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Lobbyist for Dakota Access Formerly Led Army's "Restore Iraqi Oil" Program
Photo Credit: C-SPAN Screenshot
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
Robert Crear, one of the lobbyists working for Dakota Access pipeline co-owners Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics, formerly served as a chief of staff and commanding general for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
This Natural Disaster Assistance Law Is Why Other States Are Policing Dakota Access Pipeline Protests
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
Almost exactly 20 years ago, President Bill Clinton signed into law a bill creating an interstate agreement for emergency management. That inconspicuous law has opened the door for the current flood of out-of-state law enforcement agents present at the continuing protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in North Dakota.
Security Firm Running Dakota Pipeline Intelligence Tied to U.S. Military Work in Iraq, Afghanistan
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
TigerSwan is one of several security firms under investigation for its work guarding the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota while potentially without a permit. Besides this recent work on the Standing Rock Sioux protests in North Dakota, this company has offices in Iraq and Afghanistan and is run by a special forces Army veteran.
The Guy Who Went Viral from Presidential Debate Works for Coal Company Opposed to Climate Regulations
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
After Kenneth Bone asked a question about energy to presidential nominees Donald Trump and Secretary Hillary Clinton at the presidential town hall debate on October 9, he quickly became a viral internet sensation.
That evening at Washington University in St. Louis, Bone asked, "What step will your energy policy take to meet our energy needs while at the same time remaining environmentally friendly and minimizing job loss for fossil power plant workers?"
Koch Industries and Fracking Lobbyist Mike Catanzaro To Lead Trump Energy Team
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
The Washington Post has reported that Mike Catanzaro, a former senior energy staffer for Republican Party House Majority Leader John Boehner with a track record of climate change denial, will lead Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump's energy transition team.
Before Presidential Debate, Obama Admin Weakened Endangered Species Act Under Oil Industry Pressure
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
As eyes turned to the most viewed presidential debate in U.S. history, the Obama administration meanwhile quietly auctioned off thousands of acres of land for oil and gas drilling in national forests, opened up 119 million acres for offshore drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico, and delivered a blow to the Endangered Species Act.
As Dakota Access Protests Escalated, Obama Admin OK’d Same Company for Two Pipelines to Mexico
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
Photo Credit: C-SPAN
On September 9, the Obama administration revoked authorization for construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) on federally controlled lands and asked the pipeline's owners, led by Energy Transfer Partners, to voluntarily halt construction on adjacent areas at the center of protests by Native Americans and supporters.
Security Firm Guarding Dakota Access Pipeline Also Used Psychological Warfare Tactics for BP
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
G4S, a company hiring security staff to guard the hotly contested Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL), also works to guard oil and gas industry assets in war-torn Iraq, and has come under fire by the United Nations for human rights abuses allegedly committed while overseeing a BP pipeline in Colombia and elsewhere while on other assignments.
Documents: How Big Oil Pushed to Make Dakota Access-Style Permitting a New Normal
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
In the two months leading up to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision to issue to the Dakota Access pipeline project an allotment of Nationwide 12 permits (NWP) — a de facto fast-track federal authorization of the project — an army of oil industry players submitted comments to the Corps to ensure that fast-track authority remains in place going forward.
This fast-track permitting process is used to bypass more rigorous environmental and public review for major pipeline infrastructure projects by treating them as smaller projects.
Company Led by Donald Trump's Energy Aide Says Its Oil Will Flow Through Dakota Access Pipeline
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
Obama Admin Moves Oil, Gas Lease Bids Online To Quell Protests
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
On August 30, the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that it would utilize Congress' blessing, given to it in the form of passed legislation, to proceed with online bidding for oil and gas located on U.S. public lands.
As Native Americans Protest Pipeline, Senator Invests in Oil Wells Named After Them
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
Dakota Access Pipeline Tribal Liaison Formerly Worked For Agency Issuing Permit To Cross Tribal Land
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
The Standing Rock tribe has filed a lawsuit against the U.S Army Corps of Engineers for using the controversial Nationwide Permit 12 to fast-track authorization of the hotly contested Dakota Access pipeline.
Documents: Fracked Gas Exports Central to Panama Canal Expansion
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
After nearly a decade of engineering work on the project, the Panama Canal's expansion opened for business on June 26.
Obama Approved Over 1,500 Offshore Frack Jobs in Gulf of Mexico: Corporate Media Ignored It
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
On June 24, the independent news website TruthOut broke a doozy of a story: the Obama Administration has secretly approved over 1,500 instances of offshore hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") in the Gulf of Mexico, including during the Deepwater Horizon offshore spill disaster.
How IOGCC-Spawned Lawsuit Overturning BLM Fracking Regulations on Public Lands
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
In a ruling on the Obama Administration's proposed regulations of hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") on U.S. public lands, U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming Judge Scott Skavdahl — a President Obama appointee — struck down the rules as an illegal violation of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Photo Credit: WildEarth Guardians | Flickr
TransMexico: Keystone XL Owner Wins Bid For Underwater Gulf Gas Pipeline
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
Documents: Before Rightward Rebrand, an MSNBC 'Lean Forward' to Promote Fracking
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
Cable TV network MSNBC has made headlines in recent days for apparently moving away from its "Lean Foward" progressive brand, catering instead to a more center-to-right-leaning crowd.
"People might start accusing us of leaning too far to the right," the station says in a new advertisement featuring MSNBC's conservative personalities — an array of Republican identities such as Michael Steele, Steve Schmidt and Ben Ginsberg.
After Keystone XL: TransCanada Building North American Fracked Gas Pipeline Empire
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
Though President Barack Obama and his State Department nixed the northern leg of TransCanada's Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in November, the Canadian pipeline company giant has continued the fight in a federal lawsuit in Houston, claiming the Obama Administration does not have the authority to deny a presidential pipeline permit on the basis claimed that he did.
Emails: US Senator Turned Exxon Lobbyist Limits Access to Public University-Based Archives
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
Emails and documents obtained from Oklahoma State University (OSU) under the state's open records law depict an arrangement in which former U.S. Sen. Don Nickles (R-OK) donated his U.S. Senate papers to OSU, a public university, but still maintains full control of the papers and who gets permission to view them.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Fox in Hen House: Online Auctions For Public Lands Oil and Gas Bids May Be Industry-Owned, Run
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
If the recent past serves as prologue, then online leasing of oil and gas on U.S. federal lands may resemble the proverbial fox guarding the hen house, with one eBay-like company in particular standing to profiteer from the industry's proposed e-bidding scheme.
Image Credit: Willis Nowell | Flickr
Documents: IOGCC-Spawned Loophole Creating Frackquake Crisis Faces Federal Lawsuit
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
On May 4, several environmental organizations filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), calling for an end to the regulatory exemption it carved out in the late 1980s for the oil and gas industry with regards to how it handles industrial waste.
Photo Credit: United States Geological Survey
Big Oil Group Plots to Exclude Public from Public Lands Bidding, Calls for "eBay"-Style Auctions
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
At the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC)'s 2016 meeting in Denver, Colorado this week, a representative from a prominent oil and gas lobbying group advocated that auctions of federal lands should happen online "eBay"-style — a clear attempt to shut the public out of the bidding process for fossil fuel leases on public lands.
Exxon's Attorney for AG Probe, Has NFL Concussion Cover-Up and Big Tobacco Roots
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
Documents: How IOGCC Created Loophole Ushering in Frackquakes and Allowing Methane Leakage
Cross-Posted from DeSmogBlog
Earthquakes caused by injection of shale oil and gas production wastes — and methane leakage from shale gas pipelines — have proliferated in recent years, with both issues well-studied in the scientific literature and grabbing headlines in newspapers nationwide.
