Research

This report examines the development of bitumen-by-rail at a time when its growth is expected to take a substantial leap. How much bitumen is actually moving by rail in 2014? What is the capacity of loading and unloading terminals that are realistically positioned to handle tar sands bitumen? How profitable is bitumen-by-rail? What are the challenges it faces, and what can we realistically expect for the future?

A new report by Oil Change International identifies billions of dollars in subsidies for fossil fuel exploration from the world’s wealthiest countries.

A new report by Oil Change International, Cashing in on All of the Above: U.S. Fossil Fuel Production Subsidies under Obama, demonstrates the huge and growing amount of subsidies going to the fossil fuel industry in the U.S. every year. In 2013, the U.S. federal and state governments gave away $21.6 billion in subsidies for oil, gas, and coal exploration and production.

This report tracks the rise of crude-by-rail in North America, detailing where crude trains are being loaded and unloaded, how many trains carrying crude oil are crossing the North American continent, and who is involved in this burgeoning trade.

Big Oil is working to extract every last drop of oil on the continent — regardless of the cost to our communities or climate. To succeed, they need ways to transport their explosive fuels, which is why they’re pushing new pipelines and increased crude-by-rail simultaneously. But recent pipeline spills and train accidents show that neither is safe. That’s why we’ve developed the materials on this page to help push back against the industry’s dangerous expansion.

A new report by Oil Change International and the Sierra Club, Polluting Our Democracy and Our Environment: Dirty Fuels Money in Politics, demonstrates the enormous amount of campaign finance contributions pouring into Congress by the fossil fuel industry, a problem that is only getting worse. With the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC, super-wealthy donors can now funnel unlimited amounts of outside money into political campaigns and elections. As a result of this ruling, outside spending increased by an enormous11,761 percentbetween the 2008 and 2012 elections.

World Bank Group finance for fossil fuel exploration projects from FY2008 to 2013 was highest in 2013, at nearly $1 billion out of $2.7 billion total for fossil fuel projects.

The U.S. oil industry’s biggest players, including ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute, are calling for an end to the U.S. ban on crude oil exports that has been in place for more than four decades since the 1973 Arab oil embargo. Their reasons are clear, as lifting the ban would boost profits by enabling companies to sell American oil at higher global market prices.

Frozen Future' warns investors of the risks to shareholder value from Royal Dutch Shell’s Alaskan Arctic drilling program.

In 2009, President Obama made a commitment to reduce U.S. greenhouse gases by 17 percent by 2020.  The Obama administration put this forward as the U.S. share of a global effort to limit climate change to no more than two degrees Celsius – the target scientists tell us may be safe.  Achieving this target, which has been unanimously agreed on a global level, is central to the success of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, announced in June of last year.