August 19, 2010

Live-Tweeting the Spill Hearing

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Because Ed Markey (D-Mass.) never rests, the Energy and Environment Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is holding a rare recess hearing this morning on the oil spill.

The panel, “The BP Oil Spill: Accounting for the Spilled Oil and Ensuring the Safety of Seafood from the Gulf,” features government and independent scientists, and will focus both on the question of where the oil went and how it may be affecting the food chain in the region. It’s recess, so Markey and congressional staffers are probably going to be the only ones there for the hearing. But they do have a strong line-up:

  • Bill Lehr, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Office of Response and Restoration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • Paul Anastas, Ph.D., Assistant Administrator, Office of Research and Development, Environmental Protection Agency
  • Donald Kraemer, Acting Deputy Director, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration
  • Ian MacDonald, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Oceanography, Florida State University
  • Mike Voisin, Chief Executive Officer, Motivatit Seafoods, LLC
  • Acy Cooper, Jr., Vice President, Louisiana Shrimp Association
  • Dean Blanchard, President, Dean Blanchard Seafoods, Inc.
  • Lisa Suatoni, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Oceans Program, Natural Resources Defense Council

I’ll be live-tweeting the hearing below:

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

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