Maya Chiodo’s article “Can Solar Grease Oil’s Wheels?” does an impressive job of showing the oil industry's greenwashing techniques. According to Santa Barbara County’s own analysis, ERG’s new owner TerraCore would need to install 1,000 acres of solar or 125 megawatts to heat up enough water to extract the thick, gooey oil in the tapped out Cat Canyon field. The 3 megawatt solar plan is window dressing.
TerraCore, a small company owned by Coloradan Will McConathy, considered to be “the youngest member of the Koch network," according to The Hill newspaper, bought bankrupt ERGs massive holdings for $27 million, leaving Trump top financier and ERG-debt holder Andrew Beal of Texas, with a loss of upward of $400 million.
TerraCore may try to stick a solar smiley-face on its cyclic-steam injection plan, one of the most dangerous and carbon-intensive fossil fuel-extraction methods in the world, but it’s run out of gimmicks.