The True Costs and Repeated Dangers of Dirty Energy

Weighing energy’s true cost

Rachel Maddow reports on the fate of the oil tanker Exxon Valdez and reviews recent oil spills in the US. She argues that the fundamental question of oil and more.

Skeptical scientist says climate change is real and caused by humans

Richard Muller, professor of physics at UC Berkeley,

And the modern practices, mentioned by Rachel, like many of the older means, of 'fracking' to extract what the planet has within has created a whole new host of problems especially as climate change expands, seemingly these past years, rapidly causing many other problems.

Drought strains U.S. oil production

July 31, 2012 - One of the worst droughts in U.S. history is hampering oil production, pitting farmers against oilmen and highlighting just how dependent on water modern U.S. energy development has become.

Over 60% of the nation is in some form of drought. Areas affected include West Texas, North Dakota, Kansas, Colorado and Pennsylvania, all of which are part of the recent boom in North American energy production.

That boom is possible partly by hydraulic fracturing. Known as fracking for short, the controversial practice gets oil and natural gas to flow by cracking shale rock with sand, chemicals, pressure and water.

Lots of water. Each shale well takes between two and 12 million gallons of water to frack. That's 18 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water per well. read more>>>