UK police drop climategate investigation.png "Our Priority is You," reads the tagline of the Norfolk Constabulary. The rest of the sentence ought to read, "unless you are a climate scientist." The Norfolk Constabulary announced today that it has called off its investigation into the criminal hacking of the University of
Continue readingTag: Desmogblog
DeSmogBlog: Australians Beware: Soon The Climate Science Deniers Will Be In Charge
lnp.jpg ANYONE who places stock in safeguarding the current and future climate (and for that matter anyone who doesn't) should prepare themselves for the risk that very soon, climate science deniers, contrarians and sceptics will be running the show. All the polls suggest that a Liberal-led coalition will sweep to power at
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Does Red Leaf’s "EcoShale" Technology Greenwash Oil Shale Extraction?
Red Leaf EcoShale.png At the Clinton Global Initiative in 2008, former Vice President Al Gore called the possibility of fossil fuel corporations extracting oil shale "utter insanity." Insanity, though, doesn't serve as a hinderance for deeply entrenched and powerful fossil fuel interests. Oil shale, also known as kerogen, should not be confused with
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Albertans Seek Pipeline Safety Investigation, Launch Spill Tipline
Picture 3.png After three major spills in Alberta occurred over the span of one month, questions are surfacing regarding the integrity of the province’s aging pipeline infrastructure. Last week, a collective of more than 50 organizations from Alberta called upon Premier Alison Redford to initiate an independent inquiry of pipeline safety.
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: After All That, The Himalayan Glaciers are Indeed Shrinking
800px-Everest_North_Face_toward_Base_Camp_Tibet_Luca_Galuzzi_2006_edit_1.jpg Remember the Himalayan glaciers? They were at the root of the most deserved black-eye to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change during the intensely politicized period of 2009-2010. In so-called “GlacierGate,” it was revealed that the IPCC had published, in one of its reports, a truly bogus assertion that
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Romney, Obama Surrogates Spar Over Energy Policy
energy vote.jpg On Wednesday of this week, representatives from both the Obama and Romney campaigns debated issues of energy and environment, where the two campaigns’ differences on issues ranging from renewable energy subsidies to approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline were on full display. Speaking for the Obama campaign, spokesperson
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Ed Wegman Promised Data to Rep. Henry Waxman Six Years Ago – Where Is It?
shutterstock_62905804.jpg George Mason University’s Edward Wegman and Yasmin Said are back in the news, having just silently disappeared as Editors of a Wiley journal in which they had authored two plagiarized articles. But now, FOIA information shows that Wegman first misled Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and then never released code and data
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Enbridge Mismanagement Caused Kalamazoo Tragedy, Says NTSB
Picture 2.png Enbridge, the Canadian company poised to build the controversial Northern Gateway Pipeline, received a scathing assessment this week from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) after an inquiry into a 2010 pipeline rupture in Michigan revealed the company’s mismanagement of what unfolded into a “tragic and needless” disaster.
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Marcellus Money: Statehouse Bought and Sold by Shale Gas Industry in PA
marcellusmoney.jpeg Consider it official: the Pennsylvania statehouse has been bought and sold by the shale gas industry, confirmed today, yet again, by MarcellusMoney.org. In a press release, Marcellus Money, a project of Common Cause of Pennsylvania and Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania laid out the sobering facts about the frackers' stranglehold
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Anthony Watts Is Right Because He’s Older Than Me
anthony-watts.jpg Last week, the leading climate skeptic blogger Anthony Watts criticized my writing based upon my age and looks—and other, er, observations: For the record, it is now official; Chris Mooney is a paid political hack disguising himself as a science writer. I’m going back to calling him a “kid blogger”, because
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Wisconsin v. Yoder Redux? MN Amish Citizens Revolt Against Frac Sand Mining
shutterstock_83010019.jpg "History," the old adage goes, "repeats itself." And this is precisely the reason why we learn it. read more
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Science Trumped by Politics In Cuomo’s NY Fracking Plans?
Don't Frack Sign.jpg New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said repeatedly that, in making the decision on whether to allow horizontal hydrofracking in New York State, he wants to rely on “science, and not emotion.” He is relying on the NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to give him that
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Scientists Storm Ottawa After Harper Government Cuts Environmental Protections and Research Again
stephen-harper-environment-cuts.jpeg Canadian scientists are taking to the streets in protest of the Harper government's latest cuts to scientific research and its increasingly backward environmental policies. read more
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Oil Sands Fact Check: New API Front Group
shutterstock_48011344.jpg How do you sell a rotten bag of goods? Rule number one of effective propaganda: repackage it into something seemingly less grotesque. In that spirit, the Houston Chronicle recently reported the American Petroleum Institute (API) has created yet another front group, this one to promote tar sands crude, one of the dirtiest sources of fuel in the world, as a
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: More Evidence That Republicans Are More Factually Challenged Than Democrats
pinocchio.jpg In writing The Republican Brain, I had a problem to solve. You see, it was one thing to cite all the psychological research suggesting that liberals and conservatives just think differently, because they have different personalities and cognitive styles. Sure, one could infer on this basis that certain conservatives,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Donna Laframboise Flown To Australia By Climate Science Denying Think Tank
delinquent.jpg CANADIAN blogger and climate science sceptic Donna Laframboise has flown off for a tour of Australia to tell anyone willing to listen that the world's foremost body on climate change, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is something resembling a shambling mess. Laframboise's trip has been organised by
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Hot Enough For Ya? Extreme Weather Events Consistent With Climate Change Science
temperature map.gif Large portions of the U.S. are on fire. Record droughts currently encompass massive swaths of America. The areas not experiencing droughts have been inundated with flooding. Winter weather in many areas was almost non-existent. A few years ago, an Academy Award-winning film called “An Inconvenient Truth” warned wary Americans
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Politics of Ice and Fire
High_Park_Wildfire_Arapaho_and_Roosevelt_National_Forests_June_10,_2012.jpg In late June of 1988, just under 24 years ago, NASA’s James Hansen testified before the U.S. Congress about global warming. He noted that the Earth had been remarkably warm in the months leading up to that moment, and said he was 99 percent certain that the overall warming
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: New Study: Climate Deniers Are Emoting–Especially the Conspiracy Theorists
Im-as-mad-as-Hell.jpg Anyone paying attention these last few years will have noticed that global warming denial simply isn’t a rational phenomenon. And it’s not just that if there were any reason involved, then denial it would have decreased in prevalence—rather than increased—as climate science grew more firm and certain over the
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