Romney and Bush.jpg In the last few months, the press has been drawing a lot of parallels between presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and former Republican President George W. Bush. And they have plenty of reasons for doing so. Romney has already tapped many of the same Bush economic
Continue readingTag: American Petroleum Institute
DeSmogBlog: Oil Sands Fact Check: New API Front Group
shutterstock_48011344.jpg How do you sell a rotten bag of goods? Rule number one of effective propaganda: repackage it into something seemingly less grotesque. In that spirit, the Houston Chronicle recently reported the American Petroleum Institute (API) has created yet another front group, this one to promote tar sands crude, one of the dirtiest sources of fuel in the world, as a
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Howarth and Ingraffea: Gas Industry Fracking Study So Biased it is ‘Almost Useless’
Picture 5.png Two of the largest gas industry lobbying bodies in the US, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and American Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), released a ‘study’ earlier this month claiming methane emissions from natural gas production to be 50 percent lower than the US Environmental Protection Agency’s 2011 estimates.
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Is Your Water Bottle Giving You Cancer? New Study Reveals Shocking BPA Dangers
BPA Image.jpg Bisphenol A, or BPA for short, has been in the spotlight for decades, with both the chemical industry and occasionally the federal government touting its safety, while independent, non-industry funded scientific studies show us how dangerous the chemical truly is. The latest news regarding BPA is no different,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Oil and Gas Industry Moves to Silence Critics
shutterstock_49157602.jpg At an industry public relations conference last year, Michael Kehs of Chesapeake Energy described a Wall Street Journal op-ed to gathered oil and gas officials, saying it pointed out the industry's "credibility problem." “And I’m sure some of it relates to defensiveness,” Kehs added. (MP3 Audio) Small wonder. For years,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: ALEC Wasn’t First Industry Trojan Horse Behind Fracking Disclosure Bill – Enter Council of State Governments
shutterstock_95581429.jpg 19th Century German statesman Otto von Bismarck once said, "If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made." The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), put on the map by the Center for Media and Democracy in its "ALEC Exposed" project, is the archetype of von Bismarck's truism. So too are the fracking chemical
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Oil Industry Lobbyist / Mushroom Farmer Claims Family Farms Need Fracking
Fracking_Graphic_t670.jpg Because apparently the only way for small American farmers to sustain themselves is not with crops they produce, but by letting the good 'ole gas man tap the reserves under their land. "Agriculture and industry go together, if you want prosperity in these little towns, you need balance, that's the
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Beginning of The End for Big Oil’s Billion Dollar Subsidies?
oil-drum-stuffed-with-money.jpg Democratic Senator Bob Menendez (N.J.) has introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate to kill, once and for all, the billions of dollars worth of subsidies that are flowing from the federal government to the oil industry. Under Menendez’s proposal, the $4 billion annual corporate welfare handed out to oil companies
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: American Petroleum Institute’s Jack Gerard Fact Checked By Activists During Speech
Vote 4 Oil.png Guest post by Connor Gibson, cross-posted from Polluterwatch. Two days ago, President Obama denied the permit for the destructive Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, much to the dismay of Big Oil's top lobbyist and propagandist. Speaking at the National Press Club to an audience dominated by oil, coal and nuclear representatives and
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: API’s New ‘Vote 4 Energy’ Ad Campaign Is Thinly Veiled Election Year Bullying
API Vote 4 Energy.jpg American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard today announced the oil and gas industry’s latest election-year scare campaign to threaten the demise of the U.S. economy unless Big Oil gets its every wish in Washington. This year the wish list includes approval of the Keystone XL pipeline,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: To Understand What’s Happening with Fracking Decisions in New York, Follow the Money
Money.jpg In a November 25 article titled, "Millions Spent in Albany Fight to Drill for Gas," The New York Times reported: Companies that drill for natural gas have spent more than $3.2 million lobbying state government since the beginning of last year, according to a review of public records. The broader natural
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Oil Industry Co-Opts Occupy Movement to Sell the Keystone XL Pipeline
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The AFL-CIO's America's Building Trades Unions and Oil and Natural Gas Industry Labor-Management Committee are attempting to co-opt the Occupy movement with a new initiative…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Natural Gas Gold Rush, Utica Shale Edition Courtesy of John Kasich
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Yesterday, the Ohio Governor's 21st Century and Economic Summit began, hosted by the controversial union-busting Governor John Kasich (R-OH), coming on the heels of …
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Polluters Join Forces To Pressure Obama On Oil And Gas Drilling
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In the wake of President Obama’s speech on job creation last week, major players in the energy industry have banded together to put pressure on the president to speed u…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science: Oil Industry Steps Up Astroturf Efforts For 2012 Election
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The oil industry has put their astroturf and lobbying efforts into overdrive over the last few months, preparing for a bitter fight in the upcoming 2012 presidential election. In a…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science: U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Launches Campaign To Lobby For Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
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Last Friday, after applauding the House’s vote to rush a decision on TransCanada Corp’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a new campaign to boost the…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science: EPA Proposes First-Ever Federal Fracking Rules
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The U.S. EPA is poised to enact the first ever rules on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) with a proposal that would allow the agency to regulate the practice under the Cle…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science: Students Get Lobby Group Material From Chris de Freitas in Climate 101 Lectures
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New Zealand-based academic and climate sceptic Dr Chris de Freitas has been caught using material from US lobby groups in lectures to first year university Geography students…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog - Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science: American Petroleum Institute Dreams Of Placing Lobbyists In Every District
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Oil industry lobbyist and president of the American Petroleum Institute (API) Jack Gerard made his industry’s goal clear in a recent interview with Fortune Magazine…
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