Picture 3.png Unconventional gas offers no advantage over other fossil fuels when considering its impact on the climate, according to a new report from a group of researchers at Cornell University. The Cornell Team, who made waves in the shale debate with groundbreaking research on methane leakage in gas production
Continue readingAuthor: Carol Linnitt
DeSmogBlog: Built to Fail: National Energy Board Muzzles Environmental Scientists In Enbridge Northern Gateway Hearing
Picture 1.png The Obama Administration’s recent decision to deny TransCanada’s application to build the Keystone XL pipeline is monumental. Alongside the rousing display of public environmental activism sparked by the proposed pipeline, the US government finally showed its environmental assessment process has a backbone. And given this timely announcement, which
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Forecast the Facts Challenges American Meteorological Society to Hold Weathercasters Accountable for Climate Denial
Picture 2.png Do you get your climate science from your weatherman? If so, you might be the dupe of an ongoing anti-science campaign, played out by some of national television’s most recognizable TV weathercasters – more than half of whom are climate change deniers. It might not be immediately apparent that
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: ‘Theoretically, Super Fracking Would Be Super Bad’: Gas Industry Touts Even More Extreme Drilling
Picture 1.png According to Halliburton, one of North America’s largest hydraulic fracturing operators and suppliers, the “frack of the future” has arrived. Hoping to both increase well production and lower production costs, Halliburton is one among a crowd of energy companies looking to overhaul their fracking operations with new –
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Gas Industry Geologists – Not Doctors – Decide If Water Is "Safe" in Alberta Fracking Contamination Cases
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Water contamination is at the heart of the fracking debate. Gas companies and their well-funded industry support groups (still) adamantly contend that &l…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: New Report: CCPA and the Wilderness Committee on BC’s "Reckless" Desire to Frack
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If British Columbia wants to pursue economic, environmental and human health then the province must slow its furious pace of unconventional gas production…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: BC Tap Water Alliance Calls for Resignation of Energy Minister Coleman Over Fracking
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The B.C. Tap Water Alliance (BCTWA) called today for the resignation of British Columbia’s Energy Minister Rich Coleman. The demand comes on the hee…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Canadian Embassy Coaches Diplomats To Promote Tar Sands, Overstate Environmental Protection Efforts
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The Canadian government, on the provincial and federal level, needs to tag team on tar sands public relations, according to an internal Canadian Embassy document reported on by …
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: A Best Practice a Day Keeps the Feds Away: API Workshop on Fracking "Excellence"
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The ongoing American Petroleum Institute (API) workshop “Commitment to Excellence in Hydraulic Fracturing” could be more simply titled “Commitment to Hydraulic Fra…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Senate Hearing on Obama’s Fracking Panel Excludes External Testimony, Glosses Over Threats
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When President Obama decided to include unconventional gas as a central pillar in his “Blueprint for a Clean Energy Future” he must have had an idea that this…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Dogwood Initiative Exposes BC’s Dirty Coal Export Secret
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British Columbia plays a special role in the pollution and warming of the atmosphere, according a new report from the Dogwood Initiative on BC’s rapid…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: World’s Biggest Fracking Operations: CBC Covers the Shale Gas Boom in BC
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Yesterday the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) announced their investigative series on fracking in British Columbia. The feature report will cover the…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: "It Can’t All Be True": Canadian Government Launches New Fracking Studies
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According to Environmental Minister Peter Kent, the Canadian government is entering into the shale gas debate by launching two simultaneous studies of fr…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Counterpoint on Shale Gas and the Future of Fracking
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Recently the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature published a ‘pros vs. cons’ piece on the production of unconventional gas from shale. The…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Battle for Fracking Public Perception Lost, Says Gas Industry Insider
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The gas industry has not done itself any favors by downplaying the risks associated with fracking, something the industry is apparently just realizing. Labeling affected…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science: More Than a War of Words: Gas Industry Plays Fracking Victim
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Evoking an emotional response in one’s audience is a rhetorical means of persuasion well documented since Aristotle. But like Aristotle writes in h…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science: Reliance on Unconventional Gas is No Good for Climate, Says Scientist Tom Wigley
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A partial shift from coal to unconventional gas on a worldwide scale will continue to accelerate climate change for a significant amount of time, accordi…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science: New West Partnership Includes CAPP Lobbyists in Fracking Policy Development
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The British Columbia Ministry of Energy was designated a “lead agency” in a backroom collaboration with Alberta and Saskatchewan to address water concerns for the provin…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science: Scientists Say Obama Fracking Panel is Financially Tied to Gas Industry
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The Natural Gas Subcommittee of the Secretary of the Energy Advisory Board released their draft report today, which outlines immediate actions to imp…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science: New York Comptroller DiNapoli Introduces Frack Fund To Cover Industry Damage
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Although New York State comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has yet to take a stance on the issue of hydraulic fracturing within his state, he introduced legislation on Tuesday that will re…
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