tar sands

Will Shell Turn From Big Oil Into Big Energy?

Will Shell Turn From Big Oil Into Big Energy?

By Andy Rowell On the surface, the good times are back for Big Oil. Later this week, Shell is expected to unveil its biggest profits in a decade since the oil price crash. As the oil price recovers to over $65 a barrel last year, so do Shell’s fortunes, with reported earnings of nearly $16 […]

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    Exxon Mobil’s About-Face on Climate Disclosure: Is It Enough?

    Exxon Mobil’s About-Face on Climate Disclosure: Is It Enough?

    By Paul Griffin Exxon Mobil Corp. has vowed to do a better job in disclosing the risks it faces from climate change starting “in the near future,” after bucking pressure to do that for years. Until now, shareholders and bondholders had no choice but to rely on informed guesswork by outsiders to divine how the […]

    Renewable Energy Isn’t Perfect, But It’s Far Better Than Fossil Fuels

    Renewable Energy Isn’t Perfect, But It’s Far Better Than Fossil Fuels

    In their efforts to discredit renewable energy and support continued fossil fuel burning, many anti-environmentalists have circulated a dual image purporting to compare a lithium mine with an oil sands operation. It illustrates the level of dishonesty to which some will stoop to keep us on our current polluting, climate-disrupting path (although in some cases […]

    Environmental Groups Blast Michigan Officials for ‘Trust’ in Pipeline Operator

    Environmental Groups Blast Michigan Officials for ‘Trust’ in Pipeline Operator

    Environmental groups are attacking an agreement between Michigan and Canadian oil transport company Enbridge, Inc. that set a timeline to determine the future of a controversial pipeline running across a channel where Lakes Huron and Michigan come together. The 645-mile pipeline, Line 5, lies at the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile-long environmentally […]

    Keystone Pipeline Permit Could Be Revoked After Last Week’s 210,000-Gallon Spill

    Keystone Pipeline Permit Could Be Revoked After Last Week’s 210,000-Gallon Spill

    TransCanada’s permit to operate its Keystone tar sands pipeline in South Dakota could be revoked if an investigation into last week’s 210,000-gallon leak determines that the pipeline operator violated its license, Reuters reported. State regulators expressed concern that the Nov. 16 spill in Marshall County was not the first from the controversial pipeline. “This is […]

    Why Pipeline Opponents Cheered Monday’s Keystone XL Approval

    Why Pipeline Opponents Cheered Monday’s Keystone XL Approval

    Yes, it’s true that the Nebraska Public Service Commission voted Monday to approve the long-gestating Keystone XL (KXL) tar sands pipeline. But don’t score it as a win for TransCanada—or as a “boost for Trump“—just yet. That’s because the commission approved the “mainline alternative route,” and that’s not the route that the pipeline operator wants. […]

    Massive Oil Spill Not Expected to Influence Nebraska’s Decision on Keystone XL

    Massive Oil Spill Not Expected to Influence Nebraska’s Decision on Keystone XL

    UPDATE: The Nebraska Public Service Commission voted 3-2 to approve the mainline alternative route for the Keystone XL pipeline through the state. The commission rejected TransCanada’s preferred route. In her dissent, commission member Chrystal Rhoades said she was against the pipeline regardless of the route. The Washington Post reported: She said that the pipeline was […]

    Massive Pipeline Leak Shows Why Nebraska Should Reject Keystone XL

    Massive Pipeline Leak Shows Why Nebraska Should Reject Keystone XL

    About 210,000 gallons (5,000 barrels) of oil leaked Thursday from TransCanada’s Keystone oil pipeline near Amherst, South Dakota, drawing fierce outcry from pipeline opponents. The leak, the largest spill to date in South Dakota, comes just days before Nebraska regulators decide on whether its controversial sister project—the Keystone XL (KXL) Pipeline—will go forward. “Enough is […]