Anarchy in New Orleans, Justice in the Gulf, Direct Action in Texas…

As EF! Journal editors arrive in  New Orleans to speak at the 2013 North American Anarchist Studies Network Conference, a story of justice for the Gulf BP spill, albeit too-little-too-late, covers headlines in newspapers across town. [Re-posted below]

     Meanwhile  along the Texas Gulf Coast, the need for yet another Tar Sands Blockade action camp proves that our struggle against a global energy empire is far from over. As of this morning, at least six people have been arrested in a tree sit blockade erected yesterday.

Treesit in Diboll, TX

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According to NBC News: The Transocean settlement in the 2010 Gulf spill unveiled by the Department of Justice includes $1 billion in civil penalties and $400 million in criminal penalties. The company had set aside a total of $1.95 billion in potential losses related to the spill, including $1.5 billion for its anticipated settlement with the DoJ.

Shares of Transocean were up 7 percent at $49.50 on midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

BP’s Gulf disaster, 2012

“The bottom line to me is they now can put away the big black cloud that has been hanging over them,” said Phil Weiss, an oil analyst at Argus. “I take this as a positive, even if the number is a little higher than I expected.”

Switzerland-based Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon rig that was drilling a mile-deep well when a surge of methane gas sparked an explosion on April 20, 2010. The explosion killed 11 men and led to one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history.