Dick Armey's Tobacco Ties: The Early Years
This is the first of a three-part series on Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R) and his relationship to Big Tobacco throughout hisย career. Dick Armey, who recently resigned from the Tea Party groupย Freedomworks, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1984, as a representative from Texas. A smoker, Armey first appeared […]
Approaching the Point of No Return: The World's Dirtiest Megaprojects We Must Avoid
Canada’s tar sands are one of 14 energy megaprojects that are โin direct conflict with a livableย climate.โ According to a new reportย released today by Greenpeace, the fossil fuel industry has plans for 14 new coal, oil and gas projects that will dangerously increase global warming emissions at a time when massive widespread reductions are necessary […]
Keystone XL North: TransCanada's Controversial Shale Gas Export Pipeline Plan
The battle continues over the future of TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, with the Tar Sands Blockade continuing and a large forthcoming President’s Dayย anti-Keystone XL rallyย set to take place in Washington, DC. In a nutshell: Keystone XL, if approved by the U.S. State Department, will carry viscous and dirty tar sands crude – also […]
Oil Change International: The Coal Hiding in the Tar Sands
Thanks to Alberta’s tar sands, coal-powered energy production just got cheaper, andย dirtier. That is largely due to an often overlooked byproduct of bitumen upgrading: petroleum coke. The byproduct, commonly referred to as petcoke, is derived from the excess heavy hydrocarbons necessarily processed out of bitumen in the production of lighter liquid fuels like gasoline and […]
Evangeline Lilly: I am Canadian. What are You?
This is a guest post by Evangeline Lilly, Canadianย actress. For those of you who donโt know me, I am a Canadian actress who has been living abroad in Hawaii for the past ten years. I have been involved in such well-known projects as the television series โLostโ, the indie hit โThe Hurt Lockerโ, the blockbuster […]
Retreat from Science: Interview with Federal Scientist Peter Ross Part 2 of 2
On April 1, 2013 Canada will lose its sole marine contaminants research program. The loss comes as a part of a massive dismantling of science programs at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced in May ofย 2012.ย Peter Ross, lead researcher at Vancouver Islandโs Institute for Ocean Sciences, is a recent casualty of the sweeping […]
They BuyPartisan: ExxonMobil Donates $260,000 to Obama Inauguration
President Barack Obama will be publicly sworn in today – on Martin Luther King Jr. Day – to serve his second term as the 44th President of the Unitedย States. Today is also the three-year anniversary ofย Citizens United v. FEC, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that – in a 5-4 decision – deemed that corporations are […]
4000 Reasons Not to Build the Northern Gateway Pipeline
The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Community Hearings are nearly complete, with two remaining sessions scheduled in Kelowna and Vancouver at the end of this month. Come February, the Joint Review Panel will move into the โQuestioning Phaseโ of the final hearing, scheduled to end in May of thisย year.ย The hearings have provided an opportunity for […]
Communicating for Change: Anthony Leiserowitz on Climate Change Psychology
When it comes to climate change, Yale’s Anthony Leiserowitz says, โyou almost couldn’t design a problem that is a worse fit with our underlying psychologyโ; an insight that is all tooย apparent.ย In spite of the dramatic increase in extreme weather events and growing scientific concern, climate change is seldom mentioned by politicians, business leaders or […]
Thousands of Miners' Benefits In Jeopardy As Patriot Coal Claims Bankruptcy
On January 29, Patriot Coal Co. will begin Chapter 11 bankruptcy hearings in St. Louis, MO claiming that it’s become a โvictim of the marketsโ and can no longer pay its debts. These โdebtsโ include millions of dollars of retiree health benefits. If the company goes under, the benefits may go along with it. That’s […]