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POLITICS/WORLD
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Saturday, December 1,2018 7A
Seismic air guns approved for ocean oil drilling
BY MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The
Trump administration on
Friday authorized use of seis
mic air guns to find oil and
gas formations deep under
neath the Atlantic Ocean
floor, reversing Obama
administration policies and
drawing outrage from crit
ics who say the practice can
disturb or injure whales, sea
turtles and other marine life.
The National Marine
Fisheries Service said it has
authorized permits under the
Marine Mammal Protection
Act for five companies to use
air guns for seismic surveys
in the mid-Atlantic, from
Delaware to central Florida.
The surveys are part of
President Donald Trump’s
bid to expand offshore drill
ing in the Atlantic. The plan
has drawn opposition from
East Coast lawmakers and
governors, who say it could
hurt commercial fishing and
tourism.
Seismic surveys have not
been conducted in the region
for at least 30 years.
Seismic air guns fire
intense blasts of compressed
air into the seabed every
10 to 12 seconds, for weeks
or months at a time. The
blasts reflect back informa
tion about buried oil and gas
deposits, as well as potential
seafloor hazards and sand
and gravel resources for
beach restoration.
The blasts are so loud
they can disturb or injure
endangered whales and
other marine mammals and
increase the risk of calves
being separated from their
mothers, environmental
groups say.
Industry groups counter
that seismic surveys have
been conducted in the U.S.
and around the world for
decades, with little adverse
impacts.
Administration officials
said that under terms of the
law that protects marine
life, the permits would allow
“harassment” of whales and
sea turtles but would not
allow companies to kill them.
Survey vessels will be
required to have observers
on board to listen and watch
for marine life and alert
operators if a protected spe
cies comes within a certain
distance, officials said, and
acoustic monitoring will be
used to detect those swim
ming beneath the ocean
surface.
Surveys will be shut
down when certain sensi
tive species or groups are
observed and penalties can
be imposed for vessels that
strike marine animals, offi
cials said.
None of those precau
tions were enough for
environmental groups and
East Coast lawmakers who
decried the surveys as
cruel and unnecessary. The
Trump administration’s call
for offshore drilling has gen
erated widespread, biparti
san opposition from states
up and down the Atlantic
seaboard.
“Seismic testing risks
injuring and killing criti
cally endangered species,
severely disrupting econom
ically important fisheries
and threatening the Jersey
shore,” said Rep. Frank Pal-
lone, a New Jersey Demo
crat who is set to lead the
powerful House Energy and
Commerce Committee in
January.
Pallone called an environ
mentally sound coast critical
to New Jersey’s economy
and said lawmakers from
both parties “will work
tirelessly to fight this reck
less decision by the Trump
administration.”
Diane Hoskins, cam
paign director at the envi
ronmental group Oceana,
said approval of the seismic
surveys “flies in the face of
massive opposition to off
shore drilling and explora
tion from over 90 percent of
coastal municipalities in the
proposed blast zone.”
The Obama administra
tion rejected the permits last
year because of the known
harm seismic air gun blast
ing causes, Hoskins said.
Ukraine bars entry to Russian men
of fighting age to prevent insurgents
PAVL0 PAKH0MENK0 I Associated Press
A Ukrainian border guard checks documents of a man who is going to cross
the border to Russia at the checkpoint at the border with Russia in Hoptivka,
Ukraine, Friday, Nov. 30.
BY YURAS KARMANAU
AND NATALIYA VASILYEVA
Associated Press
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine tough
ened its stance in its increasingly
tense confrontation with Russia on
Friday, banning entry to all Russian
men of fighting age in what Ukraine’s
president said was an effort to prevent
the Kremlin from destabilizing the
country.
The ban will last 30 days — as long
as the martial law introduced this week
in much of Ukraine after Russia seized
three Ukrainian naval vessels and their
crews.
The naval incident further escalated
the tug-of-war that began in 2014 when
Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean
Peninsula and supported separatist
rebels in eastern Ukraine. It also has
prompted global concern and renewed
Western criticism of Russia, with the
U.S. and its allies expressing support
for Ukraine.
Yet, both sides could gain from this.
By opening fire on the Ukrainian ves
sels, Moscow reinforced its message
that Crimea is Rus
sian for good. In
Ukraine, President
Petro Poroshenko
is likely to benefit
from the martial
law he imposed. His
approval ratings
have been plummet
ing ahead of March’s
presidential elec
tion, and playing up
the Russian threat
could help him get
re-elected.
In a meeting with
security officials,
Poroshenko said the
ban targeting men
between the ages
of 16 and 60 should
prevent Russian ser
vicemen disguised as civilians from
sneaking into the country as they did in
Ukraine’s east, where Moscow backed
the separatist insurgency with troops
and weapons in a conflict that has left
more than 10,000 people dead.
Ukraine long has imposed entry
restrictions on Russian men and the lat
est move will further
tighten them, hurt
ing bilateral trade
and other exchanges
across the nearly
1,425-mile border.
Residents of towns
and villages on both
sides of the frontier
make regular cross-
border trips to see
relatives and shop
at local markets, but
they won’t be able to
do so for the dura
tion of the ban.
Cultural
exchanges were
also caught in cross
fire. Bolshoi The
ater’s soloist Andrei
Merkuriev said he
was denied entry to Ukraine to attend a
ballet show that he staged in the south
ern port city of Odessa.
In Russia, officials and lawmakers
reacted with dismay but said that they
wouldn’t retaliate to avoid hurting ordi
nary Ukrainians.
Poroshenko’s move follows Thurs
day’s decision by U.S. President Donald
Trump to scrap his much-anticipated
meeting with Russian leader Vladimir
Putin at the G-20 summit in Buenos
Aires. Trump said it wasn’t appropriate
for him to meet with Putin since Rus
sia hasn’t released the Ukrainian ships
and their crews.
The latest confrontation began last
weekend as the three small vessels
tried to pass through the narrow Kerch
Strait separating Russia’s mainland
from Crimea. The Russian coast guard
refused to let them pass from the Black
Sea into the Sea of Azov, and after
many tense hours of maneuvering
fired on the Ukrainian boats and seized
them along with 24 crewmen. Ukraine
charged that its ships were in interna
tional waters, while Russia claimed the
boats were violating its border.
A Crimean court ruled this week
that the Ukrainian seamen will remain
behind bars for two months pending
Russia’s investigation into the clash.
Activists said they have been taken to
a jail in Moscow.
Poroshenko said
the ban targeting
men between the
ages of 16 and 60
should prevent
Russian servicemen
disguised as civilians
from sneaking into
the country as they
did in Ukraine’s east.
House Democrats’
1st bill aims for
sweeping reforms
BY LISA MASCAR0
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - House
Democrats on Friday
unveiled more details of
their first bill for the new
Congress, a good-govern
ment package that would
limit big money in politics,
make it easier for citizens to
vote and require presidents
to disclose their tax returns.
The legislation, called
H.R. 1, sets the tone for
Democrats as they take the
majority in January, though
prospects for passage are
murky. Republicans will
still be in charge of the Sen
ate and the White House,
and it’s unlikely they’ll sign
off on some of the propos
als, which are still in the
works.
Still, Democratic Leader
Nancy Pelosi voiced opti
mism about prospects for
the legislation.
“Our best friend in this
debate is the public,” Pelosi
said. “We believe that it will
have great support and that
message won’t get lost on
the Senate or on the presi
dent of the United States.”
The bill would create
automatic national voter
registration while expand
ing access to early and
online registration. It would
increase federal support for
state voter systems, includ
ing paper ballots to prevent
fraud.
Political groups would
need to disclose donors,
and members of Congress
would be barred from serv
ing on corporate boards.
In a nod to President
Donald Trump’s resistance
to releasing his tax returns,
the bill would require presi
dents to do so. It also would
create a Supreme Court eth
ics code.
Several incoming Dem
ocratic representatives
joined Pelosi and the bill’s
primary author, Rep. John
Sarbanes, D-Md., in pro
moting the package. They
said that tackling ethics
and transparency out of
the gate in 2019 could help
with other priorities such as
expanding access to afford
able health care and immi
gration reform.
“We have to have a gov
ernment voters can trust,
and this is the first step to
building a government they
can trust,” said Rep.-elect
Veronica Escobar, D-Texas.
Sarbanes hopes to have
the legislation ready for
the first day of the next
Congress, Jan. 3. Much of it
will be modeled on legisla
tion that he and more than
160 House Democrats intro
duced in May.
That resolution called
for all states to establish
independent redistricting
commissions to draw the
boundaries for future con
gressional districts, a move
designed to reduce partisan
gerrymandering that would
also take power away
from dozens of legislatures
around the country.
“Whether that’s the path
we will take, we’ll see,” Sar
banes said.
With many of the details
yet to be worked out, Demo
crats kept the focus Friday
on telling Americans they
heard their desire in the
election for a federal gov
ernment that is more open,
transparent and ethical.
Mexico moving migrants to
new shelter farther from border
BY ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press
TIJUANA, Mexico
— Mexican authorities
began moving Central
American migrants out of
an overcrowded shelter
near the U.S. border and
taking them to an events
hall much farther away in
Tijuana, warning Friday
that services will be cut off
at the first site.
Hundreds of migrants
boarded buses at the over
crowded sports complex
within view of the border
late Thursday and early
Friday for the trip to the
new shelter about 10 miles
from the border crossing
at Otay Mesa and 14 miles
from San Ysidro, where
asylum claimants line up.
Carlos Padilla, a 57-year
old who sold jewelry as
a street vendor in Hon
duras, waited outside the
flooded sports complex as
it was being cleared out by
authorities.
He was with a 12-year-old
boy who he took under his
wing after the boy’s parents
left the caravan to return to
Honduras.
Sitting on a curb with
soaking wet shoes and socks
that he keeps on at night
for fear they will be stolen,
Padilla said he slept on
canopy-covered pavement
at the sports complex but
wind blew water through
exposed sides.
Bathrooms were flooded
and there was no toilet
paper.
“It was terrible,” said
Padilla, who hopes to claim
asylum with the boy in the
U.S. and join a brother in
Los Angeles. “It was like
(sleeping) on the beach.”
Alejandro Magallanes,
an assistant to the direc
tor of the city’s social ser
vices department, said
officials hoped to bus as
many migrants as possible
Friday. Concerns had been
growing over unhealthy
conditions at the muddy
sports field where migrants
are sleeping in small tents.
Magallanes said nobody
would be forced to move
to the new facility, a large
building known as El Bar-
retal that has been used for
concerts and other events
in the past.
Many migrants who hope
to get into the U.S. don’t
want to move far away
from the border. But city
officials planned to stop
offering food and medi
cal services at the Benito
Juarez sports complex next
to the border Friday, and
any migrants who stay will
have to find their own food,
Magallanes said.
Jose Castro, a 45-year-
old banana picker from
Honduras, said he had slept
with his wife and their two
daughters, ages 4 and 5,
under wet cotton sheets
on an open field inside the
shelter. He plans to seek
asylum in the US.
Asked to describe condi
tions at the sports complex,
he could only croak “mud,
water, wind,” having nearly
lost his voice with a bad
cough.
Experts had expressed
concerns about unsanitary
conditions at the sports
complex, where more than
6,000 migrants have been
packed into a space ade
quate for half that many
people. Mud, lice infesta
tions and respiratory infec
tions were rampant.
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HARDY
CHEVROLET, INC.
Wayne Alexander
& Personnel
770-532-4389
ClSaS^rin
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www. chastainagency. com
HOURS
Mon-Fri 8:30-5:00
770-297-1166
235 Pearl Nix Pkwy, Suite 8
Gainesville, GA 30501
McEver Road
United Methodist Church
SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP
Traditional at 9 | Contemporary at 11
Nursery provided at all services.
Loving Christ. Loving People.
Helping People Love Christ.
3606 McEver Rd, Oakwood, Ga
(770)532-3160
THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRISt
of LattER-oay Saints
PRESENTS
2013 FEstivai of tHE Nativity
1234 Riverside Drive, Gainesville, GA 30501
6pm-9pm 3pm-9pm
November 29-30
December 1
December 2
We invite you to celebrate the birth of Christ
by visiting this display of more than 800
nativities from all over the world. There will
also be many performances throughout
the festival from performers from all over
Northeast Georgia.
For a daytime tour,
call 770-561-1199
FREE tO tHE PUBLIC
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For more information about
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10:30A
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7:00P
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770-536-4284
www.atlantaroad.org
