Wednesday, 15 Feb 2006

Royaling for a Fight

Oil and gas companies set to receive $7 billion taxpayer windfall

To supplement their already record-breaking profits, oil companies are set to receive around $7 billion in royalty relief over the next five years -- possibly up to $35 billion, depending on the outcome of an ongoing lawsuit -- and the feds claim they are basically powerless to stop it. At issue are royalties charged for oil and gas extracted from federal land and deep waters off shore. Or in this case, not charged: In the mid-90s, oil was cheap and the feds were trying to sweeten the pot to encourage risky, high-cost exploration in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, so they passed a "royalty relief" act that zeroed out royalties. Only now, oil and gas prices are up, oil companies are drowning in cash, and the taxpayer giveaway continues. The feds say the royalty-free bonanza is typically tied to price points for oil and gas, but a lawsuit by oil company Kerr-McGee, if successful, could remove even that modest limitation, jacking up the additional lost royalties to around $35 billion. Congressional Democrats are working to end the royalty relief, but their chances of success are slim.


It's still winter, but already this year wildfires have blazed through Arizona, California, Oklahoma, and Texas. As some experts wonder whether the upcoming wildfire season will outdo last year's record-setter, others are scratching their heads over a different question: Why do low-income communities bear the brunt of wildfire damage, and how could they be better protected? Jeff Nachtigal investigates.

Fiber Tactics

Asbestos trust fund derailed in the Senate

Remember the titanic struggle erupting in the Senate all of eight days ago, as a landmark bill to create a $140 billion industry-financed trust fund for victims of asbestos-related illnesses moved to the floor for debate? Well, pack up your lawn chair: It's over. Yesterday, the bill effectively died in a Senate vote of 58 to 41, as bill supporters failed to scrounge up the 60 votes needed to block a procedural challenge (the nature of which we don't pretend to understand). Strange Senate bedfellows had shacked up to oppose the measure: liberals worried that asbestos victims wouldn't get sufficient compensation without the right to sue, and fiscal conservatives worried that federal monies would end up supplementing the fund. The defeat has caused dismay in the bipartisan coalition that painstakingly crafted the legislation. It's not clear if or when it will try to resurrect the fund -- or what happens next to help asbestos victims.


On a cold morning, standing on a bare floor is like getting shot in the face by the vice president. (OK, it's not like that at all, be we'll be damned if we let this whole episode pass without getting a few jokes out of it.) It's no wonder people like to warm things up by installing carpet. But is it healthy and eco-friendly? Today, a reader asks advice maven Umbra Fisk how best to carpet his den, and she pulls the rug out from under him.

Seaweed's Big Adventure

Scientists discover biodiversity hotspot on Caribbean atoll

That ex-girlfriend was right -- there are other fish in the sea! Scientists have discovered a biodiversity hotspot in the Caribbean, home to a (possibly) new fish species and a mini-rainforest of seaweeds. Over a two-week period at the coral-covered Saba Bank Atoll, 12 researchers braved heavy seas to dive 100 feet below the surface twice a day. They found the (possibly) new fish -- a goby with orange spots -- and an astonishing array of at least 20 once-unknown seaweeds. "We were literally discovering a species every day, that's truly remarkable," said researcher Michael Smith, who called Saba Atoll "the epicenter of diversity for seaweeds in the Caribbean." But of course, there's trouble: the atoll is threatened by petroleum supertankers, which crush the coral when they drop anchor on the bank to avoid nearby island mooring fees.