Charges Filed Against President Of Freedom Industries, Company That Contaminated Drinking Water Of 300,000 West Virginians

The FBI has filed criminal fraud charges against Gary Southern, former president of Freedom Industries, the company responsible for contaminating the drinking water of 300,000 West Virginians with 10,000 gallons of a toxic coal-cleaning chemical called Crude MCHM that leaked into the Elk River. The charges stem from Southern’s actions in the aftermath of the […]

Shell’s Top Climate Advisor Says Company “Values” Relationship with Climate-Denying ALEC at COP20

David Hone, Shell’s top climate advisor told an audience at the COP20 climate negotiations underway in Lima, Peru today that the company enjoys its relationship with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a contentious corporate ‘bill mill’ known for its climate change denial and aggressive efforts to counteract emissions reductions and regulations. More than 90 companies […]

Call For Crude-By-Rail Moratorium In California After Train Derailment

A train derailment last week has prompted a California state legislator to call for a moratorium on crude-by-rail shipments through the state’s “most treacherous” passes. Twelve cars derailed on a Union Pacific rail line along the Feather River northeast of Oroville, CA in the early morning hours of November 5th. The state Office of Emergency […]

New Obama State Dept Top Energy Diplomat Amos Hochstein A Former Marathon Oil Lobbyist

The U.S. State Department recently announced that Amos Hochstein, currently the special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, will take over as the State Department’s top international energy diplomat. Hochstein will likely serve as a key point man for the U.S. in its negotiations to cut a climate change deal as part of the United […]

DeSmog UK Joins Fifth Episode of DeSmogCAST to discuss COP20 Expectations

I’m excited to announce that DeSmog UK has made its debut in the weekly DeSmogCAST where I talk about what to expect from the Lima climate talks. I join my Canadian colleagues in the fifth episode of DeSmogBlog’s new webscast series featuring our writers, experts and invited guests. Each week we’ll discuss breaking stories and engage in […]

Aid Charity Attacks Tories After Minister Banned from Climate Talks

The international poverty relief charity Christian Aid has attacked the Tory-led government for “banning” climate change minister Amber Rudd from attending the crucial Lima talks on climate change. Michael Gove, the Conservative chief whip, ordered the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) minister to stay in Britain to attend a vote in the Commons on unrelated counter-terror measures. […]

Financing Climate Action Among Major Concerns in First Week of COP20 Climate Negotiations

How to finance a global shift away from toxic greenhouse gases caused by burning fossil fuels was one of the key talking points during the first week of the annual United Nations climate change conference held this year in Lima, Peru. The conference, which began Monday and is scheduled to end next Friday, started with a […]

Elites Agree Oil Crash Crisis Is Opportunity To Lift Crude Export Ban

If the major oil producers see an opportunity to potentially produce an extra 3 million barrels per day of oil in the United States, they aren’t going to let it pass. To put that amount in perspective, in the past six months the highest daily total imported from Saudi Arabia,  was under 1.5 million barrels […]

DeSmogCAST 5: Canada's Clean Energy Revolution, Oilsands Tailings Pollution and COP20 Expectations

In this week’s episode of DeSmogCAST we cover a new report in Canada that shows the clean energy sector making huge gains in investment and job-creation, despite a lack of strong support at the federal level. We also discuss a new study from Environment Canada that shows toxic pollutants from the Alberta oilsands’ tailings ponds […]

Contrary To BP PR, Most Oil Spill Claims Are Legit

For more than a year, oil giant BP has waged a massive public relations battle to convince Americans that the company has been bamboozled by the oil spill claims process relating to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig blowout. This BP PR campaign has involved full-page newspaper ads paid for by the company suggesting it is being […]