Head of Brazil's gas giant Petrobras criticized for 'drill, baby, drill!' comment about the Amazon
SAO PAULO (AP) — The head of Brazil's state-run gas and oil giant Petrobras was facing criticism on Friday after a video emerged of her saying 'Drill, baby, drill!' when speaking about controversial oil exploration near the mouth of the Amazon River.
Magda Chambriard made the remarks Tuesday during the Offshore Technology Conference, in Houston. In a video obtained by the Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico and published Friday, Chambriard is seen addressing Clécio Luís, governor of the Amazonian state of Amapa, who was in the audience.
'We do believe we will have very good surprises once we have the (environmental) license to drill. So what one wants to say to Amapa is, 'Let's drill, baby, drill!'' Her comments prompted a round of applause, including from Luís.
Petrobras did not immediately respond to an email request for comment. The company confirmed the authenticity of the video, according to Valor Economico.
U.S. President Donald Trump has long used the phrase 'Drill, baby, drill!' in expressing support for increased oil exploration and production.
'The 'let's drill, baby' rhetoric may comfort industry leaders and short-sighted policymakers, but history will remember them as the ones who buried the 1.5 C goal,' said Natalie Unterstell, president of Talanoa, a climate policy think tank, referring to the internationally adopted aim to keep warming under 1.5 C since pre-industrial times.
Climate change is caused by the release of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Oil, from exploration to its various uses, is a central driver of climate change.
Chambriard was appointed by Brazil's leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose environmental record in the Amazon is mixed. While he has curbed deforestation and championed the Amazonian city of Belem as the host of the U.N.'s COP30 climate summit in November, he also supports Petrobras's push to drill for offshore oil at the ecologically sensitive mouth of the Amazon River and other big projects that bring environmental impact to the world´s largest tropical forest.
Exploratory offshore drilling near the Amazon, whose reserves are unknown, is expected to draw scrutiny during the COP30 summit. A central push of the annual climate talks has been to reduce the use of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.
___
The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Israeli navy attacks rebel-held Yemeni port city of Hodeida, a first in the conflict
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Israeli navy attacked docks in Yemen's rebel-held port city of Hodeida on Tuesday, likely damaging facilities that are key to aid shipments to the hungry, war-wracked nation. The Israeli military said navy missile ships conducted the strikes, the first time its forces have been involved in attacks against the Houthi rebels. Tuesday's attack comes as the Houthis have repeatedly launched missiles and drones targeting Israel during its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip . The Houthis announced the attack via their al-Masirah satellite news channel. They said the attack targeted docks there, without elaborating. Late Monday, Israel issued online warnings to Yemenis to evacuate from Ras Isa, Hodeida and al-Salif ports over the Houthis' alleged use of seaports for attacks. 'The port is used to transfer weapons and is a further example of the Houthi terrorist regime's cynical exploitation of civilian infrastructure in order to advance terrorist activities,' the Israeli military said in a statement Tuesday. Hodeida also is the main entry point for food and other humanitarian aid for millions of Yemenis since the war began when the Houthis seized Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in 2014. The Houthis have been launching persistent missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group's leadership has described as an effort to end Israel's offensive in Gaza. From November 2023 until January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors . That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually. The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the U.S. launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. President Donald Trump paused those attacks just before his trip to the Mideast, saying the rebels had 'capitulated' to American demands. Early Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on the social platform X that U.S. Navy ships had traveled through the Red Sea and its Bab el-Mandeb Strait 'multiple times in recent days' without facing Houthi attacks. 'These transits occurred without challenge and demonstrate the success of both Operation ROUGH RIDER and the President's Peace Through Strength agenda,' Hegseth wrote ahead of facing Congress for the first time since sharing sensitive military details of America's military campaign against the Houthis in a Signal chat. It's unclear how the Houthis will respond now that an attack has come from the sea, rather than the air, from the Israelis. Meanwhile, a wider, decadelong war in Yemen between the Houthis and the country's exiled government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, remains in a stalemate. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
![Dear Black Folks: The Protests Against ICE Are Absolutely Our Fight Too [Op-Ed]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnewsone.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F22%2F2025%2F06%2F17495049643842.jpg%3Fquality%3D80%26strip%3Dall&w=3840&q=100)
![Dear Black Folks: The Protests Against ICE Are Absolutely Our Fight Too [Op-Ed]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fall-logos-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblackamericaweb.com.png&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
Black America Web
an hour ago
- Black America Web
Dear Black Folks: The Protests Against ICE Are Absolutely Our Fight Too [Op-Ed]
Source: Nick Ut / Getty As Donald Trump sparks chaos by illegally deploying troops to Los Angeles, as immigration raids intensify, and as protesters are flooding the streets to demand dignity for migrants, far too many Black folks are sitting back on social media platforms singing a tired, familiar song. It's being sung off-key with a false sense of safety and a dangerous misunderstanding of how white supremacist violence works. The chorus of retreat sounds something like this: 'Black folks need to stay home.' 'Let them handle it. This is their fight.' 'Most Latinos voted for this mess.' 'ICE don't target us. We've got citizenship.' 'I ain't marching for nobody who won't march for me .' 'Latinos don't like us anyway.' But what's really being said underneath all that deflection is this: 'If they come for Latinos, I'll be quiet, as long as they leave me and mine alone.' But if you study history, I mean really study history, then you should already know that they never leave us alone. Not for long. I get it. Black folks are tired. We've carried the weight of every major freedom movement in this country. We've bled. We've died. And we've been betrayed. We've shown up, over and over, only to be met with anti-blackness in return. But this ain't about who likes us. It's about who's next! What ICE is doing to migrants isn't just an immigration issue. It's white supremacist violence at its core. It's separating families. It's state violence. It's stalking and snatching people from homes and workplaces and making them disappear. It's caging children. And for Black folks in America, this should all feel deeply familiar. The white supremacist machine of state violence doesn't make distinctions based on citizenship status. What ICE is doing to Latinx, West Indian, and African migrants is part of the same machinery that has policed and abused Black American bodies for centuries. We know what it means to have our families torn about by the state. We know what it means to be told that we don't belong in the land we built. We know exactly what it's like to be criminalized simply for existing, to be dehumanized by everyday language, media propaganda, policies, and bureaucrats in uniform. Black folks know what it means to live under surveillance, to be chased, cuffed, caged, and disappeared. We are the descendants of people who had to run. From plantations. From the Fugitive Slave Act and slave catchers. From the KKK and lynch mobs. Even if you were born right here in America, with ancestors going all the way back to slave ships, that border violence still echoes through Black lives. The ol' 'I got my papers, I'm safe' is a delusion. That little blue passport won't stop you from getting profiled, harassed, arrested, or shot by a cop who sees your Black skin before your citizenship status or hears your command of English. Just ask the countless Black immigrants already deported, or the U.S.-born Black folks ICE illegally detained anyway. Do you think that racist ICE agents caught up in immigration hysteria and round-up quotas will stop to check birth certificates? Just ask Peter Sean Brown, who was detained in the Florida Keys when an ICE agent mistakenly detained him as an undocumented immigrant from Jamaica. He spent weeks in custody and eventually sued. Or, ask Davino Watson, a native New Yorker who was imprisoned as a 'deportable alien' for more than three years despite claiming citizenship and then denied compensation by the court system. Source: Nick Ut / Getty ICE detentions are triggered by racial profiling, flawed algorithms, and sloppy data. Skin complexion, language, and citizenship won't shield us. Think about all the Black folks walking around without real IDs to prove they're citizens. Over a quarter of Black adult citizens do not have a driver's license with their current name and/or address and 18% don't have a license at all, according to the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement. If ICE can mistakenly detain Black and Brown Americans born in the U.S., even if they have documentation, then no one is immune. Some Black folks are also citing the 2024 election exit polls to justify staying home and staying silent, like the ICE protests don't concern us. 'Latinos voted for Trump.' But exit polls don't tell the whole story. They only sample registered voters who actually voted, and they never account for the millions of undocumented immigrants who can't vote. They also oversample precincts that don't match the demographic reality, skewing results toward the dominant group in those districts. Most Latinos, like Black Americans, did not vote for Trump. According to national polls, 56% of Latinos who voted cast their ballot for Kamala Harris, while 42% went for Trump. Yes, Trump made gains among Latino men, but gains don't equate to dominance. The Latino vote split along familiar gender and generational lines, just like our communities. We can't turn a sampling of voter turnout into 'most Latinos voted for Trump,' and we can't let bad math be an excuse to justify apathy. And there's this one: 'I ain't marching for nobody that won't march for me.' Or its equally tired fraternal twin: 'Latinos don't like us anyway.' This is scarcity-minded, historically illiterate nonsense that treats solidarity as some sort of tit-for-tat transaction. If that's how our ancestors thought, then there wouldn't have been an Underground Railroad, no Civil Rights Act, A Voting Rights Act, or a Montgomery Bus Boycott. Solidarity is a strategy, not some popularity contest. If you're out here claiming Latinos don't march for us, then clearly you haven't picked up a history book. Y'all must not know about Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta who led the United Farm Workers who stood with Martin Luther King Jr. Y'all must not know about the Puerto Rican Young Lords working hand-in-hand with the Black Panther Party to run free clinics, breakfast programs, and tenant organizing drives in Chicago and New York City. Or, about the Mexican students who took their cue from SNCC and Malcolm X during the 1968 East LA walkouts and launched the Chicano civil rights crusade. In recent years, Afro-Latinos have been at the forefront of Black Lives Matter chapters, organizing vigils, raising bail funding, and pushing for police accountability across the country. In Chicago's Little Village, Latino organizers launched the 'Brown Squad for Black Lives' and established a Black and Brown Unity food pantry. Martin Luther King III has been working alongside Mi Familia Vota , a national Black-Brown coalition whose mission is to combat hate crimes, anti-immigrant policies, and attacks on voting rights— together —not as separate communities. Just because these sustained interracial commitments and coalitions aren't trendy headlines or going viral on social media doesn't mean solidarity isn't unfolding in schools, community centers, neighborhoods, and politics. It's one thing to let white folks battle each other, whether it's MAGA vs. neoliberal, liberals vs. conservatives, or Karens vs. Capitol Hill. White folks battling each other is the empire fighting over who gets to steer the ship while it is already sinking. You want to sit back and watch that unfold while sipping tea or eating popcorn? Fine. Letting white folks eat each other doesn't carry the same moral weight as turning your back on another marginalized community facing the same white supremacist violence as us. Let's also remember that anti-Blackness is global. It lives in every community, including our own. Black Americans can be just as anti-immigrant, just as colorist, just as xenophobic, just as colonized in our thinking. So, if you're sitting out because of what some Latinos, West Indians, or Africans said about us, then you're not protecting yourself. You're just waiting for your turn. So, what do we do? Source: Jason Armond / Getty We organize. We show up at ICE protests so the system doesn't get to isolate people in silence. We donate to immigrant bail funds and deportation defense teams like the Haitian Bridge Alliance, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, and UndocuBlack. Use your platforms to amplify the stories, organizing, resistance, and victories of undocumented folks. Build local coalitions to organize teach-ins, mutual aid drives and community safety networks that bridge Black and Brown neighborhoods. We also need to unlearn the anti-immigrant, anti-Black, and anti-Indigenous narratives this country feeds us because solidarity starts in the mind. Black folks cannot afford to pretend that citizenship or birthright assures our protection. A system built on racial profiling, quotas, and militarized tactics never stops at 'not us.' It doesn't send ICE to the border and leave us in peace. These immigration raids strengthen a culture of normalized, dehumanizing state violence against anyone who looks 'other.' Immigration will become the excuse to expand the surveillance state and militarized policing in Black communities. This is absolutely our fight! Dr. Stacey Patton is an award-winning journalist and author of 'Spare The Kids: Why Whupping Children Won't Save Black America' and the forthcoming 'Strung Up: The Lynching of Black Children In Jim Crow America.' Read her Substack here . SEE ALSO: Trump's Job Corps 'Pause' Is MAGA's Plan To Eliminate Poor Youth Harvard And White America's Creepy Obsession With Hoarding Black Remains SEE ALSO Dear Black Folks: The Protests Against ICE Are Absolutely Our Fight Too [Op-Ed] was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
US business group says Washington should treat Taiwan like partner not adversary
TAIPEI (Reuters) -The United States should treat Taiwan like a partner and not an adversary, remove new and proposed tariffs, restore high-level cabinet visits and agree a double taxation deal, the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan said on Tuesday. Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, enjoyed strong support from U.S. President Donald Trump's first administration, which regularized arms sales that President Joe Biden continued. But Trump, as part of his sweeping tariffs on countries around the world, in April said he would put a 32% tariff on Taiwan, before pausing them for 90 days. Taiwan and the United States are still in talks to resolve the issue. AmCham Taiwan President Carl Wegner, releasing the group's 2025 White Paper, said he would be leading a delegation to Washington later this month to have "door knock" talks with officials on concerns about the tariffs and how to boost Taiwan-U.S. business ties. "Taiwan is a reliable friend of the United States, an essential democratic partner in the Indo Pacific, a major investor in American industry and a critical contributor to supply chain resilience," he told reporters in Taipei. Trade measures that were initially designed to address unfair practices by strategic competitors like China are now being targeted at friends like Taiwan, Wegner said. "It is in America's interests to ensure Taiwan is treated like a partner, not like an adversary." The White Paper said an agreement to avoid double taxation, currently stalled in the U.S. Senate, should urgently be resolved to remove investment barriers, while high-level visits by U.S. cabinet members should resume. Neither Taiwan nor the United States have provided substantive public updates on the tariff talks. The U.S. Department of Commerce did not respond to requests for comment sent outside of Washington office hours.
