Recession, Not Fracking, Behind Drop in U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Scientists Conclude

It’s been a talking point for boosters of the shale gas rush for years: as fracking spread across the country and the supply glut drove prices down, utilities have been shuttering dirty coal plants and burning natural gas instead – meaning that America’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions dropped sharply. Fracking, the argument went, is actually […]

Coal Baron Matt Ridley is Top Source in Peabody Climate Report to the White House

British climate denier and coal baron Matt Ridley is the most cited individual in coal giant Peabody Energy’s official submission to the White House addressing the company’s concerns regarding new policies proposed by the US Government around greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The 71-page document on the government’s National Environmental Policy Act, uncovered by DeSmogBlog, […]

Biomass Industry Intensifies Fight For Carbon-Neutral Status As Obama Admin Carbon Rules Draw Near

The science is fairly convoluted but also entirely clear: Bioenergy — burning wood and other forest biomass as a fuel source — produces more carbon emissions than coal. Even if all the forests we fed into power plants were to one day regrow, in theory sucking all that carbon back out of the Earth’s atmosphere, […]

FBI Advisory: Oil Trains At Risk of "Extremist" Attack, But Lacks "Specific Information" To Verify

A document* marked “Confidential” and published a year ago today, on July 18, 2014, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concluded that “environmental extremists” could target oil-by-rail routes, as first reported on by McClatchy. But the Bureau also concedes upfront that it lacks “specific information” verifying this hunch. Rail industry lobbying groups published the one-page FBI Private Sector Advisory as an […]

Nexen’s Brand New, Double-Layered Pipeline Just Ruptured, Causing One of the Biggest Oil Spills Ever in Alberta

A pipeline at Nexen Energy’s Long Lake oilsands facility southeast of Fort McMurray, Alberta, spilled about five million liters (32,000 barrels or some 1.32 million gallons) of emulsion, a mixture of bitumen, sand and water, Wednesday afternoon — marking one of the largest spills in Alberta history. According to reports, the spill covered as much […]

DOE: Department of Evasiveness? More Government Delay Tactics as Bomb Trains Roll On

The oil industry and the government regulators in charge of regulating the industry don’t understand the basic science of oil. This is the core of the argument used to justify why they continue to run dangerous trains filled with Bakken oil through communities across North America. Do you believe them? Despite the audacity of this position, […]

Emails: Enbridge Attorney, Lobbyist Wrote Provisions into Wisconsin Budget for "Keystone XL Clone" Pipeline Leg

Emails reveal that an attorney and lobbyist for Canadian pipeline company giant Enbridge helped draft the controversial provision placed into the 2015 Wisconsin Budget set to fast-track expansion of the company’s Line 61 pipeline.  The emails, published by the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau and first covered by Wisconsin Public Radio, emerge just months after DeSmog revealed emails showing Enbridge’s attorney […]

Florida Town Bans Fracking, But Will It Last?

The South Florida town of Bonita Springs has officially banned fracking. The city council voted early Wednesday to ban all types of well stimulation techniques to extract fossil fuels, which includes fracking, within the city limits. Bonita Springs has now become the second municipality in the state of Florida to enact a ban on fracking. Before the […]

Labour and Tory MPs Join Lord Lawson's Climate Denial Global Warming Policy Foundation

Two climate change sceptic MPs have just joined Lord Lawson’s climate denial charity, the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), in its efforts to oppose policies to limit greenhouse gas emissions. It was announced today that Graham Stringer, Labour MP for Blackley and Broughton, and Peter Lilley, Conservative MP for Hitchin and Harpenden, will join the GWPF’s […]

Fracking Focus Shifts to Yorkshire as Pro- and Anti-Fracking Groups Emerge

Yorkshire county has become the new focal point of the UK fracking debate after Cuadrilla’s planning applications in Lancashire were defeated over two weeks ago. Third Energy’s application to hydraulically stimulate the well at the Kirby Misperton site near Pickering, submitted at the end of May, is the latest fracking proposal pending a decision from North […]