Looking Back at 2013: Photos of Climate Chaos, Natural Disasters, Heartache and Hope
Today, we wrap up 2013 with a slideshow of photographs taken this past year by DeSmog contributor Julie Dermansky. We’re grateful to have Julie on our team, and as you can see from her photographs, she witnessed some awe-inspiring and awful scenes in 2013. A self-described Accidental Chronicler of Climate Change, Julie lives in New Orleans […]
North Dakota Crude Oil Train Derails, Cars Explode, Residents Warned To Stay Inside
A train carrying crude oil from the Bakken shale derailed in Casselton, North Dakota today, with fiery results. Residents have reported multiple explosions, many have now been evacuated and others advised to shelter in place to avoid the toxic plumes of smoke enveloping the area. ValleyNewsLive.com, the local media outlet, reports on Facebook that approximately […]
Eagle Ford Shale: Breathe at Your Own Risk
Fracking is in full swing in the Eagle Ford Shale region of southern Texas, home to the most productive oil field in the United States. For Cynthia Dupnik, whose Karnes County home is in the center of the region, life is no longer serene. At night, she says the landscape is frighteningly apocalyptic, marked by the […]
The Day a Federal Panel Overruled B.C. — And Nobody Noticed
On the afternoon of Dec. 19th, as the National Energy Board’s recommendations on Enbridge’s oil tanker and pipeline proposal for B.C. were released, I tuned into CBC Newsworld and CTV News Network to see the coverage unfold live. Over and over again, the opposition to the project was described as “First Nations and environmentalists.” Wait a second. […]
Happy Holidays From Cancer Alley: Christmas Lights Overshadowed By Shell's Flaring
The streets of Norco, Louisiana are filled with Christmas lights like lots of U.S. towns this season. But on December 19th, the sky above Norco was illuminated by massive flaring at Shell Chemical’s refinery in town. A friend of mine posted on Facebook that he could see the flares from the Twin Span Bridge, over 50 miles […]
Are You an Eco-Jihadist?
This is a guest post by Kai Nagata, creator of DeepRogueRam and author of KaiNagata.com. I’m not. In fact, I don’t think it’s accurate to call me an “environmentalist.” But I am a citizen opposed to exporting bitumen by supertanker from the B.C. coast. And that makes a lot of people, including National Post columnist […]
Study Details Dark Money Flowing to Climate Science Denial
Drexel University sociologist Robert Brulle’s long-awaited, peer-reviewed study “Institutionalizing delay: foundation funding and the creation of U.S. climate change counter-movement organizations” was published Dec. 20 in the journal Climatic Change. The Drexel press release, “Not Just the Koch Brothers: New Drexel Study Reveals Funders Behind the Climate Change Denial Effort” gives a quick introduction to the findings: ‘This […]
Port City Secures Six-Month Moratorium on OilSands Exports
The city of South Portland, Maine banned the export of oilsands crude from local port facilities this week. Portland, the suburban community of 25,000 is the Atlantic terminal of the Portland Montreal Pipe Line, which currently carries millions of barrels of oil from the coast to refineries in Montreal. The city council is currently seeking to […]
Dollarocracy: U.S. Congressmen Refuse to Address Keystone XL Southern Half Spill Concerns
What’s the U.S. congressional response to the safety issues with the 485-mile southern half of TransCanada‘s Keystone XL pipeline raised by Public Citizen‘s Texas office? Mostly what Simon & Garfunkel called “The Sound of Silence” in their famous song. DeSmogBlog contacted more than three dozen members of the U.S. Congress representing both political parties to get their […]
Exxon Pressures Government To Lift Oil Export Restrictions
It wasn’t long ago that the dirty energy industry and their friends in Congress and the media were screaming that we needed to open up every corner of America to oil and gas drilling in order to lower energy costs and help protect our country from oil-rich countries who don’t like the United States. We were […]