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Are US Regulators Trying to Cover Up Influence Of Lobbyists On New Oil-By-Rail Regulations?
It’s no secret that the oil and rail industries lobbied the Obama Administration heavily during the creation of new oil-by-rail regulations released this past May, with lobbyists reportedly not even taking a break the day after a major oil train accident.
But just how much influence did lobbyists actually have in the drafting of the regulations?
Environmentalists who criticize the new rules as far too weak to stop business-as-usual — which has already resulted in five oil train explosions so far this year — are endeavoring to find out by submitting Freedom of Information Act requests for correspondence between lobbyists and five federal agencies within the US Department of Transportation that worked on the oil train safety rules.
So far, they say, they’ve been stonewalled by the Obama Administration.
The FOIA requests were originally filed in January by La Crosse, WI’s Citizens Acting for Rail Safety, Communities for a Better Environment, Albany, NY’s Ezra Prentice Homes Tenants Association and ForestEthics. The rules came out on May 1.
The groups were seeking all records of communications exchanged between lobbyists and staff at the Federal Railroad Administration, the Surface Transportation Board, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board and the Office of the Secretary of Transportation since January 1, 2012.
Some 97 individual lobbyists were named in the requests, among them representatives from trade groups like the American Petroleum Institute and the Association of American Railroads as well as oil and rail companies including Chevron, Tesoro, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF).
Six former members of the US Congress, including Trent Lott, Vin Weber, John Breaux, Steve LaTourette, Max Sandlin and Bill Lipinski, are also among the lobbyists named in the requests.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
World Powers Reach Landmark Nuclear Deal With Iran, Oil Slides – Full Deal Text
World Powers Reach Landmark Nuclear Deal With Iran, Oil Slides – Full Deal Text
It is only fitting that almost exactly 24 hours after the Greek “pre-deal”, which may and will end up crashing and burning in very short notice, another long expected “deal”, one which has been about a decade in the making, was reached, when Iran reached a landmark nuclear agreement with the U.S. and five other world powers, a long-sought foreign policy goal of the Obama administration. However, just like with the Greek deal celebrations, these too will likely be short lived as the outcome sets the White House on course for months of political strife with dissenters in Congress and in allied Middle Eastern nations.
In the end, however, the reality is that with little oversight both Iran and the West will maintain the status quo, even if the chances of a middle-east “preemptive” war involving Israel and/or Saudi Arabia increase substantially.
Here are some of the deal highlight bullets from Reuters and Bloomberg:
- Iran ballistic missile embargo seen in place for 8 years
- Conventional weapon embargo seen in place for 5 years
- Iran to cut 98% of enriched uranium stockpile under deal
- Iran will eliminate two-thirds of centrifuges under deal
- EU to lift sanctions on Iran as it meets nuclear obligations
- Iran deal implementation will take months, officials say
- Iran won’t receive sanctions relief until it complies with terms of agreement
In terms of the next steps timeline, Bloomberg adds that oil sanctions on Iran unlikely to be lifted before December 2015, according to most optimistic assessment of steps involved in draft of nuclear agreement obtained by Bloomberg. Most analysts expect this to happen sometime in 2016.
Key steps as follows: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, will be adopted 90 days after endorsement by UN Security Council resolution, or sooner by unanimous consent of all parties.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
China Soars Most Since 2009 After Government Threatens Short Sellers With Arrest, Global Stocks Surge
China Soars Most Since 2009 After Government Threatens Short Sellers With Arrest, Global Stocks Surge
Here is a brief sample of some of the measures the Chinese government and the PBOC have unleashed in just the past ten days to prop up the crashing market include:
- a ban on major shareholders, corporate executives, directors from selling stock for 6 months
- freezing more than half (1400 at last count per Bloomberg) of the listed companies from trading,
- blocking fund redemptions, forcing companies to invest in the market,
- halting IPOs,
- reducing equity transaction fees,
- providing daily bailouts to the margin lending authority,
- reducing margin requirements,
- boosting buybacks
- endless propaganda by Beijing Bob.
The measures are summarized below.
But it wasn’t until last night’s first official threat to “malicious” (short) sellers that they face charges (i.e., arrest), as Xinhua reported yesterday:
[Ministry of Public Security in conjunction with the recent Commission investigation of malicious short stock and stock index clues ] correspondent was informed on the 9th morning , Vice Minister of Public Security Meng Qingfeng led to the Commission , in conjunction with the recent Commission investigation of malicious short stock and stock index clues show regulatory authorities to the operation of heavy combat illegal activities.
… that the wall of Chinese intervention finally worked. For now.
And since this is all about one thing, the stock, market, it is worth noting that the Shanghai Composite Index had dropped as much as 3.8% to a 4 month low before the news that the cops were going to arrest anyone who used a wrong discount rate in their DCF, when everything suddenly took off, and the SHCOMP closed a “Dramamine required” 5.8% higher, the biggest daily increase since March 2009!
“As China beefs up its efforts to rescue the market, with even the public security ministry involved, market sentiment is recovering slightly from a panicky stage earlier,” Shenyin Wanguo analyst Qian Qimin says by phone
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
No Surprises: Obama’s Fracking Rules Upset Everyone
No Surprises: Obama’s Fracking Rules Upset Everyone
The Obama administration’s new rules on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, are being denounced by the energy industry as impeding a US oil renaissance and by environmental groups who call them too weak to be effective.
The Interior Department and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) drew up the rules for the technology used in extracting oil and gas from underground shale formations. Interior argues that they’re years overdue, and that they can be a guide for many states working to develop their own rules for the practice.
Fracking’s advantage is that it provides drillers with a new way to extract oil and gas that was previously inaccessible because it was locked deep underground in shale. It’s more expensive than conventional drilling, requiring injections of water mixed with chemicals to break up the rock.
Related: Three Reasons Why US Shale Isn’t Going Anywhere
Fracking could help the United States become the world’s largest producer of oil and gas, but it has also raised concerns that the chemicals – each drilling company has its own secret mix – could poison nearby groundwater supplies for both people and wildlife. As a result, states are struggling to develop their own rules to cover private and state-owned land, where most fracking is practiced.
The new federal rules will formally cover only federally owned land, where only about 10 percent of fracking occurs in the United States, according to the Interior Department. But it says it can help states address their own approach to fracking rules.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Obama Administration Sets New Record for Censoring and Denying Access to Government Documents
Obama Administration Sets New Record for Censoring and Denying Access to Government Documents
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Censorship is Transparency
Many of you will have heard about how the White House recently celebrated National Freedom of Information Day by removing a federal regulation that subjects its Office of Administration to the Freedom of Information Act. While interesting, it turns out that was merely a sideshow to the real news; that fiscal 2014 marked a record year for government censorship of documents that are supposed to be available on request.
Specifically, data released Tuesday showed that the U.S. government responded to 647,142 requests, a 4% decrease over the previous year, and that the backlog of unanswered requests at year’s end surged by 55% to more than 200,00.
More from the AP:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration set a new record again for more often than ever censoring government files or outright denying access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.
The government took longer to turn over files when it provided any, said more regularly that it couldn’t find documents, and refused a record number of times to turn over files quickly that might be especially newsworthy.
It also acknowledged in nearly 1 in 3 cases that its initial decisions to withhold or censor records were improper under the law — but only when it was challenged.
Can’t make this stuff up.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Operation Choke-Point Is Worse Than We Thought
Operation Choke-Point Is Worse Than We Thought
Operation Choke Point is an initiative of the DoJ that was announced in 2013 which investigates bank interactions with certain businesses believed to be at higher risk for fraud and money laundering. When first disclosed it was heavily criticised for bypassing due process with critics warning that “it’s a thinly veiled ideological attack on industries the Obama administration doesn’t like, such as gun sellers,” and precious metals dealers.However, as Mike Maloney explains, it is far worse than that… “it violates the most fundamental principles of the rule of law and accountable, transparent government.”
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From: Staff Report, 113th Congress, December 8, 2014
“At a minimum, Operation Choke Point is little more than government-mandated de-risking.FDIC, in cooperation with the Justice Department, made sure banks understood – or in their own language, “got the message” – that maintaining relationships with certain disfavored business lines would incur enormous regulatory risk.
The effect of this policy has been to deny countless legal and legitimate merchants access to the financial system and deprive them of their very ability to exist.
Accordingly, Operation Choke Point violates the most fundamental principles of the rule of law and accountable, transparent government.”
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We strongly suggest you are not holding anything sharp while you watch these clips….
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
