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Analysis: Bill to Fast-Track Keystone Pipeline Loses Democratic Support. But Why?
Posted by InsideClimate: None Given on May 23rd, 2013
InsideClimate: Republicans in the House of Representatives pushed through a bill on Wednesday that would force federal approval of the Keystone XL pipeline without further review. The vote was 241 to 175. The legislation is the latest of several attempts by Congress to force the Obama administration's hand. It is unlikely to be taken up in the Senate and the White House has threatened a veto. If anything, the bill's backers may have lost ground this time, and ended up with a much more partisan divide. Only 19...
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Arkansas Oil Spill Shatters American Dream of Families Still Displaced From New Homes
Posted by InsideClimate: None Given on May 2nd, 2013
InsideClimate: It has been more than a month now, and Amber Bartlett has had enough of hotels and apartments and trailer homes. Of crowded rooms whose thin walls amplify the bickering of her four children. Of piles of toys and clothes overflowing from drawers and suitcases. Of not knowing, day to day, where her life is headed. She wants to be back in her five-bedroom, three-bathroom home at16 Starlite Road North in Mayflower, Ark. Ryan Senia, the Bartletts' next-door neighbor, is plenty ready to go home, too....
Exxon Oil Spill Could Be 40% Larger Than Company Estimates, EPA Figures Show
Posted by InsideClimate: None Given on April 5th, 2013
InsideClimate: UPDATE: After this story was published, ExxonMobil updated the joint command incident report for Friday. The report now says that approximately 5,000 barrels of oil spilled in Mayflower.
Since ExxonMobil’s Pegasus pipeline ruptured and leaked Canadian oil across an Arkansas suburb a week ago, the company has maintained that only "a few thousand barrels" spilled at the site.
"We've had no reason to change that at this stage," Exxon spokesman Charles Engelmann told InsideClimate News on Friday....
American Pipeline Will Diminish Energy Security, Prominent Canadian Says
Posted by InsideClimate: None Given on March 13th, 2013
InsideClimate: Prominent Canadian economist Robyn Allan [3] made waves in Canada last year with papers claiming that rapid oil sands growth would do more economic harm than good for her country. Allan's controversial analyses [4] focused on the Northern Gateway pipeline, a proposal to carry raw tar sands bitumen through British Columbia for shipment to Asia. One of her main points was that shipping raw crude for upgrading and refining in other countries also means exporting those industries—and jobs—abroad. ...
Moniz: Shale Gas Boom a Low-Carbon Solution—for Now
Posted by InsideClimate: None Given on February 21st, 2013
InsideClimate: The likely nomination of nuclear physicist Ernest Moniz to lead the Department of Energy has drawn criticism from some environmentalists who say his support for natural gas and close ties to industry would undermine efforts to tackle climate change. Moniz strongly favors natural gas as a "bridge fuel" and directs the MIT Energy Initiative, a research program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that is funded by some of the world's largest fossil fuel companies. "His appointment to the DOE...
Oil Sands Mining Uses Up Almost as Much Energy As It Produces
Posted by InsideClimate: None Given on February 19th, 2013
InsideClimate: The average "energy returned on investment," or EROI, for conventional oil is roughly 25:1. In other words, 25 units of oil-based energy are obtained for every one unit of other energy that is invested to extract it. But tar sands oil is in a category all its own. Tar sands retrieved by surface mining has an EROI of only about 5:1, according to research scheduled to be released Tuesday. Tar sands retrieved from deeper beneath the earth, through steam injection, fares even worse, with a maximum...