Our weekly update to unravel the industry and political spin around the energy debate
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
BROWN ADS BANNED
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority last week banned a set of ads from 350.org for being too controversial. The ads demonstrate the influence dirty energy corporations have over members of Congress. In this case, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) received $1.9M in dirty energy campaign funds. Blue Mass Group pulls together an interesting round of ads MBTA also finds unacceptable.
AN OPEN LAND USE POLICY
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials in Cody, WY announced a series of public hearings to determine the region’s land use for the next 20 years. BLM’s open and transparent process is exactly how western land use should be decided, so that the people who live there have a say. Public comment is open until July 20, so anyone in the Cody area with concerns or input should be sure to show up.
UNCLEAR DISCLOSURE
Robert Bryce penned an op-ed for The New York Times, which failed to disclose that Koch Industries funded Bryce’s organization, The Manhattan Institute. Bryce used his submission as an attempt to discredit wind and solar while promoting drilling with chemicals (fracking) as an environmentally sound option. DeSmog Blog has the full story.
PLAY IT AGAIN SAM…
Oil shale supporters continue to use the same rhetoric they have for a century, with still no results to support their words. In this case, The Big Oil shill team of Matt and Jared Barber repeated the hopeful phrases we have heard for over 100 years in Thursday’s Washington Times. To learn just how many times these same promises have been made over the last century, check out our white paper on oil shale rhetoric through the ages.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Department of Energy, on May 20, quietly gave approval for Cheniere Energy Inc. to export 2.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from its Sabine Pass, La., port terminal — the first time the government granted permission to export American-produced gas overseas from the lower 48 states. The action allows exports to all countries except those to which the United States bans trade, such as North Korea. If claims by Rep. Lamborn and Chairman Hastings were true that more drilling would lead toward energy independence, then why is industry making plans to export natural gas and currently selling gasoline and diesel to our neighbors making us a net petroleum exporter.
COMING UP THIS WEEK
REPORTS OF INDUSTRY DEMISE ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED
This week, Montana-based Headwaters Economics released an analysis of drilling activity in the U.S. According to their research, “After a mid-recession slump, drilling activity in the United States recovered to levels that were, as of the last week of May, 91 percent of a twenty-year high last reached in 2008.”
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