Media Matters for America produced this spot-on video to highlight the manner in which the totally bogus Keystone XL jobs figures were echoed and inflated by Fox News and other media. Media Matters notes: Their job figures rely on industry-funded studies, and at times even grossly exaggerate those estimates. Watch as they struggle to get on
Continue readingAuthor: Brendan DeMelle
DeSmogBlog: Citizens United Protesters Rename Supreme Court the "U.S. Supreme Koch"
Supreme Koch 1.jpg Protesters marked the second anniversary of the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling by unfurling a banner reading “U.S. Supreme Koch” in front of the court house steps. The action is part of a week-long effort to raise awareness of the unjust power that the Citizens United decision
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Shale Gas Bubble: Bloomberg News Confirms NY Times Finding That Fracking Boom Is a Bust
Shale Gas Bubble.jpg As news outlets across America take a more rigorous look at shale gas and fracking issues, it’s encouraging to see how the media coverage is finally starting to cut through the oil industry’s misleading rhetoric to explore the realities of the myth of gas as a viable
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: API’s New ‘Vote 4 Energy’ Ad Campaign Is Thinly Veiled Election Year Bullying
API Vote 4 Energy.jpg American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard today announced the oil and gas industry’s latest election-year scare campaign to threaten the demise of the U.S. economy unless Big Oil gets its every wish in Washington. This year the wish list includes approval of the Keystone XL pipeline,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Ecuador Appeals Court Upholds $18 Billion Verdict Against Chevron For Amazon Destruction
Chevron guilty amazon.png Great news today in the ongoing legal battle over the oil giant Chevron's destruction of the Amazon. Mike G reports on The Understory blog at Rainforest Action Network that an appeals court in Ecuador has just upheld the $18 billion decision against Chevron for its massive oil pollution
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Andy Revkin Interviews Franke James On Dot Earth: Canada’s Approach To Inconvenient Art
Franke James Banned On The Hill.png Andy Revkin has a great interview with Canadian artist Franke James on his Dot Earth blog at The New York Times. DeSmogBlog previously covered the harrasment and censorship that Franke James says she experienced at the hands of the Harper government, which worked in strangely
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Signs of Action On Climategate Hacker Investigation: DOJ and UK Police Probe Denier Bloggers
shutterstock_89773753.jpg Fantastic news for a change – the Guardian reports that the UK police are finally making some concerted attempts to identify the hacker behind the criminal invasion of the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit. The Guardian reports: On Wednesday, detectives from Norfolk Constabulary entered the home of Roger
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: BP Returns to Deepwater Offshore Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico
800px-Deepwater_Horizon_offshore_drilling_unit_on_fire_2010.jpg BP, the oil major responsible for the biggest offshore oil disaster in U.S. history, is officially returning to deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The Obama Interior Department "awarded" BP $27 million worth of leases for oil-and-gas exploration in the Gulf waters into which the company and
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: BREAKING: Canada Pulls Out of Kyoto Protocol
TarSandsLeaf.jpg Canada is pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol, the cornerstone of international climate negotiations, in the wake of the failed COP17 climate talks in Durban. Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent announced Canada's bail-out of Kyoto as he returned from Durban. The Kyoto Protocol was ratified by Canada in 2002, when
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Youth Delegate Anjali Appadurai Speaks Truth to Power at Conclusion of COP17 in Durban
Perhaps the most powerful speech made in all of COP17 at Durban came at the very end, a statement by Anjali Appadurai, a student at the College of the Atlantic in Maine, who addressed the conference on behalf of the youth delegates. Her scornful depiction of the utter failure of the
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Small Island States Fear "Annihilation" From Failed Climate Negotiations, Protests Mark COP17 Closing Hours
Karl Hood, Grenada's Minister of Foreign Affairs and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), responded to a question from veteran ABC correspondent Bill Blakemore about the fact that climate scientists believe it is impossible to keep global warming below 1.5C above pre-industrial levels: "If they're saying that
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Sky Is Falling! Climate Deniers Parachute Into COP17 In Durban
Screen shot 2011-12-07 at 12.14.09 AM.png What’s that falling from the sky? A bird? A plane? No! It’s just crazy climate denier Christopher “Lord" Monckton! Apparently trying to one-up himself after the "Hitler Youth" debacle in Copenhagen in 2009. Monckton and his compatriots from the climate-denying, pollution-loving Committee For A
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: BREAKING: Northern Gateway Pipeline Decision Delayed Until Late 2013
Northern Gateway Pipeline.png The Calgary Herald reports that the decision on the controversial Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline was delayed today until late 2013, a year later than planned. The three-member panel said it “would anticipate releasing the environmental assessment report in the fall of 2013 and its final decision on the
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Suncor Refinery Spill Threatens River Supplying Denver Drinking Water
shutterstock_56949067.jpg Just another day in reckless energy land. A broken pipeline at the Commerce City refinery operated by tar sands producer Suncor appears to have leaked an "oily muck" into Sand Creek in Colorado. The spill may pose a threat to Denver drinking water supplies, although luckily it appears to
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Did UK Police Quietly Sideline ‘Climategate’ Hacker Investigation?
shutterstock_73030483.jpg The UK police force tasked with investigating the hacking of emails and documents from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (the debunked "Climategate") seems to have quietly de-prioritized its investigation earlier this year, according to documents released under the UK Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Battle For Wetzel County: Short Documentary Chronicles Impacts of Fracking In West Virginia
This short documentary, “Battle for Wetzel County,” chronicles the impacts of the gas fracking rush in West Virginia, focusing on the damages caused by Chesapeake Energy’s drilling activity in the mountains of this rural county. The film features interviews with Wetzel County residents, including Marty Whiteman and his daughter Sarah Wood
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Real ‘Climategate’ Scandal: UK Police Spent Measly $8,843 In Failed Attempt to Identify Criminal Hacker
shutterstock_6710920.jpg Richard Black at the BBC points to the real 'Climategate' scandal that needs further investigation – why the UK police have done such an astonishly poor job investigating this criminal hacking, as evidenced by their tiny expenditures to date this year. From Climate Emails, Storm or Yawn?: I have it from a very good
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: East Anglia SwiftHack Email Nontroversy Returns: What You Need To Know
The desparate attempt by climate change deniers to sully climate scientists returns today with the release of 5,000 emails stolen back in 2009 during the original "Climategate" hacking of the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit email servers. Other than a great attempt at ruining another Thanksgiving holiday for American
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Gas Fracking Industry Using Military Psychological Warfare Tactics and Personnel In U.S. Communities
At the “Media & Stakeholder Relations: Hydraulic Fracturing Initiative 2011” conference last week in Houston, Matt Pitzarella, Director of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs at Range Resources, revealed in his presentation that…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Inspector General To Investigate Keystone XL Conflicts
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NRDC's Switchboard blog reports that the Inspector General will investigate the conflicts of interest and incompetence surrounding the Keystone XL pipeline permitting proce…
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