Friday, May 28, 2010

• BP Oil Spill Confirmed as Worst in US History; Environmental Groups Challenge Continued Oil Operations in Gulf Excluded from New Moratorium

  
  
  

  Although President Obama has extended the moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits for six months and halted operations at thirty-three deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico, some oil rigs are continuing their operations. The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit to halt forty-nine offshore drilling plans in the Gulf of Mexico that were approved without full environmental review. Meanwhile, the group Food & Water Watch is leading an effort to shut down the Atlantis, another BP oil rig in the Gulf. The group warns an oil spill from the Atlantis could be many times larger than the current spill and even harder to stop. [includes rush transcript]

• Rep. Raul Grijalva: New Deployment of National Guard to US-Mexico Border Is Election-Year "Political Symbolism"

  
  
  

  President Obama has defended his plans to further militarize the US border with Mexico. On Tuesday, Obama said he would deploy an additional 1,200 National Guard troops to the southern border and ask Congress for an extra $500 million for border security. We get reaction from Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Arizona), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who says border militarization advocates are trying to avoid comprehensive immigration reform. [includes rush transcript]

• Chevron Has 5 Activists Arrested and Bars Entry to Global Victims of Its Practices at Annual Shareholders’ Meeting

  
  
  

  Chevron has had five protesters arrested at its annual shareholders meeting in Houston and refused to allow another two dozen people from Chevron-affected countries around the world, like Nigeria, Ecuador and Burma. Those denied entry held legal shareholder proxies. The True Cost of Chevron Network says it organized the protest to call attention to Chevron’s human rights and environmental record. We speak to Antonia Juhasz, director of the Chevron Program at Global Exchange, who spent the night in jail after her arrest; and Emem Okon, an activist from Nigeria and the founder and executive director of Kebetkache Women Development and Resource Center in the Niger Delta. [includes rush transcript]

• Critics: Rising Jamaican Death Toll Rooted in So-Called "War on Drugs"

  
  
  

  Jamaica’s death toll continues to rise in the search for alleged drug lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke, wanted by the United States. Jamaican police have confirmed that seventy-three people, the vast majority civilians, have been killed in clashes between security forces and Coke’s armed supporters. Rights groups are raising questions about possible unlawful killings by security forces. We speak to Carolyn Gomes of the Kingston-based group Jamaicans for Justice and professor and author Benjamin Bowling, who writes that "the chaos in Kingston is symptomatic of the failure of US-led cocaine prohibition." [includes rush transcript]