Plus, the UK’s top climate denier resigns...
From the Editor’s Desk
A massive thanks to the hundreds of you who joined us virtually yesterday for our conversation with special guests Naomi Klein, Michael E. Mann, and Jim Hoggan to celebrate 20 years of DeSmog’s unflinching accountability journalism.
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As Prof. Mann has said, “DeSmog has always
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Now on to our top stories...
Nearly two years ago, Colorado regulators began an investigation into how its largest oil companies ended up submitting falsified cleanup data at over 400 polluted well sites. Now, the state has wrapped that investigation and found the companies’ contractors frequently hid the true levels of soil and groundwater pollution, sometimes by as much as 99 percent.
However, the state just approved final deals with the oil companies, cutting their proposed fines by a collective $11.4 million.
“If accountability disappears when rules are broken, people begin to question the system,” Yvonne Yap, a resident from Aurora, Colorado, said during a hearing on the proposed agreements.
Colorado’s oil and gas regulator also gave these same companies — Chevron, Oxy, and Civitas — generous financial assurance plans for cleanup, granting them a $1 billion break, according to a recent investigation by DeSmog and the Guardian.
All of this has occurred under the direction of Julie Murphy, the state’s top oil and gas regulator, who the state announced will be stepping down just weeks after our investigation into her office. Dive into our latest story.
We’ve been following the money across the Atlantic as well, where fossil fuel interests have poured at least £24 million ($32 million) into Reform UK, the party of climate crisis denial which has ties with denier think tank the Heartland Institute.
Reform is led by Member of Parliament Nigel Farage, who, Sam Bright reports this week, has mentioned his constituency only twice in the House of Commons in the last year. MPs typically use their Commons appearances to lobby ministers on behalf of their constituents.
Yet as the highest paid MP, Farage has raked in more than £2.3 million ($3 million) in personal income. He’s in hot water this week over the substantial gifts he’s taken from party donors, and announced he’s resigning, triggering a by-election that he’ll stand in.
Dive into our live tracker of his personal income.
We’re staying on this story. DeSmog exists to expose the ways money influences power and to shine a light on the individuals and organizations spreading disinformation and blocking action on climate.
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Thanks as always,
Geoff Dembicki
Global Managing Editor
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Image: An active oil well in Johnstown, Colorado, bordering Weld and Larimer counties, in 2011. Credit: Maarten Heerlien, CC BY 2.0
Colorado Cut $11.4 Million in Penalties for Oil Firms Submitting Fake Cleanup Data
— By Sarah Hofmann (7 min. read) —
Residents, activists, and a state commissioner critiqued the deals, approved under the top oil regulator, who is stepping down following a DeSmog investigation.
Nigel Farage Has Mentioned Clacton Only Twice in Commons During Past Year
— By Sam Bright (3 min. read) —
The Reform leader is set to trigger a by-election in his seat.
Canadian Gas CEOs Are Hyping AI Data Centres to Investors as a Lifeline for Their Industry
— Mitch Anderson (4 min. read) —
Investor call transcripts show that gas companies see the data centre build-out as their next growth sector, even as the energy transition accelerates.
Paul Marshall ‘Cashing in on Climate Chaos’ After Leap in Fossil Fuel Investments, Critics Say
— By Sam Bright and Damian Carrington (6 min. read) —
The GB News co-owner’s hedge fund has multiplied its oil and gas holdings.
FOLLOWING THIS STORY
Who Funds Nigel Farage? Mapping His Millions
— By Sam Bright (1 min. read) —
Live tracker of the Reform leader’s personal income.
From the Climate Disinformation Database: Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage is the leader of Reform UK and a Member of Parliament for the party in Clacton-on-Sea, having been elected in the July 2024 general election. Farage is a GB News presenter. He is the former leader and co-founder of the Brexit Party, which became Reform UK in January 2021, when the UK officially withdrew from the European Union. In July 2024, Farage said he found it “extraordinary that people call carbon dioxide a pollutant,” because “plants don’t grow without it.” In 2024, Farage spoke at a fundraiser for U.S. climate denial group the Heartland Institute, where he said, “I’d love to see Heartland on the other side of the pond,” and encouraged attendees to vote for U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump. Later that year, Heartland launched a UK/Europe branch, and Farage attended as a “special guest of honor.” DeSmog reported in June 2024 that Reform UK had received more than £2.3 million from oil and gas interests, highly polluting industries, and climate science deniers since December 2019, amounting to 92 percent of the party’s donations.
Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database, Ad & PR Database, and Koch Network Database.
