David Suzuki: Rail Versus Pipeline Is The Wrong Question
This is a guest post by David Suzuki. Debating the best way to do something we shouldn’t be doing in the first place is a sure way to end up in the wrong place. That’s what’s happening with the “rail versus pipeline” discussion. Some say recent rail accidents mean we should build more pipelines to […]
TransCanada's Keystone XL South Pipeline Set To Begin Operations Today
Today, January 22, the southern portion of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline is set to become operational, although environmentalists and Texas homeowners are continuing to fight against it. TransCanada is surely celebrating now that it has a pipeline system in place connecting the tar sands in Alberta, Canada to the Gulf Coast refineries and export terminals […]
State Dept's Keystone XL Contractor, ERM Group, Also OK'd Controversial Pebble Mine in Alaska
A DeSmogBlog investigation has revealed Environmental Resources Management Inc. (ERM Group) — the contractor performing the U.S. State Department’s environmental review for the northern half of TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline — gave the greenlight to Alaska’s controversial Pebble Mine proposal in June 2013. The proposed Pebble Mine, located in Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska, contains mineable gold […]
Wall Street Journal Investigation: High-Tech Oil Pipeline Monitors Catch Less Than 20 Percent Of Leaks
Last September, a farmer harvesting wheat in North Dakota smelled crude oil in his fields. That was the first indication anyone had that a Tesoro pipeline had ruptured and spewed some 20,000 barrels of oil into the environment. Tesoro says it has beefed up its monitoring of the pipeline, as the pressure sensors it had installed […]
West Virginian Communities Still In Need After Coal Chemical Spill
This is a guest post by Jesse Coleman, cross-posted from Greenpeace USA blogs. On January 9th, Freedom Industries, a company that stores chemicals for the coal industry, spilled 7,500 gallons of crude Methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM), a little known, little understood compound into the Elk river. The spill occurred one mile upriver from the water intake that supplies tap […]
In Push For Nuclear Power, Climate Change Concerns Overlooked
Three years ago the world was reminded of the dangers nuclear energy poses when catastrophe struck Japan at the Fukushima power plant. Since then the gravity of the disaster has grown more evident as cleanup efforts have turned into a debacle. In the last month alone we have seen news of radioactive water leaks at […]
West Virginia Polluter Freedom Industries Files For Bankruptcy To Halt Lawsuits
Freedom Industries, the company that recently leaked thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the Elk River in West Virginia, quietly filed for bankruptcy this past Friday to shield themselves from the onslaught of lawsuits filed against the company. The current owner of Freedom Industries, J. Clifford Forrest, took control of the company about a week […]
ALEC Plans Massive Environmental Attack For 2014
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has a big year ahead of them, as they attempt to dismantle a slew of environmental protections from state to state. More specifically, the corporate front group is hoping to pass dirty energy friendly legislation to ease the rules for electric utilities. From state to state, ALEC is drafting legislation […]
Exclusive: Mont Pelerin Society Revealed As Home To Leading Pushers Of Climate Science Denial
There’s a popular talking point coming from climate change denialists that all people who accept the science and the need to act on it are somehow blinded by faith. In Australia, climate science contrarian columnists can barely touch their keyboards without typing out the words “global warming faith” or explaining how human-caused global warming is some […]
Michigan Judge Dismisses Charges Against Activist Who Protested Inside Enbridge's 6B Pipeline
When Kalamazoo activist Chris Wahmhoff walked up to the fourth floor of the Calhoun County Circuit Court on Monday and checked the docket, he found his case sandwiched between three other cases also involving Enbridge — a telling sign of the times. When Judge James Kingsley started speaking in the courtroom, Wahmhoff thought all […]