The U.S. Senate has rejected the most recent attempt to go forward with the Keystone XL pipeline, but the 56 senators who voted for the Keystone XL amendment have received 500% more money from oil interests in the current Congress than those who voted no.
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New KXL Route “Within Weeks”
And so the fight over the Keystone XL pipeline goes on. TransCanada plans to refile its application with the U.S. government in the next few weeks, according to Alex Pourbaix, the company’s president of oil and pipelines. The new alternative pipeline route will avoid the ecologically sensitive Sandhills and the Ogallala Aquifer, a crucial water … Read More
“Desperate” Shell Goes to Court Over Arctic Drilling
Last week I blogged on the landmark legal case against Shell by Nigerians that was being heard in the Supreme Court. That’s not the only court-room Shell was in last week. In an extraordinary preemptive legal strike the oil giant filed suit against more than a dozen environmental organisations that Shell believes might challenge its … Read More
BP Settlement “doesn’t benefit my clients”
The saying in the city is that the markets do not lie. And after Friday’s late night deal to reach a settlement with plaintiffs for a reported $7.8 billion, shares this morning in BP are topping the FTSE 100. The company’s share have risen over 2 per cent this morning with some analysts saying the … Read More
Climate Denial in Canada’s Classrooms
More bad news for the climate deniers at the Heartland Institute, which is still badly reeling from the controversial leak of information of its budget and strategy documents. It has now been revealed that an associate of the Institute taught a course at a top Canadian university that contained over 140 false, biased and misleading … Read More
Shell Should be Guilty Again
Although the BP / Deepwater Horizon trial maybe hogging the headlines, another courtroom battle is equally intriguing and important. It is almost 3 years since the trial of Wiwa versus Shell settled for $15.5 million on the eve of the trial. Along with the Wiwa action, there was a parallel legal case, Kiobel Versus Shell, … Read More
BP Trial “Close to Settlement”
So the trial of the century may not happen after all. This morning, lawyers representing over 116,000 plaintiffs had been due in court in New Orleans to begin the trial against BP and other defendants resulting from the Deepwater Horizon. The trial could have lasted two years. Documents in the case run to more than … Read More
Rising gas prices, Keystone XL and the real solutions
with Steve Kretzmann Much is being written and said about rising gas prices, Obama’s energy policies in general and the Keystone XL pipeline in particular. While the President’s opponents repeat ad infinitum the “Drill Baby Drill” mantra, it has been interesting to note that much of the mainstream press has been skeptical. And so they … Read More
Bully-Boy Canada Threatens EU (Again)
For over a year now I have been working on and off with Friends of the Earth Europe examining the dirty lobbying by the Canadians on the EU’s Fuel Quality Directive. Last summer we produced a report entitled “Canada’s dirty lobby diary”. The report revealed the extent of Canada’s lobbying – one of the most … Read More
Hypocritical Heartland Threatens Critics
The climate sceptic think tank, the Heartland Institute, that last week was the victim of a devastating leak of information, has decided that attack is the best form of defence and has started threatening organisations and websites that published the leaked documents. It is interesting to dissect how Heartland, which has been in crisis mode … Read More