Leaked Trade Deal Document Shows EU Pressuring U.S. to Lift Crude Oil Export Ban
A secret document regarding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations leaked this week shows that oil companies have just as much influence over the governments of the European Union as they do over the government of the U.S. In the two-page document, the EU makes several arguments about why the TTIP should require the […]
Oil Train Blast Zone Website Lets You See Your Proximity to Bomb Trains
As part of the ongoing oil-by-rail Week of Action, ForestEthics has launched a new Oil Train Blast Zone website that allows people to search their address and determine if they are within the estimated blast zones for the trains carrying highly flammable crude oil, known as “bomb trains.” “Millions of North Americans live in the […]
Oil Companies Gambling Billions of Dollars Ignoring Global Warming Realities
Companies like Shell Oil really need to give their eyes a rub and see that a world with serious constraints on greenhouse gas emissions is not a possible future, but an eventual reality. Right now, oil companies are investing billions in long term plays in very carbon intensive fuels, like Canada’s oil sands, while at the same […]
Fox Guarding Henhouse: Oil-By-Rail Standards Led by American Petroleum Institute
“How did it get missed for the last ten years?” That was the question Deborah Hersman, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), posed to a panel of industry representatives back in April about how the rail industry had missed the fact that Bakken oil is more explosive than traditional crude oil. “How do we move […]
The Fish Are Fine, Kinder Morgan Says
Ecojustice lawyers were among the many to file motions to the National Energy Board late last week regarding Kinder Morgan’s poor and non-existent responses to questions posed to it by intervenors. And while we were generally disappointed by Kinder Morgan’s evasive approach, we were shocked at one reply in particular. When asked whether there is any […]
Return of Climate Denial-a-Palooza: Heartland Institute Hitches Anti-Science Wagon to Vegas FreedomFest
The Heartland Institute is reviving its global warming skeptics’ gathering this week in scorching hot Las Vegas for the ninth “International Conference on Climate Change” — which DeSmog long ago dubbed “Denial-a-Palooza”. Sin City is a fitting spot for the world’s most anti-science front group to convene its friends who deny the scientific consensus that human-caused […]
BBC Pulls The Plug On Climate Change Deniers
Corporate-controlled media outlets have figured out that debate, or more appropriately heated debate and confrontation, can generate larger audiences than a bunch of people sitting around a table agreeing with one another. And this can work for some topics, such as the best way to tackle immigration reform or how to reduce the federal budget […]
Addressing Global Warming is an Economic Necessity
This is a guest post by David Suzuki. Those who don’t outright deny the existence of human-caused global warming often argue we can’t or shouldn’t do anything about it because it would be too costly. Take Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who recently said, “No matter what they say, no country is going to take actions […]
America's Dairyland Turning to Petrostate: Wisconsin Oil-By-Rail Routes Published for First Time
DeSmogBlog is publishing the first documents ever obtained from the Wisconsin government revealing routes for oil-by-rail trains in the state carrying oil obtained via hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in the Bakken Shale basin. The information was initially submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) under the auspices of a May 7 Emergency Order, which both the […]
Pope Francis a Powerful Voice For Climate Change Action
Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, has taken a very strong stance recently on the need to address climate change, to protect the environment and respect “God’s creation.” In an address at the University of Molise in Italy, Pope Francis talked about deforestation practices that have destroyed much of the world’s rainforests in places like […]