The New York Times reports on a new study by the National Academy of Sciences, "released on Tuesday, [which] found that batches of diluted bitumen were no more likely to corrode or damage pipelines." The study also "determined that pipeline operators had no reason to change the way they handled the product."

How many times have you turned on your TV and seen an ad by an oil company touting how "green" it is? A lot, right? Well, that's no accident. In fact, according to a new story by Rolling Stone, it's part and parcel of Big Oil's campaign of "Big Lies." The contrast between dirty energy propaganda and reality is stunning.  For instance:

For more about "Bidder 70" and Tim DeChristopher, see Sudden Impulse, and a Warrior Is Born.

With the special election to fill John Kerry's U.S. Senate seat scheduled for tomorrow in Massachusetts, and with
"Green Billionaire" Tom Steyer active both in that campaign (assisting Rep. Ed Markey) and also in a broader effort to rally supporters of President Obama for action against climate change (and the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, specifically), it seems like a quick summary of what Mr. Steyer's efforts is in order.

Earlier today, your intrepid Scaling Green correspondent attended the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) forum in Reston, featuring Virginia gubernatorial candidates Terry McAuliffe and Ken Cuccinelli.  The purpose of the forum was to "provide technology business leaders the opportunity to learn about the candidates' views related to technology and business policy."  Given the importance of cleantech, we fully expected that this topic would be discussed. Instead, in about three hours, the participants and the audience essentially didn't touch on energy issues at all, let alone on cleantech - one of the fastest growing industries in the country, and one with enormous potential for Virginia.

This video is both very funny, and also 100% spot on. For more background on what this is all about, please click here. The bottom line is that trying to claim that tar sands development is "environmentally responsible" is utterly laughable. So, as the Greenpeace site points out, "while we will never be able to match the government and oil industry ad budgets, with your help we can use humour to turn their own ad budgets against them." In other words, let's help laugh Stephen Harper's absurd tar sands greenwashing ads off the air.

What is it with all these "free market" types who can't stand the disruptions caused by highly competitive, attractive clean energy alternatives?  To North Carolina's anti-free market policies, it looks like we can now add Texas.

Here are a few points that jumped out at us as we watched this interview with Bob Lutz, "better known as the father of the Chevy Volt."

The Hill reports:

by Brian Mahar