You are here

Home

Energy

ExxonMobil company charged with fracking-related crimes

Fri, 2013-10-04 23:53 — Maeryn Obley

ExxonMobil's flag flies near an oil refinery.Image: ExxonMobil's flag flies near an oil refinery.

grist.org - September 12th, 2013 - John Upton

ExxonMobil subsidiary XTO Energy is being prosecuted for alleged environmental crimes after it spilled fracking wastewater into a Pennsylvania river in 2010.

The company’s response? It claims the criminal charges could harm the environment.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Energy
Environment
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Situation Report

President Obama: Reject Keystone XL, Promote Clean Energy

Sun, 2013-09-22 01:09 — Gina Angiola

By Robert Redford, Reader Supported News, 18 September 13

ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE

he Keystone XL and tar sands expansion have no place in a clean energy future

I can understand why oil companies love tar sands. There is a lot of money to be made by strip mining and drilling the dirtiest oil on the planet.

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Energy
Environment
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions

Boston Tops Ranking of Energy-Efficient U.S. Cities

Sat, 2013-09-21 23:15 — Maeryn Obley

Boston scored highest among 34 citiies in the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's new ranking of municipal energy savings efforts. Photograph by Shobeir Ansari, Flickr/Getty Images

Image: Boston scored highest among 34 citiies in the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's new ranking of municipal energy savings efforts. Photograph by Shobeir Ansari, Flickr/Getty Images

news.nationalgeographic.com - September 17th, 2013 - Patrick J. Kiger

Though legislation to promote energy efficiency remains in a holding pattern in the U.S. Senate, there was a glimmer of good news on American cities' efforts to achieve energy savings on their own.

According to a new ranking by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, many of the nation's cities are instituting a variety of energy-saving measures such as requiring more efficient building designs, building electric vehicle charging stations, and promoting bike sharing. (See related story: "Bike-Share Schemes Shift Into High Gear.")

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Cities
Energy
Sustainable Development
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions

Fracking Across the United States

Fri, 2013-09-13 23:47 — Maeryn Obley

View Fraccidents Map in a larger map

Image: A map of fracking accidents in the United States

earthjustice.org

The country is in the midst of an unprecedented oil and gas drilling rush—brought on by a controversial technology called hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Along with this fracking-enabled oil and gas rush have come troubling reports of poisoned drinking water, polluted air, mysterious animal deaths, industrial disasters and explosions. We call them Fraccidents.

(VIEW WEBSITE)

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Energy
Environment
Map
Visualization
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Problem

Solar Crowdfunding a Solution to Energy Poverty

Fri, 2013-09-13 23:27 — Maeryn Obley

Installing solar panels in a village.

Image: Installing solar panels in a village.

ecowatch.com - August 28th - Justin Guay

We have two broken systems—energy and finance—which conspire to support a coal fired centralized grid that never reaches the poor while driving dangerous climate change. That means 1.3 billion people around the world won’t escape the dark, and we’ll fry the climate, unless we disrupt these systems and deploy distributed clean energy. Three months ago the Sierra Club worked on a pilot project with SunFunder to promote such a potentially disruptive solution: solar crowdfunding for the world’s poor.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Energy
Sustainable Development
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions

Utility Companies Launch Attack Against Rising Rooftop Solar Market

Sun, 2013-09-08 15:24 — Maeryn Obley

Solar panels on a rooftop

Image: Solar panels on a rooftop

http://ecowatch.com - September 3rd, 2013 - Marc Gunther

Issues of electricity regulation typically play out in drab government hearing rooms. That has not been the case this summer in Arizona, where a noisy argument—featuring TV attack ads and dueling websites—has broken out between regulated utilities and the rooftop solar industry.

An internet web video attacks the California start-up companies that sell rooftop solar systems as the “new Solyndras,” which are spending “hard-earned tax dollars to subsidize their wealthy customers.”

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Economics
Energy
Policy
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions

A New California Oil Boom? - Drilling the Monterey Shale Part 1: Distracted by Fracking?

Sat, 2013-09-07 01:20 — Kathy Gilbeaux

 

thenextgeneration.org - by Robert Collier - August 8, 2013

This is the first installment of a special series looking at the potential climate and public health implications of a boom in Monterey Shale production.

Over the past few years, the United States has found itself in the midst of a major boom in oil and gas production. Rapid expansion in the use of a drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” has opened up previously unreachable pockets of oil and gas, and returned the U.S. to its historic position as a major global producer of these fossil fuels.

And it seems the boom may be coming to California.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)


Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Climate
Energy
Environment
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Problem

Battles Escalate Over Community Efforts to Ban Fracking

Tue, 2013-09-03 10:31 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

Protesters converged on Dimock, Pennsylvania, in 2011 over the effects of fracking on residents' water. Now an increasing number of communities are seeking to ban fracking outright, sparking court battles.  Photograph by Nina Berman/NOOR/Redux

Obama's trip to fracking territory underscores the controversy.

nationalgeographic.com - by Joe Eaton - August 22, 2013

As President Obama visits upstate New York and northeastern Pennsylvania this week to discuss his education agenda, a separate issue looms large in the background: fracking, a practice that has transformed Pennsylvania's economy and divided New York, where a moratorium is in place.

Protesters on both sides of the issue are expected to greet the President. And while his trip highlights many unresolved issues related to America's new wealth of natural gas and oil, a growing number of communities are taking matters into their own hands.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
US - NorthEast
General Topic Tags: 
Energy
Environment
Pollution
Water
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Problem

Beyond Keystone XL: Three Controversial Pipeline Proposals

Wed, 2013-08-28 22:06 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

ecowatch.com - by Kiley Kroh - August 16, 2013

While the national debate remains largely focused on President Obama’s impending decision regarding the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, communities across the U.S. and Canada are grappling with the oil and gas industry’s rapidly expanding pipeline network—cutting through their backyards, threatening water supplies and leaving them vulnerable to devastating spills.

As production booms in Alberta, Canada’s tar sands and fracking opens up vast oil and natural gas deposits around America, companies are increasingly desperate for new pipelines to get their product to market. “We’ve so narrowly focused on Keystone that a lot of these other projects aren’t getting the scrutiny they probably need,” said Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
United States
General Topic Tags: 
Energy
Environment
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Problem

Rim Fire - Fire Tracker

Mon, 2013-08-26 22:55 — Kathy Gilbeaux

View Rim Fire in a larger map

http://projects.scpr.org/firetracker/rim-fire/

Fire Tracker, KPCC's tool for following & researching California wildfires, contains fire information displayed by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection -- also known as CalFire -- which protects more than 31 million acres of California's privately-owned wildlands and provides emergency services in 36 of the State's 58 counties.

About the data

Country / Region Tags: 
US - West
General Topic Tags: 
Disaster Response
Energy
Vulnerability
Water
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Problem
Situation Report

Pages

Subscribe to Energy
howdy folks