DeSmogCAST Episode 1 Drilling Down: Fracking, Lobbying and the U.S. Midterm Elections
This week DeSmog is launching its inaugural episode of DeSmogCAST, a weekly newscast featuring our writers, experts and invited guests. Each week weโll discuss breaking stories and engage in analysis of politics, energy and environment issues in the U.S., Canada and around theย world. In this episode, hosted by DeSmog contributor Farron Cousins, our team discusses […]
Oil and Gas Industry's "Endless War" on Fracking Critics Revealed by Rick Berman
Leave it to Washington’s top attack-dog lobbyist Richard Berman to verify what many always suspected: that the oil and gas industry uses dirty tricks to undermine science, vilify its critics and discredit journalists who cast doubt on the prudence of fossilย fuels. In a speech at an industry conference in June, surreptitiously recorded by an energy […]
Richard Berman, Tobacco To Fossil Fuels
The NYTimes just ran โHard-Nosed Advice From Veteran Lobbyist: โWin Ugly or Lose Prettyโ – Richard Berman Energy Industry Talk Secretly Tapedโ. Rick Berman has long been the architect of โpublic charitiesโ for any client willing to pay. Berman’s Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF, EIN 26-0006579) evolved from his Guest Choice Network,ย but much of […]
Worldโs Major Banks Poured Over $80 Billion into Coal Last Year Alone
At least $83 billion USD in financing was provided to 65 coal mining and energy companies last year by 92 of the worldโs leading commercial banks, according to a Dutch report publishedย Wednesday. Leading banks provided $500 billion in financing for the coal industry through 2,283 lending and underwriting transactions between 2005 and April 2014, said […]
New Study Documents Air Pollution at Oil and Gas Fracking Sites Exceeding Risk Levels
This is a guest post byย Caroline Cox, research director at the Center for Environmental Health. Decades ago, when I was a graduate student, my advisor often said that our job as scientists was to put numbers on the obvious. Maybe it should be obvious that oil and gas production, including as it does the extraction, […]
Disasters Linked to Climate Change Could Cost Insurance Companies Billions
By Kieran Cooke, From theย Climate News Network. Insurance is all about assessing risk, so you might expect companies in the sector to be intimately involved with one of the most potent risks facing the world โ the possibility of catastrophic climateย change. Yet a survey by Ceres, a US not-for-profit group that lobbies for more environmental […]
Jumbo Glacier Ski Resort Threatens Grizzlies in Southern B.C., Into U.S.: Scientists
Grizzly bears in the Central Purcell Mountains are more vulnerable than shown in 15-year-old research being used by proponents of Jumbo Glacier Resort and, if the resort is built, it could threaten grizzly populations through southern B.C and into the U.S, says one of Canadaโs leading grizzly bearย experts. Michael Proctor, who has studied grizzly bears […]
BPโs Bathtub Ring Of Gulf Oil Uncovered
Less than a week after Politico allowed BP communications vice president Geoff Morrell the space to tell Americans that there are no lingering effects from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists and researchers have brought in new evidence to show that Morrellโs claims are completelyย fabricated. According to the peer-reviewed Proceedings of […]
The Worst Koch-Funded Lies About Climate Change in 90 Seconds
The Koch brothers have spent far more than even ExxonMobil to spread doubt and misinformation about the 97% scientific consensus on climate change in recent years โ over $67 million on climate denial, in fact. Out of 13,950 peer-reviewed scientific journals, only 24 reject global warming. But the Kochs and the extensive, well-funded network of […]
EPA's Cross State Air Pollution Rule To Finally Move Forward
First issued in 2011 but quickly met with numerous legal challenges, the EPA‘s Cross State Air Pollution Rule is finally cleared for takeoff. Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit lifted a hold it had placed on the CSAPR, effectively giving the EPA a green light to begin implementing the rule, […]