By Chevron likes to sponsor a lot of things, hoping we’ll forget how irresponsible and polluting their operations are. Turn on the TV and there’s Chevron. Go to a San Francisco Giants game and the outfield wall is decked out in Chevron. I can’t even get up in the morning without having to listen to Chevron ad’s on NPR.
So we at the Change Chevron Campaign thought we’d start up our own sponsorship run. We are pleased to bring you “Greenwash of the Week”!
Every week, RAN hosts Brianna and Nick investigate cases of corporate and political greenwash, designed to deceive the public into believing that something is “green” when it’s not.
This week’s episode explores Chevron’s recent solar announcement. Chevron, the 4th largest oil corporation on the planet, announced “Project Brightfield”, a solar panel beauty pageant in California’s central valley.
Why has Greenwash of the Week nicknamed ‘Project Brightfield’ Project Bull$#!^?
The energy produced from ‘Project Brightfield’ goes directly to power Chevron’s Kern River Heavy Oil Extraction Facility. Meaning it is one of the most expensive, polluting, and energy intensive type of oil extraction out there.
And, Chevron’s operations there have gifted the residents of Bakersfield with some of the highest air pollution rates in the country.
Powering one of the dirtiest oil facilities with solar DOES NOT make it clean.
And there’s more!
To put Chevrons project into context. “Clean energy” accounts for less than 2% of the multi-billion dollar oil giant’s budget. And that figure is dropping every year.
So, Chevron invests over 98% in oil, coal, tar sands, offshore drilling. Yet, we don’t see big PR blitzes about those dirty projects. Chevron uses small efforts like Project Brightfield to deceive the public into believing they are a different kind of “human energy” company, when in fact they are the same old dirty oil company they’ve always been.
If you see an example of corporate green washing this week send it: Via Twitter @ChangeChevron or email greewash@ran.org