In The News

Nigeria: “World Oil Pollution Capital”

Caroline Duffield June 18, 2010
The Niger Delta has some 300 spills each year. But Nigeria, a major supplier for foreign markets, lacks the technology, researchers or journalists that monitor such spills, reports Caroline Duffield for the BBC. Many spills in Nigeria are the result of sabotage and aging equipment. Nigerians who have lost their livelihoods because of oil spills take note of the outraged response to an April 20...

Britain Should Back Down Over BP

Clive Crook June 15, 2010
Oil continues to gush unchecked into the Gulf of Mexico, after an April 20 explosion of a rig leased to BP. Neither the British multinational nor the US government have come up with a way to stop the oil, and growing numbers of Americans demand action – a quick fix, cleanup, more government regulation and environmental protections, punishment for BP, criminal charges and more. The damages include...

Ahmadinejad’s Sugar Daddy

Gal Luft June 10, 2010
The Brazilian government is developing closer ties to Iran, even as Iran faces stringent economic sanctions for its nuclear program. By exporting ethanol, President Lula da Silva’s government seeks to help Iran, a major oil exporter that lacks refinery capacity, lessen its dependence on foreign gasoline. Assisting Iran complicates Brazil's relationship with the United States, one of the...

BP Oil Spill: Louisianans Want More From Obama ... But More What?

Bill Sasser June 1, 2010
Offshore oil drilling has enriched communities along the Gulf of Mexico since the 1970s. An explosion ripped apart undersea pipes in April and has since left oil gushing and polluting waters and beaches that have fed those same communities with seafood for centuries. One representative called the seeping oil in gulf waters “a slow-motion tragedy,” anticipating decades of problems and cleanup....

Gap in Rules on Oil Spills From Wells

Kate Galbraith May 21, 2010
Nations may stake territorial claims to waters off their coast, but once an accident occurs, authorities can do little to slow the spread of polluted water to other jurisdictions. Since the April 20 explosion on a drill platform in the Gulf of Mexico, just off the coast of Louisiana, oil has steadily gushed from several pipes and will soon join currents leading to the Atlantic Ocean....

Israel Presses China over Iran sanctions

Geoff Dyer March 4, 2010
Israeli officials are in Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders about Iran. It’s just one of many recent indications that China, which has a critical Security Council vote on Iranian sanctions, needs to step carefully in the Middle East. Beijing has largely supported Iran thus far having inked key oil deals, but also sharing similar attitudes towards what it considers international interference....

More Carrot and Less Stick Needed to Fight Global Warming

Emmanuelle Ganne October 28, 2009
With the convention on climate change in Copenhagen in December fast approaching, countries tend to be focusing on measures that punish carbon users. As 2009 Yale World Fellow and trade specialist Emmanuelle Ganne puts it, governments favor a stick approach. But while popular, such policies place significant costs on households and create an image of fighting climate change as a burden. They do...