Researched by Rob Hunter and Ryan Larkin Two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, according to a new report from Congress. More than 38,000 foreign corporations doing business in the U.S. had no tax liability in 2005 and 1.2 million U.S. companies paid no income tax, the GAO said. [...]
Researched by Kerry Headley and Carlos Maldanado The second-largest nuclear generating corporation in the US is backing away from its ownership of troubled nuclear plant Vermont Yankee along with the rest of its northeast fleet of nuclear reactors using a complex restructuring scheme. Entergy is spinning off all its plants into a separate limited liability [...]
Researched by Kerry Headley and Michael Seraman Opposition is growing to the expanding and largely unregulated cruise industry as the dangers to public safety and environmental integrety are revealed by environmentalists, local activists, passengers and workers. Activists in Mexico, which is the world’s most popular cruise destination for US and Canadian tourists, reported that coastal [...]
Researched By Leora Johnson and Lizbeth Malmstead A highly controversial report pushing for the building of a peripheral canal on the California Delta was funded by Bechtel Corporation; one of the world’s largest engineering and construction firms is a leading advocate throughout the world of the privatization of water systems. Studies reveal a legacy of [...]
Researched by Krisden Kidd and Karene Schelert In the backwoods of North Carolina resides one of the most lethal patches of ground in North America. The Shearon Harris nuclear plant located there is not just a nuclear-power-generating station, but a repository for highly radioactive spent fuel rods from two other nuclear plants owned by Progress [...]
Researched by Kerry Headley and Jenny Gibson Growing indications suggest that far-reaching and illegal surveillance was conducted inside the US by the National Security Agency under President Bush, including the alleged use of a top-secret database system known as “Main Core.” Dating back to the 1980s, the database reportedly collects and stores – without warrants [...]
Researched by Leora Johnson and Michael Seramin The investment portfolios of 151 current members—more than a quarter of Congress—had between $78.7 million and $195.5 million invested in companies that received defense contracts of at least $5 million in 2006. The portfolios include holdings in companies paid billions of dollars each month to support America’s military [...]
Researched by Kerry Headley and Rob Hunter Twenty-four oil companies stand to avoid paying $60 billion in royalty revenue due to an oversight by the Department of the Interior, which issued leases that exempted the companies from paying royalties, regardless of the prevailing market price of oil. With oil now trading nearly 600 percent higher [...]
Student Researchers: Stephanie Smith and Caitlin Morgan Faculty Evaluator: Most new large U.S. Navy amphibious assault ships would be required to be nuclear powered under the National Defense Authorization Act for 2009. Expanding the use of nuclear technology as a form of propulsion puts our sailors at risk. The vessels’ position in combat can…vary from a ‘stand-off’ [...]
Researched by Chelsea Davis In September 2008 Ecuador became the first country in the world to declare constitutional rights to nature, thus codifying a new system of environmental protection. Reflecting the beliefs and traditions of the indigenous peoples of Ecuador, the constitution declares that nature “has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its [...]
