After Over a Decade of Fracking, Oversight of Industry's Radioactive Waste Still Lacking
It has been roughly twelve years since fracking launched the great shale rush in the U.S. and the biggest problem with the technology — how to safely dispose of the enormous quantities of toxic waste generated — remains unsolved. In particular, regulators have struggled to fully understand or police the hazards posed by radioactivity found in […]
Industry Funded Politicians Hope To Thwart Pollution Penalties In North Carolina
On March 6th of this year, North Carolina Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway handed down a ruling that Duke Energy must immediately prevent toxins from their coal ash ponds from leaking into the water supply, and also that the energy giant had to develop a plan to clean up all of the groundwater that they had contaminated in […]
Wine and Milk vs. Oil and Gas: Existing Industries Go Up Against Fossil Fuel Job Promises
Ken Stanton’s 400-cow dairy farm lies in the path of the proposed Constitution Pipeline, which would carry fracked natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York. Three generations of Stanton’s family spoke in opposition to the pipeline during a packed public comment session at a hearing at Cobleskill-Richmondville high school on March 31. “The pipeline would cut through […]
Tax Breaks In Australia To Fund Climate Misinformation Book
It’s amazing what qualifies for a tax break in Australia these days. The climate science misinformation promotion unit at the Institute of Public Affairs, a Melbourne-based “free market” think tank, are currently passing the hat around to raise cash to publish a book on climate change. The IPA has been pushing and promoting climate science denial since […]
Why Isn’t Petcoke Regulated As a Public Health Threat?
Last year, a train leaving a Valero refinery in Benicia, CA derailed while carrying petroleum coke, also known as petcoke, a toxic byproduct of the crude oil refining process. None of the petcoke spilled that day as a result of the derailment, thankfully, but that doesn’t mean Benicia residents can breathe any easier. Locals already […]
Never Again: Don Blankenship-Funded Video Absolves Don Blankenship in Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster Deaths
Don Blankenship’s hubris is surpassed only by his greed. The “Dark Lord of Coal Country,” as the former CEO of Massey Energy has been called, is using the fourth anniversary of the tragic Upper Big Branch Mine explosion not to honor the lives of the fallen mines, but to absolve himself of any responsibility for the 29 […]
Kitimat Votes ‘NO’ to Enbridge Northern Gateway Oil Pipeline in Local Plebiscite
Kitimat residents have voted against the Northern Gateway pipeline, with 58.4 per cent of ballots in the city’s plebiscite being cast against the project, as of around 9 p.m. Saturday. In total, 1,793 voted against the proposed project, while 1,278 or 41.6 per cent were in favour. 3,071 ballots were cast, marking a high turnout (62 per […]
Campus Discontent: Washington University Students Sit-In Against Peabody, Harvard Faculty Call for Divestment
It’s a busy week in the campus fossil fuel divestment movement. A “sit in” by students at the Washington University of St. Louis enters its third day today. The protestors have camped out underneath their campus’s Brookings Archway since Tuesday, demanding that the school cut ties with Peabody Energy — the world’s largest private coal company […]
Oil-By-Rail Scrutiny Ratchets Up Across United States
Two years ago, trains snaked through American towns and cities day and night often without residents, or even city officials, knowing they were carrying explosive crude oil from the Bakken shale fields in North Dakota. But now — after four serious oil train explosions in the US and Canada — the issue has exploded into public […]
Editors Resign From Frontiers Journal Over Retracted Paper That Upset Climate Science Deniers
Three university professors are resigning as editors at a scientific publisher in protest at its decision to retract research linking climate change scepticism to conspiratorial thinking. Professors Ugo Bardi, of the University of Florence, Italy and Björn Brembs, of the University of Regensburg, Germany, launched scathing attacks on the Switzerland-based publisher Frontiers. Professor Colin Davis, of the […]