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On the heels of yesterday’s report detailing Cuadrilla Resource’s admission that their fracking practices were responsible for small earthquakes in the U.K., new reports are surfacing that link fracking to earthquakes that occurred in January in Oklahoma. According to a new study by the Oklahoma Geological Survey [PDF], fracking is linked to 50 mini-earthquakes that occurred on January 18, 2011 in Oklahoma.

The NRDC describes the events as follows:

The occurrence of so-called “induced seismicity” – seismic activity caused by human actions – in conjunction with fluid injection or extraction operations is a well-documented phenomenon. However, induced earthquakes large enough to be felt at the surface have typically been associated with large scale injection or withdrawal of fluids, such as water injection wells, geothermal energy production, and oil and gas production. It was generally thought that the risk of inducing large earthquakes through hydraulic fracturing was very low, because of the comparatively small volumes of fluid injected and relatively short time-frame over which it occurs. As the controversy over hydraulic fracturing has heated up, however, researchers and the public have become increasingly interested in the potential for fracking to cause large earthquakes.

But this is hardly a new phenomenon. Studies show that fracking practices in the 1970s had caused similar seismic activity in Oklahoma, according to E&E News.

To date, none of the quakes have caused any deaths or any significant damages, but Grist echoed a great point from Joe Romm: “Would we tolerate this sort of impact from any other sort of industry? Would we tolerate it from a renewable energy industry? The answer there is no.”

As the pressure heats up over fracking, these seismic events will certainly become a cause for concern, and possibly even litigation, for citizens who are already unhappy with fracking activities occurring in their backyards.

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The Pentagon public relations and propaganda machine is at it again. Working overtime to convince pundits and citizens of the benevolence of its "democracy spreading" missions abroad,  some notables have drank the kool-aid. 

In a recent article titled, "The military’s historic embrace of smart energy," Grist's David Roberts wrote, 

The U.S. military's embrace of energy efficiency and renewable energy is going to be one of the great stories of the coming decade. It will be a story about technology, the changing face of warfare, geopolitics in the 21st century, and the struggle to change one of the world's largest bureaucracies…For decades, the lines of warfare on climate change and clean energy have been drearily familiar and amazingly resistant to change. If it follows through on its promises, the Department of Defense — the largest consumer of oil and electricity in America — has the potential to change all that.

Furthermore, in March 2010, the Center for American Progress penned a holistic report titled, "It’s Easy Being Green: The Pentagon Goes Green One Wedge at a Time."

While a nice and hopeful sentiment, this flies in the face of both history, as well as present day reality of the Pentagon's activities abroad. A review, then, is in order.

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While U.S. voters head to the polls today - and everyone from Fox to Politico to your uncle on Facebook becomes a pundit trying to predict the results - the outcome is already crystal clear: polluters have won again, handily.

With the advent of now limitless corporate donations polluting the democratic process thanks to the Supreme Court’s insane ruling on Citizens United, dirty energy interests, Wall Street fat cats and lobbyists will run America for the foreseeable future.

Corporations have long enjoyed the advantage of spending a tiny amount (compared to their enormous profits) to influence the entire political system, buying future access and favors that pay off for years to come, simply by driving contributions to their favored candidates in every contest from local zoning board races to governors to U.S. Senators.

But thanks to Citizens United, corporate influence is now far more invasive and impactful. Polluters can freely run attack ads and vicious smear campaigns against climate hawks, deploy their front groups to mislead voters on everything from health care to global warming, sponsor ballot initiatives to kill clean energy progress, and generally play fast and dirty with zero accountability for their actions. 

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Thanks to Mother Nature Network for naming the DeSmogBlog one of the web’s most influential environmental blogs. Aside from calling DeSmogBlog manager Kevin Grandia “smart and insightful,” MNN went on to say this about us:

“DeSmogBlog is one of THE best places to go to online to find hard-hitting news and analysis on climate change, pollution and environmental policy. The site has a science and fact-based approach, but is written for the general public. They try to elucidate complex and often confusing issues while retaining an accessible and readable style. DeSmogBlog should be on the reading list of everyone who is concerned about the future of our planet.”

Wow. Usually when the people around here turn red in the face it’s driven by apoplexy not flattery. Thanks Mother Nature.

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Climate Cover Up continues to amass some amazing coverage and praise from around the world. 

Here are some of my favorite reviews so far:

Jeff Biggers reviewed Climate Cover Up at the Huffington Post:
“James Hoggan and his DeSmogBlog.com posse might be our nation’s most important sleuths—and they ain’t even from the United States. … Climate Cover-Up is an indispensable guidebook to anyone concerned about our planet’s climate future; in fact, it should be required reading for all American citizens, journalists, public policy makers — and President Barack Obama. … Let’s hope Climate Cover-Up makes it to the White House before the next round of Big Coal lobbyists.”

Liz Veazey at It’s Getting Hot in Here says:
“As someone fighting for bold climate action it is really helpful to better understand folks fighting against you and how they are organized.  I would definitely recommend the book, especially if you, like me and many others, felt like the climate denial campaign was mostly over.”

The Georgia Straight in Vancouver writes that Climate Cover Up offers “compelling insights for anyone interested in learning why there is so much confusion about this issue in the media.”

Straight Goods, Canada’s leading independent online newsmagazine, says:
“If you care about your well-being, the fate of your children and the environment, please read James Hoggan’s new book, Climate Cover-Up.”

RealClimate.org, a website that focuses on the science of climate change, had this to say about the book:
“There is an important story behind the climate change denial effort that goes well beyond the scientific issues at hand. It’s not our mission at RealClimate to tell that story, but there are others who are doing it, and doing it well. Hoggan and Littlemore are clearly among them. Read this book, and equally important, make sure that others who need to do as well.”

But my favorite quote of all (so far) comes from David Roberts at Grist, who describes DeSmogBlog as “a Canadian outfit that has its teeth in the skeptic movement’s arse like it was made of sirloin.”

Roberts says Climate Cover Up “offers chapter and verse on the industry groups, scientists for hire, and lazy-ass media that have colluded to leave the public in its current state of ignorance on the most important scientific question of our time. This isn’t just bloggy ranting either: the guys know how to dig, and they’ve uncovered original documents. Tasty, tasty documents.”


Have you seen another great review of Climate Cover Up? Drop me a line at desmogblog@gmail.com,

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JW Randolph at Grist has discovered that the coal industry has, quite literally, bought friends off the shelf in the FACES of Coal campaign facilitated by the D.C. PR firm Adfero. The photos on the FACES website were all sourced from iStockPhoto, which, as the name implies, is the place where lazy/busy/rich people go for photos when, for example, they don’t have any friends of their own.