Andy Rowell

And so the free-fall continues. The price of Brent crude has fallen this morning below $60 a barrel for the first time since July 2009. The price of US crude is below $55.

Not content with polluting our air and water and causing immeasurable harm to both the environment and health, the fracking industry has now come up with a novel idea: the consumer should pay for the polluting process as well.

The US shale industry faces a Darwinian struggle over the next few months as only the fittest producers will survive as the price of crude plunges to $50 a barrel, the Bank of America has warned.

The message from the markets for the North American oil industry is summed up in four simple words by the Financial Times today: “No respite for oil.”

Many people concerned about climate change may be focussed on the ongoing UN climate negotiations in Lima, but back home in the US it is business as usual for the oil and gas industry: they are secretly lobbying to delay action on climate and undermine America’s environmental protection laws.

A new peer-reviewed scientific paper, published today in Reviews on Environmental Health, adds to the growing evidence of harm from fracking, especially to women and young children. But men also should be worried too.