At a seminar titled “Staying Ahead of Federal and State Regulations: A Partnership with Academia and Government,” officials from Pennsylvania State University and the University of Texas described how gifts from companies like ExxonMobil allowed their universities, along with the Colorado School of Mines, to offer state regulators free classes on oil industry best practices, travel and accommodations included.
Boulder Weekly, a Boulder, Colorado alternative weekly newspaper, has published a 10,000 word ”frackademia” investigation in a special edition of the newspaper. The long-form investigation by Joel Dyer — based on thousands of documents obtained by Greenpeace USA — exposes the ongoing partnership between the University of Colorado-Boulder's Leeds School of Business and the Common Sense Policy Roundtable (CSPR), the latter an oil and gas industry front group.
In a recent Washington Post editorial supporting oil industry efforts to lift the existing ban on exporting crude oil produced in America, the editors stated:“The most serious objection to lifting the ban comes from environmentalists who worry that it would lower fossil fuel prices and lead to more oil consumption.”
When will the shaking and rattling finally wake people up to the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in populated areas? Do people here feel so beaten down by the prevailing political power structure and the oil and gas industry they will actually allow their homes to be damaged and possibly even destroyed to line the pockets of millionaire energy executives? Will they even risk the safety of their children?
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) has responded defensively to the oil-by-rail lawsuit filed by former BNSF locomotive engineer Bryan Thompson, a case recently reported on by DeSmogBlog.
Fracking is set to be banned in Wales until 2021 while health and climate risks are investigated more extensively. The proposed moratorium on fracking was led by opposition party Plaid Cymru and supported by members of both the Welsh Labour and Tory parties.
This week, New York Governor Cuomo announced that his state would ban fracking, due in large part to concerns about impacts on public health. But right across the border in Pennsylvania, one of the fastest-moving shale booms in the country still proceeds at breakneck speed.
When it comes to basic democratic principles and the freedom of political expression, the public meeting Thursday to discuss a proposal to allow fracking adjacent to Lake Hefner was a complete sham. Democracy is NOT alive and well in Oklahoma City, folks.
Two big blows to the natural gas industry have come in less than 24 hours, with both the province of Quebec and New York state effectively banning shale gas extraction over concerns with the process of hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. “fracking”).
Fracking
