Fight Over Shell's Arctic Drilling Escalates As Polar Pioneer Arrives and #ShellNo "Paddle in Seattle" Begins
Here we go. Shell’s Polar Pioneer drilling rig is making its way through Puget Sound and will arrive later this afternoon at Terminal 5 in the Port of Seattle. You can watch the journey in real time if you want to follow along. I’ll be chasing it from the bluffs and city parks near my house […]
After Passenger Train Derailment in Philadelphia Kills At Least 7, Attention Turns to Oil-by-Rail Hazards
This morning, investigators continue to search for missing Amtrak passengers, possibly thrown from a major train derailment and wreck in northeast Philadelphia Tuesday night. Already the casualty toll is one of the worst in recent memory, with at least seven people dead and over 200 injured after Amtrak’s Northeast Regional Train No. 188, carrying 258 […]
How ExxonMobil Boosted Old-School Sceptics' Attacks on Michael Mann
Our latest DeSmog UK epic history post examines the troop of climate sceptic scientists funded by ExxonMobil to attack Michael Mann’s hockey stick graph. Neoliberal think tanks saw a significant boom period in the 2000s thanks to ExxonMobil’s continued spending to fuel the fire against the climate science consensus. As per the Climate Action Plan – written […]
The Coal Industry Is a Job Killer
The coal industry performs horribly on jobs. In fact, you could say that the modern coal industry is about as anti-jobs as it gets. Take Virginia, for instance. Earlier this week, Governor Terry McAuliffe vetoed legislation meant to extend a tax credit for coal producers because of how little it did to spur job creation. […]
Groups File IRS Complaint Alleging ALEC is a Lobbying Vehicle, Not a Charity
The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and Common Cause have filed an 18-page supplemental complaint to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) which calls for a termination of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)‘s status as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and requests civil and criminal charges be brought against ALEC. Eric Havian, an attorney […]
Vatican’s Top Advisor Warns Capitalism-Loving Climate Deniers: Don’t Punk The Pope!
“The ideology surrounding environmental issues is too tied to a capitalism that doesn’t want to stop ruining the environment because they don’t want to give up their profits.” This is not the reaction of the leader of an international environmental campaign group, nor the words of a scruffy anarchist occupying Wall Street. It is not some […]
Rudd Must Vie With Climate Deniers for Osborne's Attention
The battle for the soul of the Conservative party will intensify during the life of the next government on the increasingly volatile issue of climate change, write Brendan Montague and Matteo Civillini. Amber Rudd has been appointed secretary of state for energy and climate change following the dramatic departure of Liberal Democrat Ed Davey – much to […]
Exclusive: Major Climate Denial Funders Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund Handled $479 Million Of Dark Money
More than $470 million of cash flowing into a key funding arm of the climate science denial movement in the United States is untraceable, a DeSmog investigation has found. Sister organisations Donors Trust (DT) and Donors Capital Fund (DCF) declared an income of $511 million between 2005 and 2012, tax records show. But a DeSmog analysis of […]
Just How Heavily Did ExxonMobil Edit a US EPA Climate Report?
Our latest DeSmog UK epic history post details the penetrating impact ExxonMobil had on US energy policy during the Bush era. One year into US President George W. Bush’s reign and the fruits of ExxonMobil’s labours were already being felt. The US had crippled Kyoto by pulling out of the global agreement and the Intergovernmental Panel on […]
Bank Of America, Once The Largest Funder Of US Coal, To Cut Coal Funding Worldwide
At its annual shareholder meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina last week, Bank of America announced that it was officially committed to slashing its financing of coal. This is a major policy reversal for the bank. Just a few years ago, Bank of America, then the biggest bank in the US, was the largest underwriter of […]