Message From the Editor

This week, investigative reporter Sara Sneath broke the story that toxins from the Marathon refinery fire had been leaking for 15 hours before an evacuation was called. Thick black smoke billowed and flames rose from two chemical storage tanks at the Marathon Petroleum refinery in Louisiana when a naphtha leak started a fire on Friday, August 25.

But the leak actually began at 6:50 p.m. Thursday, August 24, 15 hours before residents in the area were evacuated, according to a report to the National Response Center. Exposure to naphtha, a hydrocarbon mixture distilled from crude oil, can cause headache, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting.

“They didn’t get them out of there quick enough,” says Wilma Subra, a Louisiana-based  environmental scientist and toxics expert. “It was going on overnight. They let the kids go to school.”

In the United Kingdom, a swath of politicians join Jordan Peterson and other climate science critics at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC).

Set up by the owners of GB News and involving “senior leaders from politics, media, culture, business, and academia”, ARC claims that it will address the six “fundamental issues of our time”, including “energy and resources” and “environmental stewardship”. 

In reality, ARC appears to be the latest attempt by national populist forces to shape culture and politics. And as climate change has been swallowed up by the “culture wars”, ARC’s advisors include some of the world’s leading opponents of climate action.

Jordan Peterson has also generated millions of YouTube hits for climate crisis deniers after hosting them for interviews on his channel, according to data reviewed by DeSmog and reporter Geoff Dembicki.

The conservative influencer has “become a central cog in the denial machine,” says climate scientist Michael Mann.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected]. Want to know what our UK team is up to? Sign up for our UK newsletter.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Investigative journalism like this is made possible by readers like you. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?

Image credit: Julie Dermansky

Toxins from Marathon Refinery Fire Leaked 15 Hours Before Evacuation Called

— By Sara Sneath (4 min. read) —

When St. John the Baptist Parish residents woke up on Friday, August 25, they saw a plume of black smoke above the Marathon Petroleum refinery between Reserve and Garyville, Louisiana. Marathon told residents and parish officials that the fire started that morning around two tanks storing naphtha — a type of partially refined petroleum used as an ingredient in gasoline.

But the naphtha leak actually began at 6:50 p.m. Thursday, August 24, 15 hours before residents in the area were evacuated, according to a report to the National Response Center, the federal point of contact for reporting all oil and chemical spills. The Louisiana State Police were notified about half an hour later.

Jordan Peterson Generates Millions of YouTube Hits for Climate Crisis Deniers

— By Geoff Dembicki (6 min. read) —

Fringe climate crisis deniers who claim that the earth is “cooling” and greenhouse emissions are good for “biological productivity” are getting exposed to millions more people than they normally would on YouTube thanks to conservative influencer Jordan Peterson. 

That’s according to viewership data newly reviewed by DeSmog, which reveals a massive visibility boost for public figures who’ve been active in the climate denial movement for years but whose ideas — such as the claim that plants are growing much better due to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — are now rarely taken seriously by most legacy media outlets.  

Climate Science Denial Looms Large in GB News Linked ‘ARC’ Venture

— By Adam Barnett and Joey Grostern (8 min. read) —

“The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice”. This Martin Luther King quote was used by Conservative peer Baroness Stroud to introduce the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), which launched in March. 

Set up by the owners of GB News and involving “senior leaders from politics, media, culture, business, and academia”, ARC claims that it will address the six “fundamental issues of our time”, including “energy and resources” and “environmental stewardship”. 

Anti-ULEZ Protest Group Promotes Conspiracy Theories and Climate Science Denial

— By Adam Barnett and Sam Bright (6 min. read) —

Tuesday’s protest against the expansion of London’s ultra low emission zone (ULEZ), which featured on the front page of two national newspapers, was led by a group with ties to conspiracy theories and climate science denial, DeSmog can reveal.

A reported 200 people attended the protest outside parliament on Tuesday as the ULEZ scheme to tackle air pollution by charging high emission vehicles was extended to Greater London.

Marathon Refinery Fire Illustrates How Industry Goes Quiet During a Crisis

— By Sara Sneath and Julie Dermansky (5 min. read) —

Ask Argentine politician, economist, and presidential candidate Javier Milei what he thinks of climate change, and he might tell you that it’s “another lie of socialism” and “part of the agenda of Cultural Marxism.” 

The right-wing politician is part of coalition Libertad Avanza and this August won the most votes in Argentina’s primary election, enabling him to run for president on October 23. Thick black smoke billowed and flames rose from two chemical storage tanks at the Marathon Petroleum refinery between Reserve and Garyville, Louisiana, on Friday. Geraldine Watkins saw the towers of smoke through the passenger seat window of a car that morning, while she was on her way to a court hearing about whether another tract of land in St. John the Baptist Parish, where Garyville is located, would be zoned for heavy industrial use.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Jordan B Peterson

Jordan B Peterson is a clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Toronto. Peterson published his first book, Mas of Meaning, in 1999 while still a psychology professor at U of T. In 2013, Peterson began broadcasting lectures on YouTube. The Financial Times described him as “the anti-#MeToo, the anti-1968, the defender of old-school masculinity.” In a Telegraph piece announcing the launch of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), Peterson and ARC advisory board members asserted that there was a need to “have an honest debate of costs and benefits” of climate action “to find the best solutions.” They decry “the alarmist treatment of climate,” accuse climate campaign groups of “fear-mongering” which is “pushing us toward the wrong solutions.”

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database and Koch Network Database.