EcoJustice: It's more than BP.

by rb137

And it's more than the Gulf of Mexico. Big Oil is plundering land and destroying lives all over the world -- and as bad as the Gulf spill is, it is the tip of an iceberg compared to damage across the globe. The photo at left is a river in the Niger delta that is contaminated by oil -- where over 9 million barrels of oil have been spilled in the last 50 years.

In Nigeria's Agony Dwarfs Gulf Oil Spill, John Vidal reports that majors spills are a daily occurrence in Nigeria, which has 606 oil fields, and supplies 40% of the crude imported by the United States. In fact, more oil is spilled from the Nigerian Delta's terminals, pipes, pumping stations, and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico.

Photo credit, Getty Images.

continued at Daily Kos...

What's a nice LWCF fix doing in Reid's Wimp Bill?

by RLMiller

Today, Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Accountability Act (24 pg pdf), an energy bill that started off as a big energy/climate bill, then shrunk and shrunk and shrunk.  I've named it the Wimp Bill: Land & Water Conservation Fund, Homestar (energy efficiency Improvements), Massive Oil Spill Response, and Pickens Plan for natural gas.  The last is an ethanol-like boondoggle, but the rest of the bill is not bad.  In particular, the part of the bill fixing the Land & Water Conservation Fund deserves support.  It just isn't a climate bill.  Or a strong energy bill.  Or, truthfully, anything having anything to do with anything.

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Why I Find Myself Shrieking

by davidseth

I sighed uneasy relief with everyone else when BP finally stopped Deepwater Horizon from emptying itself in the Gulf.  Yes, I knew it was temporary.  Yes, I knew it could blow up again any minute.  But there was, nevertheless, a relief.  For a short time anyway, BP would stop turning the Gulf of Mexico into a disgusting oil gumbo garnished with oil soaked pelicans and dead dolphins.

But then I read this article in the New York Times:

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"Forcing people to save is a cost that I am willing to bear."

by A Siegel

That Nobel prize, PhD, and ten patents to his name are hints that Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is beyond simply a bright man.  Secretary Chu is also a dedicated public servant. He is also a thoughtful, self-effacing, and, well, simply entertaining speaker. A chance to be in the room, to seem him speak, is one  of those things not to pass up.

Last evening Secretary Chu spoke at an evening reception leading into today's Center for American Progress Doing What Works that examined paths for improving government performance and foster increased (reasons for) public confidence in government.  He spoke to perspectives on the role of government and provided some thoughts from the Department of Energy.

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Climate-Denier Carly Fiorina Courting Out-of-State Coal Companies

by TonyMassaro

Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina has aggressively campaigned this election on her opposition to comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation. Her campaign rhetoric has apparently attracted some unique donors; Fiorina has received about $63,000 in donations this year from Appalachian coal-mining interests. Much of the money has come from Robert Murray, CEO of Murray Energy in Ohio, who dismisses global warming as "hysterical global goofiness." Robert Murray has helped direct almost $25,000 to Fiorina’s science-denying campaign for Senate, including $10,000 from the company’s federal PAC and personal donations totaling $2,499.

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Democratic Cowardice - Climate Change

by Something the Dog Said

My Mom is where I learned about public service. For 17 years she was a County Commissioner in the second largest county in Michigan by population.  During that time she had opportunities to run for higher office, but stayed where she was because she though it was the highest level of public office where one could see the affect of the work one was doing.

It wasn’t always an easy row to hoe. Being that it was Michigan there was always a problem with finding enough money in the budgets to fill all the priorities. There were times when she did what she thought was right, even though people complained. When she set up two health clinic where teens could get condoms without shame or hassle (in the ‘80’s) there was a lot of out cry. Still Mom knew that with the 17% teen pregnancy rate in her district something had to be done.

"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"

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BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 63

by Gulf Watchers

The current ROV DIARY: Daily Kos Gulf Watchers ROV # 245 - BP Gulf Catastrophe - Lorinda Pike

Rules of the Road

• We take volunteers for subsequent diaries in the sub diaries or ROV's as we have playfully coined them.
• Please rec this mothership diary, not the ROVs.
• Please be kind to fellow kossacks who may have limited bandwidth and refrain from posting images or videos.

PLEASE visit Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier's diaries to find out how you can help the Gulf now and in the future. We don't have to be idle! And thanks to Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier for working on this!

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How to ruin the lives of 30 million Americans (w/ action items)

by LaughingPlanet

Having seen the huge clusterfuck that is the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, the cluele$$ bureaucrats of of Utah have become inspired. Cha-ching!

A hearing today in Salt Lake City will discuss what would be the 1st proposed tar sands project ever in United States. Sure, Utah had an oil spill not 2 months ago. But that was then, this is now.

This time the moose will pull a rabbit out of the hat, I'm just sure of it.

Or maybe not.

Heavy metals & other pollutants will be unearthed upstream from several major US cities who depend on the Colorado River to, ya know, survive.

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