Message From the Editor

This week, investigative journalist Dana Drugmand unpacked the carbon capture [[link removed]] sector’s promises and their community-involvement reality [[link removed]].

CCS [[link removed]] proponents have been touting their support of local community involvement in developing new sites. But despite this rhetoric about giving communities a chance to say no to projects, community groups opposing these projects claim this is not what’s happening on the ground.

Specifically, DeSmog has found that communities in California, Iowa and Louisiana where CCS projects are proposed have limited to no meaningful engagement with developers or government officials.

If statements “about communities having a real choice were true, then what we should see is that developers won’t pursue these projects in these areas.” says Manuel Salgado, environmental justice research analyst at WE ACT for Environmental Justice.

In other news, a vast trove of documents dug up by Rebecca John, a researcher with the Climate Investigations Center, shed light on the gas industry’s 50-year PR campaign to promote doubt about the health effects of gas stoves.

This PR campaign relied on tactics used by Big Tobacco to promote doubt and uncertainty over the link between cigarettes and cancer, a strategy that set the groundwork for disinformation campaigns from gas stoves to big oil [[link removed]].

Our new Q&A [[link removed]] between John and Brendan DeMelle confronts the fact that despite knowing that a higher incidence of respiratory problems among schoolchildren from homes with gas stoves, the gas industry has been manufacturing controversy over the health effects of gas stove emissions and avoiding regulation since the 1970s. Take a look at the full article here [[link removed]].

We are also so excited to announce our participation in Giving Tuesday in just a few weeks! Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving that transforms the world through your generosity. You may see some additional emails from us and we can’t wait to share our plans with you. It is only through your help that we can reveal climate disinformation around the world. We hope that you’ll consider donating.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [[email protected]]. Want to know what our UK team is up to? Sign up for our UK newsletter [[link removed]].

Thanks,

Brendan DeMelle

Executive Director

P.S. Investigative journalism like this is made possible by readers like you. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work? [[link removed]]

Image credit: Julie Dermansky

A Journalist’s Guide to CCS Greenwashing at COP28: Tips for Covering Carbon Capture [[link removed]]— Monday, November 13, 2023 8 am PST / 11 AM EST / 4 PM GMT / 5 PM CET —

What is carbon capture and storage, why will it be a hot topic at COP28, and how can journalists cover it better? Join DeSmog editors and reporters to find out!

Matthew Green, global investigations editor, will moderate a lively discussion and Q&A with Michael Buchsbaum, an energy journalist with decades of experience covering CCS, and Geoff Dembicki, author of The Petroleum Papers. The panelists will help journalists understand CCS — from what it is to why fossil fuel companies are so keen on it to its dubious track record — and will share their top tips for avoiding pitfalls and misleading fossil fuel industry narratives when covering carbon management schemes.

REGISTER NOW [[link removed]] The Carbon Capture Sector’s Community-Involvement Rhetoric Doesn’t Match Reality [[link removed]]— By Dana Drugmand (13 min. read) —

Increased federal incentives for “carbon management” technologies are catalyzing a surge in proposed carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the United States, from the Gulf Coast to the Midwest to California.

CCS proponents are touting their support of local community involvement in developing these sites. But residents say they are often left with empty promises.

READ MORE [[link removed]] Burned Out: Documents Reveal The Gas Industry’s Use Of Tobacco Tactics Over Gas Stove Emissions [[link removed]]— By Brendan DeMelle (12 min. read) —

In the 1970s, Dr. Bernard Goldstein, a young professor at the New York University School of Medicine, researched the health impacts of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) produced by gas stoves. In a series of studies, Goldstein and his colleagues identified a higher incidence of respiratory problems among schoolchildren from homes with gas stoves.

Fifty years on, Goldstein, now emeritus professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the University of Pittsburgh, recently told NPR “it’s way past time that we were doing something about gas stoves.”

READ MORE [[link removed]] Top Tory Think Tank’s North Sea Oil and Gas ‘Vested Interests’ [[link removed]]— (10 min. read) —

The influential Conservative-linked Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) has been pushing for further North Sea oil and gas drilling while several of its board members hold financial interests in the industry, a DeSmog investigation has found.

The news follows the government’s approval of the major Rosebank oilfield and the issuing of new North Sea licenses, which the government intends to turn into a mandatory annual process, as announced in this week’s King’s Speech.

READ MORE [[link removed]] Former BP Scientist Steve Koonin Claims Climate Journalists Are Spreading ‘Hysteria’ [[link removed]]— By Geoff Dembicki (3 min. read) —

A former chief scientist for the oil and gas producer BP claims that journalists specializing in climate change reporting are spreading false claims about extreme weather — an accusation that a major climate media organization deems “factually careless and ideologically driven.”

“There are a number of interests that align to produce the current climate hysteria,” Steve Koonin argued last week during a webinar for Canadian post-secondary students. “The media are indeed a big factor in that.”

READ MORE [[link removed]] From the Climate Disinformation Database: Steve Koonin [[link removed]]

Steven (Steve) E. Koonin [[link removed]] is a university professor and founding director of NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress. From 2009 to 2011, Koonin was Under Secretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy under President Barack Obama. In 2019, Koonin was reportedly assisting the White House in creating a panel to advise President Donald Trump on climate change. The panel, to be led by CO2 proponent Will Happer, has been described as a “slapdash band of climate contrarians.” In 2014, Koonin chaired a similar workshop for the American Physical Society with “experts” including John Christy, Judith Curry, and Richard Lindzen, all featured in our Climate Disinformation Database.

Read the full profile [[link removed]] and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database [[link removed]] and Koch Network Database [[link removed]].

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