EPA Says Dispersants Are Not Affecting Gulf Coast Environment

Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson told the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday that the high amount of dispersants being used in the Gulf of Mexico has not produced any negative side effects, yet. 

Committee members grow wary of dumping high amounts of oil dispersants into the Gulf and showed particular concern about the short and long-term effects these dispersants will have on the environment.

“As of yesterday, BP had used 1.8 million gallons of oil dispersants in the Gulf,” said Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.). “In Exxon Valdez we used 250 thousand barrels.  By comparison, Deepwater, the biggest oil spill in history, now uses 35-60 thousand barrels a day.”

Jackson assured the committee that the EPA has not seen any significant environmental impacts from the dispersants so far. Due to unknown scientific factors regarding these dispersants, the EPA has directed BP to greatly reduce the number of barrels of dispersants being dumped into the Gulf. The number of gallons being dumped has been reduced nearly 70% since May 26.

Dispersants have not been used within 30 miles of the coast and are prohibited from being used off shore because of the time it takes the dispersants to break up oil.

“Yesterday, the state of Louisiana reopened some state waters to fishing after tests showed no presence of oil or dispersants,” said Jackson.

Oil continues to spew from the well unabated after BP failed to cap it earlier this week.

Gender Is Not A Pre-Existing Condition, Says Women's Law Center

By Marianna Levyash-Talk Radio News Service

The National Women's Law Center (NWLC), a non-profit organization that protects women's legal rights, held a news conference Tuesday morning, announcing their new public awareness campaign titled "Being a Woman is Not a Pre-Existing Condition."

The NWLC found that many women pay more than men and get less coverage than they need, a practice called gender rating.

Women may also be denied coverage because of "pre-existing conditions", such as having a cesarean section or surviving domestic abuse.

"Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) is right now circulating a dear colleague letter to the Senate Leadership to ensure that the merged health reform legislation will ban gender rating for all groups regardless of size," announced NWLC Co-President Marcia D. Greenberger.

The campaign includes a new website, video, newly designed t-shirts, and events that provide information to help both men and women understand how important it is for women to have affordable and beneficial health care.

The goal of the NWLC is to teach women about health care coverage and unite them to contact their members of Congress to call for health care reform legislation that works for women.

"The need is as urgent today as when we issued our first report one year ago...today we release the center's new report, still nowhere to turn," said Greenberger.

Those who wish to join the campaign can visit www.awomanisnotapreexistingcondition.com to get more information.

Female Senators Stand Up For Women’s Health

John DuBois, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

According to a group of female U.S. Senators, women have to pay one and a half times more for health insurance than men nationwide. In addition, the Senators said that women tend to need more hospital care then men making them more susceptible to higher rates.

Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Barbara Mikulski (D-M.D.), Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) spoke at an event called "Standing Up For Women’s Health" Thursday along side National Women's Law Center Co-President Marcia Greenberger.

“If we look at statistics, its estimated 64 million women lack....health insurance. Over half of medical bankruptcies are filled by female headed households. [For} too many women and their families, getting quality healthcare is not available for them today,” Shaheen said.

“Women want healthcare reform and they want it now,” Klobuchar said.

The Senators said that the majority of individual health insurance policies in the U.S. do not cover maternity care because it is considered to be a pre-existing condition.

“As you think of these women who are already battered and in a weak and vulnerable state and to find out they can’t even go see a doctor which is a part of their recovery and they can’t even mend because they have been domestically abused. This is why it’s important to get rid of these pre-existing condition rules,” Klobuchar said.

Democratic Senators Praise Progress Of Health Care Reform

By Mariko Lamb- Talk Radio News Service

Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), and Barbara Mikulski (D-Md) praised the Affordable Health Choices Act that passed through the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) Wednesday.

“We’re not going to sit with the status quo. We’re moving ahead with healthcare reform,” said Senator Harkin.

“[The bill] offers to fix what is broken in our healthcare system without ruining that which works in our nation,” said Dodd. “It offers every American choice, stability, and lower costs.”

Although the bill passed through the committee with a 13-10 vote, not one Republican member voted in favor of the legislation. Regardless, Dodd praised the Republicans’ contribution to the markup of the bill, which includes 160 Republican added amendments. “I know that some of our Republican friends don’t want to admit their contribution, but they made good contributions to the bill, and we listened,” he said.

“Now is the time to rejoice on what we’ve done, but the battle must go on,” said Mikulski. HELP’s Affordable Health Choices Act is expected to be merged with a healthcare bill by the Senate Finance Committee, which is under pressure from President Obama to release its version as early as next week.

Jessica Alba Meets With Senators On Health Care Reform