Environment

U.S. Skeptic Has a European Outing

by Bob Burton — November 19, 2009 - 5:21am

Fred Singer is one of the veteran climate change skeptics appearing at the Have Humans Changed the Climate? conference in Brussels hosted by Roger Helmer, a British Conservative Party representative in the European Parliament. Billed as speaking on the topic of "Why can’t we trust IPCC?" [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change], Singer staked out a position that even other sceptics disagree with.

Main Source: 
Telegraph.co.uk, November 18, 2009

Drilling Through the Appalachian Shale Gas Hype

by Bob Burton — November 6, 2009 - 1:14am

While the U.S. economy continues to reel from the fallout from the global financial crisis, there's a boom on in the gas industry wanting access to Appalachian areas underlain by the Marcellus Shale deposits. The gas-industry boom has environmentalists and many residents worried about the environmental impacts.

Newsweek Is Neck Deep in Oil & Conflicts

by Lisa Graves — November 6, 2009 - 1:14am
  • Topics: Advertising, Journalism, Corporations, Energy, Environment

    • TPM Muckraker has exposed the fact that Newsweek is teaming up with the American Petroleum Institute (API) to host a "briefing" for Members of Congress on climate and energy policy. The briefing is timed to coincide with, surprise, the Senate getting ready to take up climate and energy policy in advance of next month's COP15 world conference on global warming policy.

    API's Lobbying Is Up and Against Slowing Global Warming

    According to TPM, API has already spent $3.9 million directly lobbying in the first part of this year, primarily influence "cap-and-trade" legislation regulating the use of "carbon credits" or pollution emission credits, as well as on the Waxman-Markey climate change bill. (During the Bush administration, API spent only about $3 to $4 million a year on directly lobbying Congress.) But, according to Guidestar, API (a registered non-profit) has revenues of around $200 million a year, primarily from oil companies, as of the last public report in 2007. And, it spent over $70 million on advertising that year alone.

    Chemical Industry Front Group Outed

    by Bob Burton — November 1, 2009 - 4:09am

    A freshly-minted front group, which proclaimed that it promoted "balanced chemical safety reform that protects public health, innovation, and economic growth,” has been outed.

    Main Source: 
    Chemicals & Nanomaterials (Environmental Defense blog), October 26, 2009

    Direct Action Confronts the Climate Crisis

    by John Stauber — September 17, 2009 - 5:04pm

    "The global political process to counter runaway climate change has become, for practical purposes, irrelevant," writes Ryan King. "None of the currently proposed emissions reductions being seriously considered in policy making are appropriate to meet the severity of the situation.

    Main Source: 
    Mongabay.com, September 17, 2009

    General Motors Likes the Cash, but not the Clunkers' Waste

    by Judith Siers-Poisson — August 11, 2009 - 10:00am

    The Obama administration's Cash for Clunkers program rewards consumers for buying more fuel-efficient cars to replace older models, which benefits the auto industry through increased sales. But the program also mandates that the "clunkers" that are traded in be destroyed, creating a large amount of toxic waste to be handled.

    Main Source: 
    Associated Press, August 11, 2009

    The Hand That Gives Also Takes Away

    by Bob Burton — July 26, 2009 - 11:13pm

    The Australian logging company Gunns is reviewing its corporate sponsorships as it struggles to deal with a dramatic slump in sales of woodchips to Japanese customers. In an interview, the company's new chief executive, Greg L'Estrange, flagged that the company would be cutting back its sponsorships. "We haven't finished our discussions but certainly you would say our appetite for some of these areas has diminished. Life is a two-way street.

    Main Source: 
    The Examiner (Launceston, Australia), July 24, 2009

    "Toxic Bob" Spins Chretien Through the Revolving Door

    by Bob Burton — July 13, 2009 - 6:25am

    Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien has been appointed as a "senior international adviser" to Ivanhoe Mines. The Executive Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines, Robert Friedland, who earned the nickname "Toxic Bob" after a major cyanide spill from a gold mine in Colorado in 1993, was upbeat about the benefits of hiring Chretien. "We believe that Mr.

    Main Source: 
    Ivanhoe Mines Media Release (pdf), July 8, 2008

    Any Way the Wind Blows at Weber Shandwick

    by Diane Farsetta — June 16, 2009 - 4:15pm

    Weber Shandwick UK counts among its clients Viking Energy, a company "seeking to build a 153-turbine wind farm in the Shetlands." But the PR firm's chair of public affairs, Jonathan McLeod, recently launched an anti-wind power campaign, using his Weber Shandwick email address.

    Main Source: 
    New Energy Focus (UK), June 16, 2009

    Behind Bate

    by Bob Burton — June 8, 2009 - 6:12am

    In a major article profiling Roger Bate, one of the leading think tank players, Adam Sarvana writes that Bate is "to the environmental movement what Bugs Bunny is to Elmer Fudd, a clever, slippery and often triumphant adversary. But unlike Bugs, who cuts a wide swath, Bate is unknown even to his favorite targets.

    Main Source: 
    Natural Resources News Service, May 28, 2009
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