DeSmog UK’s Best Bits From April
April was a big month for us. Not only did we launch a new website that’s mobile friendly but we also travelled to Rome to cover the Heartland Institute’s two-day PR campaign against the Pope’s much-anticipated climate change encyclical. Reporting from Vatican City, DeSmog UK was one of just nine media organisations present for the first […]
Inoculating Against Climate Science Denial
This is a guest post by John Cook, The University of Queensland. Science denial has real, societal consequences. Denial of the link between HIV and AIDS led to more than 330,000 premature deaths in South Africa. Denial of the link between smoking and cancer has caused millions of premature deaths. Thanks to vaccination denial, preventable […]
How ExxonMobil's Spending Bonanza Helped Two British Climate Sceptics Set-Up An International Free Market Think Tank
This DeSmog UK epic history post looks at when free-marketeers Roger Bate and Julian Morris made the best of ExxonMobil’s spending bonanza. Roger Bate and Julian Morris of the British free-market think tank, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), decided to catch ExxonMobil’s gravy train across the Atlantic as they began working for US think tanks. Bate […]
Charles Koch Admits Climate Change is Happening, Then Denies the Problem
As the nation warily watches every Republican presidential candidate kiss the ring of billionaire donor Charles Koch for a shot at his network’s $300,000,000 pool of presidential cash, Charles Koch did something unusual. Last week’s USA Today interview with Charles Koch noted his shifting opinion on what he calls climate change “hysteria:” For the record, Koch […]
Has Stephen Harper Helped or Hindered The Oil Industry?
At an estimated 2,700 litres, the bunker fuel spill in English Bay was relatively small — yet the stakes of that spill couldn’t be much higher. With Enbridge and Kinder Morgan both hoping to build oil pipelines to B.C., which would significantly increase oil tanker traffic in the province’s inside coastal waters, a dramatically mishandled marine […]
New Report Speculates on the End of Coal
A new coal report out today finds that despite growing risk, major banks continue to pump billions into the global coal industry. However, there are growing signs that coal is falling out of grace with major lenders. The report, The End of Coal [pdf] was published by the Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack and the Sierra Club. The groups found […]
New Oil-By-Rail Regulations Are Big Win for Oil and Rail Industries, Won’t Stop “Bomb Trains”
The long-awaited oil-by-rail regulations released today are basically a guidebook for the oil and rail industries to continue doing business as usual when it comes to moving explosive Bakken crude oil by rail. DeSmog recently reported on how the Obama administration has worked behind the scenes to help achieve the oil industry’s top goal when it […]
Has "King Coal" Been De-Throned?
The coal industry is dying, and they are desperately trying to place the blame for their impending doom on someone other than themselves. The world around them is changing, and the industry is absolutely terrified of change. This is why they created the “war on coal” talking point many years ago. It was their feeble attempt […]
Who is Cuadrilla’s New Chairman, Roy Franklin?
Last week it was announced that Roy Franklin OBE, age 61, had been appointed as the new Chairman of Cuadrilla Resources. Franklin originally joined the board of Cuadrilla Resources back in 2012. Unlike Lord Browne (his predecessor who has now joined Russian firm L1 Energy), it seems he is not well known in the UK government. […]
Exclusive: TransCanada Keystone 1 Pipeline Suffered Major Corrosion Only Two Years In Operation, 95% Worn In One Spot
Documents obtained by DeSmogBlog reveal an alarming rate of corrosion to parts of TransCanada’s Keystone 1 pipeline. A mandatory inspection test revealed a section of the pipeline’s wall had corroded 95%, leaving it paper-thin in one area (one-third the thickness of a dime) and dangerously thin in three other places, leading TransCanada to immediately shut it […]