Blog

Oil giant BP continues to be tormented by the legacy of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Yesterday, the World Bank’s Executive Directors agreed to a new ‘Energy Sector Directions Paper’ which lays out the expected course for the Bank’s future energy lending. While there are some encouraging indications that the Bank will move away from coal financing, the increased emphasis on natural gas and large hydropower is likely to undermine the strategy’s stated objective of increasing energy access for the poor.

If Keystone is the key to the next phase of the development of the tar sands, it is key to unlocking carbon we cannot afford to burn.

Fracking has led to a boom in sand mining in the US, with nearly 50 million tons of sand mined in 2011.

Two prominent Congressmen, Representative Henry Waxman and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse yesterday called on the State Department to correct “significant mistakes” in its draft evaluation of the environmental impact of the Keystone XL pipeline.

KXL’s supporters have been quick to promote the oil train tragedy in Quebec arguing that the disaster proves that transporting oil by pipeline is safer.

Canada is looking to exploit a sludgy bitumen like substance, called Dolofudge, located near the tar sands. The Canadians are saying the region could contain some 500 billion barrels of Dolofudge– more than the combined recoverable reserves of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Later today, the 4th Annual Healing Walk will take place near Fort McMurray in Alberta in Canada.

The madness surrounding Britain’s fracking frenzy reached new heights this morning when London’s Conservative Mayor argued that fracking could take place on the streets of London.

The continued frenzy over fracking is ignoring new scientific research which shows groundwater contamination near wells.