Here they are, folks, the very Hot List of Global Warming’s Worst Merchants of Death. The for-profit companies who put the money they rake in from burning fossil fuels ahead of the safety, welfare and well being of your kids, of your parents, of your grandparents and of everyone you hold near and dear.
They know exactly what lethal damage their products and their manufacture are responsible for, but the money always comes first for these contract killers – unless of course you’re asking them to pay the bill for that damage.
So let’s take a look, straight from our friends at the California Air Resources Board*, at the Top Emitters of Greenhouse Gases in California, for 2008. I’ve specially highlighted the three out of ten that are within just 10 miles of my home.
1. Chevron Refinery, Richmond: 4,792,052 metric tons
2. Shell Oil Refinery, Martinez: 4,570,475 metric tons
3. BP Refinery, Carson: 4,504,286 metric tons (9 miles from my house)
4. Chevron Refinery, El Segundo: 3,603,446 metric tons (8.4 miles from my house)
5. Dynegy Power Plant, Moss Landing: 2,962,149 metric tons
6. Exxon Refinery, Torrance: 2,852,374 metric tons (5.7 miles from my house)
7. Valero Refinery, Benicia: 2,796,057
8. Tesoro Refinery, Martinez: 2,703,145
9. Southern Calif. Edison-Mountainview Power Plant, Redlands: 2,697,142
10. La Paloma Power Plant, McKittrick: 2,544,398
* Actually, the CARB let the polluters tally up their own numbers, so you best double these public numbers if you want to get the honest total.
Big Congrats to California’s very own Chevron, who spewed more than double the greenhouse gas of their nearest carbon collaborator- and who does more damage to our health than any other refiner in California. No one does more harm to the health of children and pregnant women than the Chevron polluters who use toy cars to fool kids into thinking they’re the good guys. Shameless would be a step up for Chevron.
When you hear these professional global warmers lie and spin and bribe and con, just remember – they do it for money and there is no line they will not cross in exchange for that buck. They’ll give money to your schools, your libraries, your hospitals – whatever you need, just so long as you let them destroy our climate from your home town.
But don’t worry. Even if you’re not getting any of that Chevron or Exxon cash, rest assured you’ll be getting the death and destruction that comes from using their products – and from having them made anywhere on the map.
If you look at the satellite views of these fatal facilities you’ll see acres and acres of unobstructed land just perfect to use for solar power generation. All of these locations are already heavily hooked up to the grid and would need no new transmission lines to be feeding renewable energy into our electric mix instead of feeding more global warming into the already overheated atmosphere.
If our kids are going to survive and thrive as our generation has – all 10 of the facilities on this list – along with their counterparts all across the USA – must be gone from this map 10 years from now.
Creative Greenius 
Major tonnage, dude. Have you made out your will?
The Greenius: Wills are so 20th Century, I got me a Living Trust. Don’t want to say who gets what though, why incentize folks?
I think it would be more helpful to expand this to the top 100. That would allow people to see the broader impact around their “neighborhood.” For example, #63 on this list is Lehigh Southwest Cement Company in Cupertino. That is in our backyard!