Author: Steve Horn

At a speech given to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he intends to work with President-elect Donald Trump to approve the northern leg of TransCanada‘s Keystone XL pipeline.  The speech comes as Trump revealed in a recent interview with Fox News that one of the first things he intends

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Hydraulic Fracturing and Seismicity in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin.pdf734.48 KB

A groundbreaking study published today in Seismological Research Letters has demonstrated a link, for the first time, between hydraulic fra…

The Public Accountability Initiative (PAI) has published a timely “back to school” report concluding that “frackademia” is alive and well at U.S. universities.  While only focusing on the people and money behind five recent studies, PAI‘s report sits within a much broader universe of research in its Frackademia Guide. The new report serves

On December 12, Magistrate Judge Mark R. Abel issued an order for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to place five sets of court records under seal for the ongoing case pitting coal baron Robert E. Murray against Aubrey McClendon, one of the godfathers of the hydraulic

DeSmogBlog recently revealed how Big Oil’s lobbyists snuck expedited permitting for hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) on public lands into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2015, which passed in the U.S. House and Senate and now awaits President Barack Obama’s signature. A follow-up probe reveals that the public lands giveaway was not

The U.S. Senate has voted 89-11 to approve the Defense Authorization Act of 2015, following the December 4 U.S. House of Representatives’ 300-119 up-vote and now awaits President Barack Obama’s signature. The 1,648-page piece of pork barrel legislation contains a provision — among other controversial measures — to streamline permitting for hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) on U.S.

In his December 8 “Colbert Report” appearance, President Barack Obama gave his strongest signal yet that he may reject a presidential permit authorizing the Alberta to Cushing, Oklahoma northern leg of TransCanada‘s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.  Yet just a week earlier, and little noticed by comparison, the pipeline giant Enbridge made an

In recent years, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has come under fire for disallowing scientists working for the Canadian government to speak directly to the press.  An article published in August by The New Republic said “Harper’s antagonism toward climate-change experts in his government may sound familiar to Americans,” pointing

In recent years, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has come under fire for disallowing scientists working for the Canadian government to speak directly to the press.  An article published in August by The New Republic said “Harper’s antagonism toward climate-change experts in his government may sound familiar to Americans,” pointing

The U.S. State Department recently announced that Amos Hochstein, currently the special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, will take over as the State Department’s top international energy diplomat. Hochstein will serve as a key point man for the U.S. in its negotiations to cut a climate change deal as

Just days after attorneys representing Denton, Texas submitted their initial responses to two legal complaints filed against Denton — the first Texas city ever to ban hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) — environmental groups have filed an intervention petition. That is, a formal request to enter the two lawsuits filed against the city after its citizens

Attorneys representing Denton, Texas, the first city to ban hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in state history, have issued rebuttals to the two lawsuits filed against Denton the day after the fracking ban was endorsed by voters on election day.  Responding to lawsuits brought by attorneys with intimate Bush family connections — with complaints coming

Environmental Resources Management (ERM Group), the consultancy selected by TransCanada to conduct the environmental review for Keystone XL‘s northern leg on behalf of the U.S. State Department, is no stranger to scandal. Exhibit A: ERM once bribed a Chinese official to ram through major pieces of an industrial development project. ERM was

Outgoing Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) chairman Phil Bryant — Missisippi’s Republican Governor — started his farewell address with a college football joke at IOGCC‘s recent annual conference in Columbus, Ohio. “As you know, I love SEC football. Number one in the nation Mississippi State, number three in the nation

DeSmogBlog’s Steve Horn and Republic Report’s Lee Fang have co-written an in-depth report on the influence the government-industry revolving door has had on Big Oil’s ability to obtain four liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits since 2012 from the Obama Administration. Titled “Natural Gas Exports: Washington’s Revolving Door Fuels Climate Threat,” the

The U.S. Senate failed to get the necessary 60 votes to approve the northern leg of TransCanada‘s Keystone XL pipeline, but incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) already promised it will get another vote when the GOP-dominated Senate begins its new session in 2015. Though the bill failed, one of the key narratives that arose during

A controversial government contractor once again finds itself in hot water, or in this case, melting glacier water. TransCanada chose Environmental Resources Management Group (ERM) as one of its contractors to conduct the environmental impact statement for Keystone XL on behalf of the U.S. State Department. That contractor, ERM Group, also happens to have

Several environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State and Secretary John Kerry over the permitting of a controversial border-crossing northern leg of a pipeline system that DeSmogBlog has called Enbridge‘s “Keystone XL Clone.” The Keystone XL Clone is designed to accomplish the same goal as TransCanada‘s Keystone XL: bringing

This week, Denton, Texas, became the first city in the state to ban the process of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) when 59 percent of voters cast ballots in favour of the initiative. It did so in the heart of the Barnett Shale basin, where George Mitchell — the “father of fracking” — drilled

In August 2005, the U.S. Congress and then-President George W. Bush blessed the oil and gas industry with a game-changer: the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The Act exempted the industry from federal regulatory enforcement of the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. While the piece of