Justin Mikulka
DeSmog
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Past articles by Justin:
Fossil Fuel Companies’ Tough Sell: Oil and Gas Sites With Costly Environmental Clean-up
Last year was rough for major oil companies. BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, and Total suffered a combined $77 billion in losses for 2020. And now, as Reuters reports, many are trying to sell-off “dozens of oil and gas fields and refineries worth more than $110 billion to curb both their ballooning debt and their carbon […] → Read More
Analysis: Some Fracking Companies Are Admitting Shale Was a Bad Bet — Others Are Not
Energy companies are increasingly having to face the unprofitable reality of fracking, and some executives are now starting to admit that publicly. But the question is whether the industry will listen — or continue to gamble with shale gas and oil. In February, Equinor CEO Anders Opedal had a brutally honest assessment of the Norwegian energy company’s foray into U.S. shale. → Read More
Opinion: Bakken Oil Trains Unsafe at any Speed due to Volatile Oil
On December 22, 2020, a train carrying over 100 tank cars of Bakken oil derailed and caught fire in the small Washington town of Custer. This accident highlights how the regulatory system has failed to protect the public and — in the case of the last four years of the Trump administration — actively → Read More
How U.S. Crude Oil Exports Are Hastening the Demise of the Oil Industry
When Congress lifted the export ban on U.S. crude oil in December of 2015 to allow for exports beginning in 2016, the oil industry celebrated. However, looking back at the impact of lifting the 40-year-old ban, it appears the move has helped hasten the financial demise of the U.S. oil industry — while also increasing the industry’s huge contribution to climate change. In many → Read More
This Loophole in New Mexico's Methane Rules Is a Gift to Big Oil and Gas
In October, New Mexico announced new rules that propose slashing the massive volumes of methane which the oil and gas industry is releasing into the atmosphere. However, the proposed regulations contain a major loophole that will directly benefit large oil and gas producers, as well as some of the → Read More
Environmental Groups Sue Trump Admin to Stop LNG Trains
Nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of environmental groups against the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), challenging a recently finalized Trump administration rule to allow the transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by rail. “It would only take 22 tank cars to hold the equivalent → Read More
Trump’s Golden Era of Energy Is Turning to Lead
It was just over a year ago that President Trump announced, “The golden era of American energy is now underway,” saying that his policies focused on exploiting oil, gas, and coal were “unleashing energy dominance.” → Read More
A Look at the Oil Industry’s Favorite Climate Solutions
This story is a part of Covering Climate Now’s week of coverage focused on Climate Solutions, to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Covering Climate Now is a global journalism collaboration committed to strengthening coverage of the climate story. → Read More
The Oil War in the Permian May Not Have Any Winners
At the same time a price war is raging in the global oil markets, a regional price war is playing out in the shale fields of Texas. The Texas oil war is between the major oil companies ExxonMobil and Chevron and the many independent shale oil producers. → Read More
Is the U.S. Fracking Boom Based on Fraud?
In a 2016 interview with Fraud Magazine, former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow explained what he thought made him so successful while at the former energy corporation that's now infamous for financial scandal. → Read More
To Many's Dismay, Permian Produces More Gas and Condensate Instead of Oil and Profits
As oil prices plummet, oil bankruptcies mount, and investors shun the shale industry, America’s top oil field — the Permian shale that straddles Texas and New Mexico — faces many new challenges that make profits appear more elusive than ever for the financially failing shale oil industry. → Read More
Defying Climate Goals, New York Approves Rate Hike to Pay for New Natural Gas Infrastructure
One of the first tests of New York’s ambitious climate plan didn't go well, as the New York Public Service Commission voted on January 16 to raise electricity rates on customers by $1.2 billion over the next three years to help Consolidated Edison, or Con Ed, pay for new natural gas pipelines and → Read More
This Problem With Fracked Oil and Gas Wells Is Occurring 'at an Alarming Rate'
On February 15, 2018, a fracked natural gas well owned by ExxonMobil's XTO Energy and located in southeast Ohio experienced a well blowout, causing it to gush the potent greenhouse gas methane for nearly three weeks. The obscure accident ultimately resulted in one of the biggest methane leaks in U.S → Read More
New Paper Reveals Rail Industry Was Leader in Climate Denial Efforts
A recent paper analyzing the major players in the organized efforts to attack climate change science and delay action had a surprising revelation — the biggest contributing industry/sector was not oil and gas but rail/steel/coal with the most active organization in the climate denial movement being → Read More
New Estimates Predict a Lot More Renewable Power Growth in the U.S. Very Soon
After revising its three-year U.S. power forecast, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has predicted major declines for fossil fuels and nuclear power alongside strong growth in renewables by 2022, according to a review of the data by the SUN DAY Campaign, a pro-renewables research and → Read More
Four States, Led by New York, Challenge Trump Admin Over Oil Train Safety Rule
On October 23, New York Attorney General Letitia James, joined by attorneys general from Maryland, New Jersey, and California, sent a letter of support to the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) over a Washington state law that would limit the volatility of oil → Read More
Will the Public End up Paying to Clean up the Fracking Boom?
Increasingly, U.S. shale firms appear unable to pay back investors for the money borrowed to fuel the last decade of the fracking boom. In a similar vein, those companies also seem poised to stiff the public on cleanup costs for abandoned oil and gas wells once the producers have moved on. → Read More
Fact-checking the American Petroleum Institute's New Ads Selling Natural Gas as a Climate Solution
In 1998, the U.S.'s largest oil and gas industry lobbying group, the American Petroleum Institute (API), was involved with a communications plan whose goal was promoting “uncertainties in climate science” among the American public. Over 20 years later, their communications plan looks a little → Read More
Is Natural Gas the New Coal?
At a recent natural gas industry conference in Houston, Woodside Petroleum CEO Peter Coleman warned his colleagues to avoid the fate of another fossil fuel, according to trade publication Natural Gas Intelligence. → Read More
The US Is Exporting a Fracked Climate Catastrophe
This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. → Read More