OilAboveAll-400×245.jpg Last Thursday, Mitt Romney presented his “oil above all” energy plan, in which he promised “North American energy independence” by 2020. Far from comprehensive, the plan echoes the familiar “Drill, Baby, Drill” mantra from the 2008 presidential campaign, and offers no energy strategy beyond increasing domestic production of oil
Continue readingAuthor: Ben Jervey
DeSmogBlog: "Goliath" Melting Year Shatters Records in Greenland
greenland_moulin-NASA.jpg It’s been a “Goliath,” record-setting melting year in Greenland, home of the world’s second largest ice shelf. On August 8th, a full four weeks before the end of “melting season,” cumulative melting on the island had exceeded the previous record set in 2010, which included the full season. The record
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Federal Investigation: "Complete Breakdown of Safety at Enbridge" Caused Kalamazoo River Tar Sands Oil Spill
Enbridge.jpg It was the most expensive pipeline oil spill in the country’s history, the fallout from which still plagues the local communities, and government investigators have found that it was entirely preventable. The National Transportation Safety Board released its findings from a two year investigation of the 2010 Enbridge tar
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Bloomberg Stunner: How Chesapeake Energy Paid Less Than a 1% Tax Rate On $5.5 Billion in Profits
chesapeake-energy.jpg Chesapeake Energy, a company that is no stranger to financial scandals, has found itself on the front page of the financial papers again. This time, the subject is taxes. Or how Chesapeake barely pays them. Over its 23-year history, Chesapeake Energy, the second largest producer of natural gas
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The DilBit Disaster: InsideClimate News’ Incredible In-Depth Report on Enbridge’s Kalamazoo Oil Spill
Ruptured-Enbridge-Pipeline-from-Kalamazoo-Spill-credit-NTSB.jpg By now, hopefully you've at least heard of the Kalamazoo River oil spill. read more
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Trailbreaker Lives: How Plans to Bring Tar Sands Crude to the East Coast are "Going in Reverse"
With efforts to pump tar sands crude south and west coming up against fierce resistance, Canada’s oil industry is making a quiet attempt at an end run to the east. The industry is growing increasingly desperate to find a coastal port to export tar sands bitumen, especially now that the highly
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Senator John Kerry Speaks the Scary, Ugly Truth on Climate Change
Screen shot 2012-06-19 at 4.37.47 PM.png There are precious few voices in the U.S. capital these days that are speaking the truth about climate change. Which is what makes Senator John Kerry's speech on the Senate floor today so powerful, and so necessary. In his speech, which clocked in at nearly
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Exporting Coal: Struggling U.S. Coal Industry Trying to Stay Relevant By Shipping Through the Northwest
110326007Paul_K_Anderson_Coal-copy.jpg U.S. coal companies are facing some tricky math these days. Production levels have remained more or less the same since 2005, according to the Energy Information Agency (EIA), but during that time domestic consumption has dropped nearly 11 percent. Where is all that extra coal going? Some is piling
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Coal Train to Boardman: EPA Warns of "Significant" Public Health Threats in Northwest Coal Export Proposal
110326007Paul_K_Anderson_Coal-copy1.jpg As demand for coal in the United States has cooled off in recent years, coal mining companies have been scrambling to deliver their dirty loads to customers abroad. But what does this mean for communities along the transportation routes, particularly at the ports and export terminals where the coal
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Must Read Muckrake on the Whistleblower Behind the Enbridge Tar Sands Pipeline Spill
feature_enbridgemain.jpg On a midsummer evening in July of 2010, heavy crude started gushing from a 30-inch pipeline into Talmadge Creek, near Marshall, Michigan. By the next morning, heavy globs of oil soon were coating the Kalamazoo River, into which the Talmadge flows, and the stench of petroleum filled the air. Enbridge,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Tar Sands in the United States: What You Need to Know
Think that that dirtiest oil on the planet is only found up in Alberta? You might be surprised then to hear that there are tar sands deposits in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, much of which are on public lands. While none of the American tar sands deposits are actively being
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Young Americans Sue Government to Stop Global Warming, Polluter Interests Granted Intervention To Defend
Screen shot 2012-04-03 at 4.37.19 PM.png Last May, a group of young Americans, fed up with government inaction on climate change, decided to sue to protect their future. The group, led by 16-year old Alec Loorz, founder of Kids vs. Global Warming and the iMatter campaign, filed legal actions against
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Look to Canada for Proof that Neither Presidents Nor Pro-Drilling Policies Control Gas Prices
Gas nozzle-cide.jpg Another Spring, another round of totally uninformed and illogical arguments about gas prices. You could be forgiven if you’re feeling some deja vu. As conservatives and Congressional Republicans scramble to blame the president for rising gas prices, you might have the feeling that we’ve been here before. Oh,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Without Facts on Their Side, Oil Shills Try to Buy Keystone Support on Twitter
As the internet reacts to the State Department's bold decision to deny the Keystone XL pipeline proposal, you're likely to come across the moans and cries of the stumbling Goliaths of Big Oil. Having lost the Keystone XL battle, the oil industry and its shills in Washington are falling back on
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Keystone XL Pipeline Would Increase Oil Prices in Midwest
Screen shot 2012-01-18 at 10.14.20 AM.png Twitter is ablaze with the news that the State Department will announce today that the original TransCanada presidential permit application is dead in the water. Details are murky, so stay tuned for more, but what this likely means is that the State Department will
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Bechtel Whistleblower Warns Against Keystone XL; Witnessed Shoddy Work on TransCanada’s Keystone I
Back in August, DeSmogBlog’s own Emma Pullman co-produced a startling infographic about how the first section of TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline system was “Built to Spill,” with a dozen spills recorded in the pipeline’s first year of operation. According to a must-read bombshell Op-Ed in the Lincoln Journal Star, these spills came
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline: New Report Spotlights Incredible Threats
TarSandsLeaf.jpg In the wake of the State Department’s announcement to delay the Keystone XL decision, another proposed tar sands pipeline is coming under closer scrutiny. The Northern Gateway Pipeline, proposed by Canada’s Enbridge Energy, would stretch nearly 750 miles across Alberta and British Columbia before reaching an inland port. (DeSmogBlog
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Senate Hearing Confirms Natural Gas Export Plans Will Raise Prices For Americans
RonWydenLNGhearing-300×188.jpg Considering the rate at which natural gas resources are being developed, and the sudden push from industry to export the product, it might come as a surprise that the Senate’s Energy Committee hadn’t had a hearing on liquified natural gas (LNG) since 2005. Last Tuesday, for the first time in
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Breaking: State Department Delays Keystone XL Decision Until 2013
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The State Department announced today that they would “seek additional information” about the Keystone XL pipeline, meaning that they will take another 12 months at…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Valero Positioning To Export Tar Sands Oil, Guarding Pot of Gold at End of Keystone XL Pipeline
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In the heated Keystone XL debate, the Canadian company TransCanada, which is attempting to build the line, and the Koch brothers, who are throwing their considerable weight behi…
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