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What’s in Crude Oil and How Do We Use It?

by y32nmet Posted on August 14, 2013

Mother Jones

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This story and video first appeared on the Atlantic website and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Crude oil is far from being one homogenous substance. Its physical characteristics differ depending on where in the world it’s pulled out of the ground, and those variations determine its usage and price.


A Brief Backgrounder on US Energy


Video: How We Use Energy


Video: How Much Energy We Use


A Very Short History of How Americans Use Energy at Home


Who’s to Blame for Climate Change?


The Complexities of Climate Change


What’s in Crude Oil and How Do We Use It?

Read the full User’s Guide to Energy.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) puts it succinctly: “not all crude is created equal.” Some has a lot of sulphur, and it’s called sour. Oil with less sulphur is called sweet. Crudes also vary in how dense they are. Sweet, light crude is the most valuable type of oil. Sour, heavy oil fetches the lowest prices. Here’s why:

This is partly because gasoline and diesel fuel, which typically sell at a significant premium to residual fuel oil and other ‘bottom of the barrel’ products, can usually be more easily and cheaply produced using light, sweet crude oil. The light sweet grades are desirable because they can be processed with far less sophisticated and energy-intensive processes/refineries.” (EIA)

Depending on these characteristics, crude ends up at different refineries:

Refining capacity in the Gulf Coast has large secondary conversion capacity including hydrocrackers, cokers, and desulfurization units. These units enable the processing of heavy, high sulfur (sour) crude oils like Mexican Maya that typically sell at a discount to light, low sulfur (sweet) crudes like Brent and Louisiana Light Sweet. Many East Coast refineries have less secondary conversion capacity, and in general they process crude oil with lower sulfur content and a lighter density. (EIA)*

The refining process itself—fractional distillation, followed by further reprocessing and blending—is how we extract from crude to create the different petro-products that we use:

Crude oil is made up of a mixture of hydrocarbons, and the distillation process aims to separate this crude oil into broad categories of its component hydrocarbons, or ‘fractions.’ Crude oil is first heated and then put into a distillation column, also known as a still, where different products boil off and are recovered at different temperatures. Lighter products, such as butane and other liquid petroleum gases (LPG), gasoline blending components, and naphtha, are recovered at the lowest temperatures. Mid-range products include jet fuel, kerosene, and distillates (such as home heating oil and diesel fuel). The heaviest products such as residual fuel oil are recovered at temperatures sometimes over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. (EIA)*

That’s the rough overview of how crude gets from the ground to the gas station. In recent years, new extraction methods have made more crude available.

Due to controversial techniques pioneered in the natural gas industry and high oil prices providing incentives for oil companies, more oil is being extracted from previously unviable fields. Estimates of US proven reserves have risen as a result:

In 2011, oil and gas exploration and production companies operating in the United States added almost 3.8 billion barrels of crude oil and lease condensate proved reserves, an increase of 15 percent.” (EIA)

This has also led to a turn-around in US oil production, which, according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), may even exceed Saudi Arabia within five years. Kevin Bullis at the MIT Technology Review summarizes some of the key figures:

US production had fallen from 10 million barrels a day in the 1980s to 6.9 million barrels per day in 2008, even as consumption increased from 15.7 million barrels per day in 1985 to 19.5 million barrels per day in 2008. The IEA estimates that production could reach 11.1 million barrels per day by 2020, almost entirely because of increases in the production of shale oil, which is extracted using the same horizontal drilling and fracking techniques that have flooded the US with cheap natural gas.

Energy researcher Vaclav Smil suggests in The American that these developments should mean the end of “peak oil” anxieties:

Obviously, there will come a time when global oil extraction will reach its peak, but even that point may be of little practical interest as it could be followed by a prolonged, gentle decline or by an extended output plateau at a somewhat lower level than peak production.

But others like journalist Chris Nelder argue that we’ve increased spending on oil production by tremendous amounts only to see global oil production edge up a bit. Older, cheaper oil fields are declining, and their oil is being replaced by crude from far more expensive sources. Nelder made his numerical case to the Washington Post like this:

In 2005, we reached 73 million barrels per day. Then, to increase production beyond that, the world had to double spending on oil production. In 2012, we’re now spending $600 billion. The price of oil has tripled. And yet, for all that additional expenditure, we’ve only raised production 3 percent to 75 million barrels per day since 2005.

And Bryan Walsh at Time notes that, while expanded oil production will be good for the economy and the trade balance, it doesn’t mean the US will be insulated from global crude prices:

The one thing politicians most want is the one thing the US still won’t be: energy independent. That’s because no matter how much additional oil the US is able to pump in the years to come, the global oil market is just that—global. Oil is the ultimate fungible commodity, able to be shipped and piped around the world.

* For more in-depth explainers on the individual refining and secondary processes, the EIA article on the distillation technique contains more links.

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What’s in Crude Oil and How Do We Use It?

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Valley Fever, Explained

by trasze2aja Posted on August 14, 2013

Mother Jones

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Cases of an illness known as valley fever have increased dramatically over the past decade. So what is it exactly? And who’s at risk? We went to California’s Central Valley to find out—watch the video above, then read this handy FAQ.

What is it? Coccidioidomycosis—commonly known as valley fever—is a fungal disease. Its spores live in the soil. If the soil becomes dry and dusty, people and animals can breathe it in, allowing the spores to grow inside their bodies.

What does valley fever feel like? It depends. Some people who get valley fever don’t have any symptoms at all; in others the disease resembles a cold or flu. Some develop a pneumonia-like condition from the fungus in their lungs. In rare cases, the fungus disseminates and can even attack the brain. According to the CDC more than 40 percent of people who become ill from valley fever may require hospital visits; the average cost of that visit is $50,000. Between 1990 and 2008 there were 3,089 reported deaths from valley fever, though some public health experts suspect that it was an underlying cause of many more deaths.

Who’s at risk? People who live in or travel to the southwestern United States—where the disease is endemic—are at risk. Within that area, working outdoors—at construction sites, archaeological digs, and other places that involve undisturbed soil—also seems to be a risk factor (though plenty of people who don’t have outdoor jobs—for example, this little girl—also get valley fever). Prisons have been hard hit; 18 inmates in California’s Central Valley have died of valley fever in the past few years, and many more have become ill. The state of California recently ordered the transfer of 2,500 prisoners out of two Central Valley prisons with high incidence of the disease; many of the prisoners set to transfer are black and Filipino, two ethnic groups that seem to be disproportionately affected by the dangerous disseminated form of valley fever. Women in their third trimester of pregnancy and people with compromised immune systems are also at higher-than-normal risk.

How is valley fever diagnosed? That’s one of the problems: In chest x-rays, valley fever is very hard to distinguish from pneumonia or even lung cancer—the fungal masses in patients’ lungs look almost identical to tumors, says Dr. Michael Peterson, chief of medicine at UCSF-Fresno. If doctors suspect valley fever, they can order a blood or sputum (phlegm) test, but outside of the endemic areas many doctors aren’t familiar with the disease. That makes it particularly hard for people who contract the disease while traveling to the southwest to get appropriate care. One small company manufactures a simple and quick skin test, but it’s not widely available yet since the company says it can’t afford the FDA’s marketing fee; Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who recently formed a valley fever task force, says he plans to petition the FDA to waive the fee.

Which states have the most cases of valley fever? In general, southwestern states:

Tasneem Raja

How common is it? Increasingly common:

Tasneem Raja

Why is valley fever increasing so quickly? One theory is that climate change is playing a role: As the weather gets hotter and drier, soil gets dustier—which means it’s easier for people and animals to breathe in the fungus. Some people believe that the rise is related to the population boom in the southwest: The increase in cases has occurred in the last decade, during which time millions of people have flocked to that part of the country. Not only are there more people to get sick, there’s also more construction, meaning that workers are moving around the previously undisturbed soil where valley fever spores seem to thrive. Antje Lauer, a microbiologist at California State University-Bakersfield, theorizes that the spores might do especially well in burrows where rodents have stored seeds.

Basically all of my fruits and vegetables are grown in California’s Central Valley. Am I going to get valley fever from my next salad? Probably not. Valley fever spores seem to prefer soil that hasn’t been cultivated, explains Lauer. She theorizes “that in agricultural soils, where there is a lot of additional organic matter from manure or scientific chemical or fertilizer being put into the soil, that the diversity of microorganisms goes up, because the diversity of certain nutrients goes up, and then valley fever fungus can’t compete any more.”

What can be done to prevent valley fever? The short answer: if you live in the Southwest, not much. People who work outdoors can wear special masks to limit their exposures, but for the rest of the population, it’s hard to avoid. As UCSF’s Peterson put it, “The only thing you can really do is in days where there are windstorms, there’s lots of dust in the air, do not go out and do heavy exertion, those kinds of things. Otherwise, it’s in the air.”

Where can I learn more about valley fever? The Reporting on Health Collaborative has a great valley fever series about the communities that have been hardest hit by the disease; the CDC has up-to-date information on incidence, risk factors, diagnosis, and treatment.

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Valley Fever, Explained

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Why This Year’s Gulf Dead Zone Is Twice as Big as Last Year’s

by Thorzar Posted on August 14, 2013

Mother Jones

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First, the good news: The annual “dead zone” that smothers much of the northern Gulf of Mexico—caused by an oxygen-sucking algae bloom mostly fed by Midwestern farm runoff—is smaller this year than scientists had expected. In the wake of heavy spring rains, researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had been projecting 2013’s fish-free region of the Gulf to be at least 7,286 square miles to 8,561 square miles—somewhere between the size of New Jersey on the low end to New Hampshire on the high end. Instead, NOAA announced, it has clocked in at 5,840 square miles—a bit bigger than Connecticut. It’s depicted in the above graphic.

Now, for the bad news: this year’s “biological dessert” (NOAA’s phrase) is much bigger than last year’s, below, which was relatively tiny because Midwestern droughts limited the amount of runoff that made it into the Gulf. At about 2,500 square miles, the 2012 edition measured up to be about a quarter again as large as Delaware.

NOAA. Data source: Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON)

Smaller than expected though it may be, this year’s model is still more than twice as large as NOAA’s targeted limit of less than 2,000 square miles. Here’s how recent dead zones stack up—note that the NOAA target has been met only once since 1990. Low years, like 2012 and 2009, tend to marked by high levels of drought; and high years, like 2008, by heavy rains and flooding.

Dead zones over time. NOAA

Why such massive annual dead zones? It’s a matter of geography and massive concentration and intensification of fertilizer-dependent agriculture. Note that an enormous swath of the US landmass—41 percent of it—drains into the Mississippi River Basin, as shown below. It’s true that even under natural conditions, a river that captures as much drainage as the Mississippi is going to deliver some level of nutrients to the sea, which in turn will generate at least some algae. But when US Geological Service researchers looked at the fossil record in 2006, they found that major hypoxia events (the technical name for dead zones) were relatively rare until around 1950—and have been increasingly common ever since. The mid-20th century is also when farmers turned to large-scale use of synthetic fertilizers. Now as much a part of Mississippi Delta life as crawfish boils, the Gulf dead zone wasn’t even documented as a phenomenon until 1972, according to NOAA.

Source: LUMCON

The very same land mass that drains into the Gulf is also the site of an enormous amount of agriculture. The vast majority of US corn production—which uses titanic amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus, the two main nutrients behind the dead zone—occurs there.

US Department of Agriculture

The region is also where we shunt much of our factory-scale meat farms. This Food and Water Watch map depicts concentration of beef cow, dairy, hog, chicken, and egg farms—the redder, the more concentrated.

Big Ag interests like to deflect blame for the annual dead zone, claiming that other factors, like runoff from lawns and municipal sewage, drive it. But the US Geological Service has traced flows of nitrogen and phosphorus into the Gulf, and there’s no denying the link to farming. “In total, agricultural sources contribute more than 70 percent of the nitrogen and phosphorus delivered to the Gulf, versus only 9 to 12% from urban sources,” USGS reports.

The Gulf isn’t the only water body that bears the brunt of our concentrated ag production. Much of the eastern edge of the Midwest drains into the Great Lakes, not the Gulf. And they, too, are experiencing fertilizer-fed algae blooms—particularly Lake Erie. The below satellite image depicts the record-setting, oxygen-depleting bloom that smothered much of Lake Erie in 2011, which peaked at 2,000 square miles (about Delaware-sized). “That’s more than three times larger than any previously observed Lake Erie algae bloom, including blooms that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, when the lake was famously declared dead,” a University of Michigan report found. The culprit: severe storms in the spring, plus “agricultural practices that provide the key nutrients that fuel large-scale blooms.”

University of Michigan

Then there’s the Chesapeake Bay region, site of a stunning concentration of factory-scale chicken facilities (Food and Water Watch map) …

Food and Water Watch

… and a massive annual dead zone. “Livestock manure and poultry litter account for about half of the nutrients entering the Chesapeake Bay,” the Chesapeake Bay Program reports:

Source: NOAA

All of which raises the question: Are dead zones inevitable, a sacrifice necessary to feeding a nation of 300 million people? Turns out, not so much. A 2012 Iowa State University study found that by simply adding one or two crops to the Midwest’s typical corn-soy crop rotation, farmers would reduce their synthetic nitrogen fertilizer needs by 80 percent, while staying just as productive. And instead of leaving fields bare over winter, they could plant them with cover crops—a practice that, according to the US Department of Agriculture, “greatly reduces soil erosion and runoff” (among many other ecological benefits)—meaning cleaner streams, rivers, and ultimately, lakes, bays, and gulfs. Moreover, when animals are rotated briskly through pastures—and not crammed into factory-like structures where their manure accumulates into a dramatic waste problem—they, too, can contribute to healthy soil that traps nutrients, protecting waterways from runoff.

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Why This Year’s Gulf Dead Zone Is Twice as Big as Last Year’s

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Defense Contractor: Climate Change Could Create "Business Opportunities"

by marekso65 Posted on August 14, 2013

Mother Jones

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Of all the business opportunities presented by global warming, Raytheon Company may have found one of the most alarming. The Massachusetts-based defense contractor—which makes everything from communications systems to Tomahawk missiles—thinks that future “security concerns” caused by climate change could mean expanded sales of its military products.

Raytheon, it should be noted, isn’t exactly gunning for catastrophic global warming. Quite the opposite, in fact: In February, the company received a “Climate Leadership Award” from the EPA for publicly reporting and aggressively reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. It’s working on renewable energy technologies. And it has publicly warned of significant climate change-related risks to its business—from things like hurricanes, floods, droughts, and forest fires.

So it’s particularly striking that these very same climate-induced disasters could also have a financial upside for Raytheon. Like many other companies, Raytheon regularly submits information to the non-profit Carbon Disclosure Project about its carbon reduction efforts and how climate change could affect its business. In response to a question about climate-related opportunities, Raytheon wrote registration required last year that “expanded business opportunities are likely to arise as consumer behaviour and needs change in response to climate change.”

What kind of business opportunities? Raytheon cites its renewable energy technologies, weather-prediction products, and emergency response equipment for natural disasters. But the company also expects to see “demand for its military products and services as security concerns may arise as results of droughts, floods, and storm events occur as a result of climate change.”

The document says that these extreme weather conditions could have “destabilizing effects” and that on an international level, “climate change may cause humanitarian disasters, contribute to political violence, and undermine weak governments”:

Recent actions and statements by members of Congress, members of the UN Security Council, and U.S. military officers have drawn attention to the consequences of climate change, including the destabilizing effects of storms, droughts, and floods. Domestically, the effects of climate change could overwhelm disaster-response capabilities. Internationally, climate change may cause humanitarian disasters, contribute to political violence, and undermine weak governments. Customers’ needs are changing as the world transitions to a low-carbon economy where energy efficiency, renewable energy, and highly efficiently energy delivery becomes paramount. Expanded business opportunities will arise to Raytheon as a result of these security concerns and the possible consequences.

Raytheon says in the document that these opportunities are “very likely” to occur six to 10 years down the road, but the company doesn’t specify which military products in particular it thinks could become more popular. Jon Kasle, a Raytheon spokesperson, declined to elaborate on specific, future business opportunities, citing “competitive and other reasons.” Kasle did highlight Raytheon’s work on the Joint Polar Satellite System—a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration program to monitor environmental and weather conditions. In addition, Kasle cited a mobile air traffic control system, recently purchased by the US Air Force, that he noted “could be used in humanitarian missions such as supporting recovery from a hurricane, flood or other natural disaster.” Raytheon’s website suggests it could be useful on a “remote battlefield,” as well.

Kasle also emphasized that the Carbon Disclosure Project document “details the company’s extensive commitment to environmental stewardship and related, substantive programs.”

Raytheon certainly isn’t alone in contemplating the potential for climate-related conflict. Recently, a group of researchers published a paper in Science concluding that global warming could substantially increase the frequency of violent conflict. The paper, which surveyed dozens of academic studies, noted that “some forms of intergroup violence, such as Hindu-Muslim riots in India…tend to be more likely following extreme rainfall conditions” and that low water availability, very low temperatures, and very high temperatures “have been associated with organized political conflicts in a variety of low-income contexts.” That may be happening in Syria, where some experts believe that a severe drought helped spark the country’s bloody civil war.

Raytheon also isn’t the only defense contractor thinking about both the risks and opportunities associated with government responses to a warming world. Boeing, for example, says in a Carbon Disclosure Project report that its business could be impacted by the US government’s “increasing focus” on renewable energy. And Lockheed Martin states that the reputational boost from its efforts to reduce carbon emissions could help it win defense contracts.

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Defense Contractor: Climate Change Could Create "Business Opportunities"

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"In Xanadu": Heroin Users Revisit Where They Overdosed

by Steven Posted on August 14, 2013

Mother Jones

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Editor’s note: In 2012, Mother Jones contributing photographer Matt Slaby began photographing heroin users around Denver, along with the places they overdosed. “In Xanadu” was personal project, like many other Slaby has taken on. This time, though, rather than just turning to an editorial outlet like a magazine or newspaper to publish his work, he teamed up with the Denver-based non-profit Harm Reduction Action Center in a mutual effort to raise awareness and to potentially help the people he photographed and others like them. —Mark Murrmann, Mother Jones photo editor

“This is the last thing I saw when I overdosed. I was injecting heroin in a hidden alley so nobody could see me. I didn’t want to get caught; I didn’t want anyone to know. Heroin was more powerful than my fear of overdosing.”

One of the fundamental problems faced by health-care advocates working with injection drug users is a generalized, public perception that the issue is isolated to people and places outside of the normal social sphere. Generally speaking, our tendency is to dissociate our ordinary experiences—the people we know and the places we go—from things that we consider dangerous, dark, or forbidden.

In the arena of injection drug use, the consequence of this mode of thinking has been historically devastating. Instead of crafting public policy that works to minimize the harm caused by addiction, our trajectory tends towards amplifying consequences for anyone that wanders outside of the wire and into these foreign spaces. Rather than treating addiction as a disease, we treat it as something that is volitional and deserving of its consequences. Accordingly, our policies view the contraction of bloodborne pathogens and the risk of overdose as deterrents to the act of injecting drugs.

These “consequences,” of course, have little impact on rates of addiction; they do, however, all but ensure the continued spread of HIV and hepatitis C. Moreover, possession and distribution of Naloxone, a drug that counters the effects of otherwise fatal opiate overdoses, remains criminal in many areas throughout the world.

This body of work is an attempt to combat the notion that addiction exists elsewhere. This series pairs portraits of active and recovering injection drug users with places significant to their stories, creating diptych sets that illustrate the issue as something that is neither foreign nor deserving of moral stigma. In short, this work attempts to showcase the issue in normative terms: these are people we know and places we go. —Matt Slaby

“You’ve probably said hi to me on the street. I’m your friend. I’m not just someone you’ve seen around, I am someone you know. When I first learned to inject I was only 16 years old. It didn’t happen in a dark alley or some dingy bar, I learned to inject drugs in these suburban apartments across from my grandmother’s home.”

“When I introduce myself to others, I usually tell them I am an actor. Sometimes I tell them that I have HIV. Occasionally I tell them that I inject heroin. If you know me really well, I’ll tell you about the time I overdosed right there in the picture. That’s my living room.”

“‘This does not look like skid row,'” I thought as I walked up to the condominiums. This is the kind of place everyone knows. It is ordinary. So was my overdose. I shot heroin in the stairwell where I lost consciousness. Thankfully, somebody found me.”

“I live in this camper with my dog. I inject drugs here too. I use 1,820 syringes each year.”

“The first time I injected heroin I got Hepatitis C. A year later, I overdosed under the bridge there in that picture. If you drive in the city, you probably cross over this spot dozens of times each week. Fear of death and disease won’t stop me from using heroin.”

“I look like your son, not a junky. It’s been two years since I locked myself in a portable toilet near the state capitol and overdosed on heroin. It happened right there, on the exact spot where a puddle of rainwater reflects the trees of Civic Center Park. The thing is, overdoses happen all the time. They happen to people we know. They happen in places we go. It happened to me.”

“When I was diagnosed with lymphoma I was prescribed a heavy regimen of pain killers. Cancer hurts, but with treatment, it went away. My dependency on opiods did not. Two years later, this is where I live: in a car, under the interstate. I did not choose to get cancer; I did not choose to become dependent on opiods.”

“I doubt you would guess, but I have injected drugs for more than a decade. Two years ago I overdosed on heroin right there, in the picture. You have probably walked by it a dozen times. Right there, in that picture.”

“After a decade living as a homeless youth, you may be surprised to learn that the most traumatic thing that happened to me didn’t happen to me at all. It happened to my closest friend, Val. She died of a heroin overdose. Right there, in the picture. She was my friend. She was someone’s daughter. Sobriety has taught me a lot about the thin line that separates us all. Val was someone you knew. She probably served your coffee. She probably even greeted you with a genuine smile.”

Helen wears a pin of her late son, Leo. Leo overdosed on heroin in the house pictured on the right. Overdoses are almost entirely preventable.

“I overdosed on heroin in the parking lot in this picture. It wasn’t my first overdose and it may not be my last. I know the risks of doing heroin but drug dependency is strong.”

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"In Xanadu": Heroin Users Revisit Where They Overdosed

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Lobbyist Secretly Wrote House Dems’ Letter Urging Weaker Investor Protections

by KetaHeadraf Posted on August 13, 2013

Mother Jones

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A letter that a group of progressive Democrats sent to federal regulators opposing new protections for millions of Americans’ retirement accounts was drafted by a financial industry lobbyist, according to documents obtained by Mother Jones.

The Department of Labor (DoL), which oversees the federal law setting minimum standards for many retirement plans, would like to require retirement investment advisers to act in the best interest of their customers, as opposed to their own best interest.

But 28 out of the 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus—a group of African-American members of Congress that advocates for the interests of low-income people and minorities—signed onto a June 14 letter opposing the rule. So did Democratic lawmakers Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico, Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, Ed Pastor of Arizona, and Jim Costa of California.

The letter’s metadata indicates it was drafted by Robert Lewis, a lobbyist who works for the Financial Services Institute (FSI), an investment industry trade group:

Together, the liberal lawmakers who signed the letter have received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign money from the securities and investment industry in recent years.

In the letter, the lawmakers caution the DoL against proposing new regulations, warning that a strict new rule on retirement advisers may cause many of them to leave the market, and thus “could severely limit access to low-cost investment advice” for “the minority communities we represent.”

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Lobbyist Secretly Wrote House Dems’ Letter Urging Weaker Investor Protections

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Is America’s Biggest Liquor Racket About to Go Out of Business?

by 0df53x21 Posted on August 12, 2013

Mother Jones

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Whiteclay, Nebraska, sells more beer per capita than any town in America. In 2009, the most recent year for which we have statistics, the four liquor stores in the town of about a dozen full-time residents sold 4.6 million cans of beer. Or roughly 383,333 cans per person. Or 1,009 cans of beer per resident, per day. But the beer isn’t being consumed by the residents of Whiteclay. The town’s economy is built on the flow of booze two miles across the South Dakota border into the Oglala Sioux Pine Ridge reservation, where the sale and possession of alcohol has been illegal for more than a century. On Tuesday, the residents of Pine Ridge will hold a referendum on whether to put Whiteclay out of business.

Activists in Pine Ridge and their allies have tried for years to shut down Whiteclay. For the most part, those efforts have focused on the creation of a dry buffer zone that would extend across into Nebraska (the reservation ends at the state line). Congress had mandated the 50-mile buffer upon creation of the reservation in 1889, but in 1904, the liquor lobby successfully persuaded President Theodore Roosevelt to eliminate that buffer by executive order (which may have not been legal). Lawmakers could have extended the buffer on their own but chose not to, and despite repeated requests, no administration in Washington has been willing to consider reversing Roosevelt’s order.

Tuesday’s vote would lift the prohibition on beer sales in Pine Ridge entirely (hard liquor would still be prohibited), and put the tribe in charge of sales, the profits from which it could invest in things like alcoholism treatment centers. The theory is pretty straightforward, and consistent with the idea behind repealing prohibition everywhere else: the current legal structure has only served to enrich distributors in Whiteclay while doing nothing to curb addiction. With eight out of 10 households on the reservation (which has a population of somewhere between 18,000 and 40,000) impacted by alcoholism, it’s hard to imagine legalization making things much worse.

Or maybe it’s not. The success of the measure is no sure thing, with a number of powerful opponents, such as tribe president Bryan Brewer, opposing legalization on the grounds that it would bring the worst of Whiteclay to the community’s doorstep. If the referendum passes, one opponent told the Rapid City Journal, “we would have a Whiteclay in every district in this reservation.”

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Is America’s Biggest Liquor Racket About to Go Out of Business?

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A Very Short History of How Americans Use Energy at Home

by pedzacastrzala87 Posted on August 12, 2013

Mother Jones

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This story first appeared on the Atlantic website and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Let’s take a quick tour of how Americans use energy at home. Per capita energy consumption has stayed fairly stable over the past thirty years, but how we use energy has changed.

Insulation improvements and efficiency gains in heating and cooling have made the task of temperature management less energy-intensive. And these improvements have been offset by the proliferation of electronic appliances and gadgets.

While appliances and electronics have grown in their share of total energy consumption, the single biggest energy drain remains heating, as well as cooling in warmer climes.

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A Very Short History of How Americans Use Energy at Home

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10 "Songs of the Summer" Going Back a Century

by daria_korzeniewska@o2.pl Posted on August 12, 2013

Mother Jones

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As the amount of time we spend debating which track is truly the song of the summer swiftly approaches the amount of time spent listening to said tracks, it can be helpful to turn backward for guidance. How can we argue about 2013 without first arguing about 1993? 1953? 1913? Using Billboard chart performance as well as more subjective measures, let’s get our summer hit house in order.

1913: “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,” Chauncey Olcott

Going by Tsort’s chart consolidations (which will be the main standard for here for the years Billboard was only publishing sheet music and vaudeville charts), “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” was a number one hit in 1913, entering the charts in June and remaining for 16 weeks. Olcott—who was from New York—meant to evoke the serenity and peacefulness of Ireland when she wrote the song for the musical The Isle O’Dreams.
(Also considered: “When I Lost You” by Henry Burr and “The Spaniard That Blighted My Life” by Al Jolson.)

1923: “Down Hearted Blues,” Bessie Smith

With lyrics like “Trouble, trouble, I’ve had it all my days / It seems that trouble’s going to follow me to my grave,” Bessie Smith’s recording of this ode to an abusive ex-lover wasn’t exactly a feel-good hit. Anyone who was darb enough in the summer of 1923 still thought it was the bee’s knees, though, and that frazzle-snazzle helped it reach number one after charting in June. In 2006, the track was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
(Also considered: “Yes! We Have No Bananas” by Billy Jones (later performed by the Swedish Chef of Muppets fame) and “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” by Paul Whiteman.)

1933: “The Gold Diggers’ Song (We’re in the Money),” from Gold Diggers of 1933

What could have happened in the 1930s that would make this image resonate with audiences? While it may only be the second-best gold digger-related song of all time (scratch that, third-best), “We’re in the Money” was a huge hit in the summer of 1933. Not only did it lead off the Gold Diggers film, which premiered in late May, but star Dick Powell recorded a separate version that got radio play on its own. With apologies to Duke Ellington, whose instrumental “Sophisticated Lady” charted for four months that year—maybe if he had included a pig latin breakdown, he would have won out. (Also considered: “Sophisticated Lady” by Duke Ellington and “Stormy Weather” by Ethel Waters.)

1943: “You’ll Never Know,” Dick Haymes

No, you’re not a bored college student again—that song really is a cappella. Musicians were on strike in 1943, and since it would be decade before they could all be replaced by Pro Tools and a Casio keyboard, singers like Dick Haymes had to make due. “You’ll Never Know” first rose to prominence after Alice Faye performed it in Hello, Frisco, Hello. (It won the Academy Award for best original song.) Haymes’ version hit number one on the Billboard charts in the middle of July and didn’t drop from that spot for another month. (Also considered: “I’ve Heard That Song Before” by Harry James and “Taking A Chance On Love” by Benny Goodman.)

1953: “The Song From Moulin Rouge,” Percy Faith

No, not that Moulin Rouge. It may not have originally been a summer song—it first hit the Billboard sales charts in March—but Percy Faith’s track lasted 24 weeks, peaking at number one from May to July. It didn’t do as well on the jukebox charts as Eddie Fisher’s totally-not-about-a-stalker hit “I’m Walking Behind You,” though Faith did outpace Fisher in radio plays. Do they still measure jukebox plays, or can we just assume Bon Jovi has been number one since 1984? (Also considered: “I’m Walking Behind You” by Eddie Fisher and “Vaya con Dios” by Les Paul and Mary Ford.)

1963: “Fingertips Part 2,” Stevie Wonder

So it turns out the ’60s existed before the Beatles came to America. Who knew? In a strange year that saw “Hey Paula” by Paul and Paula sell more than a million copies, and The Singing Nun hold down the number one spot on the charts for a solid month, picking a definitive song of the summer is tough. The edge goes to Stevie Wonder’s live recording of Fingertips Part 2, because it’s fun as hell, features Marvin Gaye on drums, and has an impromptu encore at the end (“What key?!”). This track sat at number one for most of August. (Also considered: “Surf City” by Jan and Dean and “Sukiyaki” by Kyu Sakamoto.)

1973: “My Love,” Paul McCartney and Wings

McCartney wrote this track for his wife and bandmate Linda, proving that inter-band relationships aren’t always the worst. “My Love” sat atop the Billboard charts for four weeks in June before fellow Beatle George Harrison unseated it with “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth).” Five months later, “Photograph” hit the top of the charts, making Nickelback Ringo Starr the third Beatle with a number one song that year. (Also considered: “Will It Go Round In Circles” by Billy Preston and “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce.)

1983: “Every Breath You Take,” The Police

This track owned the summer of 1983, sitting at No. 1 throughout July and August. Sting apparently still makes $2,000 a day in royalties from “Every Breath You Take,” meaning he pulls in a cool $730,000 a year for however many wedding couples never bothered to listen to the lyrics that closely. (Also considered: “Flashdance…What A Feeling” by Irene Cara; Seriously, that’s it.)

1993: “That’s The Way Love Goes,” Janet Jackson

In the closest summer battle of the century, Jackson—whose track sat at number one from the middle of May into July—beats out UB40, whose cover of Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling In Love” held that mark from July into September. (Let’s also toss in Tag Team’s “Whoomp! (There It Is)” as 1993’s “Get Lucky.”) “That’s The Way Love Goes” won a Grammy for best R&B song and went on to be certified platinum in the US. Sorry, UB40. I blame the A-Teens. (Also considered: “Can’t Help Falling In Love” by UB40 and “Protect Ya Neck” by Wu-Tang Clan—because this is my list.)

2003: “Crazy In Love,” Beyoncé, featuring Jay-Z

“Crazy In Love” combines the 1983 winner’s stranglehold on summer airwaves with the 1973 winner’s ‘aww’ factor. (Little-known fact: Beyoncé and Jay-Z actually actually got married five years after this track was released!) It’s also the second-highest selling single since 2000, moving more than eight million copies. In 2003, it reigned over the Billboard charts from the middle of July into September. (Also considered: “21 Questions” by 50 Cent, featuring Nate Dogg and “This Is The Night,” by Clay Aik—nope. Let’s just stop this right here.)

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10 "Songs of the Summer" Going Back a Century

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Meet the Immigration Reformers in Steve King’s Iowa

by Andrew Brentford Posted on August 12, 2013

Mother Jones

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Comprehensive immigration reform has no greater enemy in Congress than Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). In July, he warned the conservative site Newsmax that most undocumented immigrants “weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.” In June, when a coalition of undocumented immigrants stopped by his Capitol Hill office, he tweeted that he had been “invaded.” He once constructed a replica border fence from scratch on the floor of the House, just to show his colleagues how it’s done.

King is Washington’s most anti-immigrant congressman, but the patch of northwest Iowa he represents is surprisingly devoid of his brand of nativism. Statistically, he’s an outlier. Voters in King’s district support a path to citizenship for undocumented residents by a 2 to 1 margin, according to a survey last month by the Tarrance Group, a Republican polling firm. In recent months he has run into opposition at home from a bipartisan coalition of immigrants, faith leaders, business interests, and even law enforcement officers, who view comprehensive immigration reform as imperative to the health of the increasingly diverse region. On Thursday, King finally met with supporters of immigration reform at his Sioux City office—on the condition that he be allowed to videotape it.

Their message for King is a simple one: They’d like him to tone it down.

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Meet the Immigration Reformers in Steve King’s Iowa

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