Energy
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Oh, the many effects of extracting the world’s dirtiest oil! Despite the huge PR offensive by big oil, Alberta, and Canada’s right wing government, it is hard to overwhelm the public into thinking digging big holes to get out the bitumen is a great idea. Scientists, bloggers, conservation groups, and even segments of the Democratic…
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Slogan might sway elections, has no effect on gasoline prices- Whenever the price of gasoline rises, we hear what is by now a coordinated shout that there needs to be more domestic oil drilling and “damn, the damn bunnies” and the rest of the wildlife too. Thirty seconds thought tells a person that a short…
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Earthquakes, water pollution, political pollution, and now toxic chemicals in the air near fracking wells- It seems every day the news about the negative side effects of fracking gets worse (and the TV ads run by the American Petroleum Institute and others more manipulative). Aside from the methane in the natural gas, a number of…
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Hundreds of thousands of faults, most poorly mapped, just waiting for a bit of lubrication- We all know what causes earthquakes — preexisting long cracks in rock layers (faults) and enough pressure to make them slip. Most don’t slip very often though. Some will never slip because the pressure is just not, or ever will…
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Resources chair pushes through oil and gas legislation that may make his oil and gas leases valuable- Part of Idaho is like so many other places in America where a tsunami of fracking is about to hit. Five years ago this seemed very unlikely. Idaho has always been regarded as an unlikely place for oil…
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No conservation spokespersons quoted- Yesterday the big news in Idaho and northern Nevada was the 2-year delay and perhaps the demise of the proposed giant wind farm on top of Browns Bench/China Mountain on the Idaho/Nevada border (mostly BLM public land). There is much to be said on all sides of the issue. Today we…
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A Wind developer in southern Idaho has hit a two-year road-block that casts significant doubt on whether the wind project sited in pristine sage grouse habitat along the border of Nevada will ever be developed at all. BLM defers China Mountain decision for two years – Elko Daily Free Press “stupid bird.” We’ve covered the…
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Democratic critics say pipeline will not increase U.S. oil supplies- Right now the U.S. Senate is considering a Republican effort to fast-track the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline. Democrats will filibuster. Republicans are not likely to get the 60 votes to beat the filibuster. The pipeline is becoming a defining issue between the two parties,…