lobbying | The Price of Oil

Posts in lobbying

Koch-ing the Climate: Exploiting the Tar Sands
Andy Rowell
May14
Last week, the god-father of climate science, James Hansen, who directs the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, re-iterated his warning about exploiting the tar sands in an op-ed in the New York Times. His warning was dire: “Canada’s tar sands contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our…
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Big Oil Approved Canada’s FQD Strategy
Andy Rowell
Apr30
We have known for a long time that the Canadian government was colluding with the oil and gas industry over tar sands and its campaign against Europe’s Fuel Quality Directive (FQD). But new documents have come to light that reveal the extent of that collusion, especially between Big Oil and Natural Resources Canada, the Department…
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“Bully-Boy Canada” Delays EU Action (Again)
Andy Rowell
Apr24
One of the dirtiest and diplomatically-brutal PR campaigns ever witnessed in Brussels has once again paid off. At the end of last week, the EU finally buckled to Canadian arm-twisting and delayed the introduction of the long awaited Fuel Quality Directive, which is designed to reduce carbon emissions from transport fuels. The European Council –…
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Bully-Boy Canada Threatens EU (Again)
Andy Rowell
Feb21
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…
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Protest Against “Big Oil Corruption”
Andy Rowell
Jan24
At noon today, a coalition of environmental groups, including Oil Change International and 350.org will blow the whistle of “Big Oil’s corruption” on Capitol Hill, hours before Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address. Activists will be gathering at the Capitol dressed in referee uniforms and then heading to our old friends at…
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Oh the Canadian hypocrisy..
Andy Rowell
Jan09
For over two years now the Canadian and Albertan governments have engaged in one of the most extensive public relations campaigns ever seen at the EU. They have been trying to undermine European efforts to tackle climate change through the Fuel Quality Directive. They even set up a secret task force to push their pro-tar…
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Tar Sands: Britain is “Canada’s Partner in Crime”
Andy Rowell
Nov28
Late last week on the eve of the Durban climate talks, the British Climate Change secretary, Chris Huhne boasted that Britain was showing “leadership” in the UN negotiations. But whilst Britain is bragging about leading the climate change fight, it is still leading the pro-tar sands charge in Europe; a somewhat hypocritical position. This dirty…
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Britain Backs Canadian Bullying Over Tar Sands
Andy Rowell
Oct26
Britain was joined by some Eastern European countries yesterday in backing Canada in its dirty fight to force the EU not to discriminate against the tar sands in the Fuel Quality Directive. A meeting of European environment experts yesterday had been expected to vote on a proposal by the European Commission to give a different…
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Talking Dirty in the President’s Ear
Andy Rowell
Oct25
The revolving door between the Obama Administration and TransCanada keeps on spinning, despite a decision on the hugely controversial pipeline just weeks away. Let’s not forget the first revolving door story, which revolves around Paul Elliott, who is TransCanada’s lobbyist promoting Keystone XL. Elliot worked for Hilary Clinton during her 2008 campaign. Recently released embarrassing…
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From selling cigarettes to dirty oil
Andy Rowell
Oct24
For anyone who has watched the parody film “Thank you for smoking”, they would know that being a spin doctor for a tobacco company is one of the more dubious ethical career choices. If anyone had the inclination, there are thousands of internal tobacco industry documents online that show that the tobacco industry has systematically…
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