Gulf of Mexico oil spill
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Bloomberg News Refuses to Correct Blatantly False Drilling Ban Story
Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, the answer is no. On Thursday I documented a blatantly false Bloomberg news story designed to mislead readers about the level of support for President Obama’s temporary moratorium on deepwater drilling. Bloomberg’s poll (PDF), which the story was based on, asked the following (bottom of page five): “Do […]
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Ask Umbra asks readers for an accurate name for the oil spill
Send your question to Umbra! Q. Dear Umbra, I think we should stop calling it a spill. A spill is something that you can pick up with a mop and paper towels. Calling this catastrophe in the Gulf a “spill” is like calling the Holocaust a paper cut. It is a blowout. An oil volcano. Oil […]
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How Obama can wean the country off oil without help from Congress
Obama could kick off the “Big Green Buy.”Photo: Wikimedia CommonsThis article is part of a special issue of The Nation magazine about green energy, “Freedom From Oil.” In the wake of the BP oil spill, some captains of industry have begun calling for government leadership to spur a clean-energy revolution. In June, billionaire software mogul […]
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Gulf Oil Slick Makes Climate Negotiations Slippery, Says Utility Exec
Even before BP capped the oil spill, the Washington Post declared a loss for environmentalists. It’s been 3 months and we haven’t seen a cap on carbon, what gives? “Traditionally, American environmentalism wins its biggest victories after some important piece of American environment is poisoned, exterminated or set on fire. An oil spill and a […]
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Ten green stories you probably missed this week
The big story of the week, of course, is that BP, after almost three miserable months, may have finally stopped its Gulf gusher. (Emphasis on “may.”) But chances are you missed these greener tales — from the beauty of pond scum to the bendable bike to the regenerative power of beer. Flasks of algae waiting […]
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BP whistleblower: ‘They just don’t know who they’re messing with’
If you’ve been reading Mother Jones lately, you’ve heard about BP’s stranglehold on media access in the Gulf, which has included preventing reporters from visiting oil-soaked public beaches and barring its spill cleanup workers from talking to the press. Now, one of BP’s ex-media enforcers is speaking out. Former BP contractor Adam Dillon went public […]
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Crawfisher Drew Landry sings the ‘BP Blues’ to president’s Gulf spill commission
Testimony at commission hearings doesn’t usually go viral, but Drew Landry changed that this week when he serenaded President Obama’s oil-spill commission. Landry, a 37-year-old Lafayette, La., native, is an out-of-work crawfisher. He wants to volunteer with oil-spill cleanup but was turned away. He says “going green” could be a good solution, but he doesn’t […]
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The BP dirty dozen: 12 videos that make you almost miss Tony Hayward
While waiting, once again, to see if BP’s latest plan to plug its Gulf gusher will work, we decided to amuse ourselves by taking a look back at the lighter side of this environmental apocalypse. First (and last) stop: YouTube. Pass the popcorn. Here’s a BP dirty dozen: But I really hate when it gets […]
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Fear of job losses and oil-industry incompetence feed debate over drilling freeze
A stormy debate is brewing over the offshore drilling moratorium.On Monday, the Obama administration unveiled its do-over plan to temporarily stop deepwater drilling. On Tuesday, the heads of the commission created by President Obama to investigate the BP spill told reporters that maybe the moratorium should be lifted sooner rather than later. “What’s up with […]