Earth Protect Blog

Leonardo DiCaprio is well known for his activism around the ever present problem of climate change. Now he’s teamed up with the powerhouse that is National Geographic to bring an hour and a half documentary to the masses, “Before The Flood.” It’s a visual, auditory masterpiece, that might just inspi...

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company agreed yesterday to pay $12.5 million in fines and penalties for various violations of federal pesticide laws. The settlement was reached with the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The company pleaded guilty to adding a toxic insec...

Environmental groups have petitioned the federal government to list the declining population of great white sharks off the coast of California as an endangered species. The northeastern Pacific Ocean population of great whites is genetically distinct and in danger of extinction, according to the pe...

An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study has linked a contaminated Wyoming aquifer to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. This is the process required to make natural gas extraction profitable, as it opens up cracks and pores in rock formations to make the gas flow. Scientists for the EPA state...

Houston based Anadarko Petroleum recently drilled 11 horizontal wells in the Wattenberg Formation, which sits below portions of Colorado’s Front Range. The wells are expected to bring in an estimated $4 billion per year to Colorado’s economy. The reserves are estimated to contain between 500 million...

  Protestors once again presented themselves around the White House on November 6th hoping to convince President Obama to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline. Nebraska has been waging its own war against TransCanada and the proposed pipeline from Alberta to Texas in recent weeks as well. Nebraska...

It may be surprising to many people that the United States gets the majority of its crude oil and petroleum from countries other than those in the Middle East. New data released in June 2011 by the U.S. Energy Information Administration show that only about 18 percent of crude and petroleum came fro...

  The Deepwater Horizon oil spill will forever be a part of history, and has recently been a major driver for a change of protocol and regulation. One aspect of this disaster that is a direct consequence is how marine life has been impacted since April 20th, 2010.  Marine mammals have be...

  The effects of Deepwater Horizon disaster are still being felt in the Gulf Coast region. However, there have been steps made to keep this from happening again, and not just in the Gulf. These types of disasters will be much less likely to happen off of U.S. waters everywhere, thanks to new e...

  With much of the gulf coast region still feeling the effects of the BP oil spill in April 2010, the question of who is to blame for this disaster is on many people’s minds. The issue may never be completely resolved, especially for those who lost family members and profits from the spill...

  The Obama Administration approved the Keystone XL pipeline that is slated to carry tar sands from Alberta to Texas to be refined into various forms of fuel. There were also over 1000 protestors arrested during the days the protests took place. Among them was President Obama’s chief climatolo...

The water-energy nexus is a critical aspect of sustainability that must be understood. Energy production requires water, and when energy is saved, so is water. A 2006 report released by the U.S. Department of Energy stated that 39 percent of total freshwater withdrawals in the U.S. were for energy p...

April 20th, 2010 marks the day the worst oil spill in history occurred. This is the day the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig exploded and spewed approximately 170 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This is roughly fifteen times more oil than spilled during the Exxon-Va...

The following is the introduction of my Capstone project, titled "The Sustainable Energy Utility: What Delaware developed and if it is possible or necessary for Colorado," which was completed for my Master's degree in November 2010. It also has the Thesis statement to form a better understanding of ...

  The majority of electricity production in the United States comes from the combustion of fossil fuel. However, the low price of electricity derived from fossil fuels such as coal do not reflect the complete cost. Fossil fuels create many externalities, or external costs that consumers do no...

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” is a common process used in the extraction of natural gas. This process is necessary to make the wells profitable by increasing yields. However, there is much controversy surrounding the process, which industry experts claim is safe. Oil and gas companies, along w...