These days, it’s hard to stop politics from flooding your news feed. We take a moment every week to bring you important stories beyond the White House and the Capitol. Here’s what we’re reading now.
An aerial view shows the darkened ground of an oil spill which shut down the Keystone pipeline between Canada and the United States, located in an agricultural area near Amherst, South Dakota,in this photo provided November 18, 2017. Courtesy DroneBase/Handout via REUTERS.
1. The Keystone Pipeline is leaking much more oil than TransCanada Corp predicted
The Keystone pipeline has “leaked substantially more oil, and more often” in the United States than what its operating company predicted in its initial risk assessment seven years ago, according to a Reuters report. TransCanada Corp’s risk assessment, given to regulators in 2010, said that a spill of more than 2,100 gallons would not happen more than once in a seven to 11 year period. But since the 2,147-mile pipeline began carrying oil from Canada to Texas in 2010, it has spilled three times, totalling more than 240,000 gallons, Reuters found. [Reuters]
Why it matters: TransCanada is the same corporation behind the Keystone XL pipeline, which President Donald Trump approved in March, reversing President Barack Obama’s decision to withhold permits for the pipeline that will wind through Nebraska, Montana and South Dakota. Last week, days after the Keystone pipeline leaked 210,000 gallons in rural South Dakota, Nebraska regulators approved a route for the Keystone XL pipeline through the state, though it was different than the route TransCanada prefers. Environmental and native groups argued that pipeline leaks (such as the one in November) threaten drinking water for thousands and also infringe on sacred Native American tribal land. Though many see the Nebraska route approval as a major regulatory hurdle, activists got their own victory last Wednesday, when a federal judge said a lawsuit over the Keystone XL could move forward, despite requests from TransCanada and the Trump administration to drop the case. Meanwhile, TransCanada is asking the Nebraska Public Service Commission for clarification on the Keystone XL route it approved last week, saying it was costlier, longer and may require more permits than it anticipated.
The government received more than 200,000 background check requests for gun purchases on Black Friday — a new single-day record. File photo of guns by Jim Young/Reuters
2. The government received more than 200,000 background check requests for gun purchases on Black Friday — a new single-day record
Consumers spent a record $5 billion online during this year’s Black Friday sales. They also broke another record: the number of background check requests for gun purchases filed in a single day, which according to the FBI topped 200,000. USA Today reported the bureau received 203,086 requests for background checks, and the number of guns sold is likely higher, since a single buyer can purchase multiple firearms at a time. [USA Today]
Why it matters: This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Black Friday surge in gun sales — the single-day record was broken on this day the past two years, the Bureau reported. But this year’s surge comes days after Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to do a “comprehensive review” of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is supposed to block those with criminal records from buying firearms. Critics of the system say in several recent cases — including the deadly shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas — it has failed to do so. Part of the problem, USA Today writes:
“The mere record of arrest is not enough to prohibit a gun sale, so FBI analysts must race to fill such information gaps within the three-day time period allotted for each check. The search sometimes requires inquiries to police departments, courthouses and prisons across the country to match final dispositions to the incomplete records.”
Analysts have pointed to an overall dip in gun sales since Donald Trump took office, unlike in late 2016 when many gun owners stocked up, fearing a Hillary Clinton presidency would mean tighter gun restrictions. It’s not clear whether Friday’s sales were driven by good bargains or fear that more shootings like the one in Sutherland Spring will happen again. It’s also too early to tell whether 2017 gun sales are up overall. In 2016, the FBI reported it had processed a record 27.5 million background checks.
People walk behind an Argentine national flag displayed on a fence, in support of the 44 crew members of the ARA San Juan submarine who are missing at sea, at an Argentine naval base in Mar del Plata, Argentina. The words on the flag read: “ARA San Juan, be strong”. Photo by REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci.
3. We still don’t know what happened to a missing Argentinian submarine
An Argentinian has been missing since Nov. 15, and officials have offered few clues about what happened and why. On Monday, an Argentine Navy spokesperson said the battery on the ARA San Juan short circuited after water entered through its snorkel prior to its disappearance, and it was ordered to go back to its base in Mar del Plata. The ship made contact once after that order, before it went missing. [The Guardian]
Why it matters: Fatal submarine accidents are usually rare, the BBC points out. The last major incident was in 2003, when 70 crew members suffocated aboard China’s Great Wall Ming-class submarine after a diesel engine malfunctioned. At least 13 countries from around the globe are now scouring the ocean near the last known location of the ARA San Juan, as hopes of finding the vessel and its 44-person crew wane. When the sub lost contact 12 days ago, it was carrying only a seven-day supply of oxygen. On Sunday, an Argentine Navy spokesperson said the San Juan was in good condition when it left, despite claims from families of the missing submariners that the sub was in disrepair. The navy also said it picked up a “hydro-acoustic anomaly” in the same area of the sub after it disappeared, which could indicate the vessel’s implosion. Meanwhile, Argentine President Mauricio Macri has opened an inquiry into the sub’s disappearance, promising on Friday to reveal the truth about what happened.
Sea lions rest in the sun as they sit on a cliffside next to a road in La Jolla, California. Photo by REUTERS/Mike Blake.
4. Why are California fishermen throwing explosives at sea lions?
Sea lions and seals are among California’s most iconic wildlife. But for local fishermen, they’re also some of the area’s biggest nuisances, poaching fish from nets as they’re reeled in. So many fishing boats are turning to “seal bombs,” explosives that scare off the animals from ruining a good catch. The Scripps Acoustic Ecology Laboratory told Hakai Magazine that between 2005 and 2016, it had detected “upward of 37,000 explosions per month during peak fishing seasons—sometimes as many as 500 an hour,” creating blasts that have not only potentially affected seals and sea lions, but also whales, dolphins and local scuba divers. [Hakai Magazine]
Why it matters: At the moment, using seal bombs is legal under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, as long as they are not lethal and are only deterring the animals from damaging gear or catch. What’s troubling to activists is that neither the state or federal government know how many boats are using seal bombs, nor where they’re being detonated or whether they’re always used legally. Scripps’ researchers have had a hard time quantifying potential damage, but they do believe the noise, which can be heard by whales and dolphins up to 50 miles away, is affecting wildlife, and that “should not be underestimated,” one researcher told Hakai. “You can feel the pressure waves hit you in the chest. And it doesn’t matter if it explodes next to your head or a mile away—it sounds the same.”
This artist’s impression shows the first interstellar asteroid: `Oumuamua. Photo by M. Kornmesser
5. This asteroid is our solar system’s first known ‘alien’ visitor
Last month, a rocky asteroid slung its way through our solar system and back out again — an event astronomers are now calling our solar system’s first known “alien” encounter, PBS NewsHour’s Rashmi Shivni wrote last week. The asteroid, named ‘Oumuamua, “a messenger from the past” is a quarter-mile long, with a radius of nearly 330 feet. “Picture a cigar or baseball bat speeding through space,” Shivni wrote. [PBS NewsHour]
Why it matters: ‘Oumuamua (pronounced “Oh-moo-uh-moo-uh”) shares some characteristics with other objects in our solar system — like metallic and carbon-rich matter. But “its hyperbolic orbit says it comes from far beyond,” said Karen Meech, who led the University of Hawaii team that discovered the asteroid.
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