Enviro Groups Target Murkowski’s Polluter Ties

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On Wednesday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski could move to block the EPA from regulating carbon dioxide—and environmental groups are waging a last-minute campaign against the Alaska Republican by highlighting her ties to fossil fuel interests.

As we noted last week, last fall Murkowski drafted an amendment limiting the EPA’s power with help from two energy industry lobbyists and former Bush EPA staffers. A Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility investigation into campaign records last week found that Murkowski has received $126,550 in campaign contributions from clients of those lobbyists since 2004, including big players like Duke Energy and Southern Company.

The National Wildlife Federation Action fund is running television ads in Alaska and Washington, DC. The ads accuse Murkowski of putting the “polluter lobby” first, rather than the needs of the state.

Friends of the Earth is running radio ads in Alaska claiming that Murkowski “is more interested in working for Washington lobbyists and special interests than she is in protecting Alaska’s way of life.” MoveOn is also rallying its members around the country on the issue.

Murkowski could introduce a measure to block EPA regulation during a Senate debate over unrelated legislation that would raise the national debt ceiling.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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