oil
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Oil company ‘fesses up, feigns surprise about spill
Well, now we know the source of the renewed oil assault on Louisiana's shores. Oil company Anglo-Suisse Offshore Partners has admitted that it had a "minor leak" while plugging a disused oil well. In some kind of Chanukah miracle, the five gallons of crude they admit to spilling turned into a 30-mile-long wash of oil […]
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For sheer deadliness, nuclear can’t hold a candle to coal
Chart: Seth Godin Relative to watts produced, coal kills 4,000 times more people than nuclear power. Our pervasive sense that nuclear is more dangerous, when the opposite is so clearly true, comes at least in part from a cognitive bias called the "availability heuristic" — memorable events that are easier to think of, like nuclear […]
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Obama administration announces massive coal mining expansion
The future’s looking sooty.Photo: Tami Heilemann, DOIInterior Secretary Ken Salazar announced yesterday an enormous expansion in coal mining that threatens to increase U.S. climate pollution by an amount equivalent to more than half of what the United States currently emits in a year. A statement from Wild Earth Guardians, Sierra Club, and Defenders of Wildlife […]
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Louisiana’s new oil plague sounds tasty, is terrifying
Remember tar balls? Those were just an appetizer. The scary new oil formations washing up on Louisiana’s beaches sound like you’d get them at Whole Foods — “emulsified oil,” “oil mousse.” Um, yum? This comes right on the heels of the government approving deepwater exploration plans for the first time since last year’s disaster. Sure, […]
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Bingaman tells the truth about gas prices, is lonely in doing so
So I’m reading in Politico about Democratic fecklessness. (Yes, half my posts begin this way.) The problem is, whenever gas prices go up, Republicans benefit. They have a simple, powerful message ready to go, right off the shelf: drill here, drill now, pay less. Not enough drilling: that’s why gas prices are high. Drilling more: […]
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Thanks to Ringo Starr, Chevron won’t be forking over $18B to Ecuadoran Indians
Photo: Rainforest Action Network At least for now, Chevron doesn’t owe Ecuadoran villagers $18 billion for completely ruining their jungle with oil, a U.S. district court judge has ruled. That’s a reversal of a decision made last month by a court in Ecuador — but Judge Lewis Kaplan figures he has just as much say […]
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The collapse of the old oil order
No matter what comes of the protests in Iran, it’s unlikely that the country’s oil output will rise significantly.Photo: Hamed SaberThis essay was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom’s kind permission. Whatever the outcome of the protests, uprisings, and rebellions now sweeping the Middle East, one thing is guaranteed: The world […]
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Ask Umbra on turning plastic garbage into gasoline at home
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, Not long ago, I saw a video of a Japanese scientist who had created a small machine that converted discarded plastics back into fuel. He was demonstrating it to schoolchildren. Is something happening with this technology? If it is true it could certainly help to save us […]
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It’s like Gadhafi is telling us to get off oil or something
Self-congratulatory poster of Gadhafi in Green Square in Tripoli, LibyaPhoto: QuigiboMoammar Gadhafi is a crazy dictator who is murdering his populace and needs to get a cruise missile shat down his neck, but what we all really want to know is: how are the actions of this homicidal crazypants going to affect our summer vacation? […]
