Video - Truck Carrying Oil Crashes Killing 204 Illustrating the Dangers of Transporting Fossil Fuels

This video shows the aftermath of a crash involving an oil bearing tanker truck that killed more than 200 people in the Congo in July, 2010. The video reiterates, the horrible lessons learned from the tragic July, 2013, explosion of a train bearing oil in Canada in which an entire town was decimated. Fossil fuels are a danger on public roads, and they are no safer on rail lines, shipping lanes or in pipelines. Whether by train, pipe, ship or truck, fossil fuels cannot be safely transported.

Shell Pauses its Arctic Drilling for 2013

On Wednesday, February 27th, Royal Dutch Shell PLC announced it will suspend offshore petroleum drilling in the Arctic Ocean for 2013. The Arctic is already suffering from the effects of climate change and Arctic drilling further endangers the rich ecosystem and puts a wide range of animal species at risk.

Last year Shell drilled in both the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast and in the Beaufort Sea off the state's north coast.

However Shell's operations in the far north have been plagued by problems. At the end of 2012, the Kulluk one of Shell's oil rigs, broke free and ran aground in rough seas.

Shell Oil President Marvin Odum described the decision as a "pause" to "to ensure the readiness of all our equipment and people following the drilling season in 2012."

World Agrees on a Treaty Restricting Mercury

After protracted negotiations that spanned almost half a decade more than 140 countries have signed on to the world's first legally binding international agreement to control mercury emissions. The agreement puts in place rules that limit mercury emissions from power plants and industrial boilers as well as certain kinds of smelters handling metals like zinc and gold. The treaty phases out mercury laden products, like batteries and thermometers as well as certain types of fluorescent lamps, soaps and cosmetics. The agreement also establishes rules for direct mining of mercury and addresses safe storage of mercury waste.

UNEP Mercury Study: Levels of the Toxic Metal are Increasing

A UNEP study released in January 2013 found mercury pollution in the top layer of the world’s oceans has doubled in the past century. In the past 100 years, man-made emissions have caused the amount of mercury in the top 100 metres of the world's oceans to double. Concentrations in deeper waters have increased by up to 25 percent. The study also indicates that hundreds of tons of mercury have leaked from the soil into rivers and lakes around the world. The report says an estimated 260 tonnes of mercury - previously held in soils - are being released into rivers and lakes.

Legally Binding Treaty to Reduce Mercury Emissions

On Sunday January 13 delegates from more than 130 nations began a final round of negotiations with the intent of creating the world's first legally binding treaty to reduce mercury emissions. Mercury contamination is a major problem which has serious implications for pregnant women, women of childbearing age and young children. Mercury accumulates in fish and wildlife and goes up the food chain.

According to the U.N. environment program, which is also one of the sponsors of these talks, over the past century ocean based mercury contamination has doubled. The report demonstrates that hundreds of tons of mercury have leaked from the soil into rivers and lakes around the world. High rates of mercury pollution are largely attributable to coal burning, chemical production and small-scale mining, particularly what is known as artisanal gold production.

Using Trees to Generate Electricity is Not Green Energy

Despite the value of trees to human and planetary health, an increasing number of American companies are cutting down forests to convert trees into pellets for electricity. It is tragically ironic that trees are being destroyed in the name of renewable energy. It is often said that trees are the Earth's lungs, they sequester carbon, produce oxygen, prevent erosion and are one of nature's most aesthetic creations. While coal is widely understood to be environmentally destructive, many do not understand that burning wood for electricity is even more harmful.

According to a Dogwood Alliance article, "burning trees for electricity will actually result in increased carbon emissions, when compared to coal." While it is good that European utilities are transitioning away from coal, it is a travesty that they are adopting wood based biomass as a replacement. 

Al Gore Fears a Romney Presidency and Credits Obama

In a sit-down interview with TakePart, former Vice President Al Gore says he “would fear for the future of our environmental policy” if Mitt Romney were elected President in November.

Gore’s comments were taped in San Francisco on Tuesday, August 21, two days before the presumptive GOP presidential nominee unveiled his energy plan, which many environmentalists were quick to criticize, arguing that it would double down on America’s dependence on dirty fossil fuels like oil and gas. The former Massachusetts governor did not mention climate change once in his speech.

Paul Ryan Protecting Big Oil and Lining His Pockets (Video)

Mitt Romney Funded by Big Oil (Video)

Mitt Romney’s Love Affair with the Fossil Fuel Industry

Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s “new” energy plan, relies on 19th century fossil fuel technology. It is but the latest incarnation of a longstanding Republican obsession with oil and gas. Romney’s energy strategy is reliant on Canada’s environmentally disastrous tar sands. He wants to expedite the Keystone XL pipeline, reduce regulations on hydraulic fracturing and ease the permitting process for offshore oil and gas. Romney wants to take regulatory power away from the federal government and give it to individual states. He wants to amend the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act and weaken the EPA’s ability to regulate pollution.While Romney is pushing for more oil and gas, his plan does not advocate either conservation or efficiency. Instead he would end subsidies for renewable sources of energy like solar and wind.

GOP VP Candidate Ryan’s Unsustainable Voting Record on Energy and the Environment

Paul Ryan is the Republican Party’s pick for VP and he is also an outspoken climate change skeptic. Representative Ryan is an unflinching supporter of the fossil fuel industry who has a very poor voting record on environmental and energy issues. Although he is touted as the intellectual leader of the GOP, Ryan has cast aspersions on climate science and he has inferred that unusual snowfalls suggest that global warming is not real.

Fossil Fuels are the Most Hated Industry in the US

Americans may not like government, but according to a new poll, they hate the oil and gas industry most of all. A new Gallup poll asked thousands of Americans how they feel about 25 of the nation's largest industries -- positive, neutral or negative. A total of 61 percent of those polled gave the fossil fuel industry a negative rating

To rank the most hated industries, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 10 private sector industries with the most overall negative views among the 25 industries Gallup included in its annual Work and Education survey. They also reviewed the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI), which employs a multiequation econometric model to score industries on a 0-100 scale.