According to a report recently released by the National Institute on Money in State Politics, politicians in the Gulf of Mexico are awash in oil and gas industry contributions.
Oil and gas companies, along with their owners and employees, gave $21.1 million to the campaigns for state elected officials between 2003 and 2008 in Alabama, Florida, [...]

Twice in the last several days we’ve been reminded of the uphill struggle we face in the US to separate oil and state.  First, on Tuesday, the US Senate actually defeated a proposal that would have eliminated some oil industry subsidies.  Then, earlier today, Representative Joe Barton actually apologized to BP’s Tony Hayward for establishing [...]

It’s now been over three weeks since BP’s oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded, burned and sank in the Gulf of Mexico.
These have been hectic weeks for all concerned, no doubt, but the paucity of information available to the public is at best, discouraging.
How much oil is flowing / has flowed into the Gulf of Mexico?
The [...]

Now that BP’s jury-rigged contraption to contain its massive Gulf of Mexico oil spew has failed, the company’s only resort is to continue pumping massive amounts of dispersant into the water near the wellhead, in an attempt to – what exactly?
The dispersant goes by the trade name “Corexit.”  It’s supposed to be a pun on [...]

Venice, LA – I’m down at the oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico or what for now is the Gulf of Mexico.  Rick Steiner, a marine conservationist and oil spill expert flew over the gulf Wednesday morning and said, “It’s not the Gulf of Mexico any more. It’s the gulf of oil.”
Rick’s been helping [...]