Enviro Links: The Climate Bill Dies (Again), BP Admits Doctoring Photos, and More


Today in climate news:

Majority Leader Harry Reid is not going to include a cap on carbon dioxide pollution, reports The Hill. We’ll have more on the rest of the bill soon.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in her weekly press conference that she remains proud of the House’s effort to pass a carbon cap last summer, and will push for it to be included in a conference bill this year.

In oil disaster news:

Response workers are preparing to evacuate the area around the spill site as a tropical storm approaches. Evacuation would put work on the relief wells on hold for 10 to 14 days, according to incident commander Thad Allen.

BP admits to doctoring a photo of the command center to make its response team look more busy.

BP hates puppies and kittens.

The other big four oil companies are forming a $1 billion joint venture to plan rapid response to potential future spills. BP is not a part of this new party.

China is dealing with its own catastrophic oil spill.

And in other environmental news:

Big Oil has been lobbying to weaken sanctions against Iran.

The Washington Independent reports on how the nuclear licensing process is raising the risks of proliferation.

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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