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Sequestering Common Sense

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Cartoon: Three people hold signs, the first one reads, "keep it in the ground, no oil!" The second one reads, "put it in the ground, CO2." The third one reads, "put it in the ground to get more out of the ground: CO2, oil."

With the help of California's carbon market — which is intended to lower greenhouse gas emissions — Occidental Petroleum plans to inject carbon dioxide into the ground to extract more oil.

That's right — the system of carbon credits designed to help fight climate change is being used by an oil company (founded in California, now headquartered in Texas) to pump more oil out of the ground.

Sure, carbon credits (if used as they were intended) may help us avoid completely destroying the planet — but rest assured, oil companies will continue to do everything they can to profit all the way to the apocalypse.

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