Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of News Item titled "2 killed in blast at illegal cracker unit in Thanjavur appearing in The Hindu dated 19.05.2025". The application is registered suo-motu on the basis of the news item titled 2 killed in blast at illegal cracker unit …
Public Advocacy The motives behind public service ads are not always as transparent as the messages themselves. Take the example of these two ads culled from The Philippine Star. The one below takes to task corrupt politicians for offering protection to squatter communities thereby keeping them "in the rut." The …
• Oil provides energy for 95 per cent of the world’s transportation - Exxon-Mobil, the world’s largest oil company, had an annual profit of US $17 billion in 2001 (equivalent to about five per cent of India’s GDP) - Oil, which could have made Nigeria one of the world’s wealthiest …
The post-war boom had brought gas-guzzling vehicles, expanding highways and mushrooming suburbs in the industrialised countries, especially the US. This boom was fuelled by oil - the industrialised economies depended almost entirely on intensive use of fossil fuels. The world learned about its dependence on oil in 1973. The Yom …
The Caspian region has possibly the third largest oil and natural gas reserves in the world (after the Persian Gulf and western Siberia), estimated to be up to 15 per cent of the total reserves of the world. Hardly any of this potential has been tapped as yet, and it …
India's prominence in the energy market is that it is the world's sixth largest energy consumer - and yet woefully short of energy sources. It has large coal reserves but the worrisome part is petroleum, which accounts for about 30 per cent of the total energy. India produces only 30 …
"One of the ironies at the turn of the century is that, in an age when the pace of technological change is almost overwhelming, the world will remain dependent, out to the year 2020 at least, essentially on the same sources of energy - oil, natural gas, coal - that …
The US President George W Bush is raring to launch an attack on Iraq. Whether it has weapons of mass destruction or not, Iraq certainly has the world's second largest reserves of petroleum after Saudi Arabia. Thanks to UN sanctions, it produces a mere fraction of its potential. The US, …
"Not since the rise of the railroads more than a century ago has a single industry [energy] placed so many foot soldiers at the top of a new administration." - Newsweek, May 14, 2001 George W Bush took over as president of the US on January 20, 2001. Within two …
Oil industry heavyweight Pemex had to throw in the towel recently when a group of irate fisherfolk brought operations at its refinery in Salina Cruz, in Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca, to a grinding halt. The protesters were demanding compensation for damage which, they claim, was caused by a diesel …
Pollute and pay. Angola has communicated this to all business establishments operating in the country. In a major haul-up, the African nation has fined us oil major ChevronTexaco Corporation us $2 million for polluting beaches and damaging fishing prospects in the Cabinda region. Angola has notified the company about the …
At the height of the dropsy scare, Lucknow-based Industrial Toxicology Research Centre (itrc) came up with a unique device to check for adulteration in mustard oil. Called the colour-detection strip (cd strip), it was promptly placed in the market at a nominal 50 paise with expectations of a deluge of …
In line with its deregulation of the country's downstream oil industry, Nigeria is inviting bids to build independent oil refineries. The new private refineries' licensing programme is aimed at reducing the country's dependence on imported fuel. According to guidelines, prospective refinery operators will first have to pay a non-refundable us …
In a bid to break the impasse over the Thailand-Malaysia gas pipeline project, the Thai government has asked local oil and gas company ptt Plc to assess opposition to the project and decide on how to proceed. The project has been delayed several times earlier because of local concerns over …
A 1,070-kilometre oil pipeline project in Chad and Cameroon is expected to fetch them us $2 billion and us $500 billion respectively, over the project's 25-year lifespan. However, environmental and human rights groups have offered strong opposition to the project and asked for a moratorium on World Bank financing for …
just as the Supreme Court's deadline for converting Delhi's public transport system to compressed natural gas (cng) mode is getting closer, Ram Naik, Union minister for petroleum and natural gas (mopng), is raising uncertainties in the consumer's mind regarding the viability of the ecofriendly fuel. A flurry of statements by …
Since 1995, at least 28 per cent of the global gas flaring by oil companies is being undertaken in Nigeria, reveals a study. The flaring is to a large extent responsible for the country's greenhouse gas emissions, acid rain and destruction of freshwater fish, forests and property, the study says. …
a us district government has sued Exxon Mobil Corporation, the world's largest oil company, for contaminating Minnesota's Plainview district's water supplies following a spill of methyl tertiary butyl ether ( mtbe) from one of the company's stations. mtbe is a known human carcinogen and its level in the district's groundwater …
Petrobras, the state-owned oil group of Brazil, has completed investigation into the sinking of its biggest offshore oilrig, which many say is a cover-up operation. Ten workers had died and a few seriously injured during the incident that took place on March 20, 2001 (see Down To Earth , Vol …
Officials of several states in usa , led by Iowa and Michigan, have been directed to adopt the use of plant-based lubricants. A report issued by the US-based Institute for Local Self Reliance states that these lubricants are better than petroleum-based oils as they are biodegradable, less toxic and safe …
The Assam Pollution Control Board (apcb) has served a closure notice to the Digboi authorities for releasing highly toxic effluents, including oil and grease, into waterbodies. According to an official of the apcb, untreated effluents from the refinery is causing extensive damage to agricultural fields and forests. In response, the …