Three think tanks known for pushing for Brexit and spreading climate science misinformation spent over £3 million of ‘dark money’ influencing British politics last year, according to a new report...
Friday, February 10, 2017 - 18:06 • Larry Buhl
California Residents and Lawmakers Fight Reopening of Aliso Canyon, Site of Huge Natural Gas Blowout
It’s now a waiting game as California regulators decide whether to reopen the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility in Los Angeles County, the site of an October 2015 blowout that released an estimated 97,000 metric tons of methane over four months.
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Saturday, February 11, 2017 - 04:58 • Guest
This is a guest editorial by Richard Ottinger
Stopping the Trump climate-denying campaign and appointments is critical to the future of our children and grandchildren and of life on the planet. Furthermore, it makes no business sense nor does it comport with Republicans’ proclaimed conservatism.
I congratulate DeSmog for revealing and taking on the prospective appointment of climate denier and oil lobbyist Mike Cantanzaro as chief energy adviser, to be joined by climate denier and oil lobbyist Scott Pruitt to head EPA.
As an experienced businessman, the President must know that, as a matter of sound business risk management, proclaimed uncertainty about a huge business risk such as that posed by climate change calls for action to protect against such a risk, not inaction ignoring the risk.
Thursday, February 9, 2017 - 18:19 • Steve Horn
On January 30, 600,000 gallons (14,285 barrels) of oil spewed out of Enbridge's Seaway Pipeline in Blue Ridge, Texas, the second spill since the pipeline opened for business in mid-2016.
Seaway is half owned by Enbridge and serves as the final leg of a pipeline system DeSmog has called the “Keystone XL Clone,” which carries mostly tar sands extracted from Alberta, Canada, across the U.S. at a rate of 400,000 barrels per day down to the Gulf of Mexico. Enbridge is an equity co-owner of the Dakota Access pipeline, which received its final permit needed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on February 7 to construct the pipeline across the Missouri River and construction has resumed.
The alignment of Native American tribes, environmentalists, and others involved in the fight against Dakota Access have called themselves “water protectors,” rather than “activists,” out of concern that a pipeline spill could contaminate their drinking water source, the Missouri River.
Thursday, February 9, 2017 - 17:07 • Graham Readfearn
Many Australians are in the middle of a scorching heat wave, with temperatures in parts of Sydney forecast to hit a mind-melting 44 degrees C, or 111 degrees Fahrenheit.
Some parts of the state of New South Wales could hit 48 C (118 F) in the shade in the coming days.
South Australia and southern parts of Queensland are also bracing themselves for the heat, with fears over power shortages, health impacts, and bushfires.
So a perfect time, then, for Australia’s Treasurer, Scott Morrison, to take a lump of coal into a parliamentary question time.
Thursday, February 9, 2017 - 04:10 • Mat Hope
It would be fair to assume a husky-hugging environmentalist from Oxfordshire and a farmer from Wyoming’s agricultural heartland possibly wouldn’t have a lot in common. But new polling suggests they may have one shared trait: they probably both quite like renewable energy.
That’s partly because most people in both the US and UK support renewable energy these days, irrespective of their voting habits.
But the percentage of Trump voters who support renewable energy is still surprisingly close to the number of UK voters that are keen on the technology — almost 75 percent, according to two new polls.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017 - 13:21 • Steve Horn
GreenWire has reported that climate change denier Mike Catanzaro — a lobbyist for oil and gas companies Noble Energy, Devon Energy, Encana Oil and Gas, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), and Hess Corporation — will soon become a top energy policy aide for President Donald Trump.
Catanzaro's lobbying disclosure forms for quarter four of 2016 serve as a potential preview of energy policy to come from the Trump White House. During that quarter, Catanzaro lobbied against U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) methane regulations, against U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement offshore drilling regulations, and for oil and gas development on U.S. public lands.
As DeSmog has reported, Catanzaro served as a top energy aide during Trump's presidential campaign. According to GreenWire, he is expected to serve as special assistant to Trump for energy and environmental issues under the umbrella of the White House National Economic Council.
Tuesday, February 7, 2017 - 16:44 • Larry Buhl
On February 3, the Republican-led Senate used an obscure procedural tool to end a bipartisan provision meant to fight corruption and overseas oil bribery, a rule opposed by Rex Tillerson as head of ExxonMobil.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) transparency rule, part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, was created to reduce corruption by requiring drilling and mining companies to disclose royalties and other payments made to governments in exchange for oil, gas, and mining extractions. Critics say overturning the rule could threaten national security.
Monday, February 6, 2017 - 18:00 • Steve Horn
By Steve Horn and Itai Vardi
On January 25, President Donald Trump’s team listed the Atlantic Coast pipeline among the White House’s top priorities for infrastructure projects, an attempt to deliver on his campaign promise to invest in U.S infrastructure programs.
Of the 50 on the list, Atlantic Coast is surprisingly the only pipeline project named. Some had suspected Trump’s infrastructure promise would serve as a massive pipeline giveaway. So, why prioritize this one?
A possible answer: Several members of Trump’s transition team, landing team, and current White House operation have connections to companies behind the project or to firms lobbying for it.
Monday, February 6, 2017 - 13:44 • Farron Cousins
The American Petroleum Institute, one of the largest oil and gas lobbying organizations in the United States, used the extreme hype surrounding Super Bowl commercials to launch a new advertising campaign aimed directly at the American public.
The campaign, called Power Past Impossible, touts the many uses of oil and natural gas and highlights how dependent modern life is on the byproducts of these fossil fuels.
Watch the ad released during Super Bowl 51:
Sunday, February 5, 2017 - 04:57 • Guest
By Chip Colwell, University of Colorado Denver
On his fourth day as U.S. president, Donald Trump penned executive orders to advance construction of the Dakota Access pipeline and the Keystone XL pipeline. A week later, there were reports the new administration has ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to grant an easement that will allow completion of the disputed Dakota Access Pipeline to proceed.
The White House press secretary said completion of the controversial pipelines would increase jobs and promote economic growth — an argument Trump’s supporters echo.
However, this viewpoint focuses on the profits that go to the oil and construction industries, while ignoring the price that will be paid by other sectors of America’s economy, including tourism and preservation of our cultural heritage — a point I’m quite aware of as an anthropologist focused on the American West. A more accurate reckoning of the economic benefits of pipelines needs to consider the negative impact of pipelines on other parts of our economy.
