Research

This Congress is on track to be the dirtiest ever. In the current cycle (since January 2011) dirty energy companies have spent at least $43.5 million on influencing federal elections in America.

This report finds that Keystone XL would reduce gasoline supplies in America by diverting Canadian tar sands crude from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast, blowing apart the tar sands industry's claims that building the Keystone XL pipeline would lower gasoline prices in America.

This briefing finds that the transport of tar sands oil through pipelines in the United States is exempt from payments into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which creates a free ride worth over $375 million to tar sands oil producers between 2010 and 2017.

The Keystone XL pipeline has been presented as a boon to U.S. energy security by its proponents. It is no such thing.

Tar sands extraction projects are moving forward with increasing pace. The industry ambition is to grow production from today’s level an extraordinary 140 percent by 2025.

The World Bank Group is experiencing clear difficulties in synching its core lending and its energy strategy with climate goals, and the institution has taken steps that can easily be viewed as creating a conflict of interest. Given these difficulties and contradictions, the institution should focus on cleaning up its own act before making further forays into climate finance initiatives.

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, also called the “supercommittee,” must vote by November 23rd on a plan that would reduce the deficit by at least $1.5 trillion. Ending taxpayer subsidies to oil, gas, and coal companies has been suggested by Democratic leaders in Congress and many organizations as something for the chopping block

Keystone XL is a proposed 1,700 mile crude oil pipeline that is designed to bring tar sands derived crude oil from Alberta, Canada to Texas. Its proponents claim that Keystone XL and the Canadian crude oil it will deliver will enhance U.S. energy security. This fact sheet explains why this claim is false.

Keystone XL will not lessen U.S. dependence on foreign oil, but rather transport Canadian oil to American refineries for export to overseas markets.

A dual focus on increasing access to energy services for the world’s poorest and promoting clean sources of energy is a win-win scenario for development and the environment.