April, 20 2011, 08:14am EDT
![Center for Biological Diversity](https://assets.rbl.ms/32012680/origin.jpg)
One Year After Gulf Disaster: Reforms Left Unaddressed, New Offshore Drilling Must Be Halted
TUSCON, AZ
A year after the Deepwater Horizon explosion launched the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, the Center for Biological Diversity today called for an end to all new offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, the Arctic and beyond because fundamental dangers have not been addressed.
"Despite some tough talk from the Obama administration, precious little has actually been done to make offshore drilling any safer than it was the day BP's well started leaking out of control," said Kieran Suckling, the Center's executive director. "Meanwhile, oiled wildlife are still washing up dead in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Obama administration is approving new drilling applications."
More than 200 million gallons of oil and other toxic chemicals spewed into the Gulf last year, a region already beset by the effects of industrialized drilling operations and pollution draining out of the Mississippi River. Scientists have yet to fully comprehend the scope of the damage to the region's complex and fragile ecosystems.
"We simply can't allow new offshore drilling when the old system, which set the stage for the BP disaster, remains largely intact," Suckling said. "That's asking for another environmental catastrophe, not preventing one."
The Center recently released a report estimating the true toll of the spill on wildlife in the Gulf, beyond simply the number of animals collected and tallied by the government. Using multipliers from leading scientists, the Center estimates that about 6,000 sea turtles, 26,000 dolphins and whales, and 82,000 birds were likely harmed by the spill.
"Like the Exxon Valdez and other spills before it, the BP spill will poison the Gulf for decades to come," said Suckling. "Unfortunately, policymakers and the oil industry seem completely unwilling to do what's needed to make sure a similar disaster never happens again."
The Center last week released an analysis of the 10 key reforms that have gone unaddressed in the wake of the Gulf crisis. They include closing the loophole that has allowed hundreds of offshore projects to escape a full environmental review, complying with the Endangered Species Act and other laws designed to protect vulnerable wildlife, and halting any plans for offshore drilling in the Arctic, where an oil spill would devastate ecosystems and be nearly impossible to clean up.
The Center launched nine lawsuits in the wake of the spill, including a pending $19 billion suit against BP and Transocean for violations of the Clean Water Act. Earlier this week, a notice of intent was filed against the Environmental Protection Agency for approving oil dispersants without studying their effects on sea turtles, sperm whales and other endangered species. The Center has also petitioned for Endangered Species Act protections for two oil-affected species in the Gulf: the Atlantic bluefin tuna and the dwarf seahorse.
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
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Sightings of Uncontacted Tribe Spur Calls to End Logging in Peruvian Amazon
"This is a humanitarian disaster in the making—it's absolutely vital that the loggers are thrown out, and the Mashco-Piro's territory is properly protected at last," said the director of Survival International.
Jul 16, 2024
A leading rights group on Tuesday called for loggers to be "thrown out" of a remote part of the Peruvian Amazon following recent sightings of people belonging to what is believed to be the world's largest uncontacted Indigenous tribe.
London-based Survival International published video and photos of dozens of Mashco-Piro people taken near the village of Monte Salvado in southeastern Peru near the Brazilian border. The group said that in recent days, more than 50 Mashco-Piro have appeared near the village, which is inhabited by the related Yine people. A group of 17 Mashco-Piro were also recently sighted near the neighboring village of Puerto Nuevo.
Several logging companies are operating within just a few miles of where the Mascho-Piro were spotted. One company operating inside Mashco-Piro territory, Canalaes Tahuamanu, has laid more than 120 miles of road there to facilitate timber extraction. The company is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as a sustainable and ethical operator, even though it is known to be felling trees inside Mashco-Piro territory. Survival International is calling on the FSC to withdraw its certification.
"This is a humanitarian disaster in the making—it's absolutely vital that the loggers are thrown out, and the Mashco-Piro's territory is properly protected at last," Survival International director Caroline Pearce said in a statement Tuesday. "The FSC must cancel its certification of Canales Tahuamanu immediately—failure to do so will make a mockery of the entire certification system."
Alfredo Vargas Pio, president of the local Indigenous group Native Federation of the RÃo Madre and its Tributaries, called the new photographs "irrefutable evidence that many Mashco-Piro live in this area, which the government has not only failed to protect, but sold off to logging companies."
"The logging workers could bring in new diseases which would wipe out the Mashco-Piro, and there's also a risk of violence on either side," he added, "so it's very important that the territorial rights of the Mashco-Piro are recognized and protected in law."
In 2014, Peruvian authorities evacuated residents from Monte Salvado by boat after around 200 Mashco-Piro armed with bows and arrows raided the village, killing livestock and pets and taking food and tools. In 2022, Mashco-Piro members killed 21-year-old Peruvian logger Gean del Aguila and wounded another man with arrows as they fished on the Tahuamanu River.
In the 1890s most Mashco-Piro were either enslaved or exterminated by private mercenaries hired by self-described Peruvian "Rubber King" Carlos Fitzcarrald—immortalized in the 1982 Werner Herzog film Fitzcarraldo. Surviving Mashco-Piro fled deeper into the Amazon and avoided contact with most outsiders. They fiercely defended their territory from intruders. However, in recent decades, loggers have penetrated and exploited Mascho-Piro lands.
There are believed to be more than 750 Mascho-Piro living in Peru. They sometimes cross the border into Brazil.
"They flee from loggers on the Peruvian side. At this time of the year they appear on the beaches to take tracajá eggs," Rosa Padilha of the Indigenous Missionary Council in the Brazilian state of Acre toldThe Guardian, referring to a species of Amazon turtle.
"That's when we find their footprints on the sand. They leave behind a lot of turtle shells," Padilha added. "They are a people with no peace, restless, because they are always on the run."
Around 15 other uncontacted Indigenous tribes with as many as 15,000 members are believed to remain in the Peruvian Amazon. It is illegal to make contact with such peoples for fear they would contract common human illnesses that could be fatal to unexposed populations without immunity.
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UnitedHealth Reports $7.9 Billion in Q2 Profits After Protesters Arrested
"Health insurance coverage has expanded in America, but we are finding it is private health insurance corporations themselves that are often the largest barrier for people," said one organizer.
Jul 16, 2024
A day after 150 people assembled outside the headquarters of UnitedHealth Group to demand the for-profit health insurance giant stop its "systemic" denial of coverage, the company announced Tuesday the huge profits it raked in over the second quarter of 2024: $7.9 billion.
The sum, said one organizer, exemplifies why the demonstrators were willing to risk arrest to speak out against the firm's practices.
"UnitedHealth Group's $7.9 billion quarterly profit announcement is the result of a business model built on pocketing premiums and billions of dollars in public funds, then profiting by refusing to authorize or pay for care," said Aija Nemer-Aanerud, Health Care for All campaign director for People's Action Institute. "People should not have to turn to public petitions or direct actions to get UnitedHealthcare to pay for the care they need to live. That makes no sense, unless you're a shareholder or executive eyeing your next big luxury purchase."
Eleven people were detained by police at Monday's demonstration, where they blocked the street in front of UnitedHealth's headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota, displaying signs that read, "United (Denies) Healthcare" and "The Price Is Wrong."
The demonstration was organized by the Care Over Cost campaign at People's Action Institute, which has worked to help people across the country overturn care denials by UnitedHealth and other for-profit insurance giants.
Gina Morin of Auburn, Maine spoke at the event about having her mental health treatment denied by her Medicare Advantage plan administered by UnitedHealth.
"Two years ago my therapist was denied payment for seven of my mental health sessions she provided," she said. "I tried to pay her even though I'm on a limited income and she wouldn't take the money. If my provider, in her professional opinion, believed I needed those therapy sessions, who is UnitedHealth to deny coverage?"
As Common Dreams reported last month, UnitedHealth was named in a letter written by 52 members of the Democratic caucus in Congress as one of the healthcare companies that use artificial intelligence to decide via algorithm that coverage should be provided or denied to patients who have Medicare Advantage plans, which are billed as offering coverage that traditional Medicare doesn't include.
ProPublicareported last year on Christopher Naughton, a man with ulcerative colitis whose treatment cost $2 million per year, leading UnitedHealth to flag his account as "high dollar." The company contracted with a doctor to review Naughton's case, and the doctor found the treatment for symptoms including arthritis, debilitating diarrhea, and blood clots was "not medically necessary."
After suing the company, Naughton's family found UnitedHealth had lied about what Naughton's personal physician told the contractor in order to come to their conclusion and end coverage.
"Health insurance coverage has expanded in America, but we are finding it is private health insurance corporations themselves that are often the largest barrier for people to receive the care they and their doctor agree they need," Nemer-Aanerud toldCBS News Monday.
In April, People's Action sent a letter to UnitedHealth noting that its CEO was paid nearly $10 million in 2022 while the CEO of its parent company "extracted over $90 million in executive and board pay for himself" over four years.
The company took $22.4 billion in profits in 2023 and sent $14.8 billion to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends—yet continues to deny necessary healthcare coverage to its members.
The group called on UnitedHealth to:
- Stop denying claims and overturn any existing denials for treatments recommended by medical professionals;
- Immediately cease the practice of using artificial intelligence and algorithms to initiate claims denials in bulk; and
- Execute a publicly shared audit and reimburse federal and state governments for the public money diverted by claim and prior-authorization denials within Medicaid (Managed Care), and Medicare (Medicare Advantage), among other demands.
"We will never stop fighting for a world where everyone gets the care they need, no matter their race, gender, or background," said People's Action. "When greedy corporations deny our care, we organize."
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'Power Play of the Highest Order': DNC Plot to Ram Through Biden Nomination Sparks Fury
"Behind the scenes, people at the Biden campaign and DNC are working to put in the fix," warned one Biden delegate from Maryland.
Jul 16, 2024
The Democratic National Committee is barreling ahead with plans to cement U.S. President Joe Biden's spot at the top of the party's November ticket weeks before next month's convention in Chicago, an effort that has sparked outrage among congressional Democrats and delegates who are worried about the incumbent's ability to defeat GOP nominee Donald Trump.
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who has said a "major course correction is needed" to avert disaster in November, has been circulating a letter to colleagues expressing concern about the DNC's plans, which were detailed Tuesday by Axios and The New York Times. At least three House Democrats thus far have said they're considering signing the letter, according to Axios.
Huffman told the Times in an interview that "to try to squelch debate and jam this through is a power play of the highest order."
"That kind of heavy-handed move is not going to go over well with a lot of people," Huffman added.
The letter, published in full by Axios, states that "there is no legal justification" for the DNC's plan for a "virtual roll call" among DNC delegates to formally confirm Biden as the party's presidential nominee before the end of the month.
The Democratic convention is set to begin on August 19.
Without offering specifics on the timeline, DNC Chairman Jamie Harrison confirmed the plans for a virtual roll call in a statement to Axios, even in the face of vocal concerns from congressional Democrats, grassroots activists, and some DNC delegates.
"We look forward to nominating Joe Biden through a virtual roll call and celebrating with fanfare together in Chicago in August alongside the 99% of delegates who are supporting the Biden-Harris ticket," Harrison said.
The Timesexplained Tuesday that "the process will effectively begin when the rules committee of the Democratic National Convention meets on a video call at 11:00 am on Friday, followed by another party group on Sunday."
"All of the more than 4,000 delegates are expected to begin casting their ballots as soon as Monday, a process that is likely to take about a week," the Times continued. "After that, the committee is expected to quickly hold the roll call, a tradition that typically occurs on the convention floor but is being held virtually this year."
"They are using non-existent rationalizations to quick-strike Biden into place."
One Biden delegate from Maryland, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, warned in a recent email to fellow state delegates that "behind the scenes, people at the Biden campaign and DNC are working to put in the fix."
"Put simply, they are trying to shut down the process earlier. We can't allow it," Mizrahi wrote in the email, which was obtained by Axios. "I am asking you to ask the DNC to stop pushing for an early vote."
The DNC initially instituted plans for a virtual roll call following the enactment of an Ohio law that could have prevented the Democratic presidential candidate from being on the state's November ballot if the nominee wasn't chosen by August 7.
But Ohio has since pushed back the deadline to September, rendering that justification moot.
The American Prospect's David Dayen wrote on social media Tuesday morning that he has heard from a source who said the DNC is still moving ahead with a virtual roll call because of supposed "ballot deadlines in Montana and California."
"This is nonsense, there are no such deadlines," Dayen wrote. "They are using non-existent rationalizations to quick-strike Biden into place."
Huffman's letter warns that "proceeding with the 'virtual roll call' in the absence of a valid legal rationale will be rightly perceived as a purely political maneuver, which we believe would be counterproductive and undermine party unity and cohesion."
"Moreover, it would contradict what President Biden himself has repeatedly said to members of Congress in recent days, telling us that anyone who 'wants to challenge his nomination should do so 'at the convention,'" the letter continues. "We respectfully but emphatically request that you cancel any plans for an accelerated 'virtual roll call' and further refrain from any extraordinary procedures that could be perceived as curtailing legitimate debate or attempting to force an early resolution of the party nomination."
Aaron Regunberg, a progressive organizer who has vocally demanded that Biden step aside, argued Tuesday that "even if you're all in for Biden, you should oppose" the DNC's plan for a pre-convention virtual roll call.
"If Biden's our nominee, he'll desperately need Dem unity [and] enthusiasm," Regunberg wrote on social media. "Moves like this are tailor-made to engender mistrust and make it much, much harder for Dems—volunteers, donors, voters, all of us—to come together."
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