Category Archives: Dolphin

BP Was Just Found Grossly Negligent in the Gulf Oil Spill Disaster. Read the Full Ruling.

by TheresaBitner Posted on September 4, 2014

Mother Jones

In a blunt ruling handed down on Thursday, a federal judge in New Orleans found that the biggest oil spill in US history, the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, was caused by BP’s “willful misconduct” and “gross negligence.”

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 people and spilling millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf over the next several months. According to Bloomberg, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit include “the federal government, five Gulf of Mexico states, banks, restaurants, fishermen and a host of others.”

The case also includes two other companies that were involved in aspects of the design and function of the Deepwater Horizon—Transocean and Halliburton—though the bulk of the blame was reserved for BP.

“BP’s conduct was reckless,” wrote District Judge Carl Barbier, in a 153-page ruling. “Transocean’s conduct was negligent. Halliburton’s conduct was negligent.”

The judge ruled that BP was responsible for 67 percent of the blowout, explosion and subsequent oil spill, while Transocean was at fault for 30 percent, and Halliburton for the remaining 3 percent.

According to Bloomberg, BP could face fines of as much as $18 billion.

Here’s the full ruling.

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BP Was Just Found “Grossly Negligent” in the Gulf Oil Spill Disaster. Read the Full Ruling. (PDF)

BP Was Just Found “Grossly Negligent” in the Gulf Oil Spill Disaster. Read the Full Ruling. (Text)

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BP Was Just Found Grossly Negligent in the Gulf Oil Spill Disaster. Read the Full Ruling.

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The NFL Finally Fixed Its Weak Domestic-Violence Penalties

by RusselProby Posted on August 29, 2014

Mother Jones

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The National Football League has drastically toughened its punishments for domestic violence after weeks of uproar over its weak response to the case of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice. Rice received a two-game suspension after allegedly assaulting his fiancée, while players who tested positive for marijuana—some in states where weed is legal—were handed four-game and even season-long suspensions.

In a letter to NFL owners Thursday, commissioner Robert Goodell wrote that the league had fallen short in “a recent incident of domestic violence” and announced that a first-time domestic-violence offender would now receive a six-game suspension. Repeat offenders, he wrote, would face indefinite bans, with the possibility to apply for reinstatement after a year.

To be clear, there’s no epidemic of domestic violence among NFL players; this graph from FiveThirtyEight shows that NFL players are generally less likely to be arrested than the rest of 25-to-29-year-old American men*:



Rather, this smells a lot like a PR-related move from the league, which has seen its reputation suffer in the wake of Rice’s light penalty. After all, it’s not like the NFL jumped to punish any of the following four players, all of whom were involved in domestic incidents during Goodell’s tenure as commissioner:

AJ Jefferson: In February, Jefferson allegedly strangled his girlfriend and was arrested and charged with assault. The Minnesota Vikings released him hours later, but he was picked up by the Seattle Seahawks this spring.
Chad Johnson: In 2012, Johnson was arrested for head-butting his wife and charged with misdemeanor domestic battery. He pleaded no contest, was sentenced to probation and was cut by the Miami Dolphins.
Brandon Marshall: The Chicago Bears’ star wide receiver has one of the lengthier rap sheets in the league. Since 2004, he has been arrested five times, twice on domestic-violence charges, and has been involved in 10 disputes—many involving violence against women—in which no charges were filed. Marshall was suspended one game in 2009 over charges he’d abused his girlfriend in 2008 (he was acquitted); in 2007, he was arrested after preventing his girlfriend’s taxi from leaving his home, completed anger management, and did not receive punishment from the NFL.
Quinn Ojinnaka: The former Atlanta Falcons offensive lineman was suspended for one game in 2010 after a dispute in which he threw his wife down a flight of stairs and out of their home. (The dispute is said to have begun over Ojinnaka contacting a woman via Facebook.)

Ultimately, the NFL is deeply invested in maintaining a clean, family-friendly image, and Goodell is clearly responding to claims that the league takes smoking pot more seriously than it does violence against women. While it’s good that future domestic-violence offenders will receive more appropriate punishment, the timing of his letter—just a day after a vocal outcry about Rice’s punishment—makes it seem like the move of an embarrassed league looking to crack down on players who embarrass it.

Goodell is burnishing his reputation as an authoritarian who’s concerned with appearances, rather than a commissioner who leverages the league’s reach and resources to actually address issues like domestic violence.

*Note: As commenter Bumpasaurus pointed out, the data from the FiveThirtyEight chart is “adjusted for poverty status.” NFL players are wealthy, and compared to other, wealthy individuals in the same age group, “the domestic violence arrest rate is downright extraordinary.”

Originally posted here – 

The NFL Finally Fixed Its Weak Domestic-Violence Penalties

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Oceans Agency Lists 20 Coral Species as Threatened

by Myrna Posted on August 27, 2014

Twenty coral species, facing harms from global warming, coastal pollution and other perils are listed as threatened by the federal oceans agency. Continue reading:  Oceans Agency Lists 20 Coral Species as Threatened ; ;Related ArticlesA Closer Look at Turbulent Oceans and Greenhouse HeatingNew Study Sees Atlantic Warming Behind a Host of Recent Climate ShiftsObserved Planet: A Dawn Torrent of Tree Swallows ;

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Oceans Agency Lists 20 Coral Species as Threatened

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W.H.O. on Use of Experimental Ebola Drug

by Myrna Posted on August 12, 2014

Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, the World Health Organization’s assistant director general, announced that the agency would endorse the use of drugs untested in humans to combat the Ebola virus in West Africa. Read the article:   W.H.O. on Use of Experimental Ebola Drug ; ;Related ArticlesSneak preview of documentary about a man who planted a tropical forest singlehandedlyWorld’s top PR companies rule out working with climate deniersHow Many Hurricanes Will Hit Hawaii This Weekend? ;

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W.H.O. on Use of Experimental Ebola Drug

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A Texas County Sees Opportunity in Toxic Waste

by Myrna Posted on August 7, 2014

Officials in Loving County, population 95, hope the federal government — with $28 billion to spend on the disposal of high-level radioactive waste — will consider it as a storage site. Continue reading:  A Texas County Sees Opportunity in Toxic Waste ; ;Related ArticlesGroup Earns Oil Income Despite Pledge on DrillingDeal Struck in Colorado Over Vote on DrillingLifting Ban, Toledo Says Its Water Is Safe to Drink Again ;

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A Texas County Sees Opportunity in Toxic Waste

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Hurricane Expected to Be First to Hit Hawaii in 22 Years

by Myrna Posted on August 7, 2014

Hawaii is poised to take its first direct hit from a hurricane in decades, with two large storms moving through the Pacific. Visit site:  Hurricane Expected to Be First to Hit Hawaii in 22 Years ; ;Related ArticlesA Texas County Sees Opportunity in Toxic WasteDry California Fights Illegal Use of Water for CannabisMexican Congress Approves New Rules for Oil Industry ;

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Hurricane Expected to Be First to Hit Hawaii in 22 Years

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Inside the Wild, Shadowy, and Highly Lucrative Bail Industry

by Sue Allen Posted on June 30, 2014

Mother Jones

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The largest annual gathering of bail bondsmen in the country—the convention of the Professional Bail Agents of the United States, or PBUS—was slotted between Dunkin’ Donuts and Elk Camp 2013 at the Mirage Resort and Casino, a tall, shiny structure shaped like an open book and set against replicas of the Colosseum and Eiffel Tower on Las Vegas’ Strip. The sidewalk out front was littered with cards bearing phone numbers and pictures of naked women. In the courtyard, flames licked the late-winter air to the rhythm of a tribal drum every hour, on the hour. A sign at the entrance announced that the casino’s dolphin just had a baby and we would be able to see it soon. As I walked through the smoky slots area I saw a man with a PBUS lanyard doing an extremely forced I’m-having-fun dance with his assistant while a casino employee showed them how to play the one-armed bandit. It was a bit of a letdown from what I’d been anticipating—all-night blackjack sessions with bondsmen and bounty hunters telling tales from the street over stiff drinks. I’d even grown a mustache for the event, thinking it would help me blend in a little—bondsmen have mustaches, don’t they?

Not really, I discovered when I arrived at the welcome reception. “So how do you like the industry?” I asked a clean-shaven man in a shiny gray suit who looked to be about 30. “I like it,” he said buoyantly, taking a sip of his beer. “Sometimes you get real lucky.” He told me about the first bond he ever wrote in the cheerful, blow-by-blow manner of a poker player recounting a winning hand. A college student went out drinking and crashed his car into a fence, he explained. “So him and a girlfriend both get kinda messed up.” He beamed. I was confused—was I to realize that this was a boon? He quickly explained that normally, bail for a DUI was $5,000, but since it involved an injury, the amount automatically jumped to $100,000. When he told the driver’s mom she would have to pay him a $10,000 fee to get her son out of jail, she said, “No problem. Here’s my credit card number.” He smiled and took a sip from his beer, nodding happily. “I couldn’t believe it.”

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Inside the Wild, Shadowy, and Highly Lucrative Bail Industry

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East African Court Blocks Paved Serengeti Highway

by Myrna Posted on June 25, 2014

A court ruling means massive migrations of wildlife will not have to contend with a paved road in the Serengeti. Continue reading: East African Court Blocks Paved Serengeti Highway Related ArticlesStunning New Video View of Swimming Polar BearsEcology in the Age of Us – Double-Decker River InvadersCelebrating a Reviving River Through Sail and Song

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East African Court Blocks Paved Serengeti Highway

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VIDEO: Is the BP Oil Spill Cleanup Still Making People Sick?

by LelandDuCane Posted on May 16, 2014

Mother Jones

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After the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, when an oil rig explosion sent five million barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, the company behind the spill, BP, went swiftly into damage-control mode. One of its first steps was to buy up a third of the world’s supply of chemical dispersants, including one called Corexit that was designed to concentrate oil into droplets that sink into the water column, where in theory they can be degraded by bacteria and stay off beaches.

After the spill, roughly two million gallons of Corexit were dumped into the Gulf. There’s just one problem: Despite BP’s protestations to the contrary, Corexit is believed to be highly toxic—not just to marine life but also to the workers who were spraying it and locals living nearby—according to a new segment on Vice that will air tonight on HBO at 11 pm ET. (For its part, BP has said that its use of dispersants was approved by the federal government and that it isn’t aware of any data that the disperants pose a health threat.)

The show follows cleanup workers, local doctors, and shrimpers, and suggests that four years after the spill, Corexit contamination could be nearly as big a problem as the oil itself. You can watch a short clip from tonight’s show above.

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VIDEO: Is the BP Oil Spill Cleanup Still Making People Sick?

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Oh, Good: More Sports Teams Asking Taxpayers to Pay for Their Stadiums

by DelilaDPMwb Posted on May 6, 2014

Mother Jones

Cleveland’s professional sports teams have poured more than a million dollars into a fight they’re hoping will end in victory on Tuesday. The end goal isn’t a championship, though—it’s a municipal tax extension.

While many voters will go to the polls Tuesday to vote in congressional primaries, Cleveland residents have another decision to make: whether to extend the city’s notably regressive sin tax, which bumps up the price of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages by a few cents. If it passes, the sin tax extension will bring the amount of public money Cleveland has spent on the stadiums, which are publicly owned, up to $1.2 billion since 1990. (The city’s mayor and council president have argued that the investment pays for itself, though such claims are often exaggerated.)

The NBA’s Cavaliers and baseball’s Indians have proposed $135 million in renovations to Quicken Loans Arena and Progressive Field, respectively, including new scoreboards and concrete repairs, while the NFL’s Browns already struck a deal with the city netting $2 million a year for 15 years to pay for new scoreboards, faster escalators, and a new sound system at FirstEnergy Stadium. The three teams are fighting to ensure that sin tax money will help assuage those costs—of the $1.4 million raised by Keep Cleveland Strong, the pro-sin-tax PAC, more than $1 million has come from the Browns, Cavs, and Indians. The opposing PAC, Coalition Against the Sin Tax, has raised a mere $6,500.

Teams aren’t just tossing in cash to make sure taxpayers help foot the bill for new scoreboards. The Indians instructed ushers to wear pro-sin-tax stickers on Opening Day, according to an employee instruction sheet a former usher gave to Cleveland.com. While the Indians had told reporters that the stickers were purely voluntary, the handout reads, “An Issue 7 Keep Cleveland Strong sticker is part of your uniform. Place it chest high on your outermost layer.” The former usher, Edward Loomis, said he was fired by the team after refusing to wear the sticker. When opponents proposed adding a $3.25 ticket fee to help pay for the renovations, Keep Cleveland Strong claimed that it would punish local families and innocent sports fans.

Cleveland teams certainly aren’t the only ones asking for public money to help their facilities. The Minnesota Vikings secured hundreds of millions of dollars for their new stadium after pleading that they “only have $975 million in the budget,” while the Atlanta Braves announced a new stadium that will cost suburban Cobb County, Georgia, $300 million. The absolute nadir of public financing for stadiums came two years with the construction of Marlins Park in Miami, which will end up costing city and county taxpayers $3 billion.

The Marlins Park fiasco created such a backlash that local voters rebelled when the Miami Dolphins asked for taxpayer-funded stadium renovations, voting the measure down. The strange alliance pushing for the same result in Cleveland—Ralph Nader, meet Big Tobacco!—has an uphill climb, given the funding differential and the pro-sin-tax support of so many local officials. Maybe Kevin Costner should forget about helping the Browns in this week’s draft—and instead help figure out a more efficient use of taxpayer funds.

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Oh, Good: More Sports Teams Asking Taxpayers to Pay for Their Stadiums

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