Denial & Misinformation - Inside Climate News

Low-Emission ‘Gas Certification’ Is Greenwashing, Climate Advocates Conclude in a Contested New Report

By Phil McKenna — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Gas utilities see certified gas as a way to sell low-carbon fuel at a premium. U.S. senators are calling on the FTC to investigate the industry’s claims.

By Phil McKenna

A growing effort by the fossil fuel industry to sell natural gas as a low-carbon fuel is little more than greenwashing, according to a new report by climate advocacy organizations.

California Oil Town Chose a Firm with Oil Industry Ties to Review Impacts of an Unprecedented 20-Year Drilling Permit Extension

By Liza Gross — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 19:51:33 +0000

Signal Hill Petroleum spent millions to overturn California’s landmark law protecting neighborhoods from oil drilling. Now it wants to drill dozens of new wells in a city established a century ago to avoid taxes on oil development.

By Liza Gross

On Tuesday, residents of a small Los Angeles County town came out in force to urge their city council to reject a California oil and gas company’s proposal to extend its neighborhood drilling operation permit for 20 years.

Is US Offshore Wind Dead in the Water—Or Just Poised for the Next Big Gust?

By Pam Radtke, Floodlight — Fri, 31 May 2024 09:00:00 +0000

The Biden Administration wants to boost offshore wind. But other forces, including cost, political opposition and disinformation, have slowed adoption.

By Pam Radtke, Floodlight

This story was originally published by Floodlight.

Bill Discounting Climate Change in Florida’s Energy Policy Wins DeSantis’ Approval

By Amy Green — Tue, 14 May 2024 09:00:00 +0000

The governor had vowed, as a former presidential candidate, to replace the words “climate change” with “energy dominance” in national security and foreign policy guidance,

By Amy Green

ORLANDO, Fla.—Addressing the human-caused emissions warming the global climate and contributing to impacts here like hotter temperatures, rising seas and more damaging hurricanes could no longer be part of Florida’s energy policy, under legislation Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Wednesday.

Alabama Coal Company Sued for a Home Explosion That Killed a Man Is Delinquent on Dozens of Penalties, Records Show

By Lee Hedgepeth, James Bruggers — Mon, 13 May 2024 22:53:05 +0000

Crimson Oak Grove Resources has been cited for 204 safety violations since the March 8 blast, many involving “significant and substantial” safety violations.

By Lee Hedgepeth, James Bruggers

OAK GROVE, Ala.—Clara Riley thought she was having a heart attack.

Academics and Lawmakers Slam an Industry-Funded Report by a Former Energy Secretary Promoting Natural Gas and LNG

By Phil McKenna — Sun, 05 May 2024 08:26:00 +0000

The report, led by former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, came as an investigation by Democrats in Congress exposed efforts by the oil and gas industry to downplay the climate impact of natural gas.

By Phil McKenna

With a pair of fossil-fuel friendly senators at his side, former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Tuesday released a favorable report on U.S. natural gas and liquified natural gas (LNG), funded by the natural gas industry.

Exxon’s Own Research Confirmed Fossil Fuels’ Role in Global Warming Decades Ago

By Neela Banerjee, Lisa Song and David Hasemyer — Thu, 02 May 2024 20:06:46 +0000

Top executives were warned of possible catastrophe from greenhouse effect, then led efforts to block solutions.

By Neela Banerjee, Lisa Song and David Hasemyer

Editor’s note: This article, originally published on September 16, 2015, was the first installment of a nine-part investigation called Exxon: The Road Not Taken, now more commonly known as #ExxonKnew, that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2016. The article, and the series, was again in the news this week, referenced as part of a Congressional report on the oil industry’s denial, disinformation and doublespeak on climate change. It was released jointly yesterday by the Senate Committee on the Budget and the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

Exxon Criticized ICN Stories Publicly, But Privately, Didn’t Dispute The Findings

By Marianne Lavelle, Nicholas Kusnetz — Thu, 02 May 2024 09:10:00 +0000

Congressional Democrats say newly released documents trace oil industry's pivot from denial to deception.

By Marianne Lavelle, Nicholas Kusnetz

In the wake of Inside Climate News’ 2015 stories on ExxonMobil’s research confirming fossil fuels’ role in global warming, the oil giant hit back with a #GetTheFacts social media campaign calling the reporting “misleading,” “baseless,” and “politically motivated.”

EQT Says Fracked Gas Is a Climate Solution, but Scientists Call That Deceptive Greenwashing

By Quinn Glabicki, PublicSource — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 10:05:00 +0000

The Pittsburgh corporation says its natural gas is saving the world, countering Russian aggression and solving the climate crisis. Numerous experts say that’s not true.

By Quinn Glabicki, PublicSource

This article was originally published by PublicSource, a nonprofit newsroom serving the Pittsburgh region. Sign up for its free weekly newsletters at publicsource.org.

Nixon Advisers’ Climate Research Plan: Another Lost Chance on the Road to Crisis

By Marianne Lavelle — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 09:00:00 +0000

A 1971 plan for a global carbon dioxide monitoring network never came to fruition. The proposal is detailed in a document newly unearthed by the National Security Archive.

By Marianne Lavelle

In 1971, President Richard Nixon’s science advisers proposed a multimillion dollar climate change research project with benefits they said were too “immense” to be quantified, since they involved “ensuring man’s survival,” according to a White House document newly obtained by the nonprofit National Security Archive and shared exclusively with Inside Climate News.