EPA Updates Progress on Hydraulic Fracturing Study

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today provided an update on its ongoing national study currently underway to better understand any potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources. Results of the study, which Congress requested EPA to complete, are expected to be released in a draft for public and peer review in 2014. […]

John Michael Greer: Enacting Democracy

The recovery of reason, the theme of last week’s post here on The Archdruid Report, has implications that go well past the obvious. One of the examples that comes first to mind is also directly relevant to the theme of this series of posts, and it unfolds from an experience that many people have mentioned […]

World Bank pledges $900 million for Iraq

The World Bank pledged $900 million to Iraq over the next four years to help it create jobs, build stronger institutions and improve social inclusion, the global development lender said in a statement on Tuesday. Iraq’s government developed the strategy with the World Bank, the private sector, and other stakeholders to focus especially on better […]

Heinberg: Conflict and Change in the Era of Economic Decline: Part 4 – Post-carbon governance

The following is Part 4 of an essay which was originally an address to the International Conference on Sustainability, Transition and Culture Change, November 16, 2012, by Richard Heinberg Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Are we headed toward a more autocratic or democratic future? There’s no hard and fast answer; the outcome may […]

U.S. to send troops, Patriot missiles to Turkey

The United States and Germany are sending Patriot missiles and troops to the Turkish border, a warning to Syria’s besieged President Bashar al-Assad. The surface-to-air interceptors would be “dealing with threats that come out of Syria,” said U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Threats would include Syrian strikes inside Turkey and fighting between the government and […]

Heinberg: Conflict and Change in the Era of Economic Decline: Part 3 – Scenarios for simplification: the options for managerial elites

The following is Part 3 of an essay which was originally an address to the International Conference on Sustainability, Transition and Culture Change, November 16, 2012, by Richard Heinberg Read Part 1, Part 2 Setting aside the discussion of international conflict, what will be the options of nations for dealing internally with economic decline? So […]

China Flies Into Japanese Airspace For The First Time In History

Japan scrambled eight fighter jets on Thursday after a Chinese state-owned plane breached its airspace for the first time, over islands at the centre of a dispute between the countries. It was the first incursion by a Chinese state aircraft into Japanese airspace anywhere since Tokyo’s military began monitoring in 1958, the defence ministry said. […]

Iraq, Saudi on OPEC collision course over next oil curb

A new rivalry at the top of OPEC has emerged, pitting up-and-coming Iraq against undisputed oil cartel heavyweight Saudi Arabia. Having overtaken Iran as OPEC’s second biggest producer, a rejuvenated Iraq is beginning to worry Riyadh. At Wednesday’s meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries the opening salvos were fired in the struggle […]

QE4 Is Here: Bernanke Delivers $85B-A-Month

Ben Bernanke continues to make history at the Federal Reserve.  On Wednesday, the FOMC announced more quantitative easing at a rate of $85 billion a month for an extended period of time.  The Bernanke Fed has also modified its guidance, noting its ultra-accommodative stance will remain in place until the unemployment rate falls below 6.5% […]

OPEC keeps oil output targets on hold

OPEC ministers agreed to keep their daily crude production target unchanged at a meeting Wednesday. But in a sign of internal rivalries, they failed to reach consensus on a new secretary general, a post sought by Saudi Arabia, Iran and resurgent oil-power Iraq. The agreement to leave the production ceiling at 30 million barrels a […]

Heinberg: Conflict and Change in the Era of Economic Decline: Part 2: War and peace in a shrinking economy

Will increasing conflict lead to expanding violence? Not if neuropsychologist Stephen Pinker is right. In his expansive and widely praised book The Better Angels of Our Nature: the Decline of Violence in History and Its Causes, Pinker claims that, in general, violence has waned during the past few decades. He argues that this tendency has […]

Watching Government: General concern turns specific

The broad question of possible problems in having 20 separate federal departments and agencies evaluate a breakthrough oil and gas exploration and production technology has become specific. Republican leaders of the US House Energy and Commerce Committee expressed concerns on Nov. 30 that a Department of US Health and Human Services (HHS) agency’s director may […]

Conflict And Change In The Era Of Economic Decline: Part 1: The 21st Century Landscape Of Conflict

Many of the readers of postcarbon.org, Energy Bulletin, and now Resilience.org, have come to share a certain view of the world. It’s probably fair to say that, as a group, we see resource depletion, financial chaos, and environmental disasters (principally associated with global climate change) as looming storms converging on industrial civilization. We also tend […]

Saudi says foreign group behind cyber-attacks

A Saudi official says the cyber-attacks that hit the country’s oil giant Aramco and Qatari natural gas producer RasGas in August originated outside the kingdom. Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said in a statement Sunday that an investigation concluded that an “organized foreign group … was behind the attacks” and that Aramco employees […]

Iran condemns US nuclear test

Iran condemned the United States’ latest nuclear test on Saturday, saying it reflected “inattention to full disarmament which is a deep-seated demand of international public opinion.”   Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast made the remarks to state television, the Agence France-Presse reports, after the U.S. Energy Department on Wednesday conducted a “subcritical” test at an […]

John Michael Greer: Consuming Democracy

For most of a year now, my posts here on The Archdruid Report have focused on the nature, rise, and impending fall of America’s global empire.  It’s been a long road and, as usual, it strayed in directions I wasn’t expecting to explore when this sequence of posts began last winter. Still, as I see […]

Why We Need a Planned Economy

The notion that a market economy is the only basis for human economy has been supported by a massive propaganda campaign of unprecedented scope.  It is taken as an article of faith by nearly every American that every planned economy must be accompanied by merciless tyranny with the Soviet Union cited normally as the principal […]

Iran says captures U.S. drone in its airspace

Iran captured a U.S. intelligence-gathering drone that entered its airspace over the Gulf, its armed forces said on Tuesday, the latest in a recent succession of alleged U.S. violations of Iranian territory. The incident highlighted tensions in the Gulf as both the Islamic Republic and the United States seek to demonstrate their military capability over […]

Mexican Parties Agree to Break Pemex Refining Monopoly

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and leaders of the nation’s three largest parties agreed to work toward allowing competition for some of Petroleos Mexicanos’s operations and revise mining royalties. Mexico will make “the necessary reforms to create a competitive environment in the economic processes of refining, petrochemical, and transportation of hydrocarbons,” according to a document […]

Kuwait elects new parliament on record low turnout

Kuwaitis elected a new parliament that is expected to be more cooperative with the government than its predecessor after an opposition boycott of the poll and protests that divided the Gulf Arab state. The election was the second this year in the oil-rich state, where a series of assemblies have collapsed due to a long-running […]

As Middle East becomes more unstable, so does the mental state of the Israel Lobby

It’s not fun being a lobbyist for Israel these days. Palestine is due to become a non-voting state observer at the United Nations, opening the door for full membership in the international organization’s specialized agencies; Israeli “moderate” Defense Minister Ehud Barak is retiring from politics; the governing Likud Party of Israel has purged itself of […]

U.S. gives Iran until March to cooperate with IAEA

The United States set a March deadline on Thursday for Iran to start cooperating in substance with a UN nuclear agency investigation, warning Tehran the issue may otherwise be referred to the UN Security Council. The comments by U.S. diplomat Robert Wood to the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency signaled Washington’s growing frustration at […]

With Pemex Overhaul, Mexico’s New Prez Is Set To Be Big Oil’s B.F.F.

As he takes office next week, Mexico‘s dashing new President Enrique Peña Nieto is set to become Big Oil’s new pal in Mexico City. (For you old fogies B.F.F.=Best Friends Forever) For the past year — first during campaign stops, and now as president-elect — the 46-year-old political star has gone out of his way […]

Turkey Continues Trading Gold for Iranian Natural Gas

Turkey late least week acknowledged that a surge in its gold exports this year is related to payments for imports of Iranian natural gas, shedding light on Ankara’s role in breaching U.S.-led sanctions against Tehran. In response, U.S. senators said they will seek to close this loophole.  But a Turkish trade minister has warned Turkey […]

Scottish Town Blacked out to save energy

Towns and villages across Aberdeenshire could soon be blacked out under plans to cut energy costs. Street lights could be dimmed during the early hours, while other lights on the outskirts of settlements may be removed completely. The move comes after a pilot carried out by Aberdeenshire Council indicated that most residents were supportive of […]

Understanding Our Oil-Related Fiscal Cliff

The United States’ fiscal cliff is very much related to several changes we have been going through recently, and will likely continue to experience: High oil prices (more than triple their level ten years ago). High oil prices cause people to cut back on discretionary spending, leading to layoffs in discretionary industries and debt defaults. […]

The new future of energy policy

Flood myths are common to human culture. Swollen rivers, tidal storms, and tsunamis make their appearance frequently in literature. But Hurricane Sandy, which has drawn newly etched high-water marks on the buildings of lower Manhattan (and Brooklyn), has shifted the discussion from storytelling to reality. Volatility in climate has drawn the attention of policy makers […]

EPA suspends BP from new US government contracts

  The US Environmental Protection Agency temporarily suspended BP Exploration & Production Inc., BP PLC, and BP affiliates from new contracts with the federal government, citing what EPA called BP’s lack of business integrity regarding the Macondo deepwater well blowout and resulting oil spill. An explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible in April […]

Iraq to help Jordan with free crude oil

Iraq says it is giving neighboring Jordan 100,000 barrels of oil as a gift to help overcome its economic difficulties. The decision by the Cabinet Tuesday could be seen as an attempt by the Shiite-led Iraqi government to offer support to one of its Sunni neighbors. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have fled to Jordan […]

Iran Positioned to Threaten Oil Lanes

In mid-December, the U.S. military will have only one aircraft carrier positioned in the Persian Gulf region for the first time in two years. At the same time, the Iranian navy said it was kicking off a 10-day exercise in the region. Oil prices spiked when Iran early this year threatened to close oil-shipping lanes […]

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