Bohai fishers allege crude spill cover-up - Conoco denies claims - Globaltimes.cn

Conoco Phillips China  康菲石油中国 has denied recent media reports such as the one below that there was a spill of crude from one of its vessels in the shallow Bohai Sea.  CPC  operates oil well drilling platforms in a joint venture with China National Offshore Oil Corp..(CNOOC) The State Oceanic Administration concurs with CPC, saying the slick was fuel oil not crude oil.  - GWC

Bohai fishers allege crude spill cover-up - CHINA - Globaltimes.cn:

Chinese authorities on Sunday denied that an American energy giant has again spilled oil into the waters off North China, rebutting local fishers' claim that a spill is being covered up.Fishers found large oil slicks near Shandong Province Tuesday, following strong winds the night before, Wang Zhongguo, a fisher from Changdao county, told the Global Times. He said abandoned oil-absorbing pads stained with oil were also found in nearby villages.
Wang said fishers in his village saw a ship towing oil-absorbing pads sail toward the coast of Tuoji Island to avoid heavy winds on March 20.
They identified it as a ship from Conoco Phillips, an energy firm headquartered in America that in 2011 caused two oil spills in the Bohai Sea, which contains several important oil reserves.

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OTHERWISE: Politicized Challenges, Depoliticized Responses: Political Monitoring in China's Transitions by Hualing Fu :: SSRN

OTHERWISE: Politicized Challenges, Depoliticized Responses: Political Monitoring in China's Transitions by Hualing Fu :: SSRN:
An excellent appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of the Chinese state. - gwc


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No new Bohai Bay oilfield spill - China.org.cn

No new Bohai Bay oilfield spill - China.org.cn: "Citing test results, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said the oil patches spotted in the nearby Changdao sea area recently belong to fuel oil, not crude oil.

Sightings of oil patches around Tuoji Island of Changdao County in east China's Shandong Province had stirred suspicion of another oil spill from the Penglai 19-3 oilfield, according to reports.

Oil spills in the oilfield in June 2011 caused severe pollution in the sea. Operation at the site was suspended in September 2011 and resumed in February this year after modification measures."

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Judge Hears N.F.L. Arguments to Dismiss Head Trauma Cases - NYTimes.com

Judge Hears N.F.L. Arguments to Dismiss Head Trauma Cases - NYTimes.com:

In United States District Court here, the league had five lawyers who argued that the case should be dismissed because the players had agreed to a collective bargaining agreement and therefore an arbitrator, not a judge, should hear their cases.
On the other side of the aisle, packed into a steamy courtroom and an overflowing gallery, were dozens of lawyers representing more than 4,000 former players and their wives who claim that the league knew about the long-term dangers of head trauma but hid them.

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Court deplores SEC neglect in Madoff case, bars investors suit - NYTimes.com

A group of investors in Bernard Madoff's  ponzi scheme sought to recover from the United States because the Securties and Exchange Commission ignored signs that Madoff's fund was a fraudulent scheme.   In Molchatsky v. United States of America (2d Circuit April 10, 2013)The  plaintiffs alleged that

 the SEC negligently failed to uncover Madoff’s fraud despite receiving numerous complaints over a sixteen-year period. Relying on an extensive report from the SEC’s Office of the Inspector General, Plaintiffs allege in detail approximately eight separate complaints the SEC received regarding Madoff and the SEC’s inadequate and often incompetent response to each. As a result of the SEC’s repeated failure to alert other branch offices of ongoing  investigations, properly review complaints and staff  subsequent inquiries, and follow up on disputed facts  elicited in interviews, the SEC missed many opportunities to uncover Madoff’s multi-billion-dollar fraud.

Standing in their way was the discretionary function exception to the Federal Torts Claims Act which retains governmental immunity for decisions whether to prosecute or not.  - GWC

Court Expresses Antipathy for S.E.C. in Handling of Madoff Case - NYTimes.com:
by Peter Lattman

A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that  Bernard L. Madoff‘s investors cannot sue the Securities and Exchange Commission for not uncovering his fraud, but at the same time blasted the agency for its failings.“Despite our sympathy for plaintiffs’ predicament (and our antipathy for the S.E.C.’s conduct),” the investors claims are barred because of a law protecting government agencies from lawsuits related to their use of investigatory powers, the United States Appeals Court for the Second Circuit said.
Notwithstanding the S.E.C.’s “regrettable inaction,” the court added, the commission is shielded from a negligence suit. The ruling upheld the 2011 dismissal of the case by the trial court judge in 2011.
The S.E.C. and other government agencies are protected by an exception to a law — the Federal Tort Claims Act — that allows citizens to sue the United States. The exception, in fact, is an “exception to an exception,” because the act is an exception to sovereign immunity law that typically immunizes the United States from suit.

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A classic `Brandeis brief' - American Sociological Association in the DOMA case

SCHOLARLY CONSENSUS IS CLEAR:
CHILDREN OF SAME-SEX PARENTS FARE
JUST AS WELL AS CHILDREN OF
OPPOSITE-SEX PARENTS

That is the conclusion and first point of the amicus brief of the American Sociological Association in Hollingsworth v. Perry, and U.S. v. Windsor , the attacks on California Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act.  Both were recently argued in the Supreme Court.  Justice Anthony Kennedy, feeling the peer pressure of Justice Antonin Scalia, suggested the court was constrained to act by the limited evidence that children of same-sex couples suffered no harm.  That seems to reverse the burden of proof, since the challenged laws are facially discriminatory and thus contrary to the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
So as Bill Keller explains in today';s Times, we should be grateful for the ASA's systematic review of the literature so far on the subject.  The sociologists conclude:

when the social science evidence is exhaustively examined—which the ASA has done—the facts demonstrate that children fare just as well when raised by same-sex parents.  Unsubstantiated fears regarding same-sex child rearing do not overcome these facts and do not justify upholding DOMA and Proposition 8.

Now that  Cardinal Dolan has said that the Catholic Church needs to be friendlier to gays and lesbians, rather than act like "God's Rottweiler", one can hope that the Church's social welfare agencies will agree to allow adoptions by same-sex couples.

OTHERWISE: N.F.L., Retirees In Court Over Head Trauma Cases - NYTimes.com

OTHERWISE: N.F.L., Retirees In Court Over Head Trauma Cases - NYTimes.com:



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Shandong fishermen sue ConocoPhillips in US - China.org.cn

Fishermen on Tuoji Island in the southeast Bohai Bay were excluded from a crude oil spill settlement between Conoco Phillips and the Chinese government.  The fishermen who work  in a large gulf in China's north claim damage due to June 2010 oil spills from drilling platforms on the shallow seabed. Their protests persist.  Hundreds have filed suit against Conoco in Texas. Their story is really starting to get play now.  Key documents can be found on the Bohai Bay page of this blog. - GWC
Shandong fishermen sue ConocoPhillips in US - China.org.cn:

"In June 2011, the occurrence of a serious oil spill in the 19-3 oil field of Penglai in the Bohai Sea, forced ConocoPhillips China Inc. (ConocoPhillips China) to pay 1.09 billion yuan in compensation. The money was divided equally among the fishermen of Laoting, Changli in Hebei, and Suizhong in Liaoning in April of 2012. Yet the event did not end there.

Not designated within the scope of compensation by the Ministry of Agriculture, 500 fishermen from Shandong Province turned to the U.S. and sued ConocoPhillips U.S.
One of the fishermen revealed to the Daily Economic News that the American local court had accepted the case and held its hearings on April 2. They asked at least 50,000 dollars per capita in payment. However, ConocoPhillips then opposed on the grounds of jurisdiction objection. It was expected the U.S. court would make its decision in June.
The Bohai Penglai 19-3 oilfield is back on track now, yet still faces the challenge of an environmental assessment. It's said that the State Oceanic Administration would give its definitive answer around April 12.
Compensation: At least $ 50,000 each person"We are also forced to do so. We're trying our luck," fishman Wang Zhongguo told the Daily Economic News.
Reports mentioned that after the oil spill, a lawyer called Jia Fangyi on behalf of 30 local fishermen had filed a bill to the Qingdao Maritime Court on November 18, 2011, but this event was not put on record.
On July 2, 2012, 30 Shandong fishermen submitted a bill of complaint to the Southern District Court in Texas, U.S., where the ConocoPhillips headquarters are located, naming the U.S. ConocoPhillips as the defendant. Later on, the number of the plaintiffs increased to 500, hailing from Changdao, Muli of Yantai and Laizhou.
Meanwhile, the Shandong fishermen also required ConocoPhillips would be held responsible for their actual losses, future losses and losses in pollution, resource destruction, life quality, and other aspects.
Additionally, another 208 farmers in Caofeidian of Tangshan also said that they were excluded from the 1.09-billion-yuan compensation. On March 18, they issued an open letter to the National Development and Reform Commission, requesting to halt ConocoPhillips China's oil production activities in the Bohai Sea.
Heated debate on the jurisdiction of the United States Court

The reporter from Daily Economic News learned that the American local court had started its hearings in January. It was anticipated the U.S. court would make its decision on jurisdiction objection sometime in June.
On September 24, 2012, the defendant ConocoPhillips submitted an application to the United States Court, requesting to dismiss the prosecution of Shandong fishermen. On September 28, 2012, ConocoPhillips submitted its statement of defense.
In ConocoPhillips's opinion, it has signed an agreement with the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and the State Oceanic Administration and paid 1.09 billion yuan for the losses caused by the oil spill; CNOOC and ConocoPhillips China had also respectively invested 480 million yuan and 113 million yuan to undertake responsibilities in protecting the Bohai sea.
"The Ministry of Agriculture pointed out that the pollution didn't affect fishermen in Shandong. If they can prove they have been affected, they might also apply to the Ministry of Agriculture for compensation," ConocoPhillips noted.
The attorney from ConocoPhillips said the Chinese government's findings were invalid for the plaintiff to be compensated. If the plaintiffs possessed the evidence to back up they were the owners or beneficiaries of aquaculture and their losses were caused by the oil spill, they could be compensated. Their right to claim compensation would then be protected.
"Shandong fishermen failed to participate in the agreement signing between the Chinese government and ConocoPhillips. And the agreement couldn't stop the fishermen from filing a bill to the Chinese court. ConocoPhillips's behavior was a somewhat 'pretended ignorance' of the Chinese law," said Jia. "If the first set of the compensation funds led nowhere, the other fishermen who had the evidence of contamination could not be compensated either."
"ConocoPhillips' claim that the Shandong fishermen were not affected by the pollution was entirely groundless. It was not affirmed by law and never announced to the fishermen. So it was invalid according the law in China." Jia told the Daily Economic News reporter.
Environmental assessment of the 19-3 oil field's resume production questioned

In June 2011, a serious oil spill in 19-3 oil field of Penglai occurred, with 700 barrels of crude oil flowing into the Bohai Sea and some 2,500 barrels of mineral oil-based mud stranding under the sea.
In February of this year, the State Oceanic Administration announced that ConocoPhillips had obtained its documents of approval to resume its project.
However, for the 19-3's resumption of production, the State Oceanic Administration did not take the initiative to publicize the supervision and inspection documents of approval on environmental protection.
On February 27, two lawyers called Tang Huadong and Sun Peng from Beijing Deheheng (Shanghai) Law Firm submitted the information disclosure application form to the State Oceanic Administration.
Tang noted that as to State Oceanic Administration's document of approval, on the one hand, it was not publicized, and on the other hand, no hearings had been organized. Such behavior was administratively illegal and improper.
Sun also questioned why the State Oceanic Administration had hastily approved the resumption of production.
"On March 21, State Oceanic Administration sent us a letter, which stated it would reply us within 15 working days. We're still waiting for that day. It will probably be on April 12." Tang told the Daily Economic News reporter." 'via Blog this'

Beijing warns Shandong fishermen against suing ConocoPhillips over Bohai oil spill | South China Morning Post

Beijing warns Shandong fishermen against suing ConocoPhillips over Bohai oil spill | South China Morning Post:

Five hundred fishermen in Shandong who are suing US oil firm ConocoPhillips in Texas for compensation after an oil spill in Bohai Bay have come under pressure from Beijing to drop the lawsuit, as they "have embarrassed some officials", representatives of the group say.
Wang Zhongguo, a fisherman from Tuoji Island, Changdao county, yesterday said that he and many other fishermen had been warned, threatened and monitored by local government officials for more than six months.
County officials told the fishermen that the government was promoting Changdao as a global tourist attraction and was worried the lawsuit would hurt its efforts, as the islands were less than 40 nautical miles from the platforms where the spill occurred in 2011, Wang said.
Fishermen were told to stay at home and withdraw their names from the lawsuit. Their activities were closely monitored and their movements often restricted by government agents.

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BP Seeks to Halt Some Gulf Oil-Spill Settlement Payments - Businessweek

BP Seeks to Halt Some Gulf Oil-Spill Settlement Payments - Businessweek: "BP Plc (BP/)’s lawsuit challenging some payments under the $8.5 billion Gulf of Mexico oil-spill settlement should be thrown out because the company is seeking to change fixed terms in the agreement, spill victims said.

BP’s suit targeting interpretations of the settlement by court-appointed administrator Patrick Juneau is flawed and should be dismissed, lawyers for oil spill victims who agreed to resolve their claims said in a filing today in federal court in New Orleans."

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