It was supposed to be all about jobs. When the president announced his intent to abandon the Clean Power Plan this spring and then withdraw from the Paris agreement this summer, one of the biggest reasons cited was to protect the coal jobs sustaining communities in places like Appalachia. There’s just one problem. Whatever the […]
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) yesterday issued an Emergency Order requiring all shippers to test product from the Bakken region to ensure the proper classification of crude oil before it is transported by rail, while also prohibiting the transportation of crude oil in the lowest-strength packing group. The fireball that followed the derailment and explosion […]
By Kevin Mathews You may see a lot of gold, silver and bronze at the Olympics, but one color you definitely won’t see much of in Sochi is green. Years ago, Russia won its Olympic bid in large part by pledging to host the most environmentally friendly Games ever. Now, however, it’s clear that Sochi did not […]
By Daniel J. Weiss and Miranda Peterson The 2013 profit totals are in for the big five oil companies—BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil and Shell. Their financial reports indicate that they earned a combined total of $93 billion last year, or $177,000 per minute. After years of oil production declines, the big five oil companies actually increased their […]
Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Farm Bill, which fails to make meaningful reforms to correct this imbalance in our food policy: 1. “Direct Payments” Bait and Switch The Farm Bill eliminates the “Direct Payments” program—long the poster child for wasteful agricultural subsidies, known for handing out checks to rich landowners who don’t […]
By Robin Lally Scientists have known for more than 40 years that the synthetic pesticide DDT is harmful to bird habitats and a threat to the environment. Now researchers at Rutgers University say exposure to DDT—banned in the U.S. since 1972 but still used as a pesticide in other countries—may also increase the risk and […]
A sweeping new appellate court decision justifies federal agencies withholding substantial public safety information concerning dam failures, chemical spills and other critical events, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The ruling blocked PEER’s attempts to force release of the emergency plans in the event of failure of two large international storage dams on […]
By Farron Cousins It wasn’t long ago that the dirty energy industry and their friends in Congress and the media were screaming that we needed to open up every corner of America to oil and gas drilling in order to lower energy costs and help protect our country from oil-rich countries who don’t like the U.S. Photo […]
U.S. Energy Information Administration The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that the U.S. will be the world’s top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2013, surpassing Russia and Saudi Arabia. For the U.S. and Russia, total petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbon production, in energy content terms, is almost evenly split between petroleum and […]