natural gas
-
Critical List: Sumatran elephants critically endangered; Al Gore goes on a cruise
Sumatran elephants are critically endangered. Watch out for the solar flare that’s supposed to hit Earth today! It’s the strongest since 2005. President Obama might pump increased domestic oil and gas production in his State of the Union.
-
Government energy geeks: Fracking might not get us as far as we thought
Government energy geeks from the Energy Information Administration this morning released the abridged version of their Annual Energy Outlook. One of the most dramatic bits of the outlook for 2012 is that the EIA cut their estimate of “technically recoverable” shale gas almost in half, from 827 trillion cubic feet to 482 trillion cubic feet. […]
-
Critical List: Republicans still want Keystone XL; Obama ad focuses on energy
The State Department denied TransCanada’s permit application for the Keystone XL pipeline. President Obama agreed, saying that he was rejecting the permit because Republicans wouldn’t stop trying to force the pipeline forward. Republicans are responding to this by looking into legislation that would force the pipeline forward. They’re also asking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton […]
-
Critical List: ‘Super fracking’; pollution threatens Lake Titicaca
Natural gas companies are looking into "super fracking," which uses larger, deeper cracks and draws power from our planet’s yellow sun.
West Virginians, Pennsylvanians, and Ohioans are all hoping that Shell will choose to build a petrochemical refinery in their state, because the plant promises jobs.
Maybe it's time to abandon Ulysses S. Grant's laws for federal land, which dictate that hard-rock mining is the best use for any plot. -
New York State legislators get $1.3 million from gas industry
New York State is considering whether and how to move forward with hydrofracking in the state, and by TOTAL COINCIDENCE the natural gas industry has spent $1.3 million -- a fortune in state-level campaign finance -- in donations to the New York legislators who will decide its fate.
According to an analysis by Common Cause New York, most of the money went to candidates for state legislature. Republicans received more than twice as much as Democrats. -
Critical List: Patagonia becomes a Benefit Corporation; oil industry threatens Obama
Patagonia has become a Benefit Corporation, which means it can prioritize goals other than profit.
The oil industry is sending a message to Obama: Approve the Keystone XL pipeline, or face the political music in 2012.
It is possible to avoid earthquakes when disposing of fracking wastewater. It's just really, really expensive.
The U.S. isn't the only country leery of the EU's carbon trading airline scheme: China's protesting, too. -
Oops: Gas Industry Study on Industry “Economics” Omits Costs of Water Contamination
Despite spending massively to position itself as “clean,” the natural gas industry has a serious pollution problem it doesn’t want getting more public and regulatory attention. Not only is the industry’s climate disruption footprint potentially heavierthan coal, the hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) practice the current gas boom depends on is contaminating our water supplies. The industry wants you […]
-
Don’t count on that shale gas revolution
Over at some raggedy-rag called Slate, energy futurist Chris Nelder takes a deep dive into the available data on how much natural gas we can get out of the rocks beneath the U.S. via fracking. His conclusion is that we could run out of natural gas in a decade, especially if we make a mass […]
-
Infographic: Fracking violations in Pennsylvania
The orange dots here are natural gas extraction operations with one or more environmental violations. But, you know, deer and rainbows! Click through to NPR's interactive graphic to find out more about each operation and how many laws they're flouting. (You can also get more detailed maps and information by county.)