4 Billion Euros for Western Balkans

TIRANA (Reuters) -European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday private sector deals signed or in the pipeline could unlock...

TIRANA (Reuters) -European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday private sector deals signed or in the pipeline could unlock about 4 billion euros ($4.63 billion) in new investment as part of an EU growth plan for the Western Balkans region.During a summit in the Albanian capital Tirana between the EU and the Western Balkans countries, Von der Leyen invited investors to take part in the growth plan that aims to double the size of the region's economies in the next decade.She said that 10 important business deals will be signed in Tirana on Monday, and 24 other potential investments will be discussed on Tuesday."Together they could bring more than 4 billion euros in new investments in the region," Von der Leyen said at the summit. "The time to invest in the Western Balkans is now."The EU has pledged 6 billion euros to help the six Western Balkans nations form a regional common market and join the European common market in areas such as free movement of goods and services, transport and energy.But in order for payments to be made, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia must implement reforms and resolve outstanding issues with their neighbours.Von der Leyen identified artificial intelligence, clean energy and industrial value chains as three strategic sectors that would integrate local industries into EU supply chains.She cautioned that regulatory integration and industrial alliances are key to this effort.The six countries were promised EU membership years ago but the accession process has slowed to a crawl.The delay is partly due to reluctance among the EU's 27 members and a lack of reforms required to meet EU standards - including those concerning the economy, judiciary, legal systems, environmental protection and media freedoms.Serbia and Montenegro were the first in the region to launch EU membership talks, and Albania and North Macedonia began talks with Brussels in 2022. Bosnia and Kosovo lag far behind.(Reporting by Daria Sito-SucicEditing by Ros Russell)Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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Offshore oil plan was 'primed for cash flow,' but then it hit California regulators

A Texas company wants to drill for oil off Santa Barbara County's coast. Experts say its path to oil sales is looking more and more challenging.

When a Texas oil company first announced controversial plans to reactivate three drilling rigs off the coast of Santa Barbara County, investor presentations boasted that the venture had “massive resource potential” and was “primed for cash flow generation.” But now, less than two years later, mounting legal setbacks and regulatory issues are casting increasing doubt on the project’s future.Most recently, the California attorney general filed suit against Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp., accusing it of repeatedly putting “profits over environmental protections.” The lawsuit, filed last week in Santa Barbara County Superor Court, accuses Sable of continually failing to follow state laws and regulations intended to protect water resources. Sable, the lawsuit claims, “was at best misinformed, incompetent and incorrect” when it came to understanding and adhering to the California Water Code. “At worst, Sable was simply bamboozling the Regional Water Board to meet a critical deadline,” according to the lawsuit.The action comes less than a month after the Santa Barbara County district attorney’s office filed criminal charges against the company, accusing it of knowingly violating state environmental laws while working on repairs to oil pipelines that have sat idle since a major spill in 2015. The company also faces legal challenges from the California Coastal Commission, environmental groups and even its own investors. These developments now threaten the company’s ability to push forward on what has become an increasingly expensive and complicated project, according to some experts.Clark Williams-Derry, an analyst for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said there are still ways Sable could get off the ground and begin oil sales, but the repeated setbacks have become what he called “cumulative risk” for investors, who are key to funding the restart. “Sable is at risk of burning through its cash, and lenders are going to have to make a decision about whether or not this is a good investment,” Williams-Derry said. Ongoing pushback from the public, the state and in lawsuits makes that increasingly a hard argument to make, he said. Sable, however, said it remains steadfast in its goal of reactivating the Santa Ynez Unit — a complex of three offshore platforms, onshore processing facilities and connecting pipelines. The unit was shuttered by a different company a decade ago after a corroded section of pipeline ruptured near Refugio State Beach, creating one of the state’s worst oil spills. The company denies that it has broken any laws and insists that it has followed all necessary regulations. Recently, however, company officials have promoted a new restart plan that could avoid California oversight. Company officials say the new plan would keep the project entirely within federal waters — pivoting away from using the contentious pipelines and from what company officials called California’s “crumbling energy complex.”Jim Flores, the company’s chief executive, said Sable is working with the Trump administration’s National Energy Dominance Council on the plan to use an offshore storage and treatment vessel to transport crude from its offshore wells instead of the pipeline system. 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The attorney general’s office called Sable’s evasion of regulatory oversight “egregious,” warranting “substantial penalties.” It’s not immediately clear how much will be demanded, but violations of the California Water Code are subject to a civil liability of up to $5,000 for each day a violation occurs. Despite repeated reminders and warnings from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Coast region, Sable did not comply with the water code, preventing the board “from assuring best management practices ... to avoid, minimize and mitigate impacts to water quality,” the lawsuit said. “No corporation should gain a business advantage by ignoring the law and harming the environment,” Jane Gray, chair of the Central Coast Water Board, said in a statement. “Entities that discharge waste are required to obtain permits from the state to protect water quality. Sable Offshore Corp. is no different.”The case comes months after the California Coastal Commission similarly found that Sable failed to adhere to the state’s Coastal Act despite repeated warnings and fined the company $18 million.

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Work Advice: How to avoid ‘workslop’ and other AI pitfalls

AI at work has drawbacks such as ‘workslop,’ which can hinder productivity. Strategic AI use and transparency are top solutions.

Following my response to a reader who’s resisting a push to adopt artificial intelligence tools at work, readers shared their thoughts and experiences — pro, con and resigned — on using AI.The consensus was that some interaction with AI is unavoidable for anyone who works with technology, and that refusing to engage with it — even for principled reasons, such as the environmental harm it causes — could be career-limiting.But there’s reason to believe that generative AI in the office may not be living up to its fundamental value proposition of making us more productive.A September article in Harvard Business Review (free registration required) warns that indiscriminate AI use can result in what the article dubs “workslop”: “AI-generated work content that masquerades as good work but lacks the substance to meaningfully advance a given task.”Examples of workslop include AI-generated reports, code and emails that take more time to correct and decipher than if they had been created from scratch by a human. They’re destructive and wasteful — not only of water or electricity, but of people’s time, productivity and goodwill.“The insidious effect of workslop is that it shifts the burden of the work downstream,” the HBR researchers said.Of course, workslop existed before AI. We’ve all had our time wasted and productivity bogged down by people who dominate meetings talking about nothing, send rambling emails without reviewing them for clarity or pass half-hearted work down the line for someone else to fix. AI just allows them to do more of it, faster. And just like disinformation, once workslop enters the system, it risks polluting the pool of knowledge everyone draws from.In addition to the literal environment, AI workslop can also damage the workplace environment. The HBR researchers found that receiving workslop caused approximately half of recipients to view the sender as “less creative, capable and reliable” — even less trustworthy or intelligent.But, as mentioned above, it’s probably not wise — or feasible — to avoid using AI. “AI is embedded in your everyday tasks, from your email client, grammar checkers, type-ahead, social media clients suggesting the next emoji,” said Dean Grant from Port Angeles, Washington, whose technology career has spanned 50 years. The proper question, he said, is not how to avoid using it, but what it can do for you and how it can give you a competitive advantage.But even readers who said they use AI appropriately acknowledged its flaws and limitations, including that its implementation sometimes takes more effort than simply performing the task themselves.“[H]ow much time should I spend trying to get the AI to work? If I can do the task [without AI] in an hour, should I spend 30 minutes fumbling with the artificial stupid?” asked Matt Deter of Rocklin, California. “At what point should I cut my losses?”So it seems an unwinnable struggle. If you can’t avoid or opt out of AI altogether, how do you make sure you’re not just adding to the workslop, generating resentment and killing productivity?Don’t make AI a solution in search of a problem. This one’s for the leaders. Noting that “indiscriminate imperatives yield indiscriminate usage,” the HBR article urges leaders encouraging AI use to provide guidelines for using it “in ways that best align to the organization’s strategy, values, and vision.” As with return-to-office mandates, if leaders can articulate a purpose, and workers have autonomy to push back when the mandate doesn’t meet that purpose, the result is more likely to add value.Don’t let AI have the last word. Generating a raw summary of a meeting for your own reference is one thing; if you’re sharing it with someone else, take the time to trim the irrelevant portions, highlight the important items, and add context where needed. If you use AI to generate ideas, take time to identify the best ones and shape them to your needs.Be transparent about using AI. If you’re worried about being judged for using AI, just know that the judgment will be even harsher if you try to pass it off as your own work, or if you knowingly pass along unvetted information with no warning.Weigh convenience against conservation. If we can get in the habit of separating recyclables and programming thermostats, we can be equally mindful about our AI usage. An AI-generated 100-word email uses the equivalent of a single-use bottle of water to cool and power the data centers processing that query. Knowing that, do you need a transcript of every meeting you attend, or are you requesting one out of habit? Do you need ChatGPT to draft an email, or can you get results just as quickly over the phone? (Note to platform and software developers: Providing a giant, easy-to-find AI “off” switch wouldn’t hurt.)Step out of the loop once in a while. Try an AI detox every so often where you do your job without it, just to keep your brain limber.“I can’t deny how useful [AI has] been for research, brainstorming, and managing workloads,” said Danial Qureshi, who runs a virtual marketing and social media management agency in Islamabad, Pakistan. “But lately, I’ve also started to feel like we’re losing something important — our own creativity. Because we rely on AI so much now, I’ve noticed we don’t spend as much time thinking or exploring original ideas from scratch.”Artificial intelligence may be a fact of modern life, but there’s still nothing like the real thing.Pro Tip: Having trouble getting started with AI? Check out Post Tech at Work reporter Danielle Abril’s brilliant articles on developing AI literacy.

Business
Conservation
Technology

Richard Tice has 15-year record of supporting ‘net stupid zero’ initiatives

Firms led by deputy Reform UK leader since 2011 have shown commitment to saving energy and cutting CO2 emissionsUK politics live – latest updatesHe never seems to tire of deriding “net stupid zero”, but Reform UK’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, has a 15-year business record of support for sustainability and green energy initiatives.The Reform party has made opposition to green energy and net zero part of its policy platform. Its founder, Nigel Farage, has called net zero policies a “lunacy”; the party has called to lift the ban on fracking for fossil gas; and one of the first Reform-led councils, Kent, rescinded last month its declaration of a climate emergency. Continue reading...

He never seems to tire of deriding “net stupid zero”, but Reform UK’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, has a 15-year business record of support for sustainability and green energy initiatives.The Reform party has made opposition to green energy and net zero part of its policy platform. Its founder, Nigel Farage, has called net zero policies a “lunacy”; the party has called to lift the ban on fracking for fossil gas; and one of the first Reform-led councils, Kent, rescinded last month its declaration of a climate emergency.However, companies led by Tice since 2011 boasted of their commitments to saving energy, cutting CO2 emissions and environmental responsibility. One told investors it had introduced a “green charter” to “mitigate our impact on climate change” and later hired a “full-time sustainability manager” as part of “its focus on energy efficiency and sustainability”.Another said it was “keen to play its part in reducing emissions for cleaner air” and said it had saved “hundreds of tonnes of CO²” by installing solar cells on the rooftops of its properties.A glance at Tice’s account on X reveals contempt for warnings of climate breakdown and efforts to mitigate it. Last year he said: “We are not in climate emergency; nor is there a climate crisis.” In May he stated: “Solar farms are wrong at every level” and insisted they would “destroy food security, destroy jobs [and] destroy property values”.He recently adopted the slogan “net stupid zero”, describing efforts to neutralise the UK’s fossil fuel emissions as “the most costly self-inflicted wound in modern British history”.But Steff Wright, a sustainability entrepreneur and former commercial tenant of Tice, found that statements in the annual reports from CLS Holdings and Quidnet Reit, property companies led by Tice, contradicted his public position.Wright said: “These reports reveal that Tice can clearly see the financial, social and environmental benefits of investing time, money and energy into sustainability focused initiatives.“He is a businessperson, and if he has chosen to be a chief executive of at least two companies who have taken steps to reduce carbon emissions and implement energy-efficient innovations, it’s because there is a business case to do so.”In 2010, the year Tice joined CLS Holdings as deputy chief executive, the company said it was committed to “a responsible and forward-looking approach to environmental issues” by encouraging, among other things, “the use of alternative energy supplies”. The following year, when Tice was promoted to chief executive, the company implemented the green charter and hired a sustainability manager. In 2012, CLS celebrated completing its “zero net emissions” building, adding: “The board acknowledges the group’s impact on society and the environment and … seeks to either both minimise and mitigate them, or to harness them in order to affect positive change.”In the company’s 2013 report, climate change was identified as a “sustainability risk”, requiring “board responsibility”, “dedicated specialist personnel” and “increased due diligence”. The company’s efforts were rewarded in 2014, when it was able to tell shareholders it had exceeded its CO2 emissions reduction targets.Tice launched Quidnet Reit, a property investment company, the following year. When it published its first full accounts, covering 2021, Tice was also chair of Reform UK, and already setting out his stall against “net stupid”. But for his company, fossil fuel emissions remained a priority.The 2021 report stated: “The company is keen to play its part in reducing emissions for cleaner air,” and detailed investments in solar power which “importantly … will reduce CO² emissions by some 70 tonnes per annum”.Quidnet’s emissions reduction efforts continued into 2022 and 2023, with the company stating both years that its solar investments were “saving hundreds of tonnes of CO²” a year. However, after a Guardian report last year covered some of Quidnet’s environmental commitments, no mention was made of them in last year’s report.skip past newsletter promotionThe planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essentialPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionWright said: “Solar initiatives and other energy efficiency schemes have benefited Tice’s property companies whilst he was in charge, but now … there is a political advantage to gain Tice is all too happy to label these schemes as ‘perilous’ for investors.”Tice said critics were “in danger of confusing apples with pears”, insisting the comparisons revealed no contradiction. “I have never said don’t reduce emissions, be they CO2 or other, and where sensible use technology to do so efficiently,” he said.“Solar panels on roofs, selling electricity to tenant[s] underneath are [an] excellent double use of [a] roof and involve no subsidies. Solar farms on farmland is insane, involves large public subsidies and often include dangerous [battery energy storage] systems.”Tice said that when he ran CLS, net zero was not a legal requirement. “My issue has always been the multibillion subsidies, fact that renewables have driven electricity prices higher, made British industries uncompetitive and destroyed hundreds thousand jobs,.“Also in annual reports, because of [the] madness of ESG, so banks and shareholder became obsessed with emissions so companies felt pressured to report on all this. ESG is also mad, stands for Extremely Stupid Garbage, and is now rapidly sensibly being abandoned by many companies and banks.“So my position has been clear and logical and never involved subsidies. Big difference.”

Business
Climate
Energy

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