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New EPA Regs Address Fracking…in 2015
Karen Showalter
Apr20
Some good news: The Environmental Protection Agency issued important rules to address air pollution from natural gas drilling, primarily fracking. Less good news: Bending to pressure from Big Oil, the measures won’t go into effect until 2015. The regulations will require that new wells capture certain smog-forming compounds, as well as methane, which is a…
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Beware the Oil Industry’s Voldemort
Andy Rowell
Apr10
And so it goes on. Any regular reader of this blog will know that the good old boys at the American Petroleum Institute (API) often pluck magic figures out of the air to over-inflate the importance of the oil and gas industry to the economy. They also often distort key debates on offshore drilling and…
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$fracking$
US Oil Boom “Increases Energy Vulnerability”
Andy Rowell
Mar14
As the International Energy Agency warns that world oil markets face a “bumpy ride” in the months ahead, Barack Obama has being trying to defend his energy policies. His defence comes at a time when rising gas and energy production prices look increasingly likely to be become a key election issue in November, with his…
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Congress is “Most Anti-Green” in History
Andy Rowell
Aug02
OK there is only one story in town this week in Washington. With just hours to go the House of Representatives has just passed a last minute bill to raise the US borrowing limit, preventing the markets free-falling. The Senate is now expected to follow suit. The immediate reaction from the Democrats is anger that…
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UK Gov Dismisses Fracking Inquiry Call
Andy Rowell
Jun13
Another day and another review has been ordered into the controversial technique called fracking. Last week, the Governor of Maryland established the “Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative”, which will review the safety of the drilling technique for natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in Western Maryland. “We are also very concerned about an array of…
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Dash for Shale Gas Undermines Wind
Andy Rowell
May23
The last time that America’s pro-wind lobby came together for its regular get-together was in California in 2007. That time there were 5,000 attendees and the installed wind capacity in the US was 17 gigawatts. Four years later and on the surface it is a success story for America’s pro-wind lobby. Yesterday saw the opening…
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France to Say “Non” to Fracking
Andy Rowell
May11
Just last week, a study by the European Centre for Energy and Resource Security concluded that unconventional gas resources in Europe – such as shale gas – could radically reshape the continent’s oil and gas outlook, and reduce its dependency on Russia and the Middle East. The report said that, in theory “Europe’s unconventional gas…
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Who Needs Oil or Nukes Anyway?
Andy Rowell
May10
In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan many commentators, including some leading environmentalists argued that despite the inherent risks of nuclear power, it was still a necessary evil in the battle about climate change. They joined other pro-nuclear voices that have been growing steadily over the last few years in arguing that…
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Subsidy Battle Hots Up
Andy Rowell
May09
The showdown on gas prices and subsidy removal will intensify this week in Washington, when senior oil and gas executives are hauled before Congress to explain record profits at a time when consumers are hurting at the pumps. Legislation is being worked on by Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat and chairman of the Senate finance…
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The “Spill Amnesia Bill”
Andy Rowell
May06
A week, they say, can be a long time in politics. A year, therefore can be a lifetime. And long enough to forget. A year on from the Deepwater disaster, Republicans are acting as if the America’s largest ever oil spill did not in fact happen. It was just a distant bad dream. Yesterday, as…
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