April 29th, 2013

Keystone XL pipeline protesters locked themselves to earth-moving equipment in Spaulding, OK, today, in one of a series of actions against the intercontinental project that would carry diluted bitumen oil from Canada to Texas refineries and ports. Opponents say the pipeline will unleash massive carbon dioxide pollution, accelerating climate change.

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August 22nd, 2012

It’s often assumed that Texans, like the majority of their lawmakers, favor oil drilling and the expansion of the oil industry.

And it’s often true. But a small, scrappy group of protesters that has risen up against the construction of the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline in Texas and Oklahoma are showing that such stereotypes are just that.

Their protests began last week, with small groups brandishing protest signs at work sites, where pipeline operator TransCanada has begun laying the Southern portion of the 1,700 mile transcontinental pipeline from Alberta to the Houston area.

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February 28th, 2012

he much fought-over Keystone XL oil pipeline will begin construction in Oklahoma and Texas, despite having been denied a presidential permit for the entire 1,700 mile project.
The Obama Administration had rejected the project in November 2011, saying more study and a possible re-routing was needed in Nebraska where the route slices through the Sandhills region above the Ogallala Aquifer.

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January 13th, 2012

Although it’s less obvious during winter, with the fields and forests having gone dormant, Texas’ historic drought continues to claim casualties.

Trees, especially, remain at risk because they use the winter months to grow root systems, and the moisture in the soil will determine whether they’ll recover from 2011′s record drought and heat.

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August 29th, 2011

The cost of Hurricane Irene will be hefty. It will take $5 billion to $7 billion, by early estimates, to repair roads, haul out downed trees and pump out flooded basements in North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and the hurricane’s surprise last-minute victim, Vermont.

That’s similar to the $5.2 billion price tag placed on the Texas drought this year, which has caused extensive livestock and crop failures in the state, a major producer of beef, corn, cotton and other commodities.

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August 14th, 2009

From Green Right Now Reports

Exxon-Mobil Corporation, the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Denver to violating the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) in five states during the past five years, the Justice Department announced.

The company has agreed to pay fines and community service payments totaling $600,000 and will implement an environmental compliance plan over the next three years aimed at preventing bird deaths on the company’s facilities in the affected states. According to papers filed in court, the company has already spent over $2.5 million to begin implementation of the plan.

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April 6th, 2009

From Green Right Now Reports

A softening economy and a milder-than-usual winter contributed to a decline in carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. power plants in 2008, according to a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project.

EIP officials noted that the decrease is a departure from the recent trends, with power plant carbon dioxide emissions having risen 0.9 percent since 2003, and 4.5 percent since 1998, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

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