Get Your Act Together Chevron

Somebody didn't attend planeteer school, it seems. Emissions from Chevron's Gorgon gas development in Western Australia have increased more than 50%. That may not sound like a big deal, especially considering the steep drop in emissions during COVID, but this particular location is home to the world's largest industrial carbon capture and storage system. Which also means that there has been a sharp drop in the amount of carbon dioxide stored at the liquefied natural gas plan over the last three years.

Yes, we are talking about the same Chevron that you fill your gas tank up at for almost $3/gallon in some places. Is the increase in emissions an issue? Yes, for obvious reasons, but yes for less obvious ones as well. Chevron might be in trouble as one of the conditions of having their facility off the coast of Western Australia was that they had to store 4m tons of carbon dioxide a year that would have otherwise been released into the atmosphere. To be clear, the obvious reason here is that there was a proportional jump in onsite carbon emissions that of course are a bit concerning to the surrounding area, making the facility Australia's biggest single industrial emitter according to their government data.

Is Chevron going to do anything about this? Allegedly, yes, but remember you have to take corporate promises with a grain of salt. For example, not too long-ago Duke Energy was running recycling campaigns aimed at individuals, but it was uncovered that they're dumping coal ash into a river. Most articles will claim it was a spill, but was it? Take a minute to think about the resources a corporation has versus an individual person, and it may get you thinking-how were they not able to avoid this issue? Why did it take so long for them to admit to the spill and then to have someone clean it? It's the usual answer: money.

The same might be said for the Gorgon facility and why it's still been allowed to run despite not meeting the carbon capture volume since at least 2019. Hopefully, we don't see any more facilities with carbon capture systems making (largely unmet) claims of what the system is able to do in terms of lowering emissions. Sure, 2m tons is still a lot, but is it worth the 8m tons that are still being released when it's supposed to be roughly 4m tons that may still be escaping into the environment? As written, that may mean nothing to you, so in comparison, that's about a year's worth of pollution created by more than 2 million cars in a moderately busy location. Makes you think, doesn't it?

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