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By LeDaro, on May 12, 2013, at 1:08 pm
“This place in Uzbekistan is called by locals “The Door to Hell”. It is situated near the small town of Darvaz.
The story of this place lasts already for 35 years. Once the geologists were drilling for gas. Then suddenly during the drilling they have found an underground cavern, it was so big that all the drilling site with all the equipment and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down there because the cavern was filled with gas. So they ignited it so that no poisonous gas could come out of the hole, and since (Read more…)
By LeDaro, on May 12, 2013, at 1:08 pm
“This place in Uzbekistan is called by locals “The Door to Hell”. It is situated near the small town of Darvaz.
The story of this place lasts already for 35 years. Once the geologists were drilling for gas. Then suddenly during the drilling they have found an underground cavern, it was so big that all the drilling site with all the equipment and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down there because the cavern was filled with gas. So they ignited it so that no poisonous gas could come out of the hole, and since (Read more…)
By Guest Blog, on May 7, 2013, at 2:27 pm By: Pembina Institute | Press Release: VANCOUVER — An assessment of climate change issues in political platforms reveals clear distinctions between British Columbia’s four major parties. Prepared by the Pembina Institute, the assessment looks at the following four election issues with implications for climate change and the province’s ability to meet its [...]
The post On climate change, a clear distinction between the major BC parties appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By Edward Hollett, on May 7, 2013, at 9:30 am New Democratic Party leader Lorraine Michael asked natural resources minister Tom Marshall in the House of Assembly on Monday about Husky’s plans for natural gas development offshore Newfoundland and Labrador.
The story appeared in upstreamonline.com on May 3 and SRBP told you about it the same day.
Here’s what Marshall said about the article:
I have not had the opportunity to read the particular article that which she is referring to, but I would also be happy to have a discussion with the company.
(Read more…)
By Edward Hollett, on May 3, 2013, at 5:20 pm Husky Energy is sizing up the potential of developing natural gas offshore Newfoundland and Labrador within the next decade, according to the leading petroleum industry news source upstreamonline.com.
First exports could begin in 2025, if enough resources can be certified, according to upstream. The likely export destination would be western Europe, a market very close to Newfoundland and Labrador and where prices are considerably stronger than they are in North America.
upstream’s story notes that the provincial government “quashed” any idea of using local natural gas in place of Muskrat falls, but reports that since then the “the (Read more…)
By Song of the Watermelon, on April 4, 2013, at 6:25 pm Although the writ for the upcoming BC election won’t be dropped for another two weeks (yes, this campaign has been going on forever), I had the pleasure yesterday of attending an all-candidates meeting on climate change organized by Gen Why Media.
The forum seemed geared primarily towards the young ’uns, despite being billed by organizers as part of their ongoing “Bring Your Boomers” intergenerational dialogue series. A few older voices in the audience could be heard complaining about the darkness of the venue and the frenetic Twittercentrism of the onstage decorations. And though I am ostensibly still part of the (Read more…)
By Song of the Watermelon, on February 16, 2013, at 12:22 pm Please see today’s Vancouver Sun — or click here — for my latest letter to the editor. This one is about BC Premier Christy Clark’s efforts to raise government revenue via liquefied natural gas production. As regular readers might expect, I am not exactly on board.
By EclecticLip, on February 13, 2013, at 6:18 pm With Obama talking the talk on climate action in his State of the Union address yesterday, now seems a good time to start compiling a planned set of blog entries about renewable energy. Many many others have done so online already (as evidenced by the fact I’m linking to them!) but I’d like to communicate my cautiously nascent optimism in my own words.
I’m growingly confident that I’ll live to see renewables dominate global electricity production, as dominantly as oil dominates global transport today, with immense and commensurate environmental benefits.
That moment won’t come a moment too soon, either,
. . . → Read More: Eclectic Lip: Our Renewable Future part 1: clearing “myth”conceptions
By Guest Blog, on February 11, 2013, at 3:04 pm By Council of Canadians | Feb. 11, 2013: OTTAWA – The Council of Canadians is opposed to a west-to-east oil pipeline plan being proposed by TransCanada Corp., which is supported in principle by the Harper government, and enthusiastically backed by the Alberta and New Brunswick provincial governments. The pipeline – which could move upwards of one million barrels of READ MORE
By Christine, on January 22, 2013, at 6:58 am “No healthy community on this planet would allow hydraulic fracturing.” – Jessica Ernst Jessica Ernst is a scientist who has worked in the oil and gas industry. She discovered first hand the consequences of hydraulic fracturing in her town of Rosebud, Alberta, Canada. This interview was conducted while Ms. Ernst was visiting Michigan to warn [...]
By Richard Hughes, on January 11, 2013, at 12:13 pm Richard Hughes-Political Blogger
It struck me from the outset that the Natives were Canada’s best chance for pushback against corporate and oil and gas interests. Who else could or would stop the Enbridge Pipeline, the Keystone, the Pacific Trails Pipeline, the fracking?
The NDP today is a mere shadow of the past progressive force that it was for decades but today they essentially have turned their back on those left of centre voters.
Yes, they stand against Enbridge Pipeline but are in agreement with similar forces when it comes to fracking and they are awkwardly straddling the fence when looking
. . . → Read More: Cowichan Conversations: Unist’ot’en Action Camp: Stopping Pipelines In Their Tracks
By Richard Hughes, on January 8, 2013, at 9:52 pm Richard Hughes-Political Blogger
BC’s ever growing independent documentary film efforts are filling a void that screams for credible alternate assessments of our approach to the threats faced by the largely man made actions.
Damien Gillis of the Commonsense Canadian has been at the forefront and is a promoter of native film maker Caleb Behn’s upcoming look at the threats and impacts faced today.
Check it out and consider contributing towards the costs of bringing the ‘Fractured Land’ documentary to completion. (VIDEO)
This is a most worthwhile undertaking and well worth a few minutes of your time.
By EclecticLip, on December 11, 2012, at 2:05 pm The idea that the US might one day produce more oil than Saudi Arabia, popularized by an International Energy Agency (IEA) report, has gone viral in recent weeks. It’s like the “Call Me Maybe” phenomenon, but for Very Serious People! 
Alas, the idea that the US will out-produce Saudi Arabia is a vaporous mirage. Well, unless Saudi Arabian production falls off a cliff, that is. The projections are built on the kind of verbal trickery that transformed “47% of Americans don’t actually earn enough money to pay federal income taxes” into the “47% of Americans are lazy takers”
. . . → Read More: Eclectic Lip: The US once was, but will never again be, the Saudi Arabia of oil
By EclecticLip, on November 28, 2012, at 1:33 pm Alas, the Green Party didn’t pick any seats up in the Nov 26 Canadian federal by-elections. While their strong showings probably count as a real moral victory, I imagine at this stage they’d prefer amoral, real victories.  As it turns out, Parliament’s composition is unchanged, “while my green heart gently weeps”. Despite donating to [...] . . . → Read More: Eclectic Lip: Green byelection blues
By Edward Hollett, on November 26, 2012, at 6:00 am Few people have the depth of experience in the province’s energy policy and history than does Cabot Martin. From the mind-1970s until the early 1990s Martin was a senior advisor to the provincial government. He was part of the team that negoti… . . . → Read More: The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Cabot Martin’s paper on Natural Gas #nlpoli
By EclecticLip, on November 13, 2012, at 2:07 pm Note: for non-Canadian readers (or, indeed for Canadian readers who don’t follow politics) Stephane Dion was the milquetoast who led the Liberal Party of Canada to its then-worst-ever federal election result in 2008. He ran on a campaign of a carbon tax shift (“The Green Shift“), for which the Conservative Party mocked and savaged him. We’ll [...] . . . → Read More: Eclectic Lip: Newsflash: Canadian PM’s American Idol supports Stephane Dion-esque carbon tax shift
By Song of the Watermelon, on August 22, 2012, at 2:24 am Courtesy of sumofus.org
Case #1: BC Premier Christy Clark has a job creation plan. One component of said plan involves three liquefied natural gas plants in the northern part of the province. Unfortunately, this runs afoul of the provincial Clean Energy Act. So what does Premier Clark do? In June, she redefines “clean energy” to include natural gas — a resource that emits greenhouse gases just like any other fossil fuel — provided that it is used to power those plants in northern BC. Just like that, everybody wins!
Case #2: Scientists advising North Carolina’s Coastal Resources Commission recommend
. . . → Read More: Song of the Watermelon: Twisting the Facts on the Environment
By Christine, on August 15, 2012, at 7:52 am Dirty energy isn’t just dirty because of the carbon dioxide pollution it releases into our atmosphere. It’s polluted the global geopolitical landscape – and increasingly North American domestic politics – for decades. Enough is enough. * Citizens Climate Lobbying: Building A Green Economy Post-Carbon Institute Transition Network
By Farron Cousins, on August 10, 2012, at 1:27 pm kasichshrug2.jpg
About the only positive thing you can say about industry-funded astroturf groups is that they at least base their misinformation campaigns on phony “studies” and “reports.” Their lies are based on SOMETHING.
The same cannot be said of Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich, who has come up with a whopper based on absolutely nothing. Kasich recently told the press that his state of Ohio is sitting on top of $1 trillion worth of natural gas that’s just ripe for fracking.
Obviously, this would be quite an economic boom for not just Ohio, but the entire United States.
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Republican Ohio Governor Kasich’s Trillion Dollar Shale Gas Lie
By Steve Horn, on August 3, 2012, at 8:00 am shutterstock_30322192.jpg
Most people think of downtown Houston, Texas as ground zero for the oil and gas industry. Houston, after all, serves as home base for corporate headquarters of oil and gas giants, including the likes of BP America, ConocoPhillips, and Shell Oil Company, to name a few.
Comparably speaking, few would think of Wilmington, Delaware in a similar vein. But perhaps they should, according to a recent New York Times investigative report by Leslie Wayne.
Wayne's story revealed that Delaware serves as what journalist Nicholas Shaxson calls a "Treasure Island" in his recent book by that namesake. It's an "onshore
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Delaware Tax Haven: The Other Shale Gas Industry Loophole
By Steve Horn, on July 28, 2012, at 9:00 am shutterstock_2531395.jpg
When business-friendly bills and resolutions spread like wildfire in statehouses nationwide calling for something as far-fetched as a halt to EPA regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, ALEC is always a safe bet for a good place to look for their origin.
In the midst of hosting its 39th Annual Meeting this week in Salt Lake City, Utah, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is appropriately described as an ideologically conservative "corporate bill mill" by the Center for Media and Democracy, the overseer of the ALEC Exposed project. 98 percent of ALEC's funding comes from corporations
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: The Real Train Wreck: ALEC and "Other ALECs" Attack EPA Regulations
By Steve Horn, on July 27, 2012, at 6:30 am alec-exposed-600×400.jpeg
On July 26, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled PA Act 13 unconstitutional. The bill would have stripped away local zoning laws, eliminated the legal concept of a Home Rule Charter, limited private property rights, and in the process, completely disempowered town, city, municipal and county governments, particularly when it comes to shale gas development.
The Court ruled that Act 13 "…violates substantive due process because it does not protect the interests of neighboring property owners from harm, alters the character of neighborhoods and makes irrational classifications – irrational because it requires municipalities to allow all zones, drilling
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Exposed: Pennsylvania Act 13 Overturned by Supreme Court, Originally an ALEC Model Bill
By Steve Horn, on July 17, 2012, at 4:08 am Red Leaf EcoShale.png
At the Clinton Global Initiative in 2008, former Vice President Al Gore called the possibility of fossil fuel corporations extracting oil shale "utter insanity."
Insanity, though, doesn't serve as a hinderance for deeply entrenched and powerful fossil fuel interests.
Oil shale, also known as kerogen, should not be confused with shale gas or shale oil, two fossil fuels best known from Josh Fox's "Gasland." As explained in a report by the Checks and Balances Project,
Oil shale itself is a misnomer. It is actually rock containing an organic substance called kerogen. The rocks haven’t
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Does Red Leaf’s "EcoShale" Technology Greenwash Oil Shale Extraction?
By Steve Horn, on July 6, 2012, at 6:00 am EOG Resources.jpg
DeSmogBlog, on multiple occasions, has reported that the damage caused by hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" in the unconventional oil and gas industry goes far beyond water contamination, put in the spotlight by the documentary film "Gasland." The multi-pronged harms were tackled in a comprehensive manner in our report, "Fracking the Future."
One corporation in particular, EOG Resources, epitomizes the shale gas lifecycle from cradle to grave and the damage it is causing in communities worldwide.
Who is EOG? The Artist Formerly Known as Enron
EOG Resources — owned
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: EOG Resources: The Gas Corporation That Does It All From Cradle to Grave
By Ben Jervey, on July 3, 2012, at 6:51 pm chesapeake-energy.jpg
Chesapeake Energy, a company that is no stranger to financial scandals, has found itself on the front page of the financial papers again. This time, the subject is taxes. Or how Chesapeake barely pays them.
Over its 23-year history, Chesapeake Energy, the second largest producer of natural gas in the U.S., and the company described by its founder and CEO Aubrey McClendon as “the biggest frackers in the world,” has earned roughly $5.5 billion in pre-tax profits. To date, the company has paid $53 million in taxes. That’s an effective tax rate of
. . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Bloomberg Stunner: How Chesapeake Energy Paid Less Than a 1% Tax Rate On $5.5 Billion in Profits
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