Fossil Fuel Energy Production

Jose Gardea Vs. Gil Cedillo in L.A. City Council District 1 Election: Ugly Fight for $178,789 Job

Eastside L.A. voters in the March 5 primary might elect someone outright for City Council District 1 without awaiting the May 21 runoff if either candidate gets 50 percent plus one vote. The spoils? A $178,789 job, a staff of about 20 aides, and eight free cars paid for by L.A. taxpayers. So the Jo ... More >>

It's Not a Space Shuttle or a Giant Rock, But Chevron's 100-Foot Coke Drums Shut Down the PCH Yesterday

See also: *20 Ways to Pose for Photos at the LACMA Rock *LACMA Rock Finally Opens. Does It Live Up to Expectations? Last night, Chevron began moving two of six 500,000-pound coke drums -- that's oil industry lingo for processing units -- up from the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro to its refinery ... More >>

How Wall Street and Washington Conspired to Spike Gas Prices

By Pete Kotz On July 11, 2008, the price of oil rose to $147 per barrel, a record high. Gas stations engaged in hot pursuit as the price of a gallon rocketed past $4. All hell was about to break loose. The country's largest banks had already begun to implode through arrogance and ineptitude. Now t ... More >>

Gas-Price Gouging Possible As Cost of a Gallon Reaches New Record High in L.A.

See also: *Gas Prices Could Reach All-Time High in L.A. Gas prices set a new record in California over the weekend. Is this a scam? Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission to launch an "immediate investigation" into the price spikes because, she stated, "it does no ... More >>

Gas Prices Could Reach All-Time High in L.A. as Some Stations Expected to Shut Down

Southern California is an island of gas-price hell this week. One station in Calabasas is charging nearly $6 ($5.89 to be exact) a gallon for high-octane fuel, the Costco in Simi Valley has run out of regular-grade gas (with other stations expected to follow suit), and one expert tells us that all-t ... More >>

Richmond Refinery Fire Could Push L.A. Gas Prices Back Over $4

Goddammit. Just when we were beginning to get used to this summertime dip in gas prices -- they've fallen from over $4.30 in March to about $3.90 today -- the largest refinery in NorCal has to go and screw everything up. According to reports, a series of explosions at the Chevron oil refinery in Ri ... More >>

Could Fracking in Los Angeles Cause an Earthquake?

Could Fracking in Los Angeles Cause an Earthquake?

Conversations about fracking, the controversial technique for natural gas extraction (alternately known as "that thing that turns your tap water flammable") are typically confined to Pennsylvania, where the critically acclaimed documentary Gasland was set, or the state of New York, currently debatin ... More >>

Gas Leak

Bill Morrison/Johann Johannsson

Sam McPheeters, of the '90s Punk Band Born Against, On His Bizarre Novel About L.A.'s Angriest Chevron Owner

"I wanted it to be like a firework show," Sam McPheeters says about the crescendo of energy and tension in his debut novel, The Loom of Ruin. "It just gets more and more insane." Co-founder of the legendary hardcore punk band Born Against, McPheeters' first novel was just released via Mugger Books ... More >>

Chevron Refinery in El Segundo 'Avoided Paying Millions of Dollars in Taxes'

It's officially election season in America, and few topics are hotter or divide us more than taxes: Should the rich pay more? Do the wealthy carry the rest of us? Do corporations pay their fair share? On that last one, KCET's news series, SoCal Connected, might have a partial answer:

The Big Fix review

38 Degrees Ale House & Grill: Beer Lover's Paradise... in Alhambra

Daniel DrennonClay Harding, co-owner of 38 Degrees with 38 taps​ Apparently the economic downturn has not hindered craft beer drinkers. They say, even in a recession, folks will still seek an escape from tough times at the movies. The same can now be said of beer bars. Despite dozens of ho ... More >>

William Barry Wise, Worker at Carson BP Refinery, Crushed to Death by Railcar

terrapsych.comBP's refinery in Carson, where Wise was killed.​A longtime employee of the BP refinery in Carson died early yesterday morning while on the job. The L.A. County Coroner identifies him today as 54-year-old white man William Barry Wise, an Irvine resident. BP spokesman Walter Neil ... More >>

Jesse Marquez: Thorn of Industry

Bill Gallegos: Cooling Dante's Inferno

Good Riddance, Ray Irani

Chief of Occidental Oil, stepping down, seen by many as greediest of all

Hydraulic 'Fracking' -- New Oil-Drilling Technique -- Could Create Jobs, Poison Tap Water in California

What's a little contamination in the name of the drill?​The nation was abuzz yesterday with highly unsustainable news of a fresh way to squeeze millions more barrels of oil from the deepest Earthstuffs of America the Beautiful: It's called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" among Big Oil exec ... More >>

BP Puts Monster SoCal Refinery -- 25 Percent of All L.A. Gas -- Up for Sale

terrapsych.comBP Carson Refinery: officially on the market​It's easy to hate BP. Those jerks made the glistening Gulf of Mexico into a goopy seafood dish that lined our nightmares in black slime and swallowed helpless baby animals whole. And that was just the view from unaffected California, ... More >>

Gloria Allred, L.A. Attorney to the Stars, and the Children of Huntington Beach vs. $8 Million Chevron Solar Panels: We Want Our Lawn Back

Gloria Allred departs Hollywood for a Huntington Beach middle school today​Updated after the jump: Gloria and 200 angry middle-schoolers give police, school administrators -- and most of all Chevron -- a piece of their mind. We're more used to seeing L.A. attorney Gloria Allred fight for the ... More >>

(VIDEO) Gas To Reach Five Dollars Per Gallon By 2012, Says Ex-Prez Of Shell Oil

Jon Hofmeister, earning his way back into heaven one BP lecture at a time​Former Shell Oil president Jon Hofmeister, who likes to dole out scandalous dirty-energy news items now that he's not not trying to run a scandalous dirty-energy corporation, had something very scary to tell North Caroli ... More >>

Need A Crack Pipe? Arco Gas Station Near Watts Middle School Reportedly Has Them

ReelUrbanNewsBP spills oil on our shores and apparently sells us crack pipes too. ​You would think our British friends over at BP had enough bad press over that whole Gulf oil spill thing to get a handle on its image, particularly in the U.S. Nothing a few mil thrown at a good P.R. or "crisis ... More >>

No Fracking Way

The dirty cost of clean energy in GASLAND

Proposition 23: Green Money Pounds Big Oil Money In Blue California

By Hillel Aron Patrick Range McDonaldFuture green baron protests Prop. 23​Is the green energy lobby California's up-and-coming special interest group? Proposition 23 would kill Assembly Bill 32, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's climate-change bill that set strict standards for greenhouse gas ... More >>

Stage Raw: Voombodian Women from Outer Space!

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSTheater FEATURE on Happy Ending and WaterVOOMBODIAN WOMEN FROM OUTER SPACE! Staged reading of Barry Schwam's new play at Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., in Sierra Madre. Sun., 7:30 p.m. $5 (626) 355-4318 AN EVENING WITH PAT BOONE, ... More >>

Steelworkers Union Tries To Organize L.A. Carwash Workers

​Via LA Biz Observed, Steven Greenhouse, labor reporter for The New York Times, writes up the unlikely effort to organize L.A. carwash workers. Many of the estimated 10,000 workers in the business here are illegal immigrants, who are too scared to speak out or give their bosses any excuse to ... More >>

Addicted to Oil: Can the Earth Recover?

LA Weekly Flickr Pool Reader Photo of the Day: BP Oil Spill at Wolvesmouth Dinner

This LA Weekly Flickr pool photo comes to you from of our oft-used photographer djjewelz, who took this at the underground Wolvesmouth dinner from Chef Craig Thornton, formerly of Bouchon. The dish pictured is something of a back-handed homage to the people over at BP: uni "polenta," squid, uni, oys ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 7/6-7/9

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "The Tam O'Shanter in Atwater Village, owned by the Lawry's family, is also as ersatz as can be, a Disney version of a Scottish inn that in fact started its life as a drive-in restaurant, but something tells me it's the ... More >>

Is Your Olive Oil Really Extra Virgin? U.S. Called a "Dumping Ground for Cheap Olive Oil"

Flickr/Kevan"Extra virgin" olive oil may contain safflower, canola or peanut oil--and there's nothing you can do about it.​BP isn't the only disreputable oil company in the United States. Apparently there are no rules regulating olive oil here. Which means that purveyors can sell consumers any ... More >>

La Nogalera Walnuts: Great For Cooking Cleaning up Oil Spills

Brooke BurtonCan walnut shells really stop oil leaks and filter polluted water?​ Go to the Hollywood farmers market to sample La Nogalera's excellent walnut oil from the Santa Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County, and you may quickly identify the nutritional benefits for salads and vegetable sid ... More >>

Theater Reviews: All My Sons, Opus, King Lear: The Madmen

Also, Praying Small, The Fantasticks, Amadeus and more

The Thursday Edition: A Roundup of Newspaper Food Stories

SapphireBlue22stack of newspapers​What's the country reading today food-wise? Here's a roundup of some of the food-related stories from other newspapers, many of which print their food sections mid-week. And remember, even if you don't actually buy papers these days (or not; this paper is free ... More >>

5 Most Disgusting Items In The Trader Joe's Freezer Aisle

Trader Joe's is really inexpensive. To be honest, it is at times somewhat frighteningly so. But we continue to shop there, mainly because of those low prices, their large wine selection, snappy packaging and generally friendly staff. It is a brand we've come to trust, without ever really stopping to ... More >>

Jesus Statue Struck By Lightning; God Is Mad At Us

AP Photo/The Dayton Daily NewsTouchdown Jesus.​First a swarm of temblors rocked the California desert Monday night, prompting the Los Angeles Fire Department to go into "earthquake mode." Now there's news that a beloved Jesus statue (known by locals as "Touchdown Jesus," no less) was struck by ... More >>

Bicyclists Clash with LAPD

Bad blood continues despite attempts at detente

Villaraigosa 'Disappointed' By LAPD Clash With Bicyclists

​Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa this week said he was disturbed and disappointed after viewing video of an apparent clash between police and bike riders in Hollywood May 28 in which an officer threw a kick toward a bicylist and two or three other cops allegedly went after the videograp ... More >>

Bicyclist Who Videotaped Alleged LAPD Use Of Force Files Claim, Says He Was Kicked By Cops

The kick that started a firestorm.​The man who filmed a police officer throwing a kick toward a bicyclist during a protest ride last weekend has filed a claim against the Los Angeles Police Department and the city of L.A. that alleges, in part, that he was thrown to the ground and kicked by at ... More >>

LAPD Officers Involved In Clash With Bicyclists Removed From Duty

​Officers involved in a Hollywood clash with bicyclists protesting British Petroleum's role in the Gulf oil spill over the weekend have been removed from duty as the Los Angeles Police Department continued to investigate the incident, Fox 11 News reported. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck showed up at ... More >>

James Cameron to Plug Oil Spill By Losing His Temper At a Production Assistant

​Federal officials met today with filmmaker James Cameron as they look for ideas on how to plug the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.No really. That happened.Cameron was among a group of experts on deepwater operations and drilling who sat down with officials from the Environmental Protection Agency. No w ... More >>

LAPD Officers In Hot Water Over Bike Ride Incident Caught On Tape

YouTubeAn officer throws a regulation kick.​The Los Angeles Police Department launched an investigation over the weekend after an officer was spotted apparently throwing a kick toward a bicyclist involved in a demonstration against British Petroleum Friday night in Hollywood. At least 400 bi ... More >>

Why Californians Should Be Called In To Stop Gulf Oil Spill

The Deepwater Horizon oil platform went up in smoke last month, causing what could be the nation's largest oil spill.​It's sad watching British Petroleum struggle to stop the month-long Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as the Obama administration stands by, arms akimbo. BP has ... More >>

Fishery Disaster Declared for 3 Gulf Coast States

Food Safety News​ On Monday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke declared a fishery disaster for three states, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, along the Gulf of Mexico. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody, except maybe BP. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ... More >>

Pound of Flesh: Jamon Ibérico de Bellota

Ben CalderwoodSlivers of Jamon Ibérico glisten​ Consider for a moment the casual brutality of the jamonera, little more than a wooden plank and a upright clamp in which to mount a leg of ham. The shank end is secured to the clamp via a spike or bolts, making it easy to shave the gelatinous fl ... More >>

MTA's Toxic Towers in Van Nuys

Metro wants to cram 2,000 renters onto land that faces a Chevron oil plant

Shut Up and Eat Your Groundlings

How to Cure Hollywood’s Summertime Blues

12 Steps to better box office

The Cheney Connection

Tracing the Halliburton money trail to Nigeria