Industry Data Show Oil-By-Rail in North America at Record Levels
On July 3, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) released June 2014 data showing oil-by-rail and petroleum products at-large are moving at record levels throughout North America. The release of the data comes on the heels of the ongoing oil-by-rail nationwide week of action launched by environmental groups. For the 26th week of 2014 (the half year […]
One Year After Lac-Mégantic Disaster: Delay in Safety Regs, Groups Bring Oil Train Data to Communities
On July 6th, 2013, one year ago today, a train carrying oil derailed in the sleepy Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic, resulting in an explosion so wild and so hot it leveled several city blocks and incinerated the bodies of many of its 47 victims. The accident put the tiny town on the international media circuit […]
U.K., U.S. Militaries Prepare For Severe Global Warming Consequences
Two new reports prepared for the U.K. and the U.S. militaries suggest that the consequences of climate change are immense in scope and will create severe, sustained challenges for the world and its growing population. The fifth edition of Global Strategic Trends, prepared for the U.K. Ministry of Defence, says climate change will likely create a […]
B.C. Government Calls on NEB to Compel Kinder Morgan to Answer Oil Spill Questions
The province of British Columbia has filed a motion with the National Energy Board (NEB) to compel pipeline company Kinder Morgan to answer the province’s questions on its Trans Mountain expansion project. In the motion, the province argues the company has failed to supply adequate answers to dozens of questions on issues such as oil spill […]
U.S. Gas Export Lobbyists Exploit DC's Revolving Door
This is a guest post by David Halperin, originally published at Republic Report. Even as President Obama pursues an aggressive new public effort to fight global warming by regulating U.S. power plants, his administration is quietly advancing an energy policy — exporting America’s liquid natural gas (LNG) — that may well raise the volume of climate-increasing […]
Rejection of Colorado Coal Mine on Global Warming Grounds Could Be Game-Changer
A U.S. District Court judge ruled on June 27 that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service both wrongly approved expansion of the West Elk coal mine in Somerset, Colo., because they failed to take into account the economic impacts greenhouse gas emissions from the mining would have. The federal agencies said […]
Regulators and Industry Swap Spots: Lobbyists Pushing Natural Gas Exports Swing Revolving Doors
This is a guest post by Lee Fang originally published at Republic Report. Expanded natural gas exports have wide repercussions, ranging from increased costs to American consumers to greater incentives for drilling companies to use controversial fracking methods for extracting their product. As numerous reports have shown, the gas boom means more methane, a greenhouse […]
PHOTOS: Famed Photographer Alex MacLean’s New Photos of Canada’s Oilsands are Shocking
Alex MacLean is one of America’s most famed and iconic aerial photographers. His perspective on human structures, from bodies sunbathing at the beach to complex, overlapping highway systems, always seems to hint at a larger symbolic meaning hidden in the mundane. By photographing from above, MacLean shows the sequences and patterns of human activity, including […]
For Oil-By-Rail, a Battle Between “Right to Know” and “Need to Know”
Since the first major oil-by-rail explosion occurred on July 6, 2013, in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, citizens in communities across the U.S. have risen up when they’ve learned their communities are destinations for volatile oil obtained from hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale basin. As the old adage goes, ignorance is bliss. It’s also one […]
Meme with Wings: Are Western Anti-Fracking Activists Funded by Putin's Russia?
At a June 19 speaking event at London’s Chatham House, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen claimed the Russian government is covertly working to discredit hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in the west from afar. “I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental […]