Energy Sector

Chevron Has Received $2.6 Billion in Tax-Free Bonds Since 2003

Qualified private activity bonds are low-interest, tax-exempt loans that the government issues on behalf of companies initiating projects with a "public purpose." It's roughly the same process that cities and states use to fund things like roads, parks, and schools. Except these benefit for-profit o ... More >>

Allegedly Unstable Man Locks Himself in Castro Gas Station, Causing Police Standoff

San Francisco police took a 30-year-old Livingston man into custody this afternoon after he had forced his way into a Chevron gas station and locked himself inside the clerk's office. Sgt. Michael Andraychak told us that at about 10:40 a.m., the man was at the gas station on the corner of Market a ... More >>

Our Most Corrupt Tax Breaks: 10 Loopholes to Close Right Now

Boom or Doom: This Environmental Disaster Is No Gold Rush

Chevron Small Fire Quelled Minutes Before Larger Flame Sparked

A small flash fire lashed out and was extinguished about 13 minutes before the Chevron Richmond Refinery 4 Crude Unit became enflamed on Aug. 6, the company said. In its official 30-day follow-up notification report released Wednesday, the company said an insulated pipe in the 4 Crude Unit was notic ... More >>

Chevron Fire: Richmond Residents File Lawsuit Against Oil Company

"If there's somethin' strange in your neighborhood...If it's somethin' weird an it won't look good; Who ya gonna call?" Ghotsbusters? No. When heaps of smoke, ash, and fumes from the nearby Chevron Refinery enveloped their neighborhood, Richmond residents naturally called Attorney John Burris to le ... More >>

Chevron Says Bay Area Air Is Safe After Refinery Fire

We already gave you the bad news today: Gas prices are ridiculously high, in part because of the Chevron fire last week. But there is some good news you can take in. Contrary to what you saw last Monday -- plumes of black smoke hanging in the air -- Chevron says you can go ahead and take a deep brea ... More >>

Chevron Opens Help Center for Angry Residents to Start Collecting Money

If you are one of those unfortunate Richmond residents who was burned (figuratively speaking) by the Chevron Refinery fire, you can start claiming your cash tomorrow. Chevron officials say they are opening up a Help Center at the Nevin Community Center at 9 a.m. sharp. "The claims process has ... More >>

Chevron Hosts Fiery Town Hall Meeting

As expected, hundreds of pissed-off Richmond residents flooded a Town Hall meeting last night where they were reportedly more raging than the black plumes of toxic smoke that blanketed the community Monday night. Residents have every right to be furious, and Chevron officials will be the first to ad ... More >>

Another Fire at Chevron Refinery Today

This morning, a small secondary fire ignited near the controlled burn at the scene of Monday's Chevron Refinery, according to refinery officials. The secondary fire sparked around 11:15 a.m. near the initial fire location, however, firefighters acted quickly and extinguished it within minutes, and ... More >>

Chevron Fire: Massive Refinery Blaze Might Mean Higher Gas Prices for Us

The good news is the Chevron fire is out and the order for East Bay folks to remain indoors has been lifted. The bad news is, there's a good chance gasoline prices are probably going to make us gag today.Chevron's 240,000-barrel-a-day refinery has reportedly closed down production units after the fi ... More >>

America's Petro-Terrorists: How Speculators Drove Up Oil Prices

"Payback": Overambitious Doc Explores Modern Debt

How Bay Area Corporations Resemble Their (Human) Neighbors

Ex-Chevron Employee Sues Company Over "Hurt Feelings"

​Another dirty scandal is plaguing Chevron, but this one has nothing to do with polluting the Amazon. A judge overturned a jury's $100,000 award to a former Chevron employee who had sued the oil and gas company for gossiping about his passion for prostitution.According to court documents filed in ... More >>

Vegan Drag Queen Cooking Shows, Wool Free Winter Coat Pop-up in the Mission, & Cookies!

​ • You know how nobody in San Francisco has any style? Well, this weekend you can attempt to buy some! Vaute Couture is bringing its cute-ass wool-free winter coats of sexiness to a pop-up shop at VegNews' offices in the Mission! You'll get to try on Vaute's brand-new 2011 collection of smart ... More >>

Hillary Clinton Sued by S.F. Environmental Group Over Alleged Oil Pipeline Project Bias

Playing favorites?​Environmental groups are going after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, worried that she's allowing Washington lobbyists close to her get away with building a massive oil pipeline from Canada to Texas.Friends of the Earth, a nonprofit with offices in Washington, D.C. and San Fr ... More >>

Apple, at $153 Billion, Unseats Google as World's Most Valuable Brand

Secret weapon​A surge in estimated valuation from sales of products such as the iPad has landed Apple at the top of a survey of the world's most valuable brands, displacing fellow Silicon Valley juggernaut Google.Financial-research company Millward Brown set the company's current brand value at $1 ... More >>

BP Accused of Manipulating Gas Prices and Fuel Supplies

Gasholes are everywhere!​Last week, we told SF Weekly readers about Safeway being accused of predatory pricing when selling fuel. Now gas stations are suing BP, accusing the oil giant of manipulating supplies for a bigger profit. In the class action lawsuit filed last week in San Francisco, the le ... More >>

The New Yorker: Chron Tech Blogger, Yobie Benjamin, Confuses Water with Industrial Poison

Dihydrogen monoxide can kill within minutes of entering a victim's lungs.​Last summer, San Francisco Chronicle citizen blogger Yobie Benjamin covered the waterfront, denouncing perceived failures in BP's oil-spill cleanup, including its penchant for using the then-controversial oil dispersant, Cor ... More >>

Chevron Sues To Guard Secrets on How to Prevent Oil Blowouts

Why should preventing catastrophes be a secret?​After the BP oil spill devastated the Gulf of Mexico, you would expect that a prominent oil company like Chevron would want consumers to trust its ability to prevent such blowouts. Yet the San Ramon oil company, is suing Scribd, a San Francisco docum ... More >>

Is Chevron's Richmond Refinery 'Tour' a PR Stunt Connected to Expansion Plans?

Chevron's Richmond refinery​Chevron is facing serious criticism of its alleged efforts to evade state environmental laws and push through a proposed expansion of its oil refinery in Richmond. Faced with the opposition of environmental activists and some state legislators, is it a surprise that the ... More >>

Sweet Relief from the Stink

Bouncer drinks to forget the oil leak at Kezar Bar & Grill.

Bay Area Ambient Musician Releases Angry Track About Oil Spill, Tony Hayward

​It's called "Deepwater Horizon," in fact, and includes snippets of BP's Tony Hayward coldly muttering about, "I want my life back." Asked by his label for a statement on the work, East Bay artist TransFranciscCo (a/k/a Jim Strider), said: "I suppose I could write something ... but if you don't al ... More >>

Protest Party to Boycott BP, Shut Down ARCO Entrance

It's about to get crazy up in this joint!​Party at the gas station! Approximately 150 guests are confirmed to attend the "ARCO/BP Shut Down Party" on the corner of Fell Street and Divisadero Street at 5:30 p.m. Organized by a group of friends, this party is actually a three-pronged environmental p ... More >>

Bay Links: Compost, Global Warming, & Unicycles

Dude don't compost.​Burger King, Subway  flout S.F.'s composting laws. [SF Appeal]Ghostbusters in the Mission! [Misison Mission]City technology: There are some glitches in the system. [Sweet Melissa]Irony Alert: Chevron Towers decorated with symbol of Global Warming. [SF Citizen]So, there's s ... More >>

Masterful documentary Crude details the toxic battle between big oil and natives in Ecuador

Convenience Store Robin Hood -- She Stole From the 7-11 and Gave To Random Folks -- Nabbed By Cops

...And grab a Big Gulp for Will Scarlet!In our experience, there's very little at a 7-11 worth threatening to kill or maim over -- you don't hear too many folks going on about life, liberty, and the pursuit of pemmican and sodas large enough to hide oversize cans of beer in when you go to the ballpa ... More >>

SF Enviros Blast Obama's Swiss Cheese Lobbying Rules

Barack Obama kicked off his presidency by limiting his administration's vulnerability to lobbyists. By May, however, it seemed clear that resourceful Democratic Party insiders would circumvent the limited ban. San Francisco's Amazon Watch has just denounced former Clinton Administration trade repres ... More >>

Chevron's Prince of Darkness

By John GeluardiThe Chevron Corporation has exposed its pestilent underbelly by hiring William J. Haynes II, a Department of Defense attorney who compiled lists of violent interrogation techniques for shadowy U.S. detention centers. Chevron hired Haynes on as its chief corporate council in April ... More >>

Crude Feud

Enviros accuse local blogger of being on Chevron's payroll.

Fortunate Sun

Smoke Stacks Spew Green in Richmond

Trash Talking: Worst Company in '08

Cosco Busan Oil Spill Just Another Stain in Huge Bay Toilet

Amazonian Quagmire

Big Oil, the rainforest, and sticky legal issues are stuck in a San Francisco courtroom

The Tide Is High

Water on the Brain

One energy executive claims a tidal system that meets the city's electric needs could be built in over 20 years, at a cost of $1.5 billion

The Horror

Darkness descends at City Hall as supervisors argue ceaselessly over dogs and apartment size

Dog Bites

Charged Atmosphere; Worst Deal of the Week

Now, the Emphatic Colonic News

Chevron to Turks: Bay is pristine! GOP to pot doctor: Good job! Tenants to landlords: You're illegal! Potheads to supervisors: Like, wow -- a sanctuary!

Contract Killings

How the state's contracts with crucial electric power providers actually encourage them to gouge us

Paying the Price: Why Are S.F. Gas Prices So High?

Bay Area motorists pay the highest gas prices in the state

Paying the Price

Major oil companies are gobbling up independent gas station operators, all in the name of greed

Side Dish

Danko Schön, Pho Free, Hot Seat, Smoke 'Em If Ya Got 'Em, Out of the Hole

PG and ... EEEK!

State advocate says S.F. utility padded rate hike request by $900 million

The Sound of Noise

If you grind a live microphone to bits, or amplify a flamethrower, are you making music -- or an appalling spectacle called "noise"?

PG&E Is All Charged Up

The S.F.-based utility embarks on a nationwide buying spree

Whirly Birds

The wind-power entrepreneurs at Kenetech have spent millionsin vain tosolve this avian mystery: Why have hundredsof raptors, including golden eagles, died alongside the windmills of Altamont Pass?