Will Fossil Fuel Companies Face Liability for Climate Change? | Environment. January 2, 2012 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. In a recent article in National Journal, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) President Tim Phillips said there is no question that AFP and others like it have been instrumental in the rise of Republican candidates who question or deny climate science: “We’ve made great headway. These organizations and their supporters say they are just funding their own independent studies of climate change science.
The first question, as far as I can tell, apparently boils down to: it’s legal because we have yet to make the deliberate manipulation of science illegal. Yet while people and companies enjoy the First Amendment right to free speech, legal scholars have argued that right does not extend to influencing people under false pretenses. This question may soon be playing out in the courts. History of the science Research on climate change goes back over a century. Photos show Alberta tar sands expanding rapidly.
A series of photos presented by National Geographic shows the rapid expansion… (National Geographic ) The tar sand mines in Alberta, source of the oil that may one day flow all the way from Canada to Texas through the Keystone XL Pipeline, are growing by enormous leaps and bounds. This superb series of satellite pictures, brought to you by National Geographic, tells the whole story. When the first mine opened alongside the pristine Athabasca River in 1967, oil extracted from oil sands (also known as tar sands) was too expensive to compete with liquid crude. But now, with oil prices hovering at about $100 US per barrel, the costly and environmentally taxing process of pulling bitumen out of the clay mixture makes it economically feasible.
Processing, transporting and refining the oil is very energy intensive, however, producing 15% to 80% more carbon emissions than average petroleum products over their life cycle. Fracking rap video named one of best of 2011. BP says Halliburton 'intentionally destroyed evidence' after Gulf oil spill. Fire boats battle a fire at the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon on April 21, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico.
Halliburton was a contractor for BP at the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon oil drilling operationBP and its contractors have been locked in legal battles since last yearAn explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon killed 11 and injured 16The explosion led to more than 200 million gallons of oil being released into the Gulf of Mexico (CNN) -- BP is accusing Halliburton of having "intentionally destroyed evidence" related to the explosion aboard an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that led to the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
The accusation comes in court papers filed by BP Monday in federal court in New Orleans as part of a lawsuit aimed at having sanctions imposed on Halliburton Energy Services Inc., which was a contractor for BP on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. An explosion on the rig on April 20, 2010, killed 11 people working on the rig and injured 16 others. "No, ma'am. " Report: U.S. nuclear renaissance unlikely after Fukushima. A new study released Wednesday said that the regulatory fallout from the Fukushima power plant disaster in Japan in March will short-circuit the U.S. nuclear renaissance of new power plant construction. The report, "Nuclear Safety and Nuclear Economics," was written and presented by Mark Cooper, a frequent critic of the nuclear power industry. The report can be found here.
Cooper is a senior fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at the Vermont Law School. Cooper said that past nuclear disasters, such as the one at the Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania in 1979, have tended to greatly raise regulatory barriers and have also severely multiplied the cost of reactor construction.
After Three Mile Island, for example, the report said, the cost of nuclear power plant construction doubled in most cases and trebled or quadrupled in some rare instances. Japan, utility criticized for poor Fukushima response NRC approves new reactor design. Garbage Warrior — The Positive Path - Because there is nothing more powerful than an open mind.
Nuclear expert says Fukushima radiation coming to USA, massive cover-up under way. (Natural News) There has been a lot of disinformation regarding the Fukushima Nuclear disaster. It appears the government agencies of other nations cooperated with Japan while the international nuclear industry sided with TEPCO's (Tokyo Electric Power Company) disinformation and denial campaign. As Mike Adams noted in his April 5th, 2011 Natural News article on Fukushima, "The government is going to turn off the radiation detectors, raise the official EPA limits of radioactive exposure, urge Americans to avoid preparing for fallout, and then pretend absolutely nothing is wrong. " Understanding the Millisievert Millisievert figures are tossed out by the media with little attention to explaining them.
Millisieverts (mSv) are measurements of ionizing radiation absorbed by a human body. Geiger counters formally measured with Rems (Roentgen equivalent man) or millirems. The figures on Geiger counters now represent mSv units per hour. Whenever Geiger counters measure more, there is concern. Japan earthquake and tsunami debris floating towards US West Coast. By Daily Mail Reporter Updated: 09:53 GMT, 8 April 2011 A vast field of debris, swept out to sea following the Japan earthquake and tsunami, is floating towards the U.S. West Coast, it has emerged. More than 200,000 buildings were washed out by the enormous waves that followed the 9.0 quake on March 11. There have been reports of cars, tractor-trailers, capsized ships and even whole houses bobbing around in open water. Scroll down for video Adrift: A whole house bobs in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan.
But even more grisly are the predictions of U.S. oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who is expecting human feet, still in their shoes, to wash up on the West Coast within three years. 'I'm expecting parts of houses, whole boats and feet in sneakers to wash up,' Mr Ebbesmeyer, a Seattle oceanographer who has spent decades tracking flotsam, told MailOnline. 'I'm expecting the unexpected,' he added. In three years' time the debris field will have reached the U.S. Members of the U.S.