Environment

Land deals with foreign firms in Liberia 'could sow seeds of conflict'says a new report from the Centre for International Conflict Resolution (CICR) at Columbia University in New York. The report covers Golden Veroleum, Sime Darby, ArcelorMittal and Putu Iron Ore Mining Corporation. Read More

Royal Dutch Shell launched an extraordinary preemptive legal strike Wednesday against opponents of offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean, filing suit against more than a dozen environmental organizations likely to challenge its plan for drilling exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea this summer. Read More

Wilmar of Singapore, the world's biggest global processor and merchandiser of palm oil, has come in for harsh criticism for the environmental and social impact of its Indonesian plantations. The allegations also raise serious questions about the role of WWF and the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil. Read More

TransCanada is seeking permission to build a 1,661-mile-long oil pipeline to carry crude from Alberta's oil sands to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. Tribal leaders from both sides of the border have joined environmental activists to oppose the project. Read More

E-mails obtained by Friends of the Earth paint a picture of a collaborative relationship between lobbyists for TransCanada and the U.S. State department, the agency that has final say over a 1,661 mile pipeline that will transport tar sands crude from Alberta to Texas. Embassy officials in Ottawa procured invitations to Fourth of July parties for TransCanada officials and shared information with the company about Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's meetings. Read More

Chinese and South Korean companies are leading an investor rush to Burma to build lucrative cross-country pipelines to deliver Saudi oil and Burmese natural gas to China. Poor communities have been displaced and allegations of human rights abuses are rife in the pipeline's route. Read More

One in six of the 100 billion soda, beer, and juice cans cracked open by North Americans each year owe their existence to an industrial product manufactured from Alberta's tar sands. The result is an environmental disaster for Canada as well as a major contributor to global warming. Read More

Tar sands from Alberta have enabled Canada to become the largest supplier of crude oil to the U.S. Tom Corcoran, a Washington lobbyist, is paid to promote this rapidly growing industry that produces some of the most emissions-heavy gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel on the planet. Read More

A U.S.-based company is planning a system of elevated highways in Chennai, India, that will despoil natural resources that humans and wildlife have shared for millennia, environmentalists and villagers claim. Wilbur Smith Associates has won approval for the projects, they further charge, through deceptive practices and corporate sleight of hand. Read More

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the destruction of plantings of genetically modified sugar beets developed by Monsanto Co after ruling previously the U.S. Agriculture Department illegally approved the biotech crop. Read More