“No healthy community on this planet would allow hydraulic fracturing.” – Jessica Ernst Jessica Ernst is a scientist who has worked in the oil and gas industry. She discovered first hand the consequences of hydraulic fracturing in her town of Rosebud, Alberta, Canada. This interview was conducted while Ms. Ernst
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Cowichan Conversations: Unist’ot’en Action Camp: Stopping Pipelines In Their Tracks
Richard Hughes-Political Blogger It struck me from the outset that the Natives were Canada’s best chance for pushback against corporate and oil and gas interests. Who else could or would stop the Enbridge Pipeline, the Keystone, the Pacific Trails Pipeline, the fracking? The NDP today is a mere shadow of
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Caleb Behn-One of B.C.’s Bright, Emerging Native Political Leaders (Video)
Richard Hughes-Political Blogger BC’s ever growing independent documentary film efforts are filling a void that screams for credible alternate assessments of our approach to the threats faced by the largely man made actions. Damien Gillis of the Commonsense Canadian has been at the forefront and is a promoter of native
Continue readingEclectic Lip: The US once was, but will never again be, the Saudi Arabia of oil
The idea that the US might one day produce more oil than Saudi Arabia, popularized by an International Energy Agency (IEA) report, has gone viral in recent weeks. It’s like the “Call Me Maybe” phenomenon, but for Very Serious People! 🙂 Alas, the idea that the US will out-produce Saudi Arabia
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Green byelection blues
Alas, the Green Party didn’t pick any seats up in the Nov 26 Canadian federal by-elections. While their strong showings probably count as a real moral victory, I imagine at this stage they’d prefer amoral, real victories. 😉 As it turns out, Parliament’s composition is unchanged, “while my green heart gently weeps”. Despite donating to […]
The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Cabot Martin’s paper on Natural Gas #nlpoli
Few people have the depth of experience in the province’s energy policy and history than does Cabot Martin. From the mind-1970s until the early 1990s Martin was a senior advisor to the provincial government. He was part of the team that negoti…
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Newsflash: Canadian PM’s American Idol supports Stephane Dion-esque carbon tax shift
Note: for non-Canadian readers (or, indeed for Canadian readers who don’t follow politics) Stephane Dion was the milquetoast who led the Liberal Party of Canada to its then-worst-ever federal election result in 2008. He ran on a campaign of a carbon tax shift (“The Green Shift“), for which the Conservative Party mocked and savaged him. We’ll […]
Song of the Watermelon: Twisting the Facts on the Environment
Courtesy of sumofus.org Case #1: BC Premier Christy Clark has a job creation plan. One component of said plan involves three liquefied natural gas plants in the northern part of the province. Unfortunately, this runs afoul of the provincial Clean Energy Act. So what does Premier Clark do? In June,
Continue reading350 or bust: It Is Time To Stop Our Dependence On Dirty Energy
Dirty energy isn’t just dirty because of the carbon dioxide pollution it releases into our atmosphere. It’s polluted the global geopolitical landscape – and increasingly North American domestic politics – for decades. Enough is enough. * Citizens Climate Lobbying: Building A Green Economy Post-Carbon Institute Transition Network
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Republican Ohio Governor Kasich’s Trillion Dollar Shale Gas Lie
kasichshrug2.jpg About the only positive thing you can say about industry-funded astroturf groups is that they at least base their misinformation campaigns on phony “studies” and “reports.” Their lies are based on SOMETHING. The same cannot be said of Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich, who has come up with a
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Delaware Tax Haven: The Other Shale Gas Industry Loophole
shutterstock_30322192.jpg Most people think of downtown Houston, Texas as ground zero for the oil and gas industry. Houston, after all, serves as home base for corporate headquarters of oil and gas giants, including the likes of BP America, ConocoPhillips, and Shell Oil Company, to name a few. Comparably speaking, few would think of Wilmington,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Real Train Wreck: ALEC and "Other ALECs" Attack EPA Regulations
shutterstock_2531395.jpg When business-friendly bills and resolutions spread like wildfire in statehouses nationwide calling for something as far-fetched as a halt to EPA regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, ALEC is always a safe bet for a good place to look for their origin. In the midst of hosting its 39th Annual Meeting this week in
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Exposed: Pennsylvania Act 13 Overturned by Supreme Court, Originally an ALEC Model Bill
alec-exposed-600×400.jpeg On July 26, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled PA Act 13 unconstitutional. The bill would have stripped away local zoning laws, eliminated the legal concept of a Home Rule Charter, limited private property rights, and in the process, completely disempowered town, city, municipal and county governments, particularly when it comes to shale gas
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: EOG Resources: The Gas Corporation That Does It All From Cradle to Grave
EOG Resources.jpg DeSmogBlog, on multiple occasions, has reported that the damage caused by hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" in the unconventional oil and gas industry goes far beyond water contamination, put in the spotlight by the documentary film "Gasland." The multi-pronged harms were tackled in a comprehensive manner in our report, "Fracking the
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: Sand Land: Frac Sand Mining in Western Wisconsin – Video Report by DeSmogBlog
Sand mine.jpg The rush to drill for unconventional gas, enabled by a process popularly known as "fracking," or hydraulic fracturing, has brought with it much collateral damage. Close observers know about contaminated water, earthquakes, and climate change impacts of the shale gas boom, but few look at the entire life
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: New Documentary "Rational Middle": Oil and Gas Advertising in Disguise
Rational Middle Logo.jpeg The "Rational Middle Energy Series," directed and produced by Gregory Kallenberg, is hot off the film rolls and has already been screened at an influential venue: the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival. Kallenberg also directed and produced the documentary film "Haynesville: A Nation’s Hunt for An Energy Future,"
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Was Andrew Cuomo’s NY Fracking "Sacrifice Zone" Plan Hatched by NRDC?
shutterstock_15465343 (2).jpg Has New York Governor Andrew Cuomo just made the southern tier of the state a "sacrifice zone," as alleged by award-winning author and "fracktivist," Sandra Steingraber? Was it a plot hatched by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)? The signs pointing to both possibilities are troublesome, to say
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Massey WV Coal Battle Take Two: Erie, CO Citizens Fight Fracking
shutterstock_15465343 (1).jpg Erie, CO meet Naoma, WV. Though seemingly different battles over different ecologically hazardous extractive processes — hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") for unconventional gas versus mountaintop removal for coal — the two battles are one in the same and direct parallels of one another. On June 2, a coalition of activist organizations
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