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Wed, 2011-06-15 15:17Steve Horn
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NBC/GE, Dylan Ratigan Show, and the Methane Gas-Media Industrial Complex

Yesterday, I published an article for the Center for Media and Democracy's PRWatch titled, "MSNBC's (GE's) Dylan Ratigan Show 'Firewater?' Series: Natural Gas Industry-Media Complex Exposed."

Among other things, the article lays out the fundamental flaw with NBC's coverage of anything pertaining to methane gas drilling--they are a "player in that game," to put it bluntly, with a direct financial interest in the project occurring.

The article then proceeds to discuss, based on that troubling journalistic premise, the "Firewater?" series that took place on the Dylan Ratigan Show from Wed. June 8 through Fri., June 10, revealing all the ways that overarching premise flawed what was pitched as "in-depth coverage," but in reality, served as a three-day advertising campaign for General Electric and the methane gas industry (an industry GE is a part of).

Read more: NBC/GE, Dylan Ratigan Show, and the Methane Gas-Media Industrial Complex
Mon, 2011-06-13 17:49TJ Scolnick
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Interior Dept Okays Thousands Of New Unconventional Gas Wells In Utah

Last week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that his department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are fast-tracking unconventional gas drilling permits in Utah’s Uintah Basin. The federal agencies will approve up to 3,675 new wells for the Greater Natural Buttes Area Gas Development Project, first proposed in 2006 by Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Onshore LP, a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation.

Read more: Interior Dept Okays Thousands Of New Unconventional Gas Wells In Utah
Mon, 2011-06-13 14:20Steve Horn
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Tom Ridge Claimed "I'm Not a Lobbyist" on Colbert Report, But The Facts Prove Otherwise

Tom Ridge, on the Thursday, June 9 edition of the Colbert Report, claimed he is "not a lobbyist." A quick glance at his resume shows that nothing could be further from the truth.

Ridge, now 65 years-old, has worn multiple hats throughout his extensive political career. Among them: first ever head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under the Bush Administration from 2003-2005, former Governor of Pennsylvania from 1995-2001, and former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from from 1983-1995.<--break->

Upon leaving the DHS in 2005, Ridge commenced his career as a lobbyist, opening a lobby shop known as Ridge Global, located in Washington, D.C, an entity he still currently heads. Beyond this stint, though, Ridge is also a paid "consultant" (a.k.a. lobbyist) for the Marcellus Shale Coaltion. This Coalition is a "trade association" in disguise, for in reality it is a gas industry-funded lobbying organization.

That aside, one must look no further than the Pennsylvania Department of State's lobbyist registry for the real smoking gun evidence. (See attached lobbying disclosure for Tom Ridge.)

Read more: Tom Ridge Claimed "I'm Not a Lobbyist" on Colbert Report, But The Facts Prove Otherwise
Tue, 2011-06-07 16:44Emma Pullman
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EPA Again Faults State Department Keystone XL Assessment as "Insufficient"

The controversial Keystone XL project proposed by Canadian dirty oil giant TransCanada was dealt a potentially devastating blow on its quest for federal approval after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) blasted the State Department's draft analysis on the pipeline’s environmental impacts. The EPA calls the State Department's revised draft assessment “insufficient”. 

EPA identified a laundry list of omissions in the State Department’s Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS), ranging from lack of adequate consideration for oil spills and impacts on low income and First Nations communities, to lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions and impacts on water and wildlife. They also provided a list of critical areas that need expansion in the Final EIS. 

The EPA's analysis raises considerable concerns about the proposed project that would carry 900,000 barrels of tar sands oil per day from Canada, through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, and across numerous water bodies including the Yellowstone, Missouri, Neches and Red Rivers, as well as the Ogallala aquifer.

The State Department is again in hot water for neglecting a thorough analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline, and now has received a second failing grade from the EPA. 

Read more: EPA Again Faults State Department Keystone XL Assessment as "Insufficient"
Mon, 2011-06-06 07:38Chris Mooney
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Will Republicans Attack Climate Preparedness Even at the Cost of National Security?

Recently, House Republicans—constantly trying to frustrate all manner of climate change measures by the administration—took a clear step too far. Here’s the June 2 story, from E&E News:

The House voted today to prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from participating in the Obama administration's Interagency Task Force on Climate Change Adaptation.

The amendment by Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) was added to the House's fiscal 2012 Department of Homeland Security spending bill. The vote was 242-180.

The Carter amendment would likely prohibit DHS staff from coordinating with staff from other agencies to assess the risks climate change poses to domestic security and to find ways to adapt to it, an administration aide said.

The alleged justification for this measure is to save a few bucks. But honestly, if climate change is a potential threat to our homeland security, do Republicans really want to prevent the department of Homeland Security from assessing that risk?

Read more: Will Republicans Attack Climate Preparedness Even at the Cost of National Security?
Sun, 2011-06-05 13:54TJ Scolnick
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Arkansas Families Launch Lawsuits Against Southwestern For Polluting Their Water; New Brunswick Is Open For Drilling

Houston-based Southwestern Energy Co. is facing more lawsuits because of destructive hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. fracking) practices.

Southwestern is already accused of contaminating a dozen Pennsylvanian families’ drinking water, and now Arkansas families are also claiming that Southwestern’s fracking for unconventional gas is poisoning their freshwater. What’s more, Tim Holton, lead lawyer for the case believes that hundreds of people may join this latest suit, which seeks millions of dollars in damages, and is asking the courts to require independent monitoring of water supplies and public health in areas near to fracking activities.

Read more: Arkansas Families Launch Lawsuits Against Southwestern For Polluting Their Water; New Brunswick Is Open For Drilling
Fri, 2011-06-03 14:52Emma Pullman
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Breaking: TransCanada Keystone I Pipeline Shut Down Indefinitely Due to Safety Concerns

Following a string of oil spills, TransCanada's Keystone I tar sands oil pipeline has been indefinitely shut down, and banned from restarting operations. Today, the Pipelines and Hazerdous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a Corrective Action Order, which stops use of the pipeline until the regulator determines that safety problems have been corrected.

In the order, Jeffrey Wiese, associate administrator for pipeline safety at the Department of Transportation, wrote: 

I find that the continued operation of the pipeline without corrective measures would be hazardous to life, property and the environment. Additionally, after considering the circumstances surrounding the May 7 and May 29, 2011 failures, the proximity of the pipeline to populated areas, water bodies, public roadways and high consequence areas, the hazardous nature of the product the pipeline transports, the ongoing investigation to determine the cause of the failures, and the potential for the conditions causing the failures to be present elsewhere on the pipeline, I find that a failure to issue this Order expeditiously to require immediate corrective action would result in likely serious harm to life, property, and the environment.

The Keystone I pipeline has spilled 12 times since beginning operation less than one year ago. Late last year, TransCanada had to dig up portions of the pipeline when abnormalities were discovered.  

Read more: Breaking: TransCanada Keystone I Pipeline Shut Down Indefinitely Due to Safety Concerns
Thu, 2011-06-02 14:20TJ Scolnick
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Apache Corp Pulls Out Of New Brunswick Gas Fracking Project

Halifax’s Corridor Resources Ltd. has announced that Apache Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of Houston’s Apache Corporation, is giving up on unconventional gas exploration southwest of Moncton, in New Brunswick. This is a major setback for the drillers using hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. fracking) on Canada’s east coast, since the $25 million Apache has already invested in dangerous unconventional gas drilling was expected to be supplemented by an extra $100 million.

Last year, Corridor, a smaller player in the gas industry, partnered with Apache in order to test the profitability of two horizontal trial wells into the Frederick Brook shale deposit located in the Elgin region of the province. While Corridor considers Elgin and the surrounding area to contain North America’s largest gas concentrations per square kilometer [pdf], the Will DeMille G-59 and Green Road B-41 test wells were not proving commercially viable.

When their partnership was announced, the companies were hoping to drill up to 480 wells, but with meager results from the two wells in phase 1, and a June 1st deadline to decide whether to invest additional millions or to opt out entirely, Apache balked and walked away from phase 2.

Read more: Apache Corp Pulls Out Of New Brunswick Gas Fracking Project
Wed, 2011-06-01 22:44TJ Scolnick
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ExxonMobil Drilling Plan Threatens Drinking Water In Delaware River Basin

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) held a public hearing today to review a proposal from ExxonMobil subsidiary XTO Energy to remove massive amounts of water from the Delaware River Basin for unconventional gas exploration.

The dirty energy giant is hoping to withdraw up to 250,000 gallons per day of surface water from Oquaga Creek near the Farnham Road bridge crossing on Route 41 in Sanford, New York. Roughly 300 residents showed up to comment on the proposal, which has stirred public anger and concern over the potential impacts on the local environment and water supplies.
 
The Exxon subsidiary’s draft docket stipulates that the surface water will be used for unconventional gas drilling via hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. fracking). XTO says the clean water will be used to mix cement and create a “drilling mud/fluid” cocktail. No waste problem, of course.

Beneath the Exxon PR spin, the true costs of withdrawing a quarter million gallons of water per day are estimated at around $17,700 - just for a tiny patch of land.

Consider the fact that the fracking rush is exacting these very same direct costs on many North Americans.

Read more: ExxonMobil Drilling Plan Threatens Drinking Water In Delaware River Basin
Tue, 2011-05-31 23:36Emma Pullman
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TransCanada says Their Eleventh Leak Proves Keystone is Safe

UPDATE: The 1,600 figure we reported yesterday was an early and apparently erroneous estimate. The most recent figure, from The National Response Center, is closer to 8,000 litres. According to the Montreal Gazette, over 110,000 litres of oil have spilled along TransCanada's Keystone line in the last year alone.

Today, TransCanada shut down its Keystone oil pipeline following its second pump station leak in less than a month. The most recent spill dumped nearly 1,600 litres of oil at a pumping station in Kansas over the weekend. With two spills in the last month, and ten more over the course of the last year, how can TransCanada convince U.S. authorities to trust the safety of its controversial expansion plans?  

As DeSmogBlog recently reported, spills are far more common than industry would have us realize. A 2007 report by the Alberta Energy Utilities Board recorded a whopping 5,000 pipeline spills between 1990 and 2005 in Alberta alone. 

The string of spills over the past year have only heightened public worries about the safety of North America’s vast pipeline network, and provide evidence that the proposed Keystone XL and Northern Gateway lines should be blocked.

The Montreal Gazette reports that over 110,000 litres of oil have spilled along TransCanada's Keystone line in the last year.

To top it all off, TransCanada has somehow managed to spin its treacherous spill record and suggest - and you're not going to believe this - that it's doing a great job.

Read more: TransCanada says Their Eleventh Leak Proves Keystone is Safe

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