As Colonel Gaddafiâs power slowly ebbs away in Libya, many people will be worried that he is planning a brutal, bloody, finale. Predicting the unpredictable dictator is a dangerous game. But in mapping how the end game is going to play out, you could also play the blame game in how we got here. And … Read More
Month: February 2011
Join the International Call: World Bank, Free Us from Fossil Fuels
Itâs time to shift international energy investments to support energy services that are clean, reliable, and sustainable, and honestly provide energy access for the poorest. You can help. The World Bank â an influential development bank that runs on taxpayer money â is currently updating its Energy Strategy that will guide its investments for the … Read More
Here we go again! Blah baby Blah
As oil prices surge in response to the appalling violence in Libya, the House Natural Resources Committee offered their usual worn out suggestions for addressing Americaâs vulnerability to oil price shocks; more domestic drilling. Clearly energy only means one thing to this GOP dominated committee, fossil fuels. Domestic drilling may help Americans feel like somethingâs … Read More
Tar Sands Threatens Canada-EU Deal
This is a diplomatic row that has been rumbling for some time and it could get nasty. Back in 2009, the EU proposed legislation that would cut imports of dirty tar sands from Canada, as part of its Fuel Quality Directive, which was introduced to encourage cleaner, greener fuels. Canada was worried that the tar … Read More
âThe last man will switch off the buttonâ
At one point yesterday, Brent crude, the European benchmark grade of oil was topping $108 a barrelâits highest level in 2Âœ years. Such is the surge in oil prices caused by the Libyan crisis that it could derail the global economic recovery according to Fatih Birol, the International Energy Agency’s chief economist. Analysts argue that … Read More
Welcome to the âInvertebrate Graveyardâ
Do you remember when last August that the US government announced that seventy-five per cent of the oil from BP’s Deepwater disaster had miraculously âdisappearedâ? This led to a plethora of press reports and blog posts that the ecological effects of the disaster had been over-exaggerated. At the time Samantha Joye, a marine scientist at … Read More
Oil Industry front group attacks fracking critics
This post by Brendan DeMelle originally appeared on DeSmog Blog. DeSmogBlog has uncovered an industry memo revealing that âEnergy In Depthâ is hardly comprised of the mom-and-pop âsmall, independent oil and natural gas producersâ it claims to represent. In fact, the industry memo we found, entitled âHydraulic Fracturing Under Attack,â shows that Energy In Depth … Read More
Exxon is Running Out of Oil
When the history of the hydrocarbon age is written, the one company that will personify Big Oil more than any other will be Exxon. Yes, there are other oil majors like Shell and BP, but they are like young pretenders to the Oil King. Exxon is the company that has bet its future on oil, … Read More
Chevron Guilty
In an historic victory, a small court in Lago Agrio, in Ecuador’s Amazon has ordered that Chevron pay some $8.6 billion in damages. The court ruled in favour of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon who have spent the last 18 years seeking damages for systematic and chronic oil pollution. Chevron inherited the suit when … Read More
Republicans Wield the Knife
The knives are out. Well its more more like they are wielding axes or even chainsaws, as they pick up the pace in their attack on Obamaâs budget proposals. Late last week, the House Appropriations Committee released a partial list of where itâs wants to find nearly $75 billion in cuts in federal spending cuts. … Read More
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