Companies Corroding Communities

According to the Supreme Court, corporations are people. The absurdity of this statement notwithstanding, it is clear that, like people, corporations make mistakes, and sometimes commit crimes and atrocities. This week on Sea Change Radio we talk with two experts about the impact that two energy corporations have had on actual people. First, host Alex Wise speaks with Inside Climate News reporter Neela Banerjee about the stark contrast between what happened at Aliso Canyon and what happened near Mobile, Alabama when gas and chemical spills contaminated the communities there. The same company, Sempra Energy, was involved, and yet the response and aftermath were vastly different, with race and class factoring significantly into environmental justice outcomes. Then we hear from John Wilson, Head of Corporate Governance at Cornerstone Capital Group about the death of former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon. Facing widespread accusations that he cheated landowners out of the money they were promised in exchange for letting Chesapeake Energy drill for natural gas on their property, Chesapeake’s founder died in mysterious fashion. Wilson gives us his environmental, social, and corporate governance perspective on the corruption allegations and the demise of the man Forbes Magazine once called “the world’s most reckless billionaire.”