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Keystone’s death bolsters ‘keep carbon in the ground’ camp

A depot used to store pipes for Transcanada Corp’s planned Keystone XL oil pipeline is seen in Gascoyne, North Dakota November 14, 2014. For environmentalists dedicated to killing it, President Barack Obama’s rejection of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline unleashed a moment of euphoria. Activists celebrated with tequila shots at Sierra Club headquarters in San Francisco and in Lafayette Square across from the White House, site of the first anti-Keystone protests in 2011, when to most people it was just another pipeline. But last Friday’s presidential “no” to the 1,200-mile (1931 km) pipeline out of Alberta’s oil sands may signal more than just a single, if remarkable, win for environmentalists. It stands to sharpen the fissure in the green movement between those who believe direct action can jar the world off its fossil fuel habit, and others who say only a collaborative approach that engages governments and corporations can […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Everything You Need to Know About the Exxon Climate Change Probe

For years, energy companies have couched the possible effects of climate change-related regulations in public reports to investors as "uncertain," "difficult," or "not possible" to reasonably predict. Now a probe by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is raising questions as to whether the companies knew more than they were letting on. Exxon Mobil received a subpoena last week by the state official seeking documents from as far back as the 1970s in a probe that aims to determine whether oil giant lied to investors and consumers, or withheld information about the effects of climate change. On Sunday, meanwhile, Schneiderman reached a settlement with the largest U.S. coal miner, Peabody Energy, in which the company agreed to include more detailed disclosures in reports to investors about the potential costs of climate-related regulations. Exxon has denied implications that it lied to investors or the public. Peabody neither admitted nor denied […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Price Drop Threatens Industries That Help Cut Global Warming

The plunge in oil prices risks undermining efforts to reduce the pollution blamed for global warming, especially projects designed to wring more from each barrel of oil, the International Energy Agency concluded in its annual assessment of markets. If the cost of crude remains near $50 a barrel until the end of the decade, cheaper conventional fuels would hold back the development of electric cars and biofuels that are helping curb carbon emissions, IEA said. It also estimated about $800 billion of efficiency improvements in cars, trucks and airplanes would be lost. The findings illustrate the complexity of the United Nations mission to secure a historic deal on reining in fossil-fuel emissions by the end of the year. While lower oil prices are helping the world recover from an economic slump, they’re also raising competitive pressures on technologies such as wind and solar power and making some projects take […]

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IEA praises Canadian carbon capture initiative

Shell starts a first-of-its-kind carbon storage operations at an oil sands facility in Canada to the praise of the International Energy Agency. Photo courtesy of Royal Dutch Shell PARIS, Nov. 9 (UPI) — The launch in Canada of the world’s first carbon capture project for oil sands is a welcome statement from an industry under the microscope, the IEA said. With momentum building for the U.N. climate negotiations in Paris, the International Energy Agency said the Canadian oil sands industry was taking remarkable steps with the launch of a novel carbon capture and storage project, which is meant to reduce emissions from oil-sands processing facilities in Alberta. Royal Dutch Shell last week started operations at its Quest CCS project, which the company said would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1 million tons per year by storing it deep underground. "The launch of the Quest CCS project in Alberta, Canada, […]

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Keystone XL decision may indicate changing energy landscape

President Barack Obama’s stance on the Keystone XL oil pipeline planned from Canada may be a reflection of a changing energy landscape in North America. Despite the rejection, some analysis says Canadian oil will still find its way south. Pool Photo by Michael Reynolds/UPI WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) — U.S. and Canadian statements regarding the decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline may reflect a changing energy landscape in North America. Industry supporters, and leaders whose economies depend in part on oil revenue, expressed frustration with the U.S. decision to deny TransCanada’s permit to build the cross-border pipeline. But from the economic standpoint, many statements reflect evolving priorities in the new era for oil. In its record of decision and national interest determination of the pipeline, the U.S. State Department, charged with vetting the project, said there were questions about the necessity for additional North American pipeline capacity given […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Keystone’s Dead. Here’s What’s Next on the Enviros’ Hit List

Oil tankers at a rail yard in Richmond, Calif., in 2014. Barack Obama belittled the Keystone XL pipeline debate even as he brought it to a close . The project, which would have delivered heavy, oil-sands crude from Western Canada to the Gulf Coast, "has occupied what I, frankly, consider an overinflated role in our political discourse," he said Friday. "It became a symbol too often used as a campaign cudgel by both parties rather than a serious policy matter." Mr. President, the cudgelers are just getting started. The environmental movement is on the march again, perhaps more so than at any time since concerns about acid rain led Congress to pass the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. As political symbols go, Keystone XL was a potent one. It hung over the White House for several years and sparked all-around congressional fury. And, as a bonus for the […]

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Greenhouse gases hit new milestone, fueling worries about climate change

Haze shrouds the Musi River as vehicles drive across the Ampera Bridge in Indonesia. (Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg) Greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere reached another grim milestone earlier this year as carbon dioxide levels surpassed the symbolic threshold of 400 parts per million across much of the planet, the premier global meteorological association confirmed in a report to be released Monday. Figures compiled by the World Meteorological Organization showed strong growth — and new records — in the concentrations of all three of the most important heat-trapping gases, continuing a long-term trend with ominous implications for climate change, the group said. The report is likely to add to concerns about global warming in a year that climate experts say is almost certain to surpass 2014 as the hottest year in recorded history. “We are moving into unchartered territory at a frightening speed,” WMO Secretary General Michel Jarraud said of the […]

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The war against Exxon Mobil

The Exxon Mobil refinery in Baytown, Texas, in 2008. (Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters) If you care about free speech, you should pay attention to the campaign now being waged against Exxon Mobil. More than 50 environmental and civil rights groups have written Attorney General Loretta Lynch urging her to open a “federal probe” of the giant energy firm. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have also joined the chorus. The charge is that Exxon Mobil “systematically misled the public” on climate change, even as its executives recognized the dangers. New York’s attorney general has already launched an investigation . What’s behind the latest assault are two recent pieces of investigative journalism that, based on company documents, concluded that Exxon Mobil played a double game. In the 1970s, when global warming began attracting scientific attention, the firm “assembled a brain trust [that deepened] the company’s understanding” of climate change, reported InsideClimate News. But […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple