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Issues: Moving Beyond Oil

Veterans, Clean Energy and Common Sense

November 10, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
cleanenergy, energyandclimate2009, greenjobs, kerry-boxer, operationfree, veterans

Another Veterans' Day is upon us, a time to reflect on our armed servicemen and women who are stationed around the world to protect us.  Many of these brave soldiers, sailors and marines have spent years serving in Afghanistan, Iraq...

Fossil Fools Gather in D.C. to Promote a Dirty Fuel

March 24, 2009

Posted by Rob Perks in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
coaltoliquids, dirtycoal, dirtyfuels, liquidcoal, liquifiedcoal

Spring in Washington is a lovely time, with cherry blossoms about to bloom and tourists trekking to the Mall to gaze at monuments.  But our fair city is about to see a different influx this week, as attendees arrive for the so-called...

Canada's Tar Sands: Looking for Oil in All the Wrong Places

December 22, 2008

Posted by Rob Perks in Moving Beyond Oil

Tags:
dirtyfuels, oil, oiladdiction, tarsands

Everyone realizes that America is dangerously addicted to oil.  What people need to know is that if crude oil is cocaine, tar sands oil from Canada is crack.  It doesn't make any sense to replace one with the other --...

Robert Redford Helping to Rescue Redrock Wilderness

December 18, 2008

Posted by Rob Perks in Moving Beyond Oil , Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

Tags:
energydevelopment, midnightregulations, oildrilling,, redrock, robertredford, utah, wilderness, wildlands

I had the great pleasure of meeting Robert Redford a few years ago when he came to D.C. to headline a press event I organized on Capitol Hill, urging Congress not to pass legislation that would open the Arctic National Wildlife...

More Americans Want Clean Energy, Not Oil Drilling

December 5, 2008

Posted by Rob Perks in Moving Beyond Oil

Tags:
cleanenergy, ocs, oil, oildrilling

Prices at the pump may be falling but no one expects the days of cheap oil to return for long.  Regardless of gas prices, more Americans want our leaders to transition us away from oil by investing in clean energy. ...

Offshore Drilling: All Trick, No Treat

October 31, 2008

Posted by Rob Perks in Moving Beyond Oil

Tags:
exxon, gasprices, ocs, offshoredrilling, oildrilling

This Halloween the oil industry is enjoying all the treats while we endure their tricks. Fueled by sky-high oil prices over the summer, Exxon Mobil broke its own eye-popping records by raking in nearly $15 billion in profits.   Third quarter earnings for...

Liquid Coal a Crude Substitue for Oil

October 24, 2008

Posted by Rob Perks in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil

Tags:
dirtyfuels, liquidcoal, liquifiedcoal, oiladdiction

The coal industry has a dream -- that one day our cars and trucks will run on liquefied coal.  They tout this as a way to free America from its addiction to oil -- 60% of which we export from foreign...

Don't Believe the Offshore Drilling Hype

October 23, 2008

Posted by Rob Perks in Moving Beyond Oil

Tags:
ocs, offshoredrilling, oiladdiction, oildrilling

Last month I blogged about Congress letting the federal moratorium on drilling the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) expire.  This came in the face of political pressure triggered by high gas prices over the summer. The economic troubles have sparked a...

Tales of Texas Tar Balls and other Drilling Horrors

October 15, 2008

Posted by Rob Perks in Moving Beyond Oil

Tags:
ocs, offshoredrilling, oildrilling

Interesting article by a Texas college professor who points out that most Americans wouldn't recognize crude oil if it oozed onto their lap.  The author of the piece, Professor John Crisp, suggests that those people clamoring to drill offshore ought...

When 'Drill, Baby, Drill' Leads to 'Spill, Baby, Spill'

October 7, 2008

Posted by Rob Perks in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Reviving the World's Oceans

Tags:
california, cleanenergy, florida, gasprices, gulfcoast, hurricanes, hurricane_ike, newjersey, offshoredrilling, oildrilling, virginia

Last week I wrote about how Congress allowed the 26-year-old federal offshore drilling moratorium to expire, but I noted that the issue is not a done deal. Lo and behold, Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), chair of the House Natural Resources...

End of an Era: Offshore Drilling Ban to Expire

September 29, 2008

Posted by Rob Perks in Moving Beyond Oil , U.S. Law and Policy

Tags:
drill, drilling, drillingmoratorium, energy, gasprices, ocs

At midnight on Tuesday, September 30th, the federal moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) will be no more.  The OCS drilling ban, renewed every year by Congress since its enactment in 1981, will be allowed to lapse. ...

Drill, baby drill makes me ill, baby ill.

September 15, 2008

Posted by Rob Perks in Moving Beyond Oil

Tags:
drilling, gasprices, ocs, solar, wind

This is the week that Democratic leaders in Congress are expected to bring their energy legislation to a vote. Although details have yet to emerge it’s a safe bet that opening some offshore areas to oil drilling will be a...

Singing the Wrong Tune on Energy

September 12, 2008

Posted by Rob Perks in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
countrymusic, drilling, green washing, newt, ocs, oil

Confession:  I’m don’t care much for country music.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of Bluegrass and enjoy listening to legendary country artists like Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels and Emmylou Harris. But today’s mainstream country music just doesn’t...

Coal River Mountain in the Crosshairs

September 11, 2008

Posted by Rob Perks in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
miningdestruction, MTR, pollution, renewableenergy, wind

It took over 300 million years for the Appalachian mountains to form. But apparently it only takes a few years to flatten one.  And that’s just what rapacious coal companies have been doing to hundreds of mountaintops over the past...

Answering “All of the Above” Earns a Failing Grade on Energy Solutions

September 11, 2008

Posted by Rob Perks in Moving Beyond Oil

Tags:
drilling, energy, liquidcoal, ocs, oil, oilshale, tarsands

Answering “All of the Above” was rarely a good idea during multiple choice tests back in school. It always felt like that choice was meant to trip you up. These days it seems that some in Congress are using the...

Rob Perks
Rob Perks
Director, Center for Advocacy Campaigns
Washington, D.C.
I run NRDC's Center for Advocacy Campaigns. Our shop exists to guide NRDC's policy and...
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