A bunch of my friends are up in arms about the Keystone XL pipeline, and the “carbon bomb” it would be if built. Why carbon bomb? Because it is a vast store of hydrocarbon fossil fuels, and building the pipeline would facilitate extraction of those fuels. There’s another deposit of…
The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DoE) and Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have signed an agreement, announced on Tuesday, to begin the process of expanding exploitation of Alaska’s “vast unconventional energy reserves.” This phrase refers to fossil fuels other than the typical fossil crude oil that is the source…
The Parable of the Talents talks about someone who hid their talent and basically starved, while the person who used and multiplied their talent thrived. Does that mean to leave fossil fuels like oil, natural gas and coal in the ground is a form of “hiding talents” that God gave…
Susan Rice, current US Ambassador to the United Nations, and candidate to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, has been found to hold significant investments in more than a dozen Canadian oil companies and banks, according to a report published by OnEarth on Wednesday. These holdings would stand to…
On Friday morning local time, a fire and explosion ripped through an oil platform owned by Black Elk Energy in the Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the Mississippi River. The company is a minor oil producer, and was started in 2007 by John Hoffman, a former BP Amoco…
One day after BP agreed to a $4 billion settlement over the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, we have news of another oil rig blowing up off the coast of Louisiana. On Friday (today) an explosion and fire ripped through an oil platform owned by…
Yesterday, Cal/OSHA Chief Ellen Widess held a public meeting in Richmond CA to report on that agencies investigation into the August 6th fire at Chevron’s oil refinery in Richmond. That fire spewed a toxic cloud over the local area, and caused a spike in gasoline prices on the West Coast.…
The following release from the Department of Energy gives a little glimpse into some of the policies around the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. First, we should use this as a reminder of the extent to which we are dependent on fossil fuels. The dependency is so strong that our Government spends…
On Monday evening a small leak at the Chevron refinery in Richmond CA quickly escalated into a fire and explosion. The fire sent a cloud of black smoke and noxious fumes into the air, with residents being forced to “shelter in place”. Following the incident a flood of residents descended…
A Texas town is ignoring its own test results to allow fracking to continue in violation of city ordinances and to the endangerment of local residents. Frack Jobs (a.k.a. Hydraulic Fracturing) is a controversial method of expanding natural gas and fossil oil production from old fields. Well, controversial to some,…
New policy proposals by the Obama Administration would reduce cost for electric vehicles, spur adoption of other fossil oil alternatives in addition to electric vehicles, especially natural gas powered big trucks. President Obama visited Daimler Trucks North America manufacturing plant in Mt. Holly, NC, to discuss his Administration’s all-of-the-above approach…
On the Motley Fool is a piece about how Heckmann Corporation is looking to expand the use of liquified natural gas use in big trucks. The strategy is ingenious, gives Heckmann the ability to claim green credibility by using natural gas fuel, while giving a method to expand the LNG…
The fossil fuel system is beginning to run into a supply crunch. Report after report shows that the conventional liquid fuels and conventional natural gas has entered a decline in global supply. That would mean we’d see supply problems at gas stations, that is if the oil and gas companies…
The price of gasoline can affect the outcome of the 2012 elections, the success or failure of alternatively fueled vehicles like electric cars, and the success or failure of efforts to mitigate climate change and other environmental goals. What should the price for gasoline be? That’s a huge question with…
Here in the U.S. we effectively killed the Keystone XL project. Aren’t we proud of ourselves? We held anti-Keystone XL rallies in front of the White House and elsewhere, and got Obama to reject the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. That should mean the end of the tar sands crude oil…
