The Obama administration brought on a large fracking boom in America, which has been on the decline due to a drop in demand, for quite some time. The Coronavirus pandemic radically accelerated things, resulting in a crash of the oil industry.
Photo Credit: EPA/Vadim Rusakov
Unfortunately, this means more than just cheap gas. As the demand for fuel drops and gas wells go unused, methane gas is spewing into the environment and companies are filing for bankruptcy while paying large bonuses to business executives within the companies.
Now this concept is nothing new- paying your business executives large bonuses shortly before filing for bankruptcy. Back in the 1990s, corporate radars transferring funds and selling parts of the business for profit, before filing bankruptcy. After filing for bankruptcy, executives no longer pay for pensions and retirement funds, etc, leaving company employees with nothing, and then pay themselves large bonuses in compensation for their “hard work” dismantling the corporation.
In this case however, companies are not only claiming they have no money for the normal things like retirement funds and pensions, but they also have no money set aside to properly cap oil wells after drilling. When companies began oil drilling, they were supposed to set aside money to cap oil wells after they finished. Alternatively, paid executives large bonuses and filed for bankruptcy. When oil wells are left uncapped, they spew methane gas into the environment equivalent to millions of extra cars on the road every year.
Methane is far more potent greenhouse gas compared to CO2. Unfortunately methane is not very well tracked, and is not accurately accounted for in predictions for the future based on current greenhouse gas emissions.
To learn more about corporations are robbing the working class to put money in their pockets, all while destroying the environment, watch the video below where Ryan Grim breaks down what’s happening.