Worries Build Among Investors Over Oil and Gas Industry's Exposure to Water and Climate Risks

From:  Truth Out 

Friday, 30 October 2015 00:00 
 By Sharon Kelly, DeSmogBlog | News Analysis 

(Photo: Oil Pollution via Shutterstock)  

When it comes to financial risks surrounding water, there is one industry that, according to a new report, is both among the most exposed to these risks and the least transparent to investors about them: the oil and gas industry.

This year, 1,073 of the world's largest publicly listed companies faced requests from institutional investors concerned about the companies' vulnerability to water-related risks that they disclose their plans for adapting and responding to issues like drought or water shortages.

Many of those companies responded by reporting their information to a group called CDP, which works with over 800 institutional investors with assets of US$95 trillion to push for corporate transparency. But in the oil and gas industry, the compliance rate was just over half the average, with only 22% of companies providing information, CDP reported.

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How Indonesia’s Fires Are Choking the World

From:  TIME

by Justin Worland

More than 100,000 fires in Indonesia have engulfed the country in a hazardous smoke, leading to an environmental and public-health crisis

More than 100,000 land and forest fires in Indonesia have engulfed the country in a hazardous smoke, leading to an environmental and public-health crisis that has affected every element of society in this sprawling Southeast Asian nation. Tens of thousands of people have been declared victims of respiratory conditions because of the smoke and the fires alone are now emitting as much carbon dioxide on any given day as emitted by the entire U.S. economy in the same time period.

Widespread fires are nothing new in Indonesia, where farmers regularly burn forests and peatlands to make way to produce palm oil, a key ingredient in a variety of food and consumer products, but experts say the scale of the damage is worse than it has been in a decade. This week Indonesian President Joko Widodo cut short his trip to the U.S. to deal with the problem.

“It’s not just an environmental issue. It’s a public-health disaster as well,” said Nigel Sizer, global director of the World Resources Institute’s forests program. “When air is this poor quality, economic activity almost grinds to a halt.”  MORE

Oil and gas pipeline leak detection industry expected to grow

From:  PennEnergy

October 23, 2015

By PennEnergy Editorial Staff

 

According to a study by TechSci Research, the global oil and gas pipeline leak detection industry is expected to surpass $1.8 billion in the next five years. This is in part due to the increase in oil and gas leaks over the past few years.

Houston Public Media reported that, in Texas alone, the frequency of leaks, fires and other hazardous events has more than doubled since 1995. Research shows that weather, age and corrosion are all common causes of leaks.

Old pipes
According to Business Wire, most pipelines across the globe are between 30 and 100 years old. With age comes greater chance of corrosion and leaks. These pipes are therefore propelling the need for increased leak detection across oil and gas companies worldwide.
In Texas, the rapid increase of leaks is likely due to aging pipelines, according to Houston Public Media. However, funding to study pipelines and incorporate leak detection technology has dropped over the past seven years. Over the past five years alone, only $1.3 million has gone toward research of this kind. This is compared to the $8 million granted to research between 2003 and 2008.  MORE

Worried about toxic chemicals? This band exposes them

From:  USA Today

NEW YORK — It's frightening stuff.

by Edward C. Baig 

During a single week back in August in which I bopped in and around New York City, I was exposed to at least 16 hazardous chemicals. These included phthalate chemicals of the type banned in kids toys and pacifiers, flame retardants such as TCPP and TPP, and Galaxolide, a common fragrance found in cleaning and beauty products.

I'm aware of the sobering details because of a wearable.

While most of us don high tech bands and fitness bracelets to count steps or calories burned, the ordinary looking, waterproof, silicon black band I had on my wrist for those seven days serves a very different purpose. It passively absorbs organic compounds that may be present in the air, water or consumer products around you. In fact, it can currently detect 1,418 chemicals.  MORE

You can sign up HERE

Will The Crazed Neocons Bring Us Nuclear Winter?

From:  LewRockwell.com

By Paul Craig Roberts

PaulCraigRoberts.org

October 21, 2015

As readers know, I have emphasized that the declared neoconservative intention of achieving global hegemony has resurrected the threat of nuclear armageddon as Russia and China are most definitely not going to submit, as every European country, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Columbia, and Japan have submitted, to being Washington’s vassals.

The president of Russia and the president of China have made this completely clear.

If the arrogance, ignorance and incompetence of the Western political systems permit the continuation of the crazed, totally unrealistic, neoconservative agenda, the planet will die.  MORE

How the State's "Justice" System Cultivates Predators like Ibn Hunter

From:  Pro Libertate

By William Norman Grigg

Pro Libertate Blog

On occasion, government-employed police can solve a crime of violence – assuming that the act is captured on video, the offender makes a point of mugging for the camera in close-up, and the clip is disseminated to a large social media audience. Closing the case is even easier when the assailant is a veteran of the criminal “justice” system, and his whereabouts are well-known.

Given all of those advantages, police in Atlantic City were able to arrest Ibn Hunter for punching a homeless 45-year-old woman in an unprovoked attack that left the victim with serious brain trauma. Clearing this case was not beyond the police department’s competence – once others had done the leg work.

In the video, a glassy-eyed Hunter is seen taunting the unnamed victim, who had apparently warned the gibbering predator to stay away from her dog.  MORE

North Dakota Oil Well Still Spilling ‘Out of Control’

From:  EcoWatch 

Oil and saltwater are still spilling at an “out of control” rate from a North Dakota oil well owned by Oasis Petroleum Inc. that blew out over the weekend, UPI reports. So far, more than 67,000 gallons of crude and roughly 84,000 gallons of saltwater-brine (a toxic byproduct from the oil and gas drilling process) have leaked, according to Reuters.

 Ernest Scheyder ✔ @ErnestScheyder

Site of the Oasis Petroleum #oil well blowout near White Earth, North Dakota, shows the well (on right) & river $OAS

3:49 PM - 19 Oct 2015

 

 

Despite the company’s weekend-long efforts to regain control, the well has still not been capped since the 11 p.m. blowout on Saturday.

The well site is located in Mountrail County, approximately 15 miles south of the city of White Earth. The North Dakota Department of Health said that the spill has impacted a nearby river.

“Oasis is working to regain control of the well, but as of 8 a.m. Monday, Oct. 19, the well had not been shut in,” the department said. “A light sheen was observed on the White Earth River approximately 850 feet north of the well pad.”  MORE

Exclusive Federal Reserve Videos and the Glass-Steagall Media Conspiracy

From:  Wall Street Parade

By Pam Martens: October 19, 2015 

A funny thing happened in 2012 after Andrew Ross Sorkin, a financial writer at the New York Times, wrote his spectacularly false narrative telling readers that the repeal of Glass-Steagall Act had nothing to do with the crash because problem firms like Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG didn’t own insured commercial banks — which would have been prohibited under the Glass Steagall Act, had it not been repealed in 1999. In fact, all three of the firms did, indeed, own banks insured by the FDIC at the time of the crash.

We figured that Sorkin had just made an error, or, well, three monster errors, so we wrote to his editor. We heard nothing. We wrote to the New York Times public editor who is supposed to uphold the integrity of the paper. Nothing. We wrote to the publisher. Nothing. To this very day, the errors remain in the Sorkin article. When the so-called paper of record allows three outrageously wrong errors to persist as fact, it doesn’t look like sloppy journalism, it looks like a conspiracy to deny the public an honest narrative.

Sorkin’s lie has since been regurgitated by two other writers at the New York Times:Paul Krugman and William Cohan. The lie has also spread to President Obama and Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, as a cover for why they won’t buck Wall Street and work to reinstate this critically needed legislation as Senators Elizabeth Warren, John McCain, Bernie Sanders and dozens of others in Congress are demanding. Marcy Kaptur’s legislation in the House of Representatives to restore the Glass-Steagall Act has 67 cosponsors.  MORE

Lawrence Wilkerson: The Travails of Empire

Fascinating opening for the End of Empire.  What does America do? 

Published on Sep 24, 2015

The speech covered National Security, Climate Change, Interminable War, Debt, Immigration, Inequality, racism, and much more. The speech is striking in its honesty. It is likely poignant to Republicans who have bought into rationalization of the intransigence of the Republican Party.

ExxonMobil fined $2.63 million in 2013 Arkansas spill

From:  Arkansas News

 

By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau

jlyon@arkansasnews.com

 

LITTLE ROCK — The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on Thursday ordered ExxonMobil Pipeline Company to pay a $2.63 million fine for violations of safety regulations that contributed to a 2013 oil spill in Mayflower.

In a 46-page order, the regulatory agency said it found nine violations by ExxonMobil.

The company said in a statement Thursday it has received the agency’s order and is evaluating its options.  MORE

By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
jlyon@arkansasnews.com

LITTLE ROCK — The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on Thursday ordered ExxonMobil Pipeline Company to pay a $2.63 million fine for violations of safety regulations that contributed to a 2013 oil spill in Mayflower.
In a 46-page order, the regulatory agency said it found nine violations by ExxonMobil.
The company said in a statement Thursday it has received the agency’s order and is evaluating its options.

- See more at: http://m.arkansasnews.com/news/arkansas/exxonmobil-fined-263-million-2013-arkansas-spill#sthash.SMPyyMLl.dpuf

Beginning of the end for fossil fuels? Panic sweeps global markets

From:  Renew Economy

By Giles Parkinson on 30 September 2015

Well, we can’t say we weren’t warned. Panic selling swept major global stock-markets on Tuesday in what could be a foretaste of things to come, as investors suddenly woke up to the fact that the game has changed. Fossil fuels and their associated investments are in decline, and the world is heading rapidly towards new and cleaner technologies.

A bunch of big stories this week highlight what is going on: VW, Shell, Glencore, BHP, Origin Energy and AGL. All linked by a common thread – their exposure to fossil fuels. It prompted a warning on the financial risks of climate change by Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England.

The biggest news, of course, was VW. As we reported on Monday, the VW cheating scandal, where it sought to defraud regulators and millions of consumers on a massive scale over the level of its diesel car emissions, could likely signal the demise of the diesel engine. But it could go further than that: it could see the rapid demise of the petrol engine too, and the use of fossil fuels in passenger vehicles altogether.  MORE

Pollution monitoring program gets boost thanks to money from a settlement last year between ExxonMobil and Louisiana

From:  The Advocate 

South Louisiana system ensures drinking water’s safe

 AMY WOLD| awold@theadvocate.com

 

A voluntary program that has watched for chemical pollution in the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to Plaquemines Parish since 1986 is getting a technology boost, thanks to money from a settlement last year between ExxonMobil and the state.

In 2014, a $2.3 million settlement between the company and the state Department of Environmental Quality included $1 million for beneficial environmental projects. Included in that was $250,000 for the Early Warning Organic Compound Detection System — known as EWOCDS.

“This is a big opportunity to use the (beneficial environmental projects) to re-establish the stations and get them upgraded,” said Tom Killeen, administrator with DEQ’s office of environmental compliance.  MORE