Fracking

By Naomi Oreskes | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – Recently, the Washington Post reported new data showing something most of us already sense: that increased polarization on Capitol Hill is due to the way the Republican Party has lurched to the right. The authors of the study use Senator John McCain to illustrate the point. McCain’s political odyssey is, […]

Climate Change

Oil Train Derailments, Exploding Towns & the Hidden Cost of Fracked Oil

contributors

By Tom Giesen | (Informed Comment) On July 6th, 2013, at about one AM, an unattended 74-car oil train loaded with fracking-derived Bakken crude oil came free on a railroad grade above the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, careened into town, derailed, exploded and burned. Forty-seven persons died. The town center was demolished. So far, that […]

Climate Change

Shale Oil is no Savior- its rail cars keep exploding in our home towns

contributors

By Tom Giesen | (Informed Comment) On July 6th, 2013, a train composed of tank cars filled with shale oil sat on the railroad tracks above the town of Lac Megantic, Quebec. The train’s brakes were not secure, the crew was absent, the train began to move, and it rolled into Lac Megantic at a […]

Climate Change

Is Big Oil Finally Entering a Climate Change World?

contributors

By Michael T. Klare | (Tomdispatch.com) Many reasons have been provided for the dramatic plunge in the price of oil to about $60 per barrel (nearly half of what it was a year ago): slowing demand due to global economic stagnation; overproduction at shale fields in the United States; the decision of the Saudis and […]

Climate Change

The “Hindenburg Trap”: Dump Oil, Coal & Gas Stocks if you Want to Retire

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – What is the actual value of the oil, gas and coal fields owned by big energy corporations, which gives them their stock price and allows them to be counted as assets for borrowing purposes? The real value of those hydrocarbon resources is zero. Or actually it is much […]

Climate Change

President Obama vetoes Keystone pipeline bill

contributors

RT | — As promised, US President Barack Obama has vetoed a bill from Congress which will halt construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Defying the wishes of the Republican-led House and Senate, the president on Tuesday rejected the years-in-the-making would-be legislation that sought to pave the way for a 1,179-mile pipeline to carry […]

Climate Change

Keystone of Corruption: The Money Pipeline from Big Oil to Congress

contributors

By Kitty Stapp NEW YORK (IPS) – With battle lines sharpening over the stalled Keystone XL pipeline, a new analysis details the intense industry lobbying of both houses of the U.S. Congress since 2013 – to the tune of 58.8 million dollars by five refinery companies alone. According to MapLight, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organisation […]

Energy

EPA: Keystone XL would have a ‘significant’ impact on climate

contributors

The Tree | — Intro The arguments for rejecting the construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline just got stronger: this time its about carbon emissions. On last Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) challenged the State Department to revisit its environmental impact analysis of the pipeline, saying that developing Canada’s tar sands “represents […]

Climate Change

Big Oil wants N. Dakota to ease radioactive waste laws on Fracking

contributors

RT | – “Amid falling oil prices nationwide, energy industry players in North Dakota want officials to alter radioactive waste disposal laws so that more toxic fracking fluid can be stored in-state, saving companies tens of thousands of dollars per truckload.” RT: “Big Oil wants N. Dakota to ease radioactive waste laws – to save […]