Gulf oil spill trial -- Let the fingerpointing begin
http://www.reuters.com/article­/2012/02/23/us-bp-trial-idUSTR­E81M1W520120223

"There is a big incentive for everyone to settle," said Robert Percival, a professor at the University of Maryland's law school and director of its environmental law program. "Companies can avoid damaging public relations from months of evidence of all the stupid things they did."

South Pacific Slaves Put Squid on U.S. Tables - Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/­2012-02-23/slaves-put-squid-on­-u-s-dining-tables-from-south-­pacific-catch.html

The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, as of Jan. 1, requires all retailers with more than $100 million in global sales to publicly disclose their efforts to monitor and combat slavery in their supply chains. The law covers some 3,200 corporations that do business in the state, including several that trade in seafood.
Kotzikas said his company sold ling, a species of fish caught by the Melilla crews, to Costco Wholesale Corp, America's largest wholesaler and the world's seventh-largest retailer.

How Congress is killing the recovery?
http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/2­3/news/economy/congress_recess­ion/index.htm?iid=GM

Consider what Congress has busied itself with over the past year: An acrimonious debt ceiling debate that nearly resulted in default, a series of battles over whether the federal government should fund its own agencies and a drawn-out fight over whether to extend a 2% payroll tax cut.
Just as telling is what Congress has managed to avoid, namely the development of credible plans to deal with expiring tax cuts, burgeoning long-term deficits or desperately needed systemic reforms.

The Fed Can't Print Oil But It Can Print Mone
http://modeledbehavior.com/201­2/02/22/the-fed-cant-print-oil­-but-it-can-print-money/

My thesis is that rising oil prices are a monetary contraction because the funds are just parked in T-Bills.

Who was the most overpaid CEO?
http://money.msn.com/investing­/who-was-the-most-overpaid-ceo

Based on their performance rankings and pay comparisons, Obermatt calculated that Irani should have earned only $48.2 million for the three years. In short, he was overpaid by 674% -- some $324.6 million.

That's convincing enough to make Irani my "One-Percenter of the Week" this week.

Brazil Minister Says Global Currency War Is Intensifying
http://online.wsj.com/article/­SB1000142405297020396080457724­1460407096338.html?mod=googlen­ews_wsj

A global "currency war" will intensify this year as the world economy slows, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said, adding that Brazil is "well prepared" to defend its currency against unwanted appreciation.

"Global economic growth in 2012 will be below that of 2011," Mr. Mantega said ahead of his participation at a meeting of finance and monetary officials from the Group of 20 nations this weekend in Mexico City. "One of the results of the slowdown is that the global currency war is intensifying."

Fracking safeguards hit Senate hurdles
http://www.qchron.com/news/que­enswide/fracking-safeguards-hi­t-senate-hurdles/article_2e213­72a-2223-5ecd-9d2c-8f59bc237b5­9.html

"The problem is that in the Senate, Republicans are in favor of fracking, and they don't want any restrictions on the process," Avella said.
The senator is the ranking Democrat on the Senate's Environmental Conservation Committee.

New York Fracking Ban: Judge Rules Towns Can Prohibit Drilling
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/­2012/02/21/new-york-fracking-b­an_n_1292497.html

Rumsey disagreed, holding the law was not written to favor the industry, but to regulate it in such a way that "prevents waste ... and protects the rights of all persons."

"Nowhere in the legislative history (of the state oil and gas law) is there any suggestion that the legislature intended - as argued by Anschutz - to encourage the maximum ultimate recovery of oil and gas ... or to preempt local zoning authority," Rumsey wrote.

EU blocks passage of Canada's 'tar sands' ranking
http://www.theglobeandmail.com­/report-on-business/eu-blocks-­passage-of-canadas-tar-sands-r­anking/article2347236/

Companies like Britain's BP PLC, Royal Dutch Shell PLC of The Netherlands, and France's Total SA, are expanding operations in the oil sands, but have faced shareholder resolutions urging them to disinvest.

"Now that the tar sands issue is finally in the hands of publicly accountable ministers, we will see who's pulling the strings in Europe," Greenpeace tranport policy adviser, Franziska Achterberg said in a statement Thursday.

"The evidence is clear: tar sands are the world's dirtiest fuels. The decision is even clearer: the ministers should stand up to the oil industry and ban them from Europe."

AGU: Oil sands pollution comparable to a large power plant
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_­releases/2012-02/agu-aos022212­.php

The scientists found that sulfur dioxide amounts peaked over two of the largest mining operations in the Alberta oil sands, with a peak of 1.2x10^16 molecules per square centimeter. Nitrogen dioxide concentrations reached about 2.5x10^15 molecules per square centimeter. When researchers looked at the concentrations over the years using older satellite information, they found that the amount of nitrogen dioxide increased about 10 percent each year between 2005 and 2010, keeping pace with the growth of the oil sands industry.

"You'd certainly want to keep monitoring that source if it's increasing at that rate," McLinden said. "There are new mines being put in, they're pulling out more oil."