Message From the Editor

The EPA is advising the Army Corps of Engineers not to grant a federal water permit to the Mountain Valley Pipeline due to “substantial concerns” about the project’s impact on streams and rivers. The warning is another regulatory hurdle for a pipeline that is already delayed and over budget. The EPA’s advice brings hope to opponents of the pipeline who are growing increasingly confident that the 303-mile natural gas pipeline, which has been under construction for over three years, will never come online. Nick Cunningham reports.

Meanwhile, in Justin Mikulka’s latest analysis, he writes that without new infusions of money, the U.S. fracking industry can’t drill for more oil. As Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman recently described the American oil industry’s future potential: “Drill, baby, drill is gone forever.” Read more here.

Finally, we bring you an update about our recent investigation into a Texas radioactive waste facility. Justin Nobel’s reporting revealed that the Lotus facility has at times struggled to safely manage the radioactive waste it receives, which comes not only from across the United States but is also imported from other countries. Since the article’s publication in April, Lotus has pursued a variety of efforts to have the article and its photographs removed. Find out more here.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: editor@desmogblog.com.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Readers like you make it possible for DeSmog to hold accountable powerful people in industry and government. Even a $10 or $20 donation helps support DeSmog’s investigative journalism.

EPA Warns of Mountain Valley Pipeline Impact on Streams, Says Project Should Not Receive Water Permit

— By Nick Cunningham (5 min. read) —

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is advising the Army Corps of Engineers not to grant a federal water permit to the Mountain Valley Pipeline due to “substantial concerns” about the project’s impact on streams and rivers. The warning is another regulatory hurdle for a pipeline that is already delayed and over budget.

The EPA’s advice brings hope to opponents of the pipeline who are growing increasingly confident that the 303-mile natural gas pipeline, which has been under construction for over three years, will never come online.

The U.S. Shale Revolution Has Surrendered to Reality

— By Justin Mikulka (6 min. read) —

“Drill, baby, drill is gone forever.”

That was the recent assessment of Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman of the American oil industry’s future potential. As Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz is one of the most influential voices in the global oil markets. Fortune termed it a “bold taunt,” and a warning to U.S. frackers to not increase oil production.

Texas Company Exposed by DeSmog for Radioactive Fracking Waste Practices Threatens Legal Action

— By DeSmog (4 min. read) —

On April 22, DeSmog published a year-long investigation by reporter Justin Nobel into the practices of the environmental services company Lotus LLC, which operates a major West Texas disposal facility for radioactive oilfield waste. Nobel’s reporting revealed that the Lotus facility has at times struggled to safely manage the radioactive waste it receives, which comes not only from across the United States but is also imported from other countries. The investigation was based on correspondence with federal and state regulators, hundreds of pages of documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, photographs of the site, and interviews with an industry source familiar with the Lotus disposal site.

While Lotus was at first cooperative during Nobel’s investigation — which included interviews and communications with Lotus director of global operations James Dillingham — the company began pushing back against the evidence uncovered in the investigation and threatening potential legal action should DeSmog publish it.

The Days of Opencast Coal Mining are Numbered, but the UK Remains a Backer of ‘Black Gold’

— By Isobel Tarr (3 min. read) —

Last December, a cross-party council planning committee unanimously rejected what could very well be the last opencast coal application in the UK, proposed at Dewley Hill, an area of greenbelt outside Newcastle.

The developer has just declared it will not be appealing the decision, while its latest financial statement indicates the company, Banks Group, does not expect to get permission for any new mines, because of a lack of “political will”. So after 80 years, we cautiously celebrate an end to the ecologically ruinous method of opencast coal extraction.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: The Conservative Woman

The Conservative Woman (CW) is a conservative blog established in 2014 as a “counter-cultural offensive against the forces of Leftism, feminism and modernism.” The CW aims to challenge what it describes as “the left-liberal cultural zeitgeist” and the “anti-family, authoritarian identity politics and ‘equality and diversity’ ideology” that its editors say have “swept through the country’s institutions.” The CW opposes what it calls “climate quackery,” and regularly publishes work by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, the UK’s principal climate science denial organisation.

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database and Koch Network Database.