An internal tracking document-- obtained from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) by the Center for Media and Democracy under Texas public records law -- reveals the scope of ALEC's anti-environmental efforts in 2014.
Did you see President Obama’s State of the Union? While the President had an optimistic tone, I saw the same theme of giving more power to corporations at the expense of the people.
The Illinois legislature has passed a fracking regulatory bill, expected to be signed into law by the governor, hailed by some environmental groups as the "toughest in the country." But other groups are highly critical, both of the bill and of the way some big environmental groups worked with legislators and industry to pass it into law.
Before Gus Van Sant's latest film Promised Land even premiered, the energy industry was up in arms, gearing up to counter the film's apparent anti-fracking stance with a barrage of "community" responses (read: thinly veiled corporate PR).
How times have changed. Ten years ago the United States was looking at importing natural gas via massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, yet to be built. Now the country appears to be getting ready to significantly increase exports of LNG.
As CMD has reported, the fossil fuel industry has been engaging in an aggressive PR and political campaign to convince Americans that drilling for oil and gas domestically is the only way that the nation can break its dependence on foreign oil, bring down prices at the pump, and usher in a new era of economic prosperity. A new report from the DC-based public interest group Food & Water Watch knocks down these claims one by one. While the industry uses the phrase "energy security," the report contends that only industry profits will be secured by the expansion of controversial hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" for shale oil and gas.
Despite over half a million dollars spent by the fossil fuel industry in Longmont, Colorado, residents voted Tuesday to make the city the first to ban hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" in the state. The city of 87,000, nestled at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, voted 59 to 41 to ban the controversial method of extracting shale oil and gas, as well as to ban the storage of the toxin-laden wastewater in the city limits.
Officials in New York have indicated that the decision on whether to lift the moratorium on new "fracking" wells may be delayed. The hotly contested issue of whether to allow the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" to expand in New York has put substantial pressure on Governor Andrew Cuomo's administration with thousands of concerned citizens publicly expressing their desire for a ban on fracking in the state. Many have even signed a pledge committing to engage in civil disobedience if Cuomo were to lift the moratorium he put in place for additional study.
The future of New York's water supplies and the health of its millions of citizens hang in the balance as Governor Andrew Cuomo decides whether to end the state's moratorium on new wells to drill for "natural" gas through the controversial industrial process of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking." Activists estimated that over two thousand concerned citizens joined the march in Albany Monday to try to persuade Cuomo not to lift the moratorium -- statewide or in some counties -- a decision expected to be announced some time after Labor Day.
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