Enviro Links: House Panel Blocks BP Leases, Mystery Sea Turtle Deaths, and More

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Today in oil disaster news:

Officials gave the go-ahead last night to begin tests on the new containment cap, which BP hopes will collect far more oil than the old cap.

The House Natural Resources Committee approved a bill to create yet another oil spill commission. The Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources Act also sets up new regulations on the oil and gas industry.

That committee also approved an amendment from Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) that would bar companies with a history of safety violations from obtaining new leases, which of course is bad news for BP.

Regulators are asking banks to cut Gulf Coast residents affected by the oil spill some slack, reports The Hill.

Oil has hit Louisiana’s largest sea bird nesting area, covering 300 to 400 pelicans and hundreds of terns in crude.

The New York Times reports that many of the autopsies on dead animals found in the Gulf are inconclusive, as many of the victims aren’t showing obvious signs of oil contamination.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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