The debate over biofuels is set to become one of the most defining issues of our times. Put simply it will be a battle between the people being able to drive and those being able to eat. Of course it’s not that simple, but the warning signs are there already. Because the demand for biofuels … Read More
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EU Inspires Toronto to Act on Climate
The recent action by the EU to set mandatory CO2 reduction targets has inspired the Canadian city of Toronto to follow suit. A comprehensive city plan to combat climate change, includes proposals for a 30-per-cent cut in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020 — and 80 per cent by 2050.
FBI Widens North Slope Oil Probe
The FBI is investigating whether Alaska political appointees improperly punished state regulators who tried to enforce environmental rules against oil companies operating in Alaska. The inquiry is connected to an ongoing criminal investigation of BP for allowing pipelines it operates to corrode enough to cause a large oil spill on Alaska’s North Slope in 2006. … Read More
Open Skies Plan Will Worsen Climate Change
Plans to be agreed today at the EU to open up transatlantic aviation and generate an extra 26 million air passengers over five years will undermine Europe’s push to combat climate change, campaigners have warned. The “open skies” agreement is being hailed as a revolution by officials who say it will deliver more competition and … Read More
BP Workers “Exhausted” Says Union Leader
Safety issues continue to plague BP. Workers for BP allege that a labour shortage at Prudhoe Bay, the United States’ largest oil field has made conditions ripe for fatigue-related accidents similar to one that killed 15 employees at the company’s Texas plant in 2005. BP has failed to fill about a dozen vacancies for highly … Read More
Reinvented Gore Returns to Capitol Hill
What a difference a few years makes. Last time he was on Capital Hill, Al Gore had to formally swear in George Bush who had just beaten him in the battle for the White House. Yesterday Gore returned to talk about climate change. He is a changed man. Gore’s film An Inconvenient truth has not … Read More
Dem Leaders Endorse Iraqi “Oil Theft” Law
Among the many problems with the Democrats War Supplemental is the not so small fact that it endorses passage of the Iraqi Oil Law. “Democratic leadership is actively handing over Iraq’s oil to U.S. companies as some sort of war bounty,” said Antonia Juhasz, analyst with Oil Change International. Not so fast, say Dem Leaders … Read More
Plans to Beat Oil Bottleneck
Gulf governments are planning to build oil pipelines that will bypass the world’s most vulnerable energy choke point, the Strait of Hormuz, aiming to avoid possible Iranian threats to global oil shipments. Around two-fifths of the world’s traded oil is shipped by tanker through the Hormuz Strait. But the 54km wide passage is highly vulnerable … Read More
Police Quiz Total CEO in Corruption Probe
The head of France’s biggest listed company, oil group Total SA , is being questioned by police in a probe into alleged corruption in Iran, reports Reuters. Christophe de Margerie, who only moved up to the chief executive’s post at Total last month, has been under investigation for several months by French judges probing corruption … Read More
BP: “Organisational” Deficiencies Led to Fire
The long-awaited report by the US Chemical Safety Board concluded that “organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporation” caused the fire at the company’s Texas refinery in 2005. The 335-page report calls on the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to increase inspection and enforcement at U.S. oil refineries and … Read More