Finally a new report, released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED), begins to quantify how much rich nations—and taxpayers—are supporting fossil-fuel production and consumption. The numbers are staggering. During each of the last five years, between US$...
In less than two weeks the Congressional Supercommittee must submit a plan to Congress to reduce the deficit by at least $1.5 trillion. One of the big questions is whether the Supercommittee will recommend cutting billions of dollars in subsidies...
It wasn’t meant to be like this. After nearly a decade of war, chaos and bloodshed, the Iraqi oil industry was meant to be controlled by the bureaucrats and politicians from Baghdad. But Big Oil obviously has other ideas, and...
Alberta’s minister of energy Ron Liepert was in New York this week and took the opportunity to threaten the State Department over the slow pace (as he sees it) of the approval process for the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline...
As the row over the Keystone XL pipeline continues, the US is sending mixed messages over the dirty tar sands. Speaking to the Gas and Oil Expo and Conference, David Jacobson, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, waxed lyrical about Canada,...
Last week, came the news that an Exxon pipeline had ruptured into the beautiful Yellowstone river. This was quickly followed by the revelations that the controversial Keystone XL pipeline would pass under the same stretch of river, raising doubts over...
Just as BP slowly begins to rebuild its tarnished reputation, it has slipped up again. Not in a catastrophic company-threatening way like it did last year but a much smaller spill, this time in Alaska. Although the amount spilt –...
One of the biggest problems for proponents of the tar sands (apart from frying the climate and polluting the local rivers and ripping up ancient boreal forests) is getting the dirty oil to hungry markets. The route south from Alberta...
Was the western intervention in Libya primarily driven by oil? The answer depends on who you ask, but as usual, in the volatile mix of international politics, oil is never far from the surface. It certainly helps the case of...
One of the most unreported legacies of the Exxon Valdez oil spill was the devastating long-term health impact of many of the clean-up workers and communities. Thousands of people suffered short-term and long-term effects from the spill. An unknown number...
