Monday, October 15, 2012

On KEYSTONE XL: The struggle continues

Chris Hedges:

Join the Blockade of the Keystone Pipeline


http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/join_the_blockade_of_the_keystone_pipeline_20121015/?ln

The next great battle of the Occupy movement may not take place in city parks and plazas, where the security and surveillance state is blocking protesters from setting up urban encampments. Instead it could arise in the nation’s heartland, where some ranchers, farmers and enraged citizens, often after seeing their land seized by eminent domain and their water supplies placed under mortal threat, have united with Occupiers and activists to oppose the building of the Keystone XL tar sand pipeline. They have formed an unusual coalition called Tar Sands Blockade (TSB). Centers of resistance being set up in Texas and Oklahoma and on tribal lands along the proposed route of this six-state, 1,700-mile proposed pipeline are fast becoming flashpoints in the war of attrition we have begun against the corporate state. Join them.  READ MORE>>>

Friday, May 4, 2012

FRACKING: BAD DECISION BY US GOVT

Makes no sense, but reconfirms an industry strategy to manipulate legal norms such that extraction is not ultimately threatened; and, as in this case, that potential resistance is frustrated by the de facto  "legality" secured by drilling prior to disclosure.  Turns transparency on its head.


Companies drilling for oil and gas on public lands must now identify the chemicals used. But in a concession to the industry, they do not have to make the disclosure until after drilling has begun.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

AS WE'VE BEEN SAYING: BP IS A CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION, BY ANY OTHER NAME

OPINION How to Prevent Oil Spills
By JOE NOCERA
Published: April 13, 2012 Two years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, it’s clear that fines are meaningless. Only the threat of prison time can change behavior.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

PIPELINES AND POLITICS: OBAMA SAYS KEYSTONE SOUTH OK


Published: March 22, 2012
President Obama said that he supported expedited construction of the southern half of the controversial Keystone pipeline.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

AND, IN THE US: LAW ON THE SIDE OF INDUSTRY?


Accumulation by dispossession, 21st century American style?


Published: December 14, 2011
As energy companies and states push to simplify regulations, some local governments are resisting an erosion of their control.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

CRIMINAL CORPORATIONS: INDIVIDUALS FOR SPEECH RIGHTS, WHY NOT THE RULE OF LAW?


Published: December 9, 2011
Despite its questionable practices, Massey Energy will not be criminally prosecuted for a mine explosion that killed 29 workers in West Virginia

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

CHINA-US PING-PONG: WHO EMITTED?


Published: December 7, 2011
China’s conditions for a treaty are unlikely to be met. And conditions by the United States seem to rule out any deal like the one China envisions.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

THE CHINA WALL: KLARE ON OBAMA AND THE PACIFIC OIL GAME


Playing With Fire: Obama's Risky Oil Threat to China


STL SOLAR WARS: WHO'S BACKING THIS TOWN COUNCIL AGAINST SOLAR?

Solar panels up for debate in Clarkson Valley

GULF OIL SPILL: WHERE DO FINES USUALLY GO?


Published: December 5, 2011
The panel’s final recommendations were similar to those in a draft report it issued in October and are not binding.

COAL MINERS: HOW MUCH IS ONE LIFE WORTH? 29?


Published: December 6, 2011
A source close the investigation said the parent company of Massey Energy, owner of a West Virginia mine where an explosion in 2010 killed 29 men, would pay to settle a criminal investigation.

"The settlement does not protect individual Massey managers, including the former chief executive, Don L. Blankenship, who have not been charged. In all, 18 executives refused to be interviewed by federal investigators, invoking their Fifth Amendment rights. The agreement also does not preclude victims and their families from filing civil lawsuits in the case.
In addition to the $46.5 million payout to victims and families, the agreement includes $80 million to bolster safety and infrastructure in all underground mines owned by Alpha and Massey; $48 million to establish a mine health and safety foundation; and about $35 million in fines and fees that Massey owed to the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the branch of the Labor Department that oversees the mining industry."

Sunday, December 4, 2011

TAKE A DEEP BREATH: MORE CARBON IN THE AIR


Published: December 4, 2011
Global emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning jumped by 5.9 percent in 2010, upending the notion that a brief decline during the recession might persist.

GAS & POWER: POLITICIANS FOR SALE IN OK


Published: December 3, 2011
Representative Dan Boren of Oklahoma is a champion in Washington of an industry that is experiencing a historic boom but also increasing scrutiny.

Friday, December 2, 2011

SOUTH AFRICA: COAL DEPENDENT, NOT GETTING GREENER

GREENPEACE COMMENTS ON THE "WE NEED TO BURN COAL" DISCOURSE IN SOUTH AFRICA

CLIMATE TALKS: US ROLE QUESTIONED


COP17: Discontent with US grows at climate talks

Leading American environmentalists complained to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday that her negotiators at the UN climate talks risked portraying the US as an obstacle to fighting global warming because of its perceived foot-dragging on key issues.