Environment

DOJ Extracts $5 Billion from Anadarko “for 85 years of poisoning the earth”

It “tried to keep its rewards and shed its responsibilities by playing a corporate shell game, putting its oil-and-gas business in a new entity and leaving behind a bankrupt shell” with environmental liabilities of defunct, polluting businesses.

Big Oil’s Favorite Subsidy, The Federal Liability Cap for Oil Spills

Why are most of the damages of an oil spill, such as the BP Deepwater Horizon, picked up by taxpayers? A federal liability cap of a ludicrous $75 million, that’s why. Big oil loves that subsidy and thwarts efforts to raise it to realistic levels.

Epic Droughts: Fracking, Water Supply In Mexican Standoff

Fracking poses a growing risk to water supplies. Groundwater contamination has been making headlines, but in parched states like Texas and California, fracking’s massive consumption of water threatens fracking itself.

California Water Crisis Meets (Already Iffy) Fracking Boom

California is sitting on the largest tight oil formation in the US, the Monterey Shale. Interest is heating up. The legislature passed a controversial law to regulate fracking and allow the industry to drill. But fracking requires lots of water.

Offshore Fracking (And Dumping Chemicals Into Coastal Waters) Beyond The Public Eye

Oil companies have been fracking offshore California and dumping chemicals into coastal waters for as long as two decades. It wasn’t until recently that FOIA requests brought it to light. Now the EPA is feebly trying to step in.

Clean Energy Presents “Perfect Storm” for Utilities

A UBS report finds that the declining costs of renewable energy and energy storage are presenting a “perfect storm” for big utilities: They upend centralized electricity generation and put the utility business model in jeopardy.