Wolves Scapegoated While Alberta Government Sells Off Endangered Caribou Habitat
Culling Albertaโs wolves without prioritizing caribou habitat protection and restoration is like โshoveling sand,โ according to Mark Hebblewhite, associate professor of ungulate habitat biology at the University ofย Montana. Hebblewhite says the Alberta government is sponsoring a wolf cull without doing the one thing that could possibly scientifically justify it: conserving and restoring critical caribou habitat. […]
California Urban Water Use Restricted While Regulators Give Oil Industry Two More Years To Operate Injection Wells In Protected Groundwater Aquifers
With snowpack levels at just 6% of their long-term average, the lowest theyโve ever been in recorded history, California Governor Jerry Brown has announced new regulations to cut urban water use 25%, the first ever mandatory water restrictions in the state. California is in the fifth year of its historic, climate-exacerbated drought and, per a […]
This is What Happened When Oil Giants Exxon and Mobil Joined Forces
Our DeSmog UK epic history series continues with the merger between two oil giants, Exxon andย Mobil. A global superpower was created on 30th November 1998, with the $81bn merger between Exxon and Mobil. The deal was quick on the heels of rival BPโs merger with Amoco, but the ExxonMobil deal outshone that of BP Amoco […]
The Only Legal Challenge To Local Fracking Bans In California Was Just Quietly Dropped
The only lawsuit seeking to overturn any of the local fracking bans in the state of California has been dropped. Southern California-based Citadel Exploration filed a suit on February 27 against San Benito Countyโs Measure J, which voters approved by a wide margin last November despite the oil and gas industry outspending its opponents 13-to-1 […]
Oiling The Machinery Of Climate Change Denial And Transit Opposition
This is a guest post by Davidย Suzuki. Brothers Charles and David Koch run Koch Industries, the second-largest privately owned company in the U.S., behind Cargill. Theyโve given close to US$70 million to climate change denial front groups, some of which they helped start, including Americans for Prosperity, founded by David Koch and a major force […]
Glaciers in Canadian Rockies Could Shrink By 95% by 2100, Study Finds
This blog originally appeared on Carbon Brief. The Canadian Rockies, which sit as a backdrop to many a stunning vista, could be almost entirely devoid of glaciers by the end of the century, a new studyย suggests. Researchers modelled the impact of rising temperatures on glaciers across westernย Canada. The results show widespread ice loss by 2050, […]
New Federal Fracking Rules Rely on FracFocus Even as EPA Research Highlights Site's Flaws
It’s a classic case of the government’s left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Days after the Bureau of Land Management issued new federal rules for fracking on federal land, relying heavily on an industry-run site called FracFocus, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a study mainly noteworthy for the shortcomings of the […]
BNSF Challenges Lawsuit From Engineer Who Ran For His Life From Exploding Oil "Bomb Train"
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) has responded defensively to the oil-by-rail lawsuit filed by former BNSF locomotive engineer Bryan Thompson, a caseย recently reported on by DeSmogBlog. BNSF โ the top rail carrier of oil obtained via hydraulic fracturing (โfrackingโ) in North Dakota’s Bakken Shaleย basin โย deniedย all charges. The company also argued that some federal laws protect […]
American Legislative Exchange Council Threatens Lawsuit Against Critics Who Point Out ALEC's Climate Denial
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has threatened public interest group Common Cause with a lawsuit for pointing out what the public record has made clear: ALEC denies the scientific consensus on climate change. As first reported by The Washington Post, ALEC‘s lawyers Alan Dye and Heidi Abegg wrote a cease-and-desist letter to Common Cause […]
Disclosure Fail: Industry Reps Testifying for Denton, Texas Fracking Bill Left Ties Undisclosed
Aย March 24 hearingย prior to theย passage of a controversial bill out of committee that preempts citiesย in Texas from regulatingย hydraulic fracturing (โfrackingโ)ย for oil and gas obtained from shale basins, featured numerous witnesses who failed to disclose their industry ties, including some with ties to theย Koch brothers.ย The next day on March 25,ย Texas Senate Bill 1165ย โ โRelating to […]