Energy

Biden’s Forest Service To Facilitate Quadrupling Of Oil Production

October 23, 2021 Center for Biological Diversity. Educate! Biden administration, climate crisis, Energy, Oil

Salt Lake city, Utah - In a massive blow to U.S. efforts to address the climate crisis, the Biden administration is poised to approve a right-of-way through the Ashley National Forest that would take the climate-damaging Uinta Basin Railway one step closer to being built. The railway would enable crude oil production in the basin to quadruple to 350,000 barrels a day. Over a year, that much oil would produce planet-warming pollution conservatively estimated at 53 million tons of carbon dioxide — equivalent to the emissions from six of Utah’s dirtiest coal plants. At an October 22 meeting of the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, board members discussed a recent meeting in Utah with U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore.

Thousands March In Puerto Rico, Outraged Over Power Outages

October 16, 2021 The Hindu. Resist! Energy, Neoliberalism, Privatization, Puerto Rico

More than 4,000 people outraged over ongoing power outages in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico marched on October 15 to decry how the lack of electricity has affected their health, work and children’s schooling. Many of them demanded the ouster of Luma, a private company that took over the island’s transmission and distribution of power on June 1. Some also are angry at Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority, which owns and operates generation units that have been breaking down in recent weeks largely due to a lack of maintenance and repair. “We’re tired of coming home and discovering that we have no lights,” said Mayra Rivera (55) adding she is especially worried about her parents, who are in their 90s, and the sweltering heat they face at home.

Electric Utilities Took $1.25 Billion In Bailouts, Shut Off Power Nearly 1 Million Times

October 2, 2021 Shravya Jain-conti, Center for Biological Diversity. Educate! Bailout, COVID-19, Energy, Utilities

The report shows that utilities wielded political power to secure beneficial tax-code changes in the CARES Act but defied calls to grant their own customers temporary relief. Instead, 16 utilities suspended or canceled electric service to nearly 1 million households between February 2020 and June 2021, leaving people without hot water, refrigeration, air conditioning and medical devices.

Residents Speak Out Against Prince George Petrochemical Project

September 29, 2021 The Energy Mix. Resist! Canada, Energy, Environment, Oil and Gas

Opposition to a proposed petrochemical complex near Prince George, British Columbia, continues to build, with locals fearing environmental harms and environmental experts asking how such a project could proceed with the global climate on red alert. A council meeting in B.C.’s largest northern city grew heated last week as residents expressed “fierce criticism” about the C$5.6-billion petrochemical complex that Calgary-based West Coast Olefins (WCO) hopes to build outside of town, reports CBC News. Among attendees were members of a grassroots organization called Grasslands Not Gas Lands, which has collected 1,500 signatures to date on its petition calling for a “holistic review” of the project that would include public hearings.

Northwest Tribes Battle The Legacy Of Energy Colonization

September 24, 2021 Rae Rose, Last Real Indians. Organize! Dams, Energy, Environment, Indigenous Rights

One hundred years later, after the Treaty of Walla Walla was signed, tribes watched their sacred rivers and waterfalls being dammed one after another. The fishing wars had begun as the American government tried to take away treaty rights from Northwest tribes. Today, the fish are dying and no longer able to return home navigating through mass pollution, warming waters and massive dams that block their only way home to spawn. Spawning grounds have been built over. Many of the great forests have been clear-cut, destroying precious spawning grounds. Another broken treaty. Here, in the Northwest, short-termed thinking of American policymakers mutilated and deformed the beautiful Columbia Basin as they pursued the energy needs of the settler colonizers at the expense of Tribal communities and the environment by constructing dam after dam.

World’s First Battery-Powered Freight Train Unveiled In Pittsburgh

September 24, 2021 Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch. Create! Electrification, Energy, Science and technology, Transportation

The world's first ever battery-electric freight train was unveiled in Pittsburgh on Friday. The train, known as the FLXdrive battery-electric locomotive, was built by rail-freight company Wabtec and showcased at Carnegie Mellon University as part of a bid by the two organizations to decarbonize rail freight transport in the U.S., The Guardian reported. "A bolder, cleaner, more efficient transportation system is in our grasp," Wabtec chief executive Raphael Santana said, as The Guardian reported. "This is just the beginning." In addition to partnering with Carnegie Mellon on this venture, Wabtec is also working with fellow freight company Genesee & Wyoming, according to Railway Age.

Hezbollah-Brokered Iranian Fuel Arrives In Crisis-Hit Lebanon

September 18, 2021 Kareem Chehayeb, Aljazeera. Resist! Energy, Iran, Lebanon, US Sanctions

Beirut, Lebanon – The first of several truck convoys carrying Iranian fuel has arrived in Lebanon from Syria, a Hezbollah spokesperson told Al Jazeera – a shipment intended to help ease crippling fuel shortages amid a dire economic crisis. The first shipments of the fuel, carried by two convoys totalling 40 trucks according to Hezbollah’s Al Manar television channel, arrived in Lebanon on Thursday. The fuel delivery has been portrayed by the Iran-linked Lebanese group as a huge boost to the cash-strapped country. However, the shipments violate United States sanctions imposed on Iranian oil sales and have gotten a mixed response in Lebanon. The first of four Iranian fuel tankers docked in Syria’s Baniyas port earlier this week.

Why 3.6m Pounds Of Nuclear Waste Is Buried On A Popular Beach

September 9, 2021 Kate Mishkin, The Guardian. Educate! California, Energy, Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Waste

More than 2 million visitors flock each year to California’s San Onofre state beach, a dreamy slice of coastline just north of San Diego. The beach is popular with surfers, lies across one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the Unites States and has a 10,000-year-old sacred Native American site nearby. It even landed a shout-out in the Beach Boys’ 1963 classic Surfin’ USA. But for all the good vibes and stellar sunsets, beneath the surface hides a potential threat: 3.6m lb of nuclear waste from a group of nuclear reactors shut down nearly a decade ago. Decades of political gridlock have left it indefinitely stranded, susceptible to threats including corrosion, earthquakes and sea level rise. The San Onofre reactors are among dozens across the United States phasing out, but experts say they best represent the uncertain future of nuclear energy.

We Need Public Control Of Our Energy Systems

September 4, 2021 Thomas M. Hanna, In These Times. Create! climate crisis, Community Control, Energy, Natural Disasters

When natural disasters like Hurricane Ida occur, policymakers often wave away the damage and devastation as an unavoidable “act of god” (to use common insurance language). However, these types of response ignore deep structural deficiencies and inequities in the way critical infrastructure systems are often designed and operated in the United States. Specifically, they obscure the role of private, for-profit ownership and control of these services.

Greenwashing, Subsidies And Carbon Pricing

August 31, 2021 Will Dubitsky, Green Transition. Educate! Carbon Capture, climate crisis, Energy, greenwashing

There is a growing chorus in favour of carbon capture and storage technologies (CCS) by fossil fuel firms and governments. In brief, CCS technologies capture emissions from fossil fuel extraction and production. The captured emissions are buried in no longer economically viable oil or gas wells to render them productive once more over a longer period of time. For spent oil wells, this is known as enhanced oil recovery (EOR). One of the reasons many of the oil and gas majors are on the bandwagon for a price on carbon is because they believe that a high carbon price would render CCS “economically viable,” provided CCS is accompanied by outrageous government subsidies. Considering CCS removal of carbon comes to about US$120/U.S. ton, a high carbon price would allow the industry to pursue business-as-usual, while concurrently appearing to be committed to a green economy.

How Central Banks Are Fueling The Climate Crisis

August 25, 2021 Oil Change International. Educate! Banks, Climate Change, Energy, Finance and the Economy

Central banks could play a critical role in catalyzing the rapid shift of financial flows away from oil, fossil gas, and coal. However, to date, central banks have instead tinkered at the edges. With a few isolated exceptions – such as decisions by the French and Swiss central banks to partially exclude coal from their asset portfolios – central bank activity on carbon pollution and the climate crisis has been limited primarily to measures to increase financial market transparency.

Biddeford, Maine Fights Urban Heating

August 21, 2021 Lori Valigra and Priyanka Runwal, Bangor Daily News. Create! climate crisis, Energy, Global Warming, Urban Design

Biddeford, Maine — Duane Dennison knows more than most about the effects of hotter summers and heat lingering into the night: He lives near the Saco River in a tent community of about 20 people experiencing homelessness. As temperatures soared into the mid-90s Aug. 12, the 61-year-old painter sought relief at the Seeds of Hope Neighborhood Center, which offers air conditioning, snacks and a place to socialize for up to 30 people at a time. His options to cool off in the summer are the cooling shelter, swimming in the river or hanging out at the local supermarket’s meat department. “It’s harder in summer than the winter,” Dennison said of trying to stay comfortable outside. Like many other Maine cities, Biddeford is regularly experiencing temperatures far higher than surrounding suburban and rural areas.

Canadian Doctors Group Erects Anti-LNG Billboard

August 14, 2021 Stefan Labbé, Coast Reporter. Resist! climate crisis, Energy, health, Methane

A group of doctors and nurses have launched an aggressive billboard campaign targeting BC Ferries for burning liquefied natural gas — or LNG — a largely methane mixture they say is threatening human health and the world’s climate system. Dr. Melissa Lem, a Vancouver family physician and president-elect of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), says the campaign was partly in response to advertisements on some BC Ferries trumpeting the clean potential of natural gas. “They have these massive billboards that tout the clean natural gas,” says Lem. “What’s feeding their ferries is also hurting people's health up north.” Of BC Ferries’ 35 vessels, five burn LNG, and the gas is expected to play an important role as the fleet moves away from marine diesel and toward several LNG-electric hybrids.

Study: ‘Blue Hydrogen’ In Bipartisan Plan More Polluting Than Coal

August 13, 2021 Jenna McGuire, Common Dreams. Educate! climate crisis, Energy, Hydrogen, pollution

While celebrated as a climate victory by the Biden administration, the large infrastructure bill passed in the U.S. Senate this week includes billions of dollars of funding toward "blue hydrogen," which new research published Thursday finds is more polluting than coal. The $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure package passed Tuesday includes $8 billion to develop "clean hydrogen" via the creation of four regional hubs. The White House claims that the bill is in step with President Joe Biden's climate goals and advocates of hydrogen energy champion it as a low-emissions alternative for various uses such as fuel shipping, trucking, aviation, and heating. But new research published in the journal Energy Science & Engineering finds that the carbon footprint to create blue hydrogen is more than 20% greater than using either natural gas or coal directly for heat, or about 60% greater than using diesel oil for heat.

Nature’s Own Fuel Could Save Us From Greenhouse Effect

July 31, 2021 Ellen Brown, Scheer Post. Create! Climate Change, Energy, Environment

In an effort to fill that vacuum, a recent initiative in California is exploring different hemp varieties and growing techniques, in the first extensive growing trials for hemp fiber and grain in the state since the 1990s. The project is a joint effort among the World Cannabis Foundation, hemp wholesaler Hemp Traders, and Oklahoma-based processor Western Fiber. The Pennsylvania-based Rodale Institute, a nonprofit that supports research into organic farming, has also partnered on a USDA-supported research project on the use of hemp in the development of biochar (charcoal produced by firing biomass in the absence of oxygen).

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

Daily movement news and resources