President Obama will instruct the Interior Department to expedite the sale of oil drilling leases in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve and the Gulf of Mexico, arguing that additional domestic oil production will lower gasoline prices in the long term. (more)
Mexico’s drug war has been blamed for the deaths of more than 34,000 people, and now comes a report showing that the violence has uprooted nearly a quarter of a million people south of the border, with many of them thought to have fled to the U.S.
The threat of a filibuster holds up as Republicans fail to get enough votes to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) tried to force the measure through Congress as part of a must-have defense spending bill. See our coverage to find out what was at stake: Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) filed a report after the House passed the measure earlier this week. See the related story by Robert Collier and the photo essay by Deddeda Stemler to learn more.
The Gwich’in people’s way of life is at stake whenever oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is proposed. Award-winning photographer Deddeda Stemler chronicles their existence on the banks of the Porcupine River in the Yukon Territory.