Shell Canada is succeeding where Edmonton and Ottawa have largely failed to date: it is trying to engage environmental groups to discuss Alberta's oilsands.
September 17th, 2009:
Shell conciliatory as Greenpeace protest ends
Gale Norton investigation: the Stink of Royal Dutch Shell Corruption
The criminal investigation by the US Justice Department into former Interior Secretary Gale Norton and the award of oil shale leases to the oil company Shell, which subsequently became her employer, comes as no surprise. The stink of corruption is long-lasting, as Shell is aware.
For more than two years, I have publicly drawn attention to this subject, including comments posted on a Denver Post article.
One moment Norton was the head of a US government department negotiating multibillion dollar agreements with Shell, the next (months later) she was working for Shell. This was blatantly improper and against the public interest. It smelt to high heaven.
Criminal investigation by US Justice Dept into Shell multibillion dollar oil shale deal
Former Interior Secretary Gale Norton is focus of corruption probe
The Justice Department investigation centers on a 2006 decision to award oil shale leases in Colorado to a Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary. Months later, the oil giant hired Norton as a legal counsel.
By Jim Tankersley and Josh Meyer
September 17, 2009
Reporting from Washington – The Justice Department is investigating whether former Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton illegally used her position to benefit Royal Dutch Shell PLC, the company that later hired her, according to officials in federal law enforcement and the Interior Department.
The criminal investigation centers on the Interior Department’s 2006 decision to award three lucrative oil shale leases on federal land in Colorado to a Shell subsidiary. Over the years it would take to extract the oil, according to calculations from Shell and a Rand Corp. expert, the deal could net the company hundreds of billions of dollars.