Fracking Firm IGas Refuses Further Investigation into Possible Site Contamination
Barton Moss fracking company IGas has hit the headlines this week as it stopped further investigation into possible contamination claims, writes Ben Lucas, MA Investigative Journalist at City University, London. At the same time, the company has agreed a £30m deal with INEOS for access to its other shale gas sites. An environmental expert has been […]
Derailments Raise Questions About Volatility of Oilsands Diluted Bitumen
When a CN train carrying crude oil derailed and caught fire last weekend near Gogama, Ontario, it became the fifth loaded oil train to leave the tracks in North America in the past two months — and it’s raising new questions about the volatility of diluted bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands. In the March 7th accident, several […]
Legislators Call Out California Regulators’ “Corrupt, Inept” Management Of Underground Wastewater Injection
The fallout from California officials’ failure to properly oversee the disposal of oil industry wastewater continued this week as lawmakers grilled officials with the state’s oil and gas regulatory agency for two hours while seeking assurances that they were getting the problem under control. According to the LA Times, state senators “called the agency’s historic […]
Greenpeace Calls on Information Commissioner to Repair ‘Transparency Travesty’ and Publish Full Fracking Report
Greenpeace has appealed to the UK’s transparency watchdog over the government’s repeated refusal to publish an unredacted version of its Shale Gas Rural Economy Impacts report. The environmental NGO has asked the Information Commissioner’s Office to force the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to release the report in full. An unredacted version […]
Bank of England Says Climate Change Research 'Absolutely Essential' After Attack From Climate Denier Lord Lawson
Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, hit back against climate denier Lord Nigel Lawson’s accusation that the Bank had its priorities wrong by researching the impact of climate change in the insurance industry. Speaking in the House of Lords’ Economic Select Committee yesterday, Lawson said there were many issues in the banking industry, so […]
How the IPCC Appointed a Dynamic New Leader 20 Years Ago Against Growing Sceptic Opposition
Our latest DeSmog UK epic history post looks at how the dynamic Professor Bob Watson (pictured) became chairman of the IPCC in 1997 amidst a groundswell of political activity. Michael Mann’s submersion into climate research coincided with a global groundswell. In 1993, he set about trying to establish when the global temperatures had last risen so […]
Florida’s War on Words 'Climate Change' Will Doom The Sunshine State
Officials in the state of Florida are finally taking action against climate change. They have declared war on global warming. They are taking a firm stand and making bold actions to finally end the threat of climate change. But before you get too excited, we aren’t talking about the climate change that threatens our coastlines, water […]
Booming U.S. Renewable Energy Sector Growing Faster Than Expected
The mainstreaming of renewable energy is happening even faster than projected. According to the latest “Electric Power Monthly” report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which includes data through the end of 2014, some 13.91% of electricity generation in the U.S. last year was from renewable sources. “Given current growth rates, especially for solar and […]
You Will Never Guess Which Industry Insider Drafted New Law Maximising Oil and Gas Extraction…
A highly controversial clause was snuck into the Infrastructure Act last month mandating all future governments to extract every last drop of oil and bubble of gas out of the ground. And now George Monbiot, the environmental campaigning journalist, has established that a billionaire best known for his work with the North Sea oil industry was behind […]
Climate Change is Creating a New Battleground as Nations Increase Arctic Military Presence
Commanders of Russia’s Northern Fleet recently held a competition to see who could orchestrate the best torpedo attack. Submarine forces battled it out in sub-zero temperatures at the fleet’s main base in Gadzhiyevo, near Murmansk: the north-west tip of Russia along the Finnish border and the Barents Sea. Winners received the Northern Fleet Commander’s prize. This was […]