In a surprise move, Kurdish lawmakers have announced that they plan to oppose Iraq’s controversial US-backed oil law. Back in February, the Kurds had agreed to support the draft law, which has been heavily criticised as giving too much control...
Germany may have often led the way in Europe on environmental issues, but Germans still love their cars. A sophisticated and intense campaign by the German motor industry recently scuppered new EU rules on tight emissions for motor vehicles. In...
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, fears the Americans will torpedo his government if his parliament does not pass Iraq’s controversial oil law. In what could be construed as diplomatic blackmail, American support for the al-Maliki administration is dependent on...
The long-awaited report by the US Chemical Safety Board concluded that “organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporation” caused the fire at the company’s Texas refinery in 2005. The 335-page report calls on the U.S. Occupational...
What a difference a few years makes. Last time he was on Capital Hill, Al Gore had to formally swear in George Bush who had just beaten him in the battle for the White House. Yesterday Gore returned to talk...
Plans to be agreed today at the EU to open up transatlantic aviation and generate an extra 26 million air passengers over five years will undermine Europe's push to combat climate change, campaigners have warned. The "open skies" agreement is...
The FBI is investigating whether Alaska political appointees improperly punished state regulators who tried to enforce environmental rules against oil companies operating in Alaska. The inquiry is connected to an ongoing criminal investigation of BP for allowing pipelines it operates...
Vermont is famous for its maple trees. But for how much longer? Climate change is pushing the North American maple zone gradually but inexorably northwards towards Canada. According to Rupert Cornwell in the Independent, one day soon the maple may...
The bankrupt Russian oil company Yukos, whose former owner Mikhail Khordorkovsky languishes in a Siberian prison, is to be sold off next month in the first in a series of “bargain basement” auctions. Russian bankruptcy officials have confirmed that the...
A BP employee has admitted destroying documents after plaintiffs' lawyers subpoenaed her laptop on an anonymous tip that she had information useful in the lawsuits against the UK oil company arising from its fatal refinery explosion, reports the Financial Times....
