Energy

Published July 2012 by the New Press

"Nothing short of a secret history of the war" - Naomi Klein

Tour dates (details):
WASHINGTON, DC: Tuesday, July 10
NEW YORK: Thursday, July 12
MADISON, Wisconsin (TBC): Tuesday, July 17
PORTLAND, Oregon: Wednesday, July 18
SAN FRANCISCO: Thursday, July 19 AND Sunday, July 22
BOSTON: Thursday, July 26

The departure of the last U.S. troops from Iraq at the end of 2011 left a broken country and a host of unanswered questions. What was the war really about? Why and how did the occupation drag on for nearly nine years, while most Iraqis, Britons, and Americans desperately wanted it to end? And why did the troops have to leave? Now, in a gripping account of the war that dominated US and UK foreign policy over the last decade, investigative journalist Greg Muttitt takes us behind the scenes to answer some of these questions and reveals the previously untold story of the oil politics that played out through the occupation of Iraq.

Drawing upon hundreds of unreleased government documents and extensive interviews with senior American, British, and Iraqi officials, Muttitt exposes the plans and preparations that were in place to shape policies in favor of American and British energy interests. We follow him through a labyrinth of clandestine meetings, reneged promises, and abuses of power; we also see how Iraqis struggled for their own say in their future, in spite of their dysfunctional government and rising levels of violence. Through their stories, we begin to see a very different Iraq from the one our politicians have told us about. In light of the Arab revolutions, the war in Libya, and renewed threats against Iran, Fuel on the Fire provides a vital guide to the lessons from Iraq and of the global consequences of our persistent oil addiction.

www.fuelonthefire.com

Which came first, the oil business or the war machine that protects it? Who started this madness, the military that consumes so much of the oil or the corporations that distribute and profit from the filthy stuff?

An answer of sorts can be found in Timothy Mitchell's book, "Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil."

Western oil corporations were never strong enough, Mitchell finds, to monopolize the flow or stoppage of Middle Eastern oil without major military and financial assistance. So, they began talking about their control of Middle Eastern oil as being an imperial interest. When "imperial" went out of fashion, the phrase shifted to "strategic interest."

BBC

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has signed a law introducing binding targets on climate change.

Mr Calderon said on Twitter that the law would make Mexico the "first developing country with integral legislation against climate change".

The law, which sets targets on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the use of renewable energy, is only the second of its kind in the world.

The measures had been passed by the Senate in April by 78 votes to nil.

'International leader'

"Mexico is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020 and by 50% by 2050," Mr Calderon said in another tweet.

WASHINGTON, May 8 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), will hold a news conference Thursday to announce legislation that would eliminate all oil, coal and gas production subsidies.

The measure would do away with tax breaks, financial assistance, royalty relief, direct federal research and development and many loopholes that benefit the fossil fuel industry. Under current law, more than $110 billion in federal subsidies would go to oil, coal and gas industries in the coming decade.

The bill is supported by 350.org, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Friends of the Earth, Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife. Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth, and Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense will join Sanders and Ellision.

Who: Sen. Sanders, Rep. Ellison, Bill McKibben of 350.0rg, Erich Pica of Friends of the Earth and Ryan Alexander of Taxpayers for Common Sense

What: News conference to announce legislation to end fossil fuel subsidies

When: 11:45 a.m., Tuesday, May 10, 2012

Where: Senate swamp Map

By Dave Lindorff

 http://nukefree.org/editorsblog/nuclear-power-con-new-york-times

  We may yet lose Tokyo….not to mention Alaska…and now Georgia, too 

By Dan DeWalt

Entergy Nuclear of Louisiana, which operates the Vermont Yankee (VY) nuclear reactor in Vernon Vermont has launched an attack on the state of Vermont with the help of the federal courts.

Vermont state law gives the state the power to decide whether to allow further operation of the reactor past March 21, 2012 (the expiration date for VY). When Entergy bought VY, they agreed to this law and swore that they would not try to abrogate it. This was an outright lie on Entergy's part, and they sued the state as soon as it was decided that further operation of this crumbling, leaking and led-by-liars reactor would NOT be in the interests of the state and they were not given permission to continue operation past March 21.

From VA State Senator Creigh Deed's email today:

This week has also seen the uranium issue perhaps come to a head for 2012. The Governor is proposing that his agency heads look at ways to develop a regulatory scheme for mining of uranium in Virginia. While this will give everybody some more breathing room, and more time to digest the multitude of "studies" that have already been conducted in this area, it seems to me that the development of regulations is putting the cart before the horse. The development of a regulatory scheme is technical and will require a significant investment of time and resources. I am uncertain from where the resources will come to do the work.

Politico tweeted: "The Obama administration, via State Dept, will formally reject the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline today, multiple sources say."

(Reuters) - ConocoPhillips on Monday won a key permit that will allow construction of an oil field that is expected to provide the first-ever production from the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska on the western North Slope.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it granted a modified wetlands-fill permit that will allow ConocoPhillips to build a road, bridge and above-ground pipeline connecting its CD-5 project with the Alpine oil field on state land just east of the petroleum reserve.

The wetlands-fill permit -- initially denied to ConocoPhillips nearly two years ago -- is the last major government authorization that ConocoPhillips needs to build CD-5, said Natalie Lowman, a company spokeswoman in Alaska.

By Steve Horn

Just a few weeks after President Barack Obama announced U.S. troops are "leaving" the war-torn country, ExxonMobil and Shell each announced major new oil and gas production agreements in Iraq.

On November 12, ExxonMobil signed an oil production deal with the Kurdish Regional Government to drill in Iraqi Kurdistan, located in northern Iraq. This comes on top of an existing oil deal it landed in 2009, to drill for oil in the West Qurna Field, located in southern Iraq.

READ THE REST.

By Harvey Wasserman

The global upheaval that is the Occupy Movement is hopefully in the process of changing---and saving---the world. 

Through the astonishing power of creative non-violence, it has the magic and moxie to defeat the failing forces of corporate greed. 

A long-term agenda seems to be emerging: social justice, racial and gender equality, ecological survival, true democracy, an end to war, and so much more. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power," said Jimi Hendrix, "the world will know peace." 

http://www.fpif.org/articles/afghanistans_energy_war

FOREIGN POLICY IN FOCUS

http://nukefree.org/editorsblog/can-we-stop-next-fukushima-times-10-000

Last year I reviewed a book called "Apocalypse Never" that made a powerful case for our options being limited to two: either we get rid of nuclear weapons or humanity will be destroyed. I noted then a deep flaw in the case: the author accepted nuclear energy as something we could survive, focusing his opposition purely on nuclear weaponry.

A new film makes the additional case I was looking for. "Knocking on the Devil's Door: Our Deadly Nuclear Legacy" by Gary Null could not come at a better time. Not far from where I write this, a nuclear plant at Lake Anna was damaged in a recent earthquake. Whether the damage was severe or not -- this time -- is unclear.

By Dan DeWalt

Newfane, VT -- A classic David vs. Goliath battle is taking shape in the courtroom and in the streets and fields of Vermont as Entergy Nuclear of Louisiana tries to overturn Vermont law in the federal courts. 

The state has thoughtfully and repeatedly voted no to the extension of Entergy's Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor's license, which is due to expire on March 21, 2012. Results of Town Meeting votes, a 26-4 vote by the Vermont Senate, and a pivotal gubernatorial race all have shown that the state does not see Vermont Yankee as a reliable or economical partner for its energy future. Forty years' accumulation of radioactive waste on the banks of the Connecticut River is enough.

Carefully ignoring Fukushima, Los Alamos, Vermont, and Nebraska, a comforting new announcement informs us that "nuclear energy is safe."

A series of soothing television ads and videos tells us that mining uranium in Virginia would produce jobs and protect us from scary foreigners.