Mining The Earth & Fracking The World: Keystone Showdown

By Leave a Comment

Kate Lanier’s collects global energy and climate news. This week, she has a special focus on the fight over the Keystone XL Pipeline in Congress including:

Keystone XL Pipeline, US Senate: Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) of the senate’s Energy and Natural resources Committee blasted the Senate’s Keystone XL pipeline bill. Sanders is concerned about the US Senate rejecting science and efficient renewable energy, while Warren concentrated on the pipeline benefitting the Canadian oil industry and not US families. Update: “Democrats plan tough votes for GOP on Keystone pipeline bill.”

Meanwhile, from Vatican City: Pope Francis has added his voice in opposition to mining, fracking, and disregard for the earth in general. He appears in a movie, La Guerra Del Fracking de Pino Solanas (The Fracking War), banned in Argentina (where the government calls fracking “non-conventional gas”), but now on YouTube.” Pope Francis also spoke to the urgency of focusing on youth, the future.

Alabama: Radioactive (tritium) leak at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant near Athens, after which TVA said “the leak was quickly contained and presented no public risk.” Not the only TVA radioactive leak, nor the only one at Browns Ferry.

Why Is Saudi Arabia Bringing Down The Price Of Oil?

By 2 Comments

Getting directly to the point: why is Saudi Arabia, perhaps the major contributor to the continuing fall of oil prices pumping more and more oil, while losing a huge amount of revenue in the process, apparently “cutting off their nose to spite their face”?

Some say they are doing it to hurt Iran, others to cut investment in fracking …

In my opinion it could be quite simple: the kingdom is in real danger of being destabilized by the Islamic State (ISIS) and the “caliphate’s” main financing comes from selling bootleg oil.

Mining The Earth & Fracking The World: Environmental Fugitives

By Leave a Comment

Kate Lanier collects news of oil and gas, fracking and mining, the environment and sustainable energy from around the world including:

Worldwide: Interpol is now taking on “environmental fugitives,” including suspected crime bosses and elephant ivory smugglers. Nine wanted altogether, with two already captured. Just imagine the possibilities.

Colorado: It’s getting very ugly out there. Longmont residents voted against fracking in their community inn 2012.  Now, “state officials, energy companies and industry groups are taking Longmont and other municipalities to court, forcing local governments into what critics say are expensive, long-shot efforts to defend the measures.” Citizens are even being accused of ripping off industry.

Chile: Barrick Gold (Toronto) ran afoul of the Superintendence for the Environment concerning the Pascua Lama gold-silver mine. Fines were imposed. A lower court seemed to revoke the $16 million fine, due to regulatory misfiguring, and ordered Barrick to halt its activity at the mine. Barrick sued but the Supreme Court refused he case, putting everything back in the lap of the Superintendence for the Environment which has some re-figuring to do.

The file does not exist View/Post/small_loop.php