Author: Ben Jervey

It’s a busy week in the campus fossil fuel divestment movement.  A “sit in” by students at the Washington University of St. Louis enters its third day today. The protestors have camped out underneath their campus’s Brookings Archway since Tuesday, demanding that the school cut ties with Peabody Energy — the

In its environmental assessment of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, the U.S. State Department severely underestimated the project’s impact on oil production, and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions. That’s according to a rigorous economic analysis published in a new report by the Carbon Tracker Initiative. Researchers found that, if constructed,

An Italian judge has ordered the shutdown of a coal-fired power plant that has been blamed for at least 442 deaths. Public prosecutors had argued that pollution from the plant in Italy’s Liguria region had caused the premature deaths and between 1,700 – 2,000 cases of heart and lung disease.

Alberta’s tar sands crude has a new route east.  Canada’s National Energy Board announced on Thursday the approval of Enbridge’s request to reverse and expand a portion of the company’s Line 9 pipeline to allow for crude to flow east to Montreal, Quebec. This follows a July 2012 decision by

Alberta’s tar sands crude has a new route east.  Canada’s National Energy Board announced on Thursday the approval of Enbridge’s request to reverse and expand a portion of the company’s Line 9 pipeline to allow for crude to flow east to Montreal, Quebec. This follows a July 2012 decision by

America’s energy infrastructure is dangerously vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, according to a new report released by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. The report, requested by a group of Democratic senators lead by Energy and Natural Resources Chair Ron Wyden of Oregon, breaks down in detail how all

The State Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has finally weighed in on potential conflicts of interest in the environmental assessments of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Sort of. The office just released its long-anticipated report, capping off an investigation on whether Environmental Resources Management, the contractor hired by

On Tuesday, the Center for Media and Democracy released a new short film that sets out to debunk the many false claims — the films calls them “pipeLIES” — used by promoters of the Keystone XL pipeline. These industry talking points, many of which are repeated without verification by mainstream

With the quick stroke of a pen, a circuit court judge in St. Louis has singlehandedly silenced more than 22,000 city residents, who had sought to bring a ballot initiative to end tax breaks to fossil fuel companies to a citywide vote in April. Last summer, volunteers with the Take

On Tuesday, the Government Accountability Office released a much-anticipated report about the Bureau of Land Management’s coal leasing program, revealing it has stiffed taxpayers over $200 million. The GAO blames a lack of competition in the bidding process, reliance on outdated and incomplete methods to determine “fair market value” of

With the State Department’s release of the final Keystone XL environmental review, attention is being refocused on apparent conflicts of interest within both the State Department itself and the consultancy hired to conduct the review. Upon the release of the review — which is formally called the final supplemental environmental

The Department of the Interior is selling publicly-owned coal for much less than it is worth, essentially allowing the coal industry to fleece U.S. taxpayers of at least $200 million.  That is one of the main takeaways from a much-anticipated report released today by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which confirms

The exact worth of massive global fossil fuel subsidies is incredibly hard to figure. There’s no real consistency in the definitions of subsidies, or how they should be calculated. As a result, estimates of global subsidy support for fossil fuels vary widely. According to a new analysis by the Worldwatch

The State Department has released the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the proposed northern leg of the controversial and long-embattled TransCanada Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. In a familiar “Friday trash dump” — a move many expected the Obama administration to shun — John Kerry’s State Department chose

As a direct result of the Bakken shale oil boom, more crude oil was spilled from rail cars last year than in the previous four decades combined. That’s according to a McClatchy analysis of federal data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which governs rail transport of liquid

What do large companies do when they want to lobby against climate change and carbon mitigation measures without looking publicly like they’re pro-pollution? According to a new analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists, they hide behind trade groups. Groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association

A West Virginia hospital made a very unique request earlier this week. Authorities at St. Mary’s Medical Center asked a local judge for a restraining order against the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC), which had announced plans to protest outside of a coal-boosting event at the hospital on Tuesday.  Janet

Of all the elections and ballot measures voted on around the country on Tuesday, perhaps the most egregious example of the fossil fuel industry’s money influencing an outcome was seen in South Portland, Maine. Voters in the coastal city were deciding whether to approve a ballot item that would have essentially

More bad news is coming for the Interior Department’s coal leasing program. This month (or later, if the federal shutdown persists), the U.S. Government Accountability Office is expected to release findings from a year-long investigation into the Bureau of Land Management’s federal coal leasing program, which oversees the auction of coal

As the government shutdown drags well into its second week, the gates to America’s national parks, wildlife refuges, and national forests remain closed and the taxpaying public is denied access. Not everyone will be turned away at the gates, however: oil, gas, and coal companies that are already drilling and