Nicholas Kusnetz
InsideClimate News
Contact Nicholas
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Nicholas:
Exxon and Chevron Made Their Highest-Ever Profits in 2022. What Does It Mean for Clean Energy?
ExxonMobil and Chevron, the nation’s largest oil companies and two of the biggest energy corporations globally, posted a combined profit of $92 billion for 2022, more money than either company has ever made. Exxon’s annual profit for 2022 reached $55.7 billion, the company reported Tuesday, with Chevron posting on Friday a net profit of $36.5 […] → Read More
Exxon’s bad reputation got in the way of its industry-wide carbon capture proposal
Shell initially resisted the Houston project and believed Chevron had doubts, too. → Read More
Proponents Say Storing Captured Carbon Underground Is Safe, But States Are Transferring Long-Term Liability for Such Projects to the Public
As states rush to enact rules and regulations for the underground storage of carbon dioxide, a key question is who will hold long-term responsibility for projects that could require monitoring for decades. The question is increasingly important, as a host of companies have proposed dozens of projects over the last two years that would pull […] → Read More
The Biden Administration Rethinks its Approach to Drilling on Public Lands in Alaska, Soliciting Further Review
The Biden administration will give the public a new opportunity to weigh in on a major oil project proposed in the Alaskan Arctic, handing a victory to environmental groups that have opposed the development. In an announcement late Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management said it would solicit comments about the Willow project, which would […] → Read More
ConocoPhillips’ Plan for Extracting Half-a-Billion Barrels of Crude in Alaska’s Fragile Arctic Presents a Defining Moment for Joe Biden
The Biden administration is facing a major test for its climate agenda in the Alaskan Arctic, where an oil company is proposing a 30-year development that would pump more than half-a-billion barrels of petroleum from a fragile and rapidly-warming ecosystem. Climate advocates say the Willow project, planned by ConocoPhillips, is incompatible with President Joe Biden’s […] → Read More
On the Defensive a Year Ago, the American Petroleum Institute Is Back With Bravado
What a difference a year makes. The chief of the nation’s top oil and gas lobby laid out the state of his industry on Wednesday in a presentation that reflected a remarkable turnaround for the sector. A year ago, with President Joe Biden taking office and Democrats seizing control of Congress, the oil industry appeared […] → Read More
A Dream of a Fossil Fuel-Free Neighborhood Meets the Constraints of the Building Industry
Dar-Lon Chang moved to this Denver suburb to start a new life. In Houston, he’d spent 16 years as an engineer at ExxonMobil, the nation’s largest fossil fuel producer. In Colorado, he planned to pursue a career in renewable energy, but the real draw was his new house. Oriented towards the sun, with solar panels […] → Read More
Fossil Fuel Companies Stand to Make Billions From Tax Break in Democrats’ Build Back Better Bill
With the Senate turning its attention to President Joe Biden’s climate and social policy bill in the coming weeks, lawmakers are poised to expand a key tax credit that energy industry lobbyists and some experts say could unleash an important climate tool. But the legislation, which includes changes to a tax credit for removing carbon […] → Read More
New Report Expects Global Emissions of Carbon Dioxide to Rebound to Pre-Pandemic High This Year
As world leaders and diplomats wrap up the climate negotiations in Scotland in the coming days they will be confronted by new data showing that global carbon dioxide emissions are expected to rise sharply this year, possibly tying the all-time high reached before the Covid-19 pandemic. The new data, compiled by the Global Carbon Project […] → Read More
Wealthy Nations Continue to Finance Natural Gas for Developing Countries, Putting Climate Goals at Risk
As the world’s governments try to raise their collective climate ambitions, one of the biggest questions is whether developing countries can expand their access to energy and reduce poverty without driving a sharp rise in greenhouse gas emissions. A new report warns that wealthy nations are still pushing in the wrong direction, by continuing to […] → Read More
North Dakota, Using Taxpayer Funds, Bailed Out Oil and Gas Companies by Plugging Abandoned Wells
When North Dakota directed more than $66 million in federal pandemic relief funds to clean up old oil and gas wells last year, it seemed like the type of program everyone could get behind. The money would plug hundreds of abandoned wells and restore the often-polluted land surrounding them, and in the process would employ […] → Read More
A Just Transition? On Brooklyn’s Waterfront, Oil Companies and Community Activists Join Together to Create an Offshore Wind Project—and Jobs
When Aroldo Garcia learned that the operations base for a major offshore wind project was coming to his Brooklyn neighborhood, he thought about the jobs it could provide for his family members and friends who worked as handymen and contractors, and for others who didn’t have work at all. The project promised to bring more […] → Read More
Driven by Industry, More States Are Passing Tough Laws Aimed at Pipeline Protesters
When Nancy Beaulieu’s Ojibwe ancestors signed a series of treaties with the federal government in the 19th century, one of the goals was to protect the land, she said. So she sees it as not just her right but her duty to protest the building of a major oil pipeline underway in northern Minnesota. As […] → Read More
As the Climate Crisis Grows, a Movement Gathers to Make ‘Ecocide’ an International Crime Against the Environment
The Fifth Crime: First in a continuing series with NBC News about the campaign to make “ecocide” an international crime. In 1948, after Nazi Germany exterminated millions of Jews and other minorities during World War II, the United Nations adopted a convention establishing a new crime so heinous it demanded collective action. Genocide, the nations declared, […] → Read More
The Chess Game Continues: Exxon, Under Pressure, Says it Will Take More Steps to Cut Emissions. Investors Are Not Impressed
ExxonMobil made two moves this week that say a lot about the company’s struggle to negotiate a declining market and increasing pressure from investors, while still keeping to its agenda of producing more oil well into the future. On Monday the oil giant announced a new venture to commercialize emissions-cutting technologies including carbon capture and […] → Read More
Two U.S. Oil Companies Join Their European Counterparts in Making Net-Zero Pledges
Occidental Petroleum and ConocoPhillips define their net-zero goals differently, and neither is signaling a shift to clean energy, as some European companies are. → Read More
For a Climate-Concerned President and a Hostile Senate, One Technology May Provide Common Ground
Carbon capture and storage is embraced by many Republicans, but it has a fraught history and could hinder a transition from fossil fuels. → Read More
Five Things To Know About Fracking in Pennsylvania. Are Voters Listening?
The president’s false claim that Joe Biden would ban the drilling practice is just one of the misbeliefs about its role in the state’s economy and politics. → Read More
The $16 Million Was Supposed to Clean Up Old Oil Wells; Instead, It’s Going to Frack New Ones
North Dakota, where Covid-19 rates are surging, is redirecting the federal relief money, turning it into grants that will go directly to oil companies. → Read More
The Oil Market May Have Tanked, but Companies Are Still Giving Plenty to Keep Republicans in Office
More than 80 percent of industry campaign contributions went to Trump or other Republican candidates who are likely to block climate action. → Read More