September, 22 2010, 02:04pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Dave Walsh, Media Officer on board the Arctic Sunrise ,
dwalsh@greenpeace.org , +31 20 712 2616
Molly Dorozenski, Media Officer in New York,
molly.dorozenski@greenpeace.org, +1 917-864-3724
Where is the Oil, and What Effects is it Having on the Gulf's Marine Ecosystem?
Experts available on board the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise to discuss scientific research into Gulf oil spill impacts
GULF OF MEXICO
Greenpeace Research Director Kert Davies, and
scientists Rainer Amon and Clifton C. Nunnally are currently on board
the Arctic Sunrise and available for interview. The Arctic Sunrise is a
164-foot ice-class Greenpeace ship currently on a three-month expedition
in the Gulf of Mexico to study the environmental impacts of the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster.
The independent scientific research team on board the Arctic Sunrise
is studying the extent, composition and impacts of the oil and gas that
has entered the Gulf's deep water following the oil spill. Following
the report released in early August by the National Incident Command
that revealed that between three and four million barrels of oil remain
in the Gulf environment, this research will make an important
contribution to increasing our understanding of the environmental
aftermath of the spill. The work will include documenting the status of
the chemical and biological aspects of the Gulf's waters, in order to
assess the impact of the oil spill on the gulf ecosystems, gauging
dissolved oxygen levels, and the ratio of stable carbon isotopes present
in dissolved inorganic carbon chemicals, as a way to locate areas
affected by the oil spill.
The Arctic Sunrise is performing transects of the Gulf in an area
to the west of the Deepwater Horizon site, south of Texas and
Louisiana, collecting water samples from depths of up to 1.25 miles. The
ship will also spend time close to the disaster site, where the science
team plans to take sediment samples, to find out how much oil has
reached the sea floor and what effect it has had on the organisms that
live there.
Kert Davies, Research Director at Greenpeace US will be available to discuss:
- The ongoing effects of the disaster
- The Arctic Sunrise three-month mission
- What's really happening in the gulf - compared to what BP or the government are saying
- The influence of big oil on US politics
- Future alternatives to oil
Rainer Amon will be available to discuss:
- The significance of his research into dissolved oxygen levels
- How his work complements that of other scientists
- What the science will tell us
- How, technically, the work is carried out
- What they have discovered so far during this expedition
- The potential impact on the Gulf ecosystem, based on findings
Cliff Nunally will be available to discuss:
- The significance of his sediment research, and what the oil spill means for the Gulf ecosystem
- How the team is working with other scientists to understand the oil spill effects
- How his research is carried out
- What he has learned so far
Kert Davies
Greenpeace US Research Director
Davies directs
Greenpeace's research team. He works closely with investigative
journalists and frequently represents Greenpeace at international
climate negotiations and scientific conferences. Davies has also
partnered with major global corporations to help them implement
solutions to global environmental problems. In 2008, he served as part
of a team that convinced Unilever to introduce the first
climate-friendly freezers into the United States. He also created and
runs the Greenpeace websites and blogs ExxonSecrets.org and
PolluterWatch.org, which expose how ExxonMobil, Koch Industries and
other polluters have attempted to influence the public debate about
global warming and energy policy.
Since the BP oil disaster, Davies has been interviewed on PBS
Newshour, CNN, BBC, MSNBC, Al Jazeera and quoted in major publications
such the Washington Post. Kert Davies studied environmental studies at
Hampshire College, and received his master's in environmental studies
from the University of Montana in 1994.
Dr Rainer Amon
Associate
Professor, Department of Marine Sciences, Texas A&M University, at
Galveston, and Department of Oceanography at Texas A&M University,
at College Station
In June 2010, Dr Amon was on board the NSF vessel RV Cape Hatteras,
tracing the movement of subsurface oil plume near to the Deepwater
Horizon site. This time out, he will be studying the extent, composition
and impacts of the oil and gas that has remained in the Gulf's deep
water, by gauging dissolved oxygen levels and stable carbon isotopes of
dissolved inorganic carbon as a way to locate areas affected by the oil
spill.
Dr. Amon holds a Ph.D. in marine sciences from the University of
Texas and a Masters in Zoology from University of Vienna. After his
Ph.D. Dr. Amon spent eight8 years as a researcher at the Alfred Wegener
Institute in Germany before accepting his position at TAMUG in 2003. He
has worked extensively in the Arctic, using organic matter from Russian
rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean, to trace pollution, the movement
of water masses, and other environmental changes. Amon has participated
in numerous research expeditions to the Amazon River and the Arctic
Ocean during his career. More locally, Amon is a co-investigator to
study the growth of E coli in Houston bayous by combining geochemistry
with molecular ecology, a multiyear study funded by the Texas Commission
for Environmental Quality.
Clifton C Nunnally, Phd. Student in Oceanography, Texas A&M, at Galveston
Nunnally's
focus on board the Arctic Sunrise is on the sediment communities close
to the Deepwater Horizon disaster site, where he will investigate
whether oil has reached the bottom, and if it has, to examine the how it
has affected the biota - such as marine invertebrates.
With a Bachelor Degree in Science from Abilene Christian University
(1998) and a Masters from Texas A&M University (2003), Nunnally's
work has centered on two large oceanographic studies: the Deep Gulf of
Mexico Benthos (DGoMB) project which was a initial survey of deep-water
habitats prior to the expansion of oil and gas exploration on the
Northern Gulf of Mexico continental slope, and the physical and
biological processes behind the Gulf of Mexico 'Dead Zone'. Clifton
Nunnally also spends each summer at Alice Cover Research Station located
near Simpson Bay in Prince William Sound, Alaska, where he focuses on
benthic invertebrates such as clams and starfish, which sea otters feed
on.
Contact:
Dave Walsh, Greenpeace Media Officer on board the Arctic Sunrise , dwalsh@greenpeace.org , +31 20 712 2616
Molly Dorozenski, Greenpeace Media Officer in New York, molly.dorozenski@greenpeace.org, +1 917-864-3724
Please join us at https://greenpeace.org/usa/live on Friday, September
24th for a live video press/blogger briefing and Q&A with
Greenpeace experts at the front lines of the campaign for clean energy
future, including Greenpeace USA Research Director Kert Davies live from
the ship.
Greenpeace is a global, independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
+31 20 718 2000LATEST NEWS
Critics Blast 'Reckless and Impossible' Bid to Start Operating Mountain Valley Pipeline
"The time to build more dirty and dangerous pipelines is over," said one environmental campaigner.
Apr 23, 2024
Environmental defenders on Tuesday ripped the company behind the Mountain Valley Pipeline for asking the federal government—on Earth Day—for permission to start sending methane gas through the 303-mile conduit despite a worsening climate emergency caused largely by burning fossil fuels.
Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC sent a letter Monday to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Acting Secretary Debbie-Anne Reese seeking final permission to begin operation on the MVP next month, even while acknowledging that much of the Virginia portion of the pipeline route remains unfinished and developers have yet to fully comply with safety requirements.
"In a manner typical of its ongoing disrespect for the environment, Mountain Valley Pipeline marked Earth Day by asking FERC for authorization to place its dangerous, unnecessary pipeline into service in late May," said Jessica Sims, the Virginia field coordinator for Appalachian Voices.
"MVP brazenly asks for this authorization while simultaneously notifying FERC that the company has completed less than two-thirds of the project to final restoration and with the mere promise that it will notify the commission when it fully complies with the requirements of a consent decree it entered into with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration last fall," she continued.
"Requesting an in-service decision by May 23 leaves the company very little time to implement the safety measures required by its agreement with PHMSA," Sims added. "There is no rush, other than to satisfy MVP's capacity customers' contracts—a situation of the company's own making. We remain deeply concerned about the construction methods and the safety of communities along the route of MVP."
Russell Chisholm, co-director of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) Coalition—which called MVP's request "reckless and impossible"—said in a statement that "we are watching our worst nightmare unfold in real-time: The reckless MVP is barreling towards completion."
"During construction, MVP has contaminated our water sources, destroyed our streams, and split the earth beneath our homes. Now they want to run methane gas through their degraded pipes and shoddy work," Chisholm added. "The MVP is a glaring human rights violation that is indicative of the widespread failures of our government to act on the climate crisis in service of the fossil fuel industry."
POWHR and activists representing frontline communities affected by the pipeline are set to take part in a May 8 demonstration outside project financier Bank of America's headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Appalachian Voices noted that MVP's request comes days before pipeline developer Equitrans Midstream is set to release its 2024 first-quarter earnings information on April 30.
MVP is set to traverse much of Virginia and West Virginia, with the Southgate extension running into North Carolina. Outgoing U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and other pipeline proponents fought to include expedited construction of the project in the debt ceiling deal negotiated between President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans last year.
On Monday, climate and environmental defenders also petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, challenging FERC's approval of the MVP's planned Southgate extension, contending that the project is so different from original plans that the government's previous assent is now irrelevant.
"Federal, state, and local elected officials have spoken out against this unneeded proposal to ship more methane gas into North Carolina," said Sierra Club senior field organizer Caroline Hansley. "The time to build more dirty and dangerous pipelines is over. After MVP Southgate requested a time extension for a project that it no longer plans to construct, it should be sent back to the drawing board for this newly proposed project."
David Sligh, conservation director at Wild Virginia, said: "Approving the Southgate project is irresponsible. This project will pose the same kinds of threats of damage to the environment and the people along its path as we have seen caused by the Mountain Valley Pipeline during the last six years."
"FERC has again failed to protect the public interest, instead favoring a profit-making corporation," Sligh added.
Others renewed warnings about the dangers MVP poses to wildlife.
"The endangered bats, fish, mussels, and plants in this boondoggle's path of destruction deserve to be protected from killing and habitat destruction by a project that never received proper approvals in the first place," Center for Biological Diversity attorney Perrin de Jong said. "Our organization will continue fighting this terrible idea to the bitter end."
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'Seismic Win for Workers': FTC Bans Noncompete Clauses
Advocates praised the FTC "for taking a strong stance against this egregious use of corporate power, thereby empowering workers to switch jobs and launch new ventures, and unlocking billions of dollars in worker earnings."
Apr 23, 2024
U.S. workers' rights advocates and groups celebrated on Tuesday after the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 along party lines to approve a ban on most noncompete clauses, which Democratic FTC Chair Lina Khansaid "keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism."
"The FTC's final rule to ban noncompetes will ensure Americans have the freedom to pursue a new job, start a new business, or bring a new idea to market," Khan added, pointing to the commission's estimates that the policy could mean another $524 for the average worker, over 8,500 new startups, and 17,000 to 29,000 more patents each year.
As Economic Policy Institute (EPI) president Heidi Shierholz explained, "Noncompete agreements are employment provisions that ban workers at one company from working for, or starting, a competing business within a certain period of time after leaving a job."
"These agreements are ubiquitous," she noted, applauding the ban. "EPI research finds that more than 1 out of every 4 private-sector workers—including low-wage workers—are required to enter noncompete agreements as a condition of employment."
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has suggested it plans to file a lawsuit that, as The American Prospectdetailed, "could more broadly threaten the rulemaking authority the FTC cited when proposing to ban noncompetes."
Already, the tax services and software provider Ryan has filed a legal challenge in federal court in Texas, arguing that the FTC is unconstitutionally structured.
Still, the Democratic commissioners' vote was still heralded as a "seismic win for workers." Echoing Khan's critiques of such noncompetes, Public Citizen executive vice president Lisa Gilbert declared that such clauses "inflict devastating harms on tens of millions of workers across the economy."
"The pervasive use of noncompete clauses limits worker mobility, drives down wages, keeps Americans from pursuing entrepreneurial dreams and creating new businesses, causes more concentrated markets, and keeps workers stuck in unsafe or hostile workplaces," she said. "Noncompete clauses are both an unfair method of competition and aggressively harmful to regular people. The FTC was right to tackle this issue and to finalize this strong rule."
Morgan Harper, director of policy and advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project, praised the FTC for "listening to the comments of thousands of entrepreneurs and workers of all income levels across industries" and finalizing a rule that "is a clear-cut win."
Demand Progress' Emily Peterson-Cassin similarly commended the commission "for taking a strong stance against this egregious use of corporate power, thereby empowering workers to switch jobs and launch new ventures, and unlocking billions of dollars in worker earnings."
While such agreements are common across various industries, Teófilo Reyes, chief of staff at the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, said that "many restaurant workers have been stuck at their job, earning as low as $2.13 per hour, because of the noncompete clause that they agreed to have in their contract."
"They didn't know that it would affect their wages and livelihood," Reyes stressed. "Most workers cannot negotiate their way out of a noncompete clause because noncompetes are buried in the fine print of employment contracts. A full third of noncompete clauses are presented after a worker has accepted a job."
Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC) executive director Mike Pierce pointed out that the FTC on Tuesday "recognized the harmful role debt plays in the workplace, including the growing use of training repayment agreement provisions, or TRAPs, and took action to outlaw TRAPs and all other employer-driven debt that serve the same functions as noncompete agreements."
Sandeep Vaheesan, legal director at Open Markets Institute, highlighted that the addition came after his group, SBPC, and others submitted comments on the "significant gap" in the commission's initial January 2023 proposal, and also welcomed that "the final rule prohibits both conventional noncompete clauses and newfangled versions like TRAPs."
Jonathan Harris, a Loyola Marymount University law professor and SBPC senior fellow, said that "by also banning functional noncompetes, the rule stays one step ahead of employers who use 'stay-or-pay' contracts as workarounds to existing restrictions on traditional noncompetes. The FTC has decided to try to avoid a game of whack-a-mole with employers and their creative attorneys, which worker advocates will applaud."
Among those applauding was Jean Ross, president of National Nurses United, who said that "the new FTC rule will limit the ability of employers to use debt to lock nurses into unsafe jobs and will protect their role as patient advocates."
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'Discriminatory' North Carolina Law Criminalizing Felon Voting Struck Down
One plaintiffs' attorney said the ruling "makes our democracy better and ensures that North Carolina is not able to unjustly criminalize innocent individuals with felony convictions who are valued members of our society."
Apr 23, 2024
Democracy defenders on Tuesday hailed a ruling from a U.S. federal judge striking down a 19th-century North Carolina law criminalizing people who vote while on parole, probation, or post-release supervision due to a felony conviction.
In Monday's decision, U.S. District Judge Loretta C. Biggs—an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama—sided with the North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute and Action NC, who argued that the 1877 law discriminated against Black people.
"The challenged statute was enacted with discriminatory intent, has not been cleansed of its discriminatory taint, and continues to disproportionately impact Black voters," Biggs wrote in her 25-page ruling.
Therefore, according to the judge, the 1877 law violates the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause.
"We are ecstatic that the court found in our favor and struck down this racially discriminatory law that has been arbitrarily enforced over time," Action NC executive director Pat McCoy said in a statement. "We will now be able to help more people become civically engaged without fear of prosecution for innocent mistakes. Democracy truly won today!"
Voting rights tracker Democracy Docket noted that Monday's ruling "does not have any bearing on North Carolina's strict felony disenfranchisement law, which denies the right to vote for those with felony convictions who remain on probation, parole, or a suspended sentence—often leaving individuals without voting rights for many years after release from incarceration."
However, Mitchell Brown, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs, said that "Judge Biggs' decision will help ensure that voters who mistakenly think they are eligible to cast a ballot will not be criminalized for simply trying to reengage in the political process and perform their civic duty."
"It also makes our democracy better and ensures that North Carolina is not able to unjustly criminalize innocent individuals with felony convictions who are valued members of our society, specifically Black voters who were the target of this law," Brown added.
North Carolina officials have not said whether they will appeal Biggs' ruling. The state Department of Justice said it was reviewing the decision.
According to Forward Justice—a nonpartisan law, policy, and strategy center dedicated to advancing racial, social, and economic justice in the U.S. South, "Although Black people constitute 21% of the voting-age population in North Carolina, they represent 42% of the people disenfranchised while on probation, parole, or post-release supervision."
The group notes that in 44 North Carolina counties, "the disenfranchisement rate for Black people is more than three times the rate of the white population."
"Judge Biggs' decision will help ensure that voters who mistakenly think they are eligible to cast a ballot will not be criminalized for simply trying to re-engage in the political process and perform their civic duty."
In what one civil rights leader called "the largest expansion of voting rights in this state since the 1965 Voting Rights Act," a three-judge state court panel voted 2-1 in 2021 to restore voting rights to approximately 55,000 formerly incarcerated felons. The decision made North Carolina the only Southern state to automatically restore former felons' voting rights.
Republican state legislators appealed that ruling to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, which in 2022 granted their request for a stay—but only temporarily, as the court allowed a previous injunction against any felony disenfranchisement based on fees or fines to stand.
However, last April the North Carolina Supreme Court reversed the three-judge panel decision, stripping voting rights from thousands of North Carolinians previously convicted of felonies. Dissenting Justice Anita Earls opined that "the majority's decision in this case will one day be repudiated on two grounds."
"First, because it seeks to justify the denial of a basic human right to citizens and thereby perpetuates a vestige of slavery, and second, because the majority violates a basic tenant of appellate review by ignoring the facts as found by the trial court and substituting its own," she wrote.
As similar battles play out in other states, Democratic U.S. lawmakers led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont in December introduced legislation to end former felon disenfranchisement in federal elections and guarantee incarcerated people the right to vote.
Currently, only Maine, Vermont, and the District of Columbia allow all incarcerated people to vote behind bars.
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