California’s Oil Industry Captures Regulatory Apparatus BY DAN BACHER Dan Bacher: The oil industry exerts inordinate influence over the regulators by using a small fraction of the billions of dollars in profits it makes every year to lobby state officials and fund political campaigns.  READ HERE shared from

TUESDAY, 28 JULY 2015 Will Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Hope Triumph? John Peeler: In these times of racial tensions around repeated police killings of unarmed blacks, it is easy to see why Coates is pessimistic, and hard to understand why he continues to have enough hope to keep on writing to a white audience. READ MORE Friend on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend “Hearts and Minds” Forgotten Rudy Acuña: If in the 1960s we would have talked about assassinations, there would have been a reaction; today it is routine, part of everyday life. READ HERE If You Care About California, Then You Should Care About Salinas Joe Mathews: The agricultural superstar's high crime and poor health are dark indicators of what the Golden State could become. READ HERE In Defense of DACA! Wednesday evening, participate in a presentation and discussion in Pasadena on DACA about two recent court hearings. READ MORE California's Oil Industry Captures Regulatory Apparatus Dan Bacher: The oil industry exerts inordinate influence over the regulators by using a small fraction of the billions of dollars in profits it makes every year to lobby state officials and fund political campaigns. READ HERE

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SHELL NO!: The Fight Is Just Beginning

Jul 28th, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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Cindy Shogan: Executive director, Alaska Wilderness League: 28 July 2015

Last week, myself, staff members from Alaska Wilderness League, a few mascots and some inflatable kayaks made our way to Lafayette Park just outside the president’s house — joining in the “kayaktivist” movement to protect the Arctic from Shell. The Save the Arctic movement has grown to a fever pitch this year —what ignited in Seattle with kayaktivists has caught like wildfire throughout the nation. Hundreds of activists have paddled in kayaks, floated on boats and paddle boards, and joined in rallies to say “ShellNo!”

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Posted in: Alaska, Arctic, Chukchi Sea, Climate Change, Environment, Greenpeace, Gulf of Alaska, Oil, Oil Spill, Pollution, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell, United States.
Tagged: Alaska · Arctic Ocean · Chukchi Sea · Environment · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

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More and bigger drilling-linked earthquakes rattle Oklahoma

More and bigger drilling-linked earthquakes rattle Oklahoma

Jul 28th, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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By Heide Brandes: 28 July 2015

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) – Several earthquakes shook Oklahoma on Monday as the state experiences a sharp increase in the frequency of tremors linked to wastewater disposal from gas and oil drilling, including from fracking, state and federal officials said.

Three of Monday’s quakes measured above a magnitude 4.0, with a 4.5 earthquake centered just north of Crescent, roughly 45 miles (72 km) north of Oklahoma City, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

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Posted in: Environment, Fracking, Gas, Oil, Reuters.
Tagged: Environment · Gas · Oil

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Senate bill would give oil companies a decade more to drill in Arctic leases

Senate bill would give oil companies a decade more to drill in Arctic leases

Jul 28th, 2015

by John Donovan. 

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By Jennifer A. Dlouhy: July 27, 2015

WASHINGTON – Shell and other oil companies with leases in U.S. Arctic waters could get an extra 10 years to develop them under a proposal advancing in the Senate.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, embedded the Arctic lease provisions in a broader bill that also would lift the U.S. crude export ban, expand offshore drilling and give coastal states a greater share of revenue from the activity.

The measure is slated for action in Murkowski’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee this week and next. If the panel approves the offshore drilling legislation, that would prime it for floor consideration after the Senate’s August recess and position it as a possible addition to a comprehensive energy package also moving through the committee.

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Posted in: Alaska, Arctic, Chukchi Sea, Environment, Houston Chronicle, Oil, Oil Spill,Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell.
Tagged: Alaska · Arctic Ocean · Chukchi Sea · Gas · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

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Shell to move to new shift pattern

Shell to move to new shift pattern

Jul 28th, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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Written by Harriet Brace – 28/07/2015 8:06 am

A major oil firm has confirmed its offshore workers will be the latest to move over to a new three weeks on shift pattern.

Oil giant Shell today confirmed the company will be moving to the new working pattern for offshore employees.

Offshore workers at Shell are currently on a two weeks on, three weeks off rotation.

However, the firm’s representatives have yet to confirm the arrangement for its employees’ off time, which is still under consultation.

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Posted in: BBC News, BP, Oil, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell.
Tagged: BP · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell · Shell North Sea

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GRASSROOTS VOLUNTEERS HOW TO HELP BERNIE SANDERS FOR PRESIDENT

Rhonda Kesten via Facebook.com I'm hosting an organizing party and am going to play  the You Tube Video Grassroots Volunteers How to  HELP Bernie Sanders for President 2016  by Melanie  Fisher https://youtu.be/OfRIPqsmlnk.  Check it out!#feelthebern

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#State of Negros: The rise of ‘new sacadas’ belies SONA claim of PNoy on labor

State of Negros: The rise of ‘new sacadas’ belies SONA claim of PNoy on labor shared from NEWS RELEASE Partido Manggagawa-Negros 28 July 2015 The rise of ‘new sacadas’ in Negros belie the claim of President Aquino during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) yesterday that the country is now moving from cheap labor to high-tech producer. Fresh from the joint consultation-workshop on the state of sugar workers held in Bacolod City last Sunday, the Negros chapter of Partido Manggagawa (PM-Negros) and the Sentro ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa (Sentro) described as ‘first world falsehood’ the assertion of the President that high-tech production is taking over cheap labor that for a long time characterized the Philippine labor force. “What country are you talking about, Mr. President?  Negros is now home to BPOs yet the island remains a country of sacadas,” said the two groups in a statement. It is clear, according to PNoy, “The Filipino can now compete.  Previously our only selling point was cheap labor.  Now factories for high-tech equipment are coming here, from airplane parts, electrical tricycles, printers, and other digital media products to high-quality medical devices.” During their Sunday consultation, PM-Negros presented a study that pointed to the rise of ‘new sacadas’ in Negros resulting from the dismal failure of agrarian reform in the island as well as the massive contractualization of farm works in the Sugarlandia. “The old dumaans (regular workers) were replaced by tens of thousands and contractual workers. And the migrant sacadas that mainly came from Panay and other neighboring provinces before are now replaced by inland sacadas -- a phenomenon that suggests a downside shift in labor relations in the island,” explained the group. According to PM-Negros, the ‘new sacadas’ of Negros is represented now by tens of thousands of contractual farm workers who comprise at least 80% of the total workforce in sugar plantations in the island.  They receive not more than P150 per day working as planters, weeders, fertilizer applicators, harvesters and haulers. “Until the late 90s, Negros sourced its shortage of sacadas from outside of the island but now the internal labor market is heavily populated with contractual, seasonal and mobile workers who perform work previously done by regular workers or the dumaans,” said the two groups. For PM and Sentro, the combination of failed agrarian reform and the onslaught of contractualization schemes created this phenomenon as workers who were displaced due to massive retrenchments lost their employee-employer relationship (EER) and eventually their right to become land reform beneficiaries.  “This condition left at least 100,000 hectares with no more agrarian reform beneficiaries to claim the lands, creating in effect an army of sacadas that hop from one hacienda to another around the island to find work,” explained the group. This state of sugar workers in Negros, added the groups, is further threatened by the expected adverse impact of Asean integration on Philippine agriculture once the zero tariff regime begins to be implemented this year. “We expect massive job loss once the country’s sugar industry fails to survive the intense competition with Thai and Vietnamese sugar,” said PM. The saddest point, said PM and Sentro, is to hear the SONAs of the past and present Presidents, without any mention of the pressing problems in Negros, specifically the life of sugar workers. “Ang problema namon, amon lang gid problema. Isa kami sa halimbawa sang SONA nga indi matalupangdan,” concluded the group.

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