Disposable plastic bags just sit there, clogging our landfills and oceans, but their manufacturers aren’t so passive. Three of them are suing a reusable bag maker for saying … that plastic bags clog our landfills and oceans. They claim such talk has ”irreparably harmed” their business.
Posts Tagged ‘environment’
Attack of the Plastic Bags!
June 2, 2011Exploding Melons!
May 17, 2011
The melons of China are exploding. They’re not bursting with goodness, but with chemicals. Chinese farmers have been speeding the watermelon harvest by treating plants with a little too much Forchlorfenuron (FCF), a growth regulator.
Earth Day Echoes
April 22, 2011
April 22nd has been celebrated as Earth Day since 1970. A holiday that raises humankind’s awareness of our responsibility for the natural health of our planet. Sounds good, right?
Not in some ways:
“The 15 Corniest Pro-Environmental Songs,” Stacey Anderson, Rolling Stone
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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GOP Claims EPA Costs Jobs
January 24, 2011
Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R, TN-7) has performed a remarkable scientific feat, eliminating the polluting and climatic effects of carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. She did so at a single stroke by introducing H.R. 97, the “Free Industry Act.”
The act would deny the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to enforce control of those harmful substances by declaring the overwhelming body of scientific evidence to be erroneous. The Republican justification for H.R. 97 is the claim that EPA regulation of the aforesaid substances would be “job-killing.” As Dean Baker puts it, “Republicans call … policies ‘Job Killers’ because the media might ask for evidence if they called them ‘Baby Killers.’”
Fish Rustlers Go to the Hoosegow
November 28, 2010
A Washington, DC fish wholesaler has been found guilty of buying rockfish from a gang of rustlers. A co-owner and a fish buyer will go to the pokey, and the company has been fined $875,000. The DC bass bandits were collared last December. The rockfish (Morone saxatilis or Roccus saxatilis), also known as the striped bass, is the state fish of Maryland. It was overfished for decades, and harvesting is tightly controlled.
A posse has been roundin’ up rockfish rustlers for some time. Convictions were based on investigations by a special task force of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Maryland Natural Resources Police, and the Virginia Marine Police between 2003 through 2007.
Commission Establishes Oil Spill Blame
October 28, 2010
Contractor Halliburton knew the cement it used to seal the BP Deepwater oil rig was faulty but used it anyway, according to a report released by a federal commision. “Halliburton and BP both had results in March showing that a very similar foam slurry design to the one actually pumped at the Macondo well would be unstable, but neither acted upon that data,” according to investigators.
Thomas Roth, Halliburton’s vice-president of cementing, recently stated that his company’s tests showed the materials had “good stability,” a claim contradicted by BP officials.
Just who is to blame for the disaster?
BP Partner Balks at Blame — and the Bill
July 7, 2010
BP sent Anadarko Petroleum a bill for $272 million, a quarter of Gulf oil spill cleanup costs to date. Anadarko is a 25 percent partner in the Deepwater Horizon drilling project. Another 10 percent of the disaster is owned by Japan’s Mitsui, so that company got a $111 million invoice.
Anadarko CEO Jim Hackett issued a statement last month blaming the oil spill on “BP’s reckless decisions and actions,” so expect some resistence from the junior partner. Mitsui merely says it has until July 12th to reply. Corporate and maritime lawyers everywhere are on alert.
Other sources claim oil spill cleanup costs to date exceed $3 billion and may rise to $6 billion. Damages are something else again. BP has established a $20 billion fund to meet preliminary claims.
More:
“BP Wants Partners to Help Shoulder Spill Cost,” John Schwartz, New York Times.
“BP Passes the Buck to Oil Well Partners,” Dana Chivvis, AOL News.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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BP Cooks!
June 21, 2010
Keep your skillet good and greasy with BP. The oil giant has recipes for disaster mighty good eatin.’ Read “The BP ‘I Hate to Clean Up’ Cookbook” by Patricia Marx in The New Yorker.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Spill Spoof Aids Gulf Recovery
June 11, 2010
@bpglobalpr, a parody BP public relations Twitter account, has 155,678 followers; the real BP Twitter account has 13,925. The anonymous spoofer has raised $10,000 towards Gulf restoration by selling T-shirts; BP’s repair, cleanup, compensation, and PR efforts have earned nothing but scorn.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Oil Spill Slimes Environmentalists
May 25, 2010
The catastrophic BP oil spill has destroyed the Gulf of Mexico marine and coastal ecosystems and the energy, fishing, and tourism industries of five states. It has also destroyed the credibility of The Nature Conservancy, a major nonprofit environmental organization.
The Conservancy accepted $10 million in cash and land from BP, and the oil company sits on the organization’s International Leadership Council (ILC). The ILC usually meets in June at the Conservatory headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, but the 2010 meeting schedule is unavailable (demonstrators are standing by).
The Nature Conservancy is trying to defend its involvement with BP on its blog. It is failing. Big time. Just like BP.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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