Fracking Comes To California

Fracking Comes To California
"California already has earthquake and environmental problems, so of course, it makes perfect sense to sell oil leases that can be permitted to use fracking."

Oil and Gas Industry Set to Attack Matt Damon's "Promised Land" | Alternet

Oil and Gas Industry Set to Attack Matt Damon's "Promised Land" | Alternet
"Next month Focus Features releases Matt Damon’s new movie and the oil and gas industry is worried sick about it."

How the Mighty (Mississippi) Has Fallen: Historic Drought Plagues US | Common Dreams

How the Mighty (Mississippi) Has Fallen: Historic Drought Plagues US | Common Dreams
"As the worst drought in decades continues to plague the US, the Mississippi River is withering towards historic lows with widespread impacts for commerce."

Body-Slamming Piglets To Death Is Humane, Big Food Lobby Claims

Body-Slamming Piglets To Death Is Humane, Big Food Lobby Claims: Secret video footage of a hog farm in Manitoba, Canada show workers body-slamming piglets into the floor, swinging them into metal posts and kicking them when they can’t stand up. The harrowing video was filmed by an investigator for animal rights group Mercy for Animals Canada, who went undercover at the Puratone farm for three [...]/p

At ALEC Meeting, Indiana Regulator Advises Coal Companies on Delaying EPA Climate Rules

At ALEC Meeting, Indiana Regulator Advises Coal Companies on Delaying EPA Climate Rules
"This is the case with the recent American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) meeting in Washington, DC.Leaked documents obtained by Greenpeace reveal that ALEC's anti-environmental jamboree was inundated with coal money and featured an Indiana regulator advising coal utilities on delaying US Environmental Protection Agency rules to control greenhouse gas emissions and hazardous air pollution."

Revealed: What the Beef Industry Pumps into Your Dinner | Alternet

Revealed: What the Beef Industry Pumps into Your Dinner | Alternet
"A common industry practice puts consumers at higher risks for eating food contaminated by deadly pathogens -- but that's just the tip of the iceberg in this study."

Costly Oil Subsidies Drag Us Down; Clean Energy Investments Will Build a Healthier Economy | Common Dreams

Costly Oil Subsidies Drag Us Down; Clean Energy Investments Will Build a Healthier Economy | Common Dreams
"Congress should capitalize on this important opportunity to negotiate a clean route off the fiscal cliff. That means ending handouts to dirty energy and supporting clean energy policies that are helping to create jobs and protect the health of all Americans."

Study Identifies 15 Top Threats to Biodiversity | Common Dreams

Study Identifies 15 Top Threats to Biodiversity | Common Dreams
"Nineteen experts submitted 75 "little-known issues" that could positively or negatively affect biodiversity in the near future, and that list was culled to the following 15:"

A Growing Water Deficit in the West - Truthdig

A Growing Water Deficit in the West - Truthdig
"A three-year study by the Department of the Interior has concluded that a hotter, drier climate is threatening the water supply for 40 million people who depend on the Colorado River."

The High Return on Investment for Publicly Funded Research

The High Return on Investment for Publicly Funded Research
"At a time when economic success in the global market is determined more than ever by the pace of innovation, we cannot afford to reduce our investments in research. As the president said in his State of the Union speech last year, “In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives, it’s how we make our living.” While innovation may be in our national DNA, we can’t take it for granted."

Rising Waters

Oil Covered Pundits: Media Fails To Disclose Guests’ Industry Affiliation 94 Percent Of The Time

Oil Covered Pundits: Media Fails To Disclose Guests’ Industry Affiliation 94 Percent Of The Time: Major news companies have been giving a platform for fossil fuel-backed “experts” to pen arguments against clean energy without disclosing the author’s connections to the industry, a new study from the Checks and Balances project finds. Across sixty major news outlets, in the course of five years, the group found that major publications only disclosed [...]/p

Documents Reveal Alberta Colludes With Industry In Tar Sands Pipeline Safety Review

Documents Reveal Alberta Colludes With Industry In Tar Sands Pipeline Safety Review:  A pipeline safety review conducted by the Alberta government last summer was done with the oil and gas industry’s interests in mind, according to recent documents released to Greenpeace through Freedom of Information legislation. The documents (PDF) show the review, commissioned after a series of back-to-back pipeline incidents across Alberta [...]/p

New Report Raises Questions: Should American Taxpayers Be Giving Their Minerals Away To Mining Companies?

New Report Raises Questions: Should American Taxpayers Be Giving Their Minerals Away To Mining Companies?: by Jessica Goad As Washington struggles to address the country’s growing deficit, a new report released today finds that the federal government has lost its grip on finances in a different way. An analysis from the Government Accountability Office reveals that the government does not keep track of the amount and value of hardrock minerals [...]/p

Exxon’s Dangerous Energy Outlook

Exxon’s Dangerous Energy Outlook: ExxonMobil recently issued its latest global energy projections in a report called the “2013 Outlook for Energy: a view to 2040.” The report (pdf) is chock full of figures and graphs showing an inexorable rise in global energy demand and supply, as well as the growing market for [...]/p

WWF: Efforts to Halt $19 Billion Illegal Wildlife Trade Have Failed | Common Dreams

WWF: Efforts to Halt $19 Billion Illegal Wildlife Trade Have Failed | Common Dreams
"Efforts to stop what has grown into a $19 billion trade in illegal ivory, rhino horn and other endangered species have failed, according to a report from the World Wildlife Fund to the United Nations, with record levels of poaching occurring in 2011 and a number of endangered species being slaughtered "on a massive scale"."

EPA Allowing Energy Companies To Poison Our Drinking Water

EPA Allowing Energy Companies To Poison Our Drinking Water
"The EPA is only supposed to issue exemptions if aquifers are too remote, too dirty, or too deep to supply affordable drinking water. Applicants must persuade the government that the water is not being used as drinking water and that it never will be."

Poisoning the Well: How the Feds Let Industry Pollute the Nation’s Underground Water Supply | Common Dreams

Poisoning the Well: How the Feds Let Industry Pollute the Nation’s Underground Water Supply | Common Dreams
"Federal officials have given energy and mining companies permission to pollute aquifers in more than 1,500 places across the country, releasing toxic material into underground reservoirs that help supply more than half of the nation's drinking water."

New Study: Scientists' Early Climate Predictions Prove Accurate | Common Dreams

New Study: Scientists' Early Climate Predictions Prove Accurate | Common Dreams
"Leaders of the world's nations keep getting it wrong even as study after study and analysis after analysis show that climate scientists have been long getting it right on climate change.

The latest scientific report, which comes on the immediate heals on what campaigners called a "sham" of a climate summit in Doha, shows that the climate study released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1990 has proved remarkably prescient more than twenty years after its initial release."

There Is No Stopping Climate Change Unless We Can Mobilize Against Plutocracy | Alternet

There Is No Stopping Climate Change Unless We Can Mobilize Against Plutocracy | Alternet
"Neoliberalism is not the root of the problem: it is the ideology used to justify a global grab of power, public assets and natural resources by an unrestrained elite."

Climate Fail: Cop18 Ends in 'Betrayal' | Common Dreams

Climate Fail: Cop18 Ends in 'Betrayal' | Common Dreams
"The United Nations climate change conference concluded on Saturday, a day after the talks were slated to end, addressing only a fraction of global greenhouse gases, in what is seen by climate activists as "betrayal" of the people and a commitment to add fuel to a planet already on fire."

Fracking for Foreigners? New Report from Feds Backs More Natural Gas Exports

Fracking for Foreigners? New Report from Feds Backs More Natural Gas Exports
"How times have changed. Ten years ago the United States was looking at importing natural gas via massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, yet to be built. Now the country appears to be getting ready to significantly increase exports of LNG."

2012 Nearly Certain to Be Warmest Year Ever | Common Dreams

2012 Nearly Certain to Be Warmest Year Ever | Common Dreams
"2012 is nearly certain to be the warmest year ever for the US, according to the latest figures from the NOAA."

GOP Energy Chair Received Last-Minute Big Oil Donations After Hinting Oil Subsidies Could End

GOP Energy Chair Received Last-Minute Big Oil Donations After Hinting Oil Subsidies Could End: Big Oil subsidies have maintained a relatively low profile during fiscal showdown negotiations. But there is some chance the oil industry’s $4 billion annual subsidies could be on the chopping block in a deal. The first indication Republicans may possibly budge, after repeatedly blocking votes on the issue, came late in the election when House [...]/p

7 Ways Looming Budget Cuts To Public Lands And Oceans Will Affect Americans

7 Ways Looming Budget Cuts To Public Lands And Oceans Will Affect Americans:  On January 2, 2013 a set of large, across-the-board spending cuts to nearly all federal agencies is set to take place in accordance with the Budget Control Act 2011. These massive slashes—known as the “fiscal showdown” or “sequestration”—are a direct result of conservatives in Congress holding the [...]/p

Corporate Push for GMO Food Puts Independent Science in Jeopardy | Common Dreams

Corporate Push for GMO Food Puts Independent Science in Jeopardy | Common Dreams
"Today, independent science is threatened with extinction. While this is true in every field, it is the field of food and agriculture that I am most concerned about."

Why Protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Is Crucial for Our Survival | Alternet

Why Protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Is Crucial for Our Survival | Alternet
"The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is sacred -- not only to the Gwich’in, but to millions of Americans who have time and time again voiced their steadfast support of permanent protection of the Refuge."

Chasing Ice OFFICIAL TRAILER

Catastrophe in the Making: Mining for Uranium Could Begin on the East Coast | Alternet

Catastrophe in the Making: Mining for Uranium Could Begin on the East Coast | Alternet
"Despite public outcry, Virginia could permit mining at one of the world's largest uranium deposits."

Are the Koch Brothers the Single Biggest Obstacle to Preventing Disastrous Climate Change? | Alternet

Are the Koch Brothers the Single Biggest Obstacle to Preventing Disastrous Climate Change? | Alternet
"Researchers say Kochs have funneled tens of millions of dollars into climate denial science, lobbying and more to derail climate reforms."

Coal Export Threatens the Northwest

United States must take lead on climate change — before it’s too late

Green ‘sequester’ is already costing U.S. jobs: Job losses from ongoing clean-tech cuts will rival those from defense cuts | Economic Policy Institute

Green ‘sequester’ is already costing U.S. jobs: Job losses from ongoing clean-tech cuts will rival those from defense cuts | Economic Policy Institute
"Besides being a particularly good form of fiscal support to create jobs, the federal commitment to clean technology is likely to have beneficial long-run impacts if it is sustained. Many studies agree that there are hundreds of billions of dollars in high-return investments in clean technology that are currently not being made because of a range of market failures (Bivens 2012). Federal support for this technology can help alleviate these market failures. The most compelling reason to undertake aggressive federal support for clean technology is, of course, the threat of global climate change caused by the emission of greenhouse gases."

Why China Is So Wary Of Ambitious International Climate Targets

Why China Is So Wary Of Ambitious International Climate Targets: by Melanie Hart From many perspectives, China is a global powerhouse. China is the world’s second largest economy in terms of gross domestic product, the world’s largest energy consumer, and a global leader in renewable energy investment. China is also the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter. It is no surprise, then, that when it comes [...]/p

‘Chasing Ice’ and changing mindsets: A documentary on climate change

GOP Science Committee Member Unaware How Science Spreads To Other Countries

GOP Science Committee Member Unaware How Science Spreads To Other Countries: Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), already known as a doubter of the Big Bang theory, sits high on the list of Congressional Republicans on the House Committee on Space, Science, and Technology who have no idea how science works. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, Broun emphasized that point on Wednesday when he [...]/p

Bayou Frack-Out: The Massive Oil and Gas Disaster You've Never Heard Of

Bayou Frack-Out: The Massive Oil and Gas Disaster You've Never Heard Of
"For residents in Assumption Parish, the boiling, gas-belching bayou, with its expanding toxic sinkhole and quaking earth is no longer a mystery; but there is little comfort in knowing the source of the little-known event that has forced them out of their homes."

NOAA: Climate Change Driving Arctic Into A ‘New State’ With Rapid Ice Loss And Record Permafrost Warming

NOAA: Climate Change Driving Arctic Into A ‘New State’ With Rapid Ice Loss And Record Permafrost Warming: Arctic sea ice is melting much, much faster than even the best climate models had projected. The reason is most likely unmodeled amplifying feedbacks. Image via Arctic Sea Ice Blog. “Scary New Report on Arctic Ice” is the Weather Channel’s headline for NOAA’s sobering 2012 Arctic Report Card. Everyone should indeed be scared by what we are [...]/p

Fall of the Monarchs - In These Times

Fall of the Monarchs - In These Times
"Jackson, a volunteer for Monarch Watch, is part of a grassroots coalition of entomologists, conservationists and activists on both sides of the border. Their efforts to save the monarchs include a number of strategies to slow or halt U.S. herbicide use and Mexican logging."

Study: Corexit Made Gulf Oil Spill 52 Times More Toxic

Study: Corexit Made Gulf Oil Spill 52 Times More Toxic
"Julia Whitty writes for Mother Jones on the environment and she's written about the dramatic decline in microscopic life on Gulf beaches and also about how using dispersant allowed oil to penetrate much more deeply into beaches, possibly extending lifespan of its toxicity. Now she highlights a new study that finds the addition of Corexit to the Gulf oil explosion made the whole mess much more toxic:"

Filthy Five: New House Energy Committee Members Ignore Climate While Taking $1.7 Million From Fossil Fuels

Filthy Five: New House Energy Committee Members Ignore Climate While Taking $1.7 Million From Fossil Fuels:  Under the leadership of climate science denier and chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), the House Energy and Commerce Committee has repeatedly passed legislation that would increase oil and gas drilling and promote unchecked carbon pollution in the face of a rapidly warming climate. Nearly half of the sitting Republican committee [...]/p

Shale Shocked: Studies Tie Rise Of Significant Earthquakes In U.S. Midcontinent To Wastewater Injection

Shale Shocked: Studies Tie Rise Of Significant Earthquakes In U.S. Midcontinent To Wastewater Injection: Two new papers tie a recent increase in significant earthquakes to reinjection of wastewater fluids from unconventional oil and gas drilling. The first study notes “significant earthquakes are increasingly occurring within the United States midcontinent.” In the specific case of Oklahoma, a Magnitude “5.7 earthquake and a prolific sequence of related events … were likely triggered by fluid [...]/p

Climate Campaigners Demand UW Divest from Fossil Fuel

Climate Campaigners Demand UW Divest from Fossil Fuel
"MADISON -- This morning, a group of students and alumni delivered over 1,000 signatures to University of Wisconsin Foundation President Mike Knetter demanding that the university divest its holdings from the fossil fuel industry. The activists point to science that shows the industry is slowly cooking the planet and divestment, or "hitting them where is hurts," as a moral imperative."

Koch Carbon Kings a Driving Force Behind the U.N. Deadlock in Doha

Koch Carbon Kings a Driving Force Behind the U.N. Deadlock in Doha
"Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index recently ranked the Carbon Kings' net worth ($80.2B) as greater than that of the world’s wealthiest man, Carlos Slim ($71.8B), and the Kochs are using that money to kill any chance of United States climate legislation and convince America that "energy independence" is more important than cooking the planet. The report explains how the Kochs’ campaign contributions, lobbying legislators, funding climate denialists, attacking clean air laws, and stopping the shift in subsidies from fossil fuels has helped to halt any serious progress on climate policy in the United States. The result is a deadlock in addressing the global climate crisis."

Extreme Drought Continues, Could be Most Extreme Weather Event This Year | Common Dreams

Extreme Drought Continues, Could be Most Extreme Weather Event This Year | Common Dreams
"t's been overshadowed by other extreme weather events recently, but the extreme drought that plagued the U.S. this summer continues. In fact, according to the Drought Monitor, conditions have worsened slightly across the country. The extreme drought is likely to extend through February and could be the most extreme weather event in the U.S. this year, which is saying a lot in a year that saw a superstorm flood large swaths of New York City and knock out power to millions of people.

Beyond the millions of dollars in lost agricultural yield, the extreme drought threatens theOgallala Aquifer, the single most important water source in the High Plains regions."

ALEC, CSG, ExxonMobil Fracking Fluid “Disclosure” Model Bill Failing By Design » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

ALEC, CSG, ExxonMobil Fracking Fluid “Disclosure” Model Bill Failing By Design » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names
"Last year, a hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) chemical fluid disclosure “model bill” was passed by both the Council of State Governments(CSG) and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). It proceeded to pass in multiple states across the country soon thereafter, but as Bloomberg recently reported, the bill has been an abject failure with regards to "disclosure"."

Global Warming Is Behind The Real War On Christmas

Global Warming Is Behind The Real War On Christmas: It’s that time of year when Fox News and other conservative media outlets revive their imaginary “War on Christmas.” But the actual threat to one Christmas tradition comes from something more insidious than Fox’s perceived attacks: Extreme drought, fueled by climate change, has hit the Christmas tree market. 2012′s relentless drought will likely last through [...]/p

A (Scary) Cautionary Tale | Common Dreams

A (Scary) Cautionary Tale | Common Dreams
"It turns out B.P.'s Deepwater Horizon spill of almost five million gallons of oil wasn't nearly as disastrous as the two million gallons of dispersants used to clean it up - which, in a synergistic interaction, becomes up to 52 times more toxic to small organisms when mixed with oil."

Arizona Governor Shocked Reporter Would Ask About Climate Change Before Energy Speech

Arizona Governor Shocked Reporter Would Ask About Climate Change Before Energy Speech: Before Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) delivered a speech on energy this weekend, a reporter for the local station 3TV News managed to unnerve Brewer with the last issue she had in mind: Global warming. Unhappy with the question, Brewer confronted him afterward, asking, “Where in the hell did that come from?” Brewer, who denies [...]/p

The Top Fracking Threats to Health New York Must Assess | Alternet

The Top Fracking Threats to Health New York Must Assess | Alternet
"The good news is that a public health department— New York State’s Department of Health (DOH)— is finally undertaking an assessment of fracking’s likely health risks. The bad news is that it’s questionable whether it will allow adequate time to do a credible and complete job. So says a new scientific watchdog group launched to assure that science, rather than expediency prevails."

Happening Now: Tar Sands Activists Barricade Themselves Inside Keystone XL | Common Dreams

Happening Now: Tar Sands Activists Barricade Themselves Inside Keystone XL | Common Dreams
"Activists in Texas have taken their fight to stop the tar sands directly to belly of the beast Monday morning -- by sealing themselves inside of a section of pipe that will be part of the Keystone XL pipeline."

As Global Pollution Hits Record High, Frighteningly Hot Future Seems 'Inevitable' | Common Dreams

As Global Pollution Hits Record High, Frighteningly Hot Future Seems 'Inevitable' | Common Dreams
"New global carbon emission numbers released on Sunday show that the world is heading in the exact wrong direction when it comes to its energy production policies and scientists at the Global Carbon Project now say that frightening climate change impacts are all but inevitable without a "radical plan" to decrease the level of greenhouse gasses spewing into the atmosphere."

World Released 2.4 Million Pounds Carbon Pollution Every Second In 2011, A Record High

World Released 2.4 Million Pounds Carbon Pollution Every Second In 2011, A Record High: Carbon pollution shows no sign of slowing; 2011 emissions jumped 3 percent, and 2012 is on track for another 2.6 percent. According to a new report by the Global Carbon Project, the world’s fossil fuel addiction pumped 38.2 billion tons of carbon pollution, or 2.4 million every second, last year. The world’s top polluter, China, [...]/p

Oklahoma, Where The Denial Comes Right Behind The Drought

Oklahoma, Where The Denial Comes Right Behind The Drought: Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain And the wavin’ wheat can sure smell sweet When the wind comes right behind the rain. Over 90% of Oklahoma is now in extreme drought, up from 72% just a week ago. The drought seems to intensify the denial — a feedback that, if it continues, [...]/p

Yuck: Our Seafood Is Loaded with Unspeakably Gross Pollutants | Alternet

Yuck: Our Seafood Is Loaded with Unspeakably Gross Pollutants | Alternet
"These days, 91 percent of U.S. seafood is imported, and half of that is farmed (the other half is wild-caught). Our top suppliers include China, Thailand, Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Ecuador, and Vietnam. And the production systems some of these countries use would make your stomach turn."

Organic: Food Justice for the 99% | Common Dreams

Organic: Food Justice for the 99% | Common Dreams
"As Americans become increasingly aware of the story behind conventional foods—the ecologically destructive monoculture fields, the petrochemical fertilizers, the toxic pesticides and dangerous fumigants—the agrochemical industry has launched an all-out media offensive against the booming organic industry."

Study: Greenland, Antarctica shed nearly 5 trillion tons of ice over 20 years

Study: Greenland, Antarctica shed nearly 5 trillion tons of ice over 20 years
"For two decades, uncertainty over whether Antarctica was gaining mass or losing it from melting ice has made it difficult for scientists to predict the level of sea-level rise to be expected from global warming. The data showed, in the view of some scientists, that ice loss in the Arctic was being balanced by a gain in the Antarctic. Now a study published in the Nov. 30 issue of Science shows conclusively from satellite data that East Antarctica is, in fact, gaining ice, but the loss from western Antarctica and the Antarctic peninsula is twice as great as that gain.

In Greenland, the study concludes, ice is now melting at five times the rate it was in the 1990s.

Together with ice lost in Greenland, the melting in Antarctica has, the scientists say, raised sea levels worldwide by 11 mm in those 20 years, several times as much as previous measurements have shown. Combined loss: nearly 5 trillion metric tons of ice."