Economists: Coal Is Incredibly Costly

Economists: Coal Is Incredibly Costly: pA new economic analysis of the costs of pollution to the United States finds that coal power is harming the economy. In the American Economic Review article “Environmental Accounting for Pollution in the United States Economy,” economists Nicholas Z. Muller, Robert Mendelsohn, and William Nordhaus model the physical and economic consequences of emissions of six [...]/p

State Department Keystone XL Hearings Run By TransCanada Contractor

As per Zalik: How the law is structured by and for the interests of extractive industries---

TransCanada (the pipeline company) contractors and the API helped write the Environmental Impact Statement on the Keystone XL Pipeline, for the State Department.

This - under Obama - is about as good as it got during the Bush era for big oil.

Government of the people, by the people, and for the people?



State Department Keystone XL Hearings Run By TransCanada Contractor: pIn a stunning conflict of interest, public hearings on federal approval for a proposed tar sands pipeline are being run by a contractor for the pipeline company itself. The U.S. Department of State’s public hearings along the proposed route of the TransCanada Keystone XL tar sands pipeline this week are under the purview of Cardno [...]/p

Tar Sands: Is it the Pipeline or the Tar Sands that's the Problem Here?

NYT : Rancor Grows Over Keystone Pipeline

The Keystone Debate (from Rigzone)

The Keystone Debate --

Wagers that Obama will end up signing this thing, despite the bigger issue of dirty tar sands oil.

Prelude to Oiligarchy: Oil Money at Work

A Billionaires' Coup in the US

By George Monbiot
The Guardian/UK
September 23, 2011
...
So who or what is Americans for Prosperity? It was founded
and is funded by Charles and David Koch. They run what they
call "the biggest company you've never heard of", and between
them they are worth $43bn. Koch Industries is a massive oil,
gas, minerals, timber and chemicals company. In the past 15
years the brothers have poured at least $85m into lobby
groups arguing for lower taxes for the rich and weaker
regulations for industry. The groups and politicians the
Kochs fund also lobby to destroy collective bargaining, to
stop laws reducing carbon emissions, to stymie healthcare
reform and to hobble attempts to control the banks. During
the 2010 election cycle, AFP spent $45m supporting its
favoured candidates.

Ottawa Tar Sands Protest - DIRTY OIL - Part1 and Part 2

Tar Sands Action Plans To Encircle The White House

Tar Sands Action Plans To Encircle The White House: pIt’s been several weeks since the last people got out of jail in Washington, DC at the end of two weeks of civil disobedience that led to 1,253 arrests to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. On Sunday, Nov. 6 — a year before the presidential election — the Tar Sands Action will return [...]/p

60 Minutes on "The Oil Sands"

Tar Sands - The Dirty Truth

Does the Public Have a Say on Tar Sands

How public hearings on Keystone XL Pipeline are structured by State Department:

http://www.tarsandsaction.org/keystone-xl-state-department-hearings/

Anti-Tar Sands Action in Ottawa, pictures (9/26/11)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenpeace_canada/sets/72157627630414027/with/6186173018/

Scientific American: Health Problems and Gas Wells Linked?

Science Lags as Health Problems Emerge Near Natural Gas Fields

note the onslaught of gas defenders in the comments....  the battle over 'science' is at once a battle over truth, and over the criteria of reasoned debate in our country as a whole...

On democratic values and our chief Middle East supplier

Saudi King Gives Women Right to Vote

and that sort of means something.

Jimmy Carter reflects on oil

Apropos of our conversation yesterday. Coincidentally, he's looking back 30 years ago at the U.S., energy, and oil -- a video, check it out.

From Platt's

You may have to sign in.  If anyone is interested in doing a historical project, we can get access.

Libya's National Oil Company back in business fueling Europe...

EU Lifts Sanctions On Libyan NOC, Clears More Libyan Oil Imports

The European Union said Friday it was lifting sanctions on Libya's National Oil Corp. following the fall of Col. Moammar Gadhafi last month, ending a key hurdle to the meaningful return of the country's oil exports to European consumers.  (RIGZONE)

The American Dream: Oil and Gas Billionaires on Forbes Richest List

47 O&G Billionaires Make List of Forbes' Richest Americans (Rigzone)


Warren Buffet, with lots of $$ in oil and gas, is #2.
Charles Koch, and his brother David Koch, right-wing pipeline men about whom we will speak in our oiligarchy section, are tied for #4.  (25 Billion each)
See also, straight from Forbes, the glorification of unimaginable wealth.

From Latin America, new convergence of oil giants and biofuel interests

Brazilian Indians Demand Shell leave their land


http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3208-brazilian-indians-demand-shell-leave-their-land-

Hydrocarbons and a New Strategic Region: The Caspian Sea and Central Asia

Article from Military Review (2001) on oil and strategy in Caspian Central Asia (re: Afghanistan and pipelines)

Hydrocarbons and a New Strategic Region: The Caspian Sea and Central Asia

Great Resource on Oil in the Persian Gulf

For maps, background on so forth on Persian Gulf Oil projects...

Foreign Policy's Oil issue, September 2009

thegulfblog, with maps, articles and so forth.

Is Oil Running Out, or Is it Not?

The "peak oil" discourse works in multiple directions, in this article, Rigzone editorialist John C.K. Daly comments on Daniel Yergin's (author of The Prize) recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal, which argued that we would find more oil...

Read on:  Rigzone

Yergin's WSJ editorial is on our telesis site.

US to Sell New Onshore Alaska Oil Leases 'Late This Year'

Read Article from Rigzone, on lease sales in Alaska

#OCCUPYWALLST Continues in New York City

#OCCUPYWALLST Continues in New York City

EPA TO HOLD HEARINGS ON NATURAL GAS AND OIL POLLUTION

EPA to Hold Three Public Hearings on Proposed Air Pollution Standards for Oil and Natural Production

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold three public hearings in September on the agency’s proposed standards to reduce air pollution from oil and gas drilling operations.  The proposed standards would rely on cost-effective, existing technologies and practices to reduce pollution that contributes to smog and can cause cancer, while supporting the administration’s priority of continuing to expand safe and responsible domestic oil and natural gas production.

WHAT:             Public hearings on proposed air pollution standards for the oil and natural gas industry

WHEN:             Sept. 27, 28 and 29, 2011

                        Each hearing will begin at 9 a.m. and continue until 8 p.m. (local time)

WHERE:           Sept. 27:  Pittsburgh

                        David L. Lawrence Convention Center

                        Rooms 315-316

                        1000 Ft. Duquesne Blvd.

                        Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222
                 

                        Sept. 28:  Denver

                        Colorado Convention Center

                        Room 207

                        700 14th St.

                        Denver, Colo.  80202

                        Sept. 29: Arlington, Texas

                        Arlington Municipal Building

                        City Council Chambers

                        101 W. Abram St.

                        Arlington, Texas 76010

                       

                        To register to speak at a specific time at any of the hearings, please contact Joan C. Rogers at 919-541-4487 or rogers.joanc@epa.gov. People also may sign up to speak in person on the day of a hearing; however, they may not be given their preferred time slot to speak. EPA must issue a final rule by Feb. 28, 2012.

                                         

More information on the proposal:  http://epa.gov/airquality/oilandgas/    

Rush on Oil or New Onslaught on Nature in the Americas?

New Fields May Propel Americas to Top of Oil Companies’ Lists

Speculation about the rush on oil in Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Canada ---

Note the tone of wild dreaming, even in the voice of the journalist.  This is peculiar to oil discourse, which tends to stimulate a kind of boom-desire fantasizing.  

And note phrasings like, "the emerging prize of global energy" - which contributes to the sense that this is a rush, a race, a battle for the treasures of the earth.  

This is certainly not neutral journalistic discourse, and, while evading other possible ways of 'talking about' oil, it also reflects more broadly the culture of the oil industry and the popular imagination.

So much for the idea that the NYT is simply a liberal rag.

Carnegie Council's Evan O'Neil: Don't Build Keystone XL

http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/commentary/data/000220?sourceDoc=000052

From conservative ranchers to tree-huggers, to mainstream think tanks that usually don't take a stand on things like this, a consensus emerges that this pipeline to transport tar sands oil is a really bad idea.

U.S. shale oil scheme and water...

Yet another reason to question shale oil and gas development as a 'solution' to anything.

GAO: Water Supply Poses Obstacle to Green River Oil Shale Dev't

"Some analysts project that large scale oil shale development within Colorado could require more water than is currently supplied to over 1 million residents of the Denver metro area and that water diverted for oil shale operations would restrict agricultural and urban development." 

"About 72 percent of this oil shale is located beneath federal lands managed by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management, making the federal government a key player in potential development of this resource. The federal government through the Department of Energy and Interior sponsors research on the impacts of oil shale on water resources."

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?hpf=1&a_id=110799

Speaking of how meaningless "sustainability" has become....

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index, created annually, ranks companies in different economic sectors according to their "Corporate Sustainability," defined as:

Corporate Sustainability is a business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments. Corporate sustainability leaders achieve long-term shareholder value by gearing their strategies and management to harness the market's potential for sustainability products and services while at the same time successfully reducing and avoiding sustainability costs and risks. (source)

Note that, although some of their fonts are green, and there is a picture of a tree and some rocks on this website, this has virtually nothing to do with social or environmental sustainability as understood by most activists.  This is about sustainability of the corporation as a business enterprise, not sustainability of society or the environment.

This year's winner in the 'Oil and Gas' category is Repsol, S.A., a Spanish-Argentine giant with oil and gas projects around the world.  Seems a bit funny.  

China: Central Planning Goes from All Out to....

“The government must take the leading role in controlling unrealistic growth” of the auto industry, Jiang Kejun, the influential director of the Energy Research Institute at the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planning agency, said Sunday during a speech at the conference."

To suggest that cars should be about fuel efficiency, and not sheer quantity of production seems reasonable. Though ultimately, looks like they aim to hit the market with cars, cars, cars.  Quandary: when does central planning seek to sensibly address environmental issues and when does it merely promote increased production, however tactically allocated? 


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/05/business/global/china-changes-direction-on-car-sales.html?scp=1&sq=china%20cars&st=cse

Gernot Wagner on the futility of individualized approaches to sustainability

He's certainly right that individual anxieties and practices will do little to change things.  What is needed is social mobilization.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/opinion/going-green-but-getting-nowhere.html?src=recg