Author: Ben Jervey

As their proposed Keystone XL pipeline faces ever-increasing opposition — and as the State Department continues to push back official decisions on whether to approve the pipeline’s permit — TransCanada has turned at least some of their attention east. The Canadian company has proposed and is now seeking permission to

If you’ve been planning a visit to Yellowstone National Park, and are hoping for a perfectly clear, crisp day, you’ll have to wait awhile. Like 150 years or so. You see, Yellowstone, like many of the United States’ national parks, suffers from some pretty serious air pollution. According to the

The Bureau of Land Management is having a hard time getting rid of our publicly owned coal. For the second time in two months, a federal coal lease auction resulted in no sales. On Wednesday, the BLM announced that it was officially rejecting the lone bid on the Hay Creek

As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change prepares to release its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) — the latest installment of its comprehensive assessment of climate science — early next year, the science is already under attack. As the U.S. Global Change Research Program puts the final draft of the third

Tomorrow, the Bureau of Land Management will sell off roughly 148 million tons of coal. The BLM is opening the sealed bids for the so-called “Maysdorf II” tract in the heart of the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. The coal will likely be sold to Cloud Peak Energy, which operates

The tragic oil train explosion earlier this month in Lac-Megantic, Quebec has focused a spotlight on the growing role of rail in the transportation of North American crude. But even after that tragedy, the extent of rail’s expansion in transporting oil is still little understood by the typical driver at the

As international bodies and national governments fail to do anything significant to curb the ever-rising concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, local governments are taking it upon themselves to get prepared for the perilous impacts of unmitigated climate change. Last month, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled an

Earlier this month, John Cook of Skeptical Science and his team of volunteers at the Consensus Project released the latest definitive study of global warming scientific consensus, revealing that 97 percent of peer-reviewed papers with a clear view on the subject agree that global warming is occurring and that humans

It’s been over five weeks since ExxonMobil’s Pegasus pipeline burst beneath a Mayflower, Arkansas subdivision, spilling diluted bitumen born of tar sands throughout the neighborhood. Five weeks later, and still the air carries noxious fumes. Residents complain of headaches, nausea, and worse. Meanwhile, these residents of Mayflower are getting mixed

ExxonMobil would sure like you to think that everything is just fine down in Mayflower, Arkansas. That the roughly 5,000 barrel tar sands crude spill was regrettable, but the town will be soon restored to its unspoiled state. That, in terms of clean up, they’re totally on it. I mean,

Remember the climate disruption tax? It’s the public cost, actually paid by American taxpayers, of climate-driven extreme weather events. For the first time, the smart economists and public policy thinkers out there are actually crunching numbers and putting forth some jaw-dropping costs of these droughts and floods and superstorms. Last

There are four days left to submit a public comment to the State Department on the Keystone XL pipeline. As we’ve reported time and time again here on DeSmogBlog, the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would not improve America’s energy security as proponents of the pipeline insist. Nor would

A quick break for some Friday afternoon comic relief. As only Colbert can, he highlights the absurdity and somehow culls the funny out of a freaking oil spill. And he hits the most important points, too: the Pegasus-Keystone XL comparisons and the fact that it’s not an “oil spill,” but a “bitumen spill.” Oh,

ExxonMobil is getting defensive about its response plans for the tar sands pipeline spill in Arkansas. The company took to Twitter this afternoon to respond to what it called “allegations” that Exxon isn’t liable for the full costs of cleaning up their tar sands crude spill in Mayflower, Arkansas.   Here’s the

In Greek legend, everytime the winged horse Pegasus struck his hoof to the Earth, an “inspiring spring burst forth.” Unfortunately for residents in Mayflower, Arkansas, when the Pegasus pipeline ruptured, the only thing bursting forth was a nasty tar sands oil spill. On Friday afternoon, the Pegasus pipeline operated by

Last week, Huffington Post reported a story about the Utah Division of Oil, Gas & Mining’s ridiculous Earth Day Poster Contest. You know, the one where elementary school students were invited to submit posters around the theme, “Where Would WE Be Without Oil, Gas & Mining?” Seeing as this contest was