Big Oil’s Grip On Power Weakens; Democrats Focus On Climate Change With New Majority | Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow looks at how the oil industry has been suffering during the coronavirus pandemic and how Democrats, having won control of the White House and Congress in part by campaigning on climate issues, are aggressively pursuing a climate agenda as the corrupting influence of big oil wanes. Aired on 2/4/2021.
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Big Oil's Grip On Power Weakens; Democrats Focus On Climate Change With New Majority | Rachel Maddow

80 comments

    1. I agree we can learn a lot having gone through the pandemic. Will we learn though? Personally think more people are attracted to goodness than futility. Makes me happy to think that way anyways.

    2. … if the world’s most advanced nation and its ex-president (“ex” as in “deposed” nor the “former”) had take the lead to contain the pandemic, death and economic distruction would have been minimized. In addition he would be reelected and treated as an accidental hero despite being disliked by many at the personal level.

    3. @SinAlbert CK WONG excellent summation! Another key ingredient was the taunting of dictatorship possibilities that cost him big time.

  1. Big oil has had too much power for far too long. It’s about time this country focused on labor intensive alternative energy sources. Our children and grandchildren are depending on us for a sustainable future.

  2. That’s fantastic news! I typically don’t advocate for kicking an opponent while they’re down. However, I’d make an exception this time.

    1. @Alexis Mitchell Yoo, this way to produce hydrogen is off course not the ideal way, but it is CO2-free and can help to transition much faster without major disruptions in the economy. The hydrogen car Toyota Mirai 2 (a very nice hydrogen car) costs $49500 in the base version and has a range of 650 kilometers. Not cheap, but much more affordable than a Tesla. All it needs are enough gas stations for hydrogen… and new jobs for the oil-workers who make it, they would basically do what they have ever done!

    2. @Ray S: These construction workers wouldn’t be unemployed now if there were more meaningful jobs for them, like building highspeed rail instead of pipelines. Among others it is the fossil fuel industry which prevented the construction of highspeed rail in America.
      Joe Biden does what every american president should have done since the Kyoto protocol in 1992, these steps are long overdue.

  3. Middle East oil is diversifying into other energy resources. There’s always someone to learn from. Philip Morris is now Kraft General Foods.

    1. @Ray S where did you get the figure of 11k jobs. I have a pipeline through my property and would have noticed 11k people. Automation has eliminated most jobs. Renewable energy would explode with jobs eventually being such a new industry incorporating home owner investments. I’m looking at a 3-5 KV system myself and going off the grid.

    2. @Ray S yes, and also the potential environmental damages carrying sand/crude high in erosion of the underground pipeline going from Canada to the Gulf. Temporary jobs. My risk is minimal with wet gas. I’m sorry sir. You’ll never be able to sell me on your claim that isn’t about fracking anyways.

    3. @Wayne Norris – My claim is America being self-sufficient and Americans having jobs to provide for their families.

      Also, as much hatred Trump got for adding these jobs, I see people actually rejoicing that people have lost jobs after Biden took office and signed this EO. Pretty sick if you ask me

    4. They have plenty of sun so solar energy is an obvious business for them… and food production! Yes, that’s true, check out the norwegian “Sahara Forest Project”, a solar powered salt-water greenhouse for the desert.

    1. @Aaron Hawley those have been going down despite the gun laws being created.
      There are more people committing suicide and then other things like gang violence.
      We have 33,000 gangs in the united states

    2. @Doug Parker I’ve actually been an open carry advocate my whole life, but as that’s one of the few places where I agree with republicans I’ve been seriously questioning the idea recently

      The gop is after all the pro torture, anti maternity-leave party

    3. In a transition to Green Energy there are also opportunities for fossil fuel companies as well. Instead of being an obstacle they can in fact be part of the solution! Let’s take the company “Monolith Materials” from Nebraska for example. They produce clean CO2-free hydrogen from natural gas with renewable electricity. They do it with a technology from Norway called “Kværner process” whose waste product is not CO2 but pure & solid carbon which can be disposed. It also happens to be the most energy efficient and therefore cheapest known method to produce hydrogen, it needs 87% less energy than electrolysis of water and even less energy than the current state-of-the-art method “Steam Reforming” which is used today to produce 95% of all hydrogen in the industry. I spoke with the engineers, they told me that the Kværner process also works with oil!
      Technologies like these will make it possible to establish a clean hydrogen infrastructure much faster so that more Americans can use electric cars with long range and which take only minutes to refuel. Hydrogen can also power trains, ships and passenger jets, it is used to make ammonia for fertilizers and currently replaces carbon in the production of steel in Europe.

    4. @Doug Parker To some extent it’s due to the sheer number of residents & the unprecedented demand caused by a heat wave that was worsened by climate change. Ask PG & E & our other power companies, as well as those who like to illegally manipulate their stock. It’s being investigated, just as it was the last time the stock was messed with. The other reason was- Liability. PG & E & another power company were saved from bankruptcy by the state & their customers, twice. The state allowed the two rate hikes, which were meant to be used for maintenance of aging equipment & fire mitigation. They were nearly bankrupt due to wrongful death lawsuits. Their equipment caused 3 of the states most deadly & costly wildfires. Despite the extra high energy bills, until recently, they had only completed 1/3 of their fire prevention. Consequently, on days with higher than normal temps & winds, they shut down certain areas, to prevent fires. The state carbon tax pays counties to do controlled burns, cutting & clearing. The state & National Parks are thinning 1 mil trees a year. Between the less fire-prone green energy sources, the fire abatement , & efforts to slow climate change- less blackouts will be needed. Fossil fuel companies are among the biggest investors in green energy, BTW. They know what’s coming.

    1. @Musecat Arts In Canada you run one of the first ELYSIS electrolyzers for industrial scale production of aluminium with electricity. If powered with clean energy it’s carbon-free. This can be used to run the fuel cycle for aluminium-air-batteries which can give a Tesla a range of over 2000 km.

    2. @Musecat Arts The aluminum-air-battery is in fact less a battery and more a fuel-cell, but with aluminium instead of hydrogen. It is currently used by the US & Israeli military. Instead of recharging one removes the waste which is aluminium hydroxide and inserts new aluminium, it just takes a few minutes. The aluminium hydroxide can then be recycled in the newly developed ELYSIS electrolyzer. One of them is in Canada and run with hydro-electric power. This would be a new fuel industry. A Tesla with this battery has a calculated range of up to 2400 km.

    3. @Julian Petkov And who’s fault is it? Who incited the insurrection riot? Who’s followers stormed the Capitol?

  4. My team began working from home when Covid hit. Our boss told us the company is saving so much money with us working from home, they are never bringing us back to the office. I drive my car two miles a week to the grocery store. I haven’t bought gas in two months. I used to buy a full tank every week.

    1. I live in Germany, our cities are different. We also have big shopping centers of course. But we buy most of our supplies in smaller and therefore more numerous grocery stores, pharmacies & cosmetic shops which are widespread all over the place in walking distance. Instead of making a big tour we usualy buy what we need every two days or so on the fly. This is the case in big cities and also small towns. We also have great public transport and use highspeed rail to travel to other cities. I have a car but I don’t use it because I don’t need to, the last time 3 weeks ago. Gas costs here $7,75 but I guess that even before the pandemic I spent less on fuel than the average American.

    2. In a transition to Green Energy there are also opportunities for fossil fuel companies as well. Instead of being an obstacle they can in fact be part of the solution! Let’s take the company “Monolith Materials” from Nebraska for example. They produce clean CO2-free hydrogen from natural gas with renewable electricity. They do it with a technology from Norway called “Kværner process” whose waste product is not CO2 but pure & solid carbon which can be disposed. It also happens to be the most energy efficient and therefore cheapest known method to produce hydrogen, it needs 87% less energy than electrolysis of water and even less energy than the current state-of-the-art method “Steam Reforming” which is used today to produce 95% of all hydrogen in the industry. I spoke with the engineers, they told me that the Kværner process also works with oil!
      Technologies like these will make it possible to establish a clean hydrogen infrastructure much faster so that more Americans can use electric cars with long range and which take only minutes to refuel. Hydrogen can also power trains, ships and passenger jets, it is used to make ammonia for fertilizers and currently replaces carbon in the production of steel in Europe.

    1. @Bewnie Sandals
      Solar is good for powering a calculator ? As an example of how efficient solar power is, take a look at BMW’s Mini plant at Oxford in the U.K. The entire roof of the facility has been converted to solar panels. It’s self sufficient in producing enough electricity to power the entire complex and sells what it doesn’t need back to the National Grid. That’s just one manufacturer, now if all major production facilities were to do the same across the World that’s a win win situation. Add the new job opportunities for those who will be needed to produce alternative energy products, sounds a lot better than raping the planet for fossil fuels doesn’t it ? Whether we like it or not, it’s the future, or we can become extinct like the dinosaurs 🦕.

    2. @T D No battery for airplanes… Hydrogen!!! Check out Airbus ZEROe. Boeing has nothing like that in the development pipeline.

    3. @I.M. Greg You are a bit late. We build hydrogen powered submarines since the mid 1990s, Israel bought them from us as the platform for their nuclear weapons

    4. @Piotr Trebisz and I have no problems with in in concept, but show me how it’s contained if the plane crashes into a city on landing. Containment has been the biggest problem with hydrogen for a long time.

  5. It tickles me slightly to think that a couple of generations from now, history lessons might look back at the Covid pandemic as being the catalyst for the largest shift in ecological management our species will have gone through.

  6. Clean Oil! Clean Coal! No matter how many times you scrub it and try to slice and dice 🎲 it, it’s a dirty nasty 🤢 business!

    1. Biden said in his debate that he was not against fracking. Then, one of his first executive order is this, eliminating 11k AMERICAN jobs.

      You must be proud!

    2. @Robert Tackett Check out the concept of the Dual-Fluid-Reactor. It uses up its own waste, no more need for a disposal site which has to be stable at geological time scales.

    3. @Ray S
      Biden has done nothing about fracking. He did put a pause on new leases for federal lands, but the industry hasn’t even used half the leases it already has.

    4. Plus it is running out… Unless science can speed up the decaying cycle. Turn dinausaurs ino oil or coal quicker than mother nature can ? ? ?

    1. @Castle C Well I think you should go to China and push your agenda there !! They are the biggest polluters in the World ! The United States is now leading the World in enviromental protection !!! That my friend is Reality ! And we are all gona die and that comes sooner than u think !!

    2. @Castle C When the price of fuel rises so doesnt everything else !! Its passed on to the consumer !! Funny how the Biden admin were quick to shut down the oil industry in our Country but encourage it in others !!!

    3. Oh and when the next upcoming Sand War begins you can send ur family members, mine have already payed their dues to this Country !! We havnt had a new war the last 4 years ! Biden has alredy sent Troops into Syria !! The War industry is back in business !! Funny on how the last few Wars were mostly about Oil !!

    4. In a transition to Green Energy there are also opportunities for fossil fuel companies as well. Instead of being an obstacle they can in fact be part of the solution! Let’s take the company “Monolith Materials” from Nebraska for example. They produce clean CO2-free hydrogen from natural gas with renewable electricity. They do it with a technology from Norway called “Kværner process” whose waste product is not CO2 but pure & solid carbon which can be disposed. It also happens to be the most energy efficient and therefore cheapest known method to produce hydrogen, it needs 87% less energy than electrolysis of water and even less energy than the current state-of-the-art method “Steam Reforming” which is used today to produce 95% of all hydrogen in the industry. I spoke with the engineers, they told me that the Kværner process also works with oil!
      Technologies like these will make it possible to establish a clean hydrogen infrastructure much faster so that more Americans can use electric cars with long range and which take only minutes to refuel. Hydrogen can also power trains, ships and passenger jets, it is used to make ammonia for fertilizers and currently replaces carbon in the production of steel in Europe.

  7. need to update on stories from 2020 (besides virus)
    remember the 4 senators who sold stock after attending coronavirus meeting.
    It made news in March then pandemic declared

    1. right, its kinda scary how it took something like this to get people to start actually working for the good of the country.

  8. Good riddance. Over half of Europe’s energy comes from renewable energy. We should have been doing this decades ago.

  9. It’s about time. Republicans have been greased wayyyyy too long. I hope we don’t let this continue to happen with other horrible industries.

  10. This sounds like when the Tabaco Ind. was forced to diversify into snack foods and such, however, they are still producing and marketing an elicit product.

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