If you believe the press reports, you’d think that the oil industry was hurting of late, what with the headlines coming out of the most recent quarterly earnings reports saying things like, “Exxon and Shell Earnings Disappoint,” and “Occidental quarterly profit lower”, and “Chevron 2nd-Quarter Profit Off 6.8%; Upstream Earnings Fall”. These headlines paint a … Read More
energy policy
Dirty Energy Money Buys Yet Another House Vote: H.R.4480
The US House of Representatives voted on H.R.4480: the Strategic Energy Production Act earlier today. The vote passed 248-163. Once again, dirty energy money interests have prevailed. Those voting in favor of the measure have taken over $52 million from the oil, gas and coal industries since 1999, and almost $11 million in this Congress … Read More
New EPA Regs Address Fracking…in 2015
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 … Read More
Beware the Oil Industry’s Voldemort
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 … Read More
US Oil Boom “Increases Energy Vulnerability”
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 … Read More
Congress is “Most Anti-Green” in History
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 … Read More
UK Gov Dismisses Fracking Inquiry Call
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 … Read More
Dash for Shale Gas Undermines Wind
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 … Read More
France to Say “Non” to Fracking
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 … Read More
Who Needs Oil or Nukes Anyway?
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 … Read More