Impact of International Environmental Laws on Oil and Gas Production

Even if the geography of political violence has shifted over time or the overall magnitude of abuse has declined in recent decades, as subsequent reports show, oppression still is a way of life for many of the region’s people. Despite the progress associated with truth commissions and legal trials, the vast majority of human right violators continue to walk the streets of Latin America.

Oil has often been referred to as any economy’s lifeblood. Although this is an overemphasis, oil has been the key, nonhuman resource of the economy throughout the largest part of the 20th century. In the book “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, And Power” by Daniel Yergin, the author illustrates the political, societal, economic, and geo-strategic importance of this product.

Governments would traditionally act as a force of the people, by the people and for the people, but recently however, corporations have placed themselves within this relationship, to influence governments to act in their favor. A notable example in this sense is represented by the oil drilling companies, which continue to pollute and prevent alternative sources of energy from developing. Exxon Mobil has for instance spent millions of dollars to prove that global warming is a make belief phenomenon, rather than a real threat (Mandia).

In his speech before the Bloomberg Energy Conference in New York on April, last year, former Canadian Minister on Natural Resources Joe Oliver outlined the significance of the Keystone XL oil pipeline in meeting the growing demands of the United States for an environmentally safe and secure energy source and distribution. He argued that North America’s continued growth as a global superpower depends on how it can meet its energy demands without depending so much on offshore sources such as the Middle East which are mostly in conflict and are therefore unstable. Oliver seems to present a compelling argument in favor of Canada’s energy projects especially when he cites independent third party reports made by the International Energy Agency

Two-thirds of the world’s remaining oil reserves are in the Middle East which will make international policy imperative in the future (Campbell 2007). It is

Your business of hydraulic fracturing or fracking for shale gas and oil was trumpeted as a boon to the ailing US economy. It provided an opportunity of potentially ending dependence on fossil fuels imports and bringing revenue to poor rural counties. But as the business has become widespread, concerns have begun to mount that fracking will exacerbate climate change, threaten public health, and degrade vital resources. Touted as a job generator in your sector, it essentially leads to overall job losses, and altering the landscape as it progresses. In assessing the impact of shale gas and oil development, you should consider the full cost of such activity – to the economy, environment and public health for which your company can and will be

In the world today one of the fundamental services that are required for daily living is energy. It therefore goes without saying that human beings have to engage themselves in whichever means possible to ensure that there is a sufficient and affordable energy necessary for supporting life most especially on the side of economic growth and development. Fossils forms a major source of energy, most especially oil, and this has been literally referred to as the motor of the world. In an effort to reduce dependence on Middle East and other countries for oil and gas, U.S has heavily invested in other forms of energy extraction from the core of the earth through a process that has come to be referred as fracking. Fracking is a short term that is used to refer to hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing is a form of technology that is being used to unlock vast quantities of natural gas from shale beds. In America, shale gas covers a quarter of all gas production and it is projected that in coming decades, shale gas is most likely to have a market share of more than a half. The major advantage of fracking is that it is a cheaper way of mining natural gas and this therefore means a relatively cheap retail price (In Hester & In Harrison, 2015). Cheap energy has in turn boosted America’s petrochemical industry, provided job opportunities, created other energy intensive businesses, lowered electricity bills, and has significantly reduced the amount of carbon emission released to the

America the beautiful, land of the greed and the home of oil. Along with being a major superpower comes an insurmountable thirst for fossil fuels. Imperialist ideals and the corporate oil empire can bring stability and jobs but heavy costs also arise. Numerous solutions have been tried, but without fixing the underlying problem more issues are inevitable. Our over-consumption has an incredible effect on our reliance on foreign oil. OPEC, the Organization of the Oil Producing Countries, has supplied Americans with a constant flow of both oil and jobs. Nevertheless, progression comes with high cost to our environment, in addition to pulling us into international involvements. Increasing the United States’ domestic oil production was just a

Offshore oil drilling is a controversial topic because when oil spills, it does extensive amounts of damage to the environment. Countries capable of mining oil in the ocean reap the economic benefits in addition to reducing their dependency on external oil. While it is uncontroversial that offshore drilling is a massive boon for those countries, the environmental consequences of a spill also affect the economic welfare of nearby residents. Oil contaminates animals through a process called biomagnification, where chemicals progressively become more detrimental to the animals the higher they are on the food chain. When oil spills into the ocean, it impairs the growth of native species and deteriorates the ecosystem. As a result, the livelihood of people in the tourist industry, fisherman, and shrimpers is crippled and may take decades to recover.

Needless to say, that the exploitation of oil and gas created polarizing relationships between the economy and the environment at the municipal, provincial, and national levels. The phenomenon of the oil and gas production in Canada plays into environmental concerns of Climate Change in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, violations of First Nations land rights, vulnerability on an international market, and long-term ecological consequences, such as air and water pollution, oil spills and leaks, and etc., over “economic” benefits.

One of the major issues in global affairs today consists of the supply of energy and other minerals and commodities. Michael Klare in “The End of Easy Everything” argues that the transformation from an effortless to a more resilient resource period will be financially, environmentally, socially, and politically costly. Looking at the state of the supply of energy oil and natural gas today, I tend to agree with the findings as presented by Michael Klare.

In the 1870’s through the 1900’s, the Standard Oil Company (SOC) has been the largest company in one of the most rich industries in the world. The Standard Oil Company held a monopoly over the entire industry, which meant that their wide variety of products must have been essential to many types of people and industries. The SOC’s ability to spread awareness of their company and their products is a main reason why they became so powerful. The Standard Oil Company would not be nearly as successful as it was if not for its widespread consumer base, the company became one of the largest in history. This success lead it’s CEO and founder, John D. Rockefeller, to become one of the most rich people to ever live; he also gave away an extremely large portion of his wealth and make the world a better place. Another way that the company 's massive amount of various customers allowed them to succeed is because oil has numerous uses and their products appealed to a wide variety of people. This fact is important because oil’s many different uses made it extremely appealing and marketable to numerous and various audiences, thus allowing the company that controlled the industry to skyrocket and create a monopoly. A monopoly had never really been done before in history and with the huge amount of wealth it created for certain individuals, the wealthy were able to change the world. Oil also led the world to many technological advancements and because of the current decrease in the world’s

“National Security Consequences of United States Oil Dependence” is an article created by an Independent Task Force which emphasizes how in the future the United States can experience severe consequences from using an abundant amount of oil. "For the United States, with 4.6 percent of the world's population using 25 percent of the world's oil, the transition would be especially disruptive" (Task Force 212). The transition they describe is to an economy that relies less on petroleum. This dependence on oil could possibly result in the United States to suffer with economic, and social downfall as the entire country depends on the oil we obtain. One alternative to this oil dependency is to explore all American territory for oil, which involves

Every year they publish an annual report detailing the plights of individuals and their current status. In 2014, their annual report detailed the cases of more than twenty individuals. In 2015, they detailed the cases of nineteen individuals. Human rights work involves a great deal of international diplomatic pressure, and publicizing of violations. Wins are not easily identified as such, usually just the end of incarceration and escaping the oppressive regime is the best that can be hoped for. One must accept continually dealing with some of the countries that routinely ignore international agreements for the greater good of humanity. Much of the visible work is in the identifying of human rights violations and in making the violations known internationally. The Committee for Concerned Scientists maintains records and publishes updates on their

Being at the centre of global economic activities, the U.S. has had its own fair share of oil price shocks. However, it did not just accept or try to change or distort the market forces behind oil prices. Rather, it sought to influence them by making supreme the goal of energy independence. It also intensified diplomatic efforts and negotiations to this end.