DeSmog UK's May Monthly Recap – What Stories Did You Miss?

I think we can all agree the big story this month was the shocking UK general election results. So, following the surprise Tory win, we’ve done a series of posts investigating the key players and what this all means for fracking. In the run-up to the election, we travelled to Lancashire to interview a couple anti-fracking protesters […]

Wave of Fracking Applications Submitted Since Conservative Election Win

Since the Conservatives won a majority in the general election just over three weeks ago, there has been an increase in the number of planning applications submitted relating to hydraulic fracturing. This observation comes after a marked rise in the share price of many fracking companies since fracking-friendly Amber Rudd was selected as secretary of state […]

Revealed: Energy Transfer Partners’ 'Pipeline-for-Prostitute' Landman

By Steve Horn and David Goodner A DeSmog investigation has uncovered the identity of a land agent and the contract company he works with that allegedly offered to buy an Iowa farmer the services of two teenage sex workers in exchange for access to his land to build the controversial proposed Dakota Access pipeline, owned by […]

The Climate Science Deniers And Free Market Activists Backing Bjorn Lomborg

“STOP ACADEMIC CENSORSHIP” screamed the full caps headline on the half-page advert in the Murdoch-owned The Australian newspaper earlier this week. Referring to the Danish climate change contrarian and US think tank boss Bjorn Lomborg, the advert claimed: “We stand for academic freedom. We stand with Dr Lomborg.” For those playing catch-up, a research centre based on the […]

Wildfires Rage Near Oilsands Operations, Raising Climate Questions

Forest fires covering 8,200 hectares of land in northern Alberta continue to burn out of control, spurred on by extremely dry conditions and unseasonably warm temperatures. The fires have forced the evacuation of hundreds of oilsands workers, the irony of which is not being lost on many  (just check out the reactions to this CBC […]

All New Electricity Generating Capacity Added In April Was From Wind And Solar

Renewable energy continues to run the table in the United States. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Office of Energy Projects has released its latest “Energy Infrastructure Update,” and it shows that all of the new electricity generating capacity brought online during the month of April in the United States was from wind and solar. That capped off […]

That Time When Jim Inhofe Called Climate Change a Hoax

This DeSmog UK epic history post tells the story of climate denier Jim Inhofe’s infamous ‘climate hoax’ Senate speech. The US Senator Jim Inhofe relentlessly denies that humans are driving climate change. In a rambling February speech this year he lobbed a snowball in the Senate as a means of disproving climate change and most recently […]

'French Champions of Pollution' Announced as Paris COP21 Sponsors

The first batch of corporate sponsors for December’s climate negotiations in Paris has officially been revealed. Among them are big-name polluters Engie (formerly GDF Suez), Air France, and the European bank BNP Paribas. Pierre-Henri Guignard, the COP 21 organiser, announced the corporate sponsors yesterday during a press conference where he asserted that “all of these companies […]

BNSF President Greeted by Bomb Train Protestors in Chicago

Today at the annual North American Rail Shippers Association, Carl Ice, president of rail company Burlington Northern Sante Fe (BNSF) had his keynote address interrupted by members of Rising Tide Chicago. The activists carried banners reading, “BNSF: Profits over Safety” and “BNSF: Bomb Trains Kill.” BNSF moves significantly more oil by rail than any other rail […]

Is Obama Shipping Away His Commitment to Climate Change?

While President Obama has emerged as a strong leader on climate change, serious questions have been raised about his government’s rush to ship coal overseas.  Late last year, President Obama stood with Chinese President Xi Jinping to reiterate their shared goal of aggressively tackling the issue of climate change. The official joint announcement in November offered strong […]