what’s the future of immigration reform?

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Wonkbook’s Number of the Day: Nearly one in five. That's thefraction of women who have been raped at some point in their lives, according to new CDC figures.

Wonkbook’s Chart of the Day: Some good — and concerning — news for Obamacare premiums.

Wonkbook's Top 5 Stories: (1) Obama's immigration about-face; (2) silver linings in the jobs report; (3) the fast-tracked war on Ebola; (4) Congress is in campaign mode; and (5) BP's bolstered penalty, examined.

1. Top story: What's the future of immigration reform?

How electoral politics killed Obama's immigration action. "Obama first promised to take action by the end of summer during an announcement in the Rose Garden on June 30, shortly after Boehner informed him that the GOP-controlled House would not take up immigration reform after a year-long drive by the White House for a legislative overhaul. Over the past two months, the president was reportedly considering large-scale proposals that would potentially defer the deportations of up to 5 million of the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants and grant more green cards to foreign workers....The growing list of Democrats calling on Obama to delay his decision helped persuade the White House to change course." David Nakamura and Ed O'Keefe inThe Washington Post.

The complicated politics of immigration reform. "In recent weeks, with their control of the Senate in the balance, Democrats had pressed Obama to delay action on immigration, arguing the issue would work against reelection of several incumbents facing strong Republican challengers. They include Senators Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas....The electoral calculus around immigration is complex, with some Republican groups — primarily those representing business interests — saying current policies impede the hiring of needed workers." Roger Runningen and Jeff Kearns in Bloomberg.

Video: Obama, for his part, blames border crisis for changing the politics. "President Barack Obama defended his decision to delay executive action on immigration, saying the summer’s surge of unaccompanied children at the Mexican border changed the politics of the issue. 'The truth of the matter is that the politics did shift midsummer because of that problem,' Obama said in the interview...on Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC....Obama rejected criticism that the postponement is merely a political tactic intended to help embattled Democrats in the months before contentious midterm elections, saying that the delay will help make new immigration policies 'sustainable' when they are announced later this year." Carrie Dann in NBC News.

Is the delay really about 2016? "President Barack Obama's decision to delay executive action on deportations pushes the issue into the 2016 presidential race, when Hispanic voters will be far more important than in November's midterm elections, while removing a troublesome issue for Democrats for now. Hispanic voters make up a large share of the electorate in just one state with a close Senate race this year, Colorado. The rest of the battleground is dominated by conservative states where Republicans are already attacking Democrats over immigration and putting them on the defensive....In making the issue moot this election cycle, Mr. Obama nudged it into the next presidential cycle, which will take the political center stage after the midterms." Laura Meckler in The Wall Street Journal.

Martin O'Malley: Potential immigration-reform champion in 2016 for Dems? "Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.), the loudest congressional voice on immigration reform and critic of the White House over deportations, on Saturday held up likely 2016 Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley as a reliable ally and champion on the issue....Gutiérrez referenced Obama’s decision to delay executive action on immigration....O’Malley, the governor of Maryland, recently criticized the White House for deportations of children who’ve illegally crossed the border escaping violence in their own countries, saying they would meet 'certain death.'...He also singled out O’Malley’s work on drivers licenses for immigrants and the state version of the DREAM Act." Maggie Haberman in Politico.

@ZekeJMiller: I wonder what @HillaryClinton thinks of decision to delay immigration executive actions?

To some, Obama’s immigration delay proves 'it’s never convenient to help out Latinos.' "There was nothing mixed or muddled about the reaction. Among undocumented immigrants and activists working on their behalf, President Obama’s decision to wait until after November’s elections to make promised changes to immigration policy provoked raw anger. One group called the president’s decision 'an affront' to migrant families. Another said Obama had 'prioritized politics over reform.' An immigration lawyer said her clients had been 'sold out,' and one longtime activist burst into tears when asked how the decision might affect his friends and family." Ed O'Keefe in The Washington Post.

Quotable: "When it comes to the Latino community they're frustrated with the president but I think they're really pissed off with the Republican Party and what they represent." — Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.). CNN.

Immigration activists keep pressure on administration to expand deferred-action program. "As the first DACA enrollees have begun applying to renew their status, immigrant advocates are urging Mr. Obama to go 'big and bold' and expand the program to include many of the 10 million or so undocumented immigrants who currently don't qualify for the program. In particular, they want relief extended to the parents of DACA recipients, U.S. citizens and legal residents. Advocates are also urging the president to include individuals who didn't qualify for DACA because they were above the age limit or entered the country when they were over the age limit, according to program rules." Miriam Jordan in The Wall Street Journal.

Domestic-violence ruling could help thousands gain asylum."Immigration attorneys have seized on the decision, hoping it will help other Central American women. Thousands of such women and their children have been apprehended in recent months after illegally crossing the Southwest border....Critics say the ruling may allow any woman who suffers from domestic violence to seek shelter in the U.S....The Board of Immigration Appeals decision also may complicate plans by immigration authorities who have vowed to speed up the processing and deportation of thousands of single women with children who have illegally entered the U.S....Before last week's ruling, immigration judges regularly denied asylum to victims of domestic violence because U.S. law did not consider them part of a 'social group,' a key requirement for asylum." Cindy Carcamo in the Los Angeles Times.

Meanwhile, immigration court backlog keeps growing and growing. "The backlog of pending deportation cases in federal immigration court has risen to nearly 400,000 amid a crush of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children and families caught crossing the Mexican border illegally this year, according an analysis of court data released Friday. The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University said in its latest report that as of the end of July, 396,552 cases were pending in the Justice Department's 59 immigration courts....The backlog has grown by more than 75,000 cases since the start of the budget year in October." Alicia A. Caldwell in the Associated Press.

Other immigration reads:

Why a U.S. immigrant investor program is being maxed out by Chinese applicants. Jiaxi Lu in The Washington Post.

Long read: A 10-year-old immigrant faces risks, doubts on the journey to reunite with his mother. Eli Saslow in The Washington Post.

SHAVIN: While Obama waits, thousands more will be deported. "In Washington, the focus is on politics....But the most important story here is about the people this delay will affect most directly: The undocumented workers who live under the threat of deportations and who, most likely, would get some relief if Obama changed immigration policy as he’s vowed to do. How many people is that? There’s no way to be precise. But in 2012, the most recent year for which data is available, our country carried out 419,384 'removals.'...The math works out to roughly 1,149 deportations a day and there are two months to go until Election Day. If the rate stays the same, another 70,088 deportations will take place in that time." Naomi Shavin in The New Republic.

KLEIN: Delaying action carries big risks, too. "Opinion of Obama among Hispanic voters has vacillated between support and disillusionment at various points in his presidency, and this decision is likely to renew the criticism that he’s been a big tease. At the same time, it isn’t necessarily clear that this non-action will dampen the enthusiasm of the GOP base. Republicans can still argue that Obama made a political decision to delay action, but he will do so right after the election — which is why voters need send him a message by making sure that his party loses control of the Senate. The move also may energize conservative activists who sense weakness and see regaining the Senate as an opportunity to effectively end the Obama presidency." Philip Klein in the Washington Examiner.

Top opinion

SUMMERS: Supply issues could hamper U.S. economy. "Secular stagnation, in my version, has emphasized the difficulty in maintaining sufficient economic demand to permit normal levels of output. Given a high propensity to save, a low propensity to invest and low inflation, it has been impossible for real interest rates to fall far enough to spur the economy to its full potential, since nominal interest rates cannot fall below zero. Given the various factors...operating to reduce natural interest rates, it continues to seem unlikely to me that, as currently structured, the U.S. economy is capable of demanding 10 percent more output with interest rates that are consistent with financial stability. So ­demand-side secular stagnation remains an important economic problem." Lawrence Summers in The Washington Post.

MALPASS: Fed looks like a sovereign wealth fund. "Instead of tackling a complex new investment mission, the Fed should establish a clear portfolio wind-down process that would let it concentrate on monetary and regulatory policy rather than investment management. It needs to acknowledge and communicate the substantial benefits from reducing its stockpile of bonds and moving interest rates above zero. These policy improvements would create a cushion for rate cuts in an emergency, improve the allocation of credit, encourage savers and unfreeze short-term credit markets, helping to boost the U.S. economy and raise Americans' incomes." David Malpass in The Wall Street Journal.

CHAIT: Local governments are the worst governments. "Ferguson has exposed a genuine opening for thinking about public life in a way that cuts across traditional ideological lines. The problem is what you might call Big Small Government....In larger cities, most or even all of the candidates running for municipal office are Democrats. And though Democrats are far more attuned than Republicans to police abuse, intra-Democratic politics is not optimized to root out most government failure....The myth of localism is rooted deep in our political psyche. Left and right alike use small andlocal as terms of approbation, big and bureaucratic as terms of abuse. None of us is equipped to see that the government that actually oppresses us is that which is closest to us." Jonathan Chait in New York Magazine.

PEARLSTEIN: A strange way to attack crony capitalism. "There are Republicans who are serious about rooting out corporate welfare. Hensarling led an unsuccessful fight to phase out the flood insurance program. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has used his perch as House Budget Committee chairman to try to trim farm subsidies. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) mounted a rear-guard action on the House floor to close down a slush fund used to promote U.S. tourism for the benefit of hotels and resorts....But for many of the Republican critics, the campaign against the Ex-Im Bank is meant to give the appearance of opposing corporate welfare and crony capitalism without offending the crony capitalists and corporate welfare queens who keep them in office." Steven Pearlstein in The Washington Post.

SMITH: Economics gets sucked into dark corners. "When I look at the macro literature (as I still do, far more frequently than my job demands), I see a huge array of mutually exclusive models, most of which purport to explain the same set of facts, and none of which offers much insight on when you might want to use it. How is any policy maker supposed to draw insight from that morass? As in 2008, I think Blanchard’s view of his field is far too rosy." Noah Smith in Bloomberg View.

Animals interlude: Two deer were spotted trotting across the Golden Gate Bridge.

2. The jobs report could have been much, much worse

Not the jobs report we were hoping for... "A growing number of people — many in their prime working years — have simply given up on landing a job. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that the overall unemployment rate dropped slightly to 6.1 percent in August. But that improvement was mostly a result of Americans dropping out of the labor force, not of their finding work. The situation helps explain why so many ordinary Americans remain doubtful about the recovery, now in its fifth year. Adding to the discontent, the pace of job creation in August also slowed. Employers added 142,000 workers to their payrolls, the smallest number so far this year." Nelson D. Schwartz in The New York Times.

...but not bad either. "First, the good news, if it can be called that: Thenew numbers on how the United States job market fared in August aren’t cover-your-eyes terrible. Nothing in this report should send anyone running to the hills in fear. It shouldn’t even prompt any major rethinking of where things stand, or change the basic economic narrative of the last few months that the economy is mending more strongly than it has previously in this five years of disappointing recovery....So where did the weakness in the August numbers come from?...There was underperformance in eight of the 13 categories of employment. But the biggest underperformance was in one: retail." Neil Irwin in The New York Times.

@JustinWolfers: Hey, at least we're not Europe.

Interactive: Charts to help you make sense of the jobs report. Philip Bump in The Washington Post.

Just another August aberration? "'Fluke.' 'Volatile.' 'Statistical blip.' 'Subject to revision.' Those were the words that economists turned to as they described today’s August report on U.S. employment....Some are chalking up the miss to the tendency for August jobs numbers to initially come in low, only to show stronger gains as the figures are adjusted over the following months. Payrolls for the month have been revised up in each of the past four years, data show....After revisions, payrolls were boosted by 55,000 on average for the month of August from 2010 through 2013, according to Bloomberg calculations." Victoria Stilwell in Bloomberg.

Silver linings: Wages and part-timers for economic reasons. "In August, 7.22 million workers said they could find only part-time work because of economic reasons. That figure...continues the downtrend in involuntary part-timers....The number is still extremely high — something that will catch notice at the Fed — but the decline is a sign that demand for labor is not softening....Within its new compilation of labor-market indicators, the Fed selected average hourly pay for production workers as its wage gauge. Hourly pay for nonsupervisory employees increased 0.3% in August, and is up 2.5% from year-ago levels (versus a 2.1% gain for all employees). That’s not a huge pay raise, but for the Fed, it suggests firmer labor markets than indicated by the lackluster headline payrolls number." Kathleen Madigan in The Wall Street Journal.

ICYMI: How pay cuts we didn't take during the recession might be holding back wages now. Ylan Q. Mui in The Washington Post.

@MichaelRStrain: Is there some way we can blame today's jobs report on the weather?

A tougher path to full employment may lie ahead. "According to a Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta online tool, if the August payroll gain of 142,000 were sustained over coming months, it would take two years to get from August’s 6.1% jobless rate down to 5.5%. There’s nothing inherently magical about a 5.5% jobless rate, but it does represent the upper end of the Fed’s current consensus on the nation’s likely long-run unemployment rate. Many central bank officials believe they should start raising short-term interest rates from near zero — an extremely low level historically — before unemployment drops that low to avoid fueling inflation pressures." Michael S. Derby in The Wall Street Journal.

Report means Fed isn't in big hurry to change its views on slack, rates. "When Fed officials said in their July policy statement that they saw 'significant underutilization of labor resources' — a signal of continued low interest rates — they were looking at an unemployment rate in June of 6.1%. The rate rose a notch to 6.2% in July and returned in August to 6.1%....The fact that unemployment hasn’t fallen since the July meeting — and that job growth slowed in August— suggests Fed officials won’t make big changes to their policy statement and the signal they’re sending about rates when they meet Sept. 16 and 17. Fed officials are beginning a debate that could run a few months about whether to change that assessment of labor market slack and, more broadly, about the guidance they’re giving the public about the outlook for interest rates." Jon Hilsenrath in The Wall Street Journal.

Labor-force participation remains paltry. Blame the boomers. "The labor-force participation rate fell in August to 62.8% from 62.9% the prior month. The August rate matches the lowest level since the late 1970s. The smaller share of Americans participating in the workforce suggests the economy’s potential to grow is more limited today compared to previous decades. Fed economists, in a recent report, say that the decline in the share of Americans holding or seeking jobs is largely the product of longer-term factors such as a rising number of retirees rather than the aftermath of a particularly awful recession." Eric Morath in The Wall Street Journal.

The unemployment rate is the worst benchmark, except for the others. "A decline in the unemployment rate from 10 percent in October 2009 to just 6.1 percent in August once would have been greeted as clear evidence that the labor market was returning to good health. Instead, many Fed officials and economists are arguing that it overstates the actual improvement in the economy....But the demise of the unemployment rate has been greatly exaggerated. The search for other gauges has failed to produce clear alternatives to the old workhorse. It may not be perfect, but it’s not clear there’s anything better. So the unemployment rate is dead. Long live the unemployment rate." Binyamin Appelbaum in The New York Times.

More interesting charts:

This current recovery is the longest on record, but far from the strongest.Eric Morath and Matt Stiles in The Wall Street Journal.

@bencasselman: For the 49th time in the past 50 months, more unemployed workers dropped out of the labor force than found jobs.pic.twitter.com/gV2OD8XkVj

Other economic/financial reads:

Federal sale of troubled mortgages draws criticism from community groups. Matthew Goldstein in The New York Times.

When the government makes it harder for the middle class to buy homes.Dina ElBoghdady in The Washington Post.

Schumer anti-inversion plan could reach back to 1994. Richard Rubin inBloomberg.

SEC eyes greater disclosure of portfolio data, stress tests for asset managers. Andrew Ackerman in The Wall Street Journal.

BERNSTEIN: One month does not a new trend make. "The safest conclusion from these numbers is this: August’s lousy report notwithstanding, we are solidly in the midst of a moderate jobs recovery. Payrolls are reliably growing at a pace slightly north of 200K per month. That’s neither a breakneck nor a dismal rate of job growth, but it does mean that given the existing extent of remaining slack in the job market, full employment is still years, not months, away." Jared Bernstein.

McARDLE: A blip, not a turn. "Which one’s the blip, the last few months or the current jobs figures? One clue is that we saw employment fall in sectors that should have been strong in the summer (retail, food and beverage), even as it rose in areas such as professional services and health care, which are strong year-round. What does that mean? To me, it suggests that the economy is still delivering job growth in sectors that offer stable long-term employment, while seasonal employment growth is more muted. If I had my druthers, of course I’d like to see growth in both areas. But if you have to choose one, we grew in most of the sectors you’d probably pick, though manufacturing is still lackluster. So I lean toward 'blip.'" Megan McArdle in Bloomberg View.

EL-ERIAN: Something for everyone. "The report confirms that the U.S. economy, while steadily improving and a lot stronger than Europe's, has yet to reach the 'escape velocity' needed to overcome the risk of stagnation. It's weak enough to keep the Federal Reserve in its current policy mode, and hence comforting for financial markets, but not bad enough to jolt Congress out of its dysfunction....The U.S. and the global economy would benefit from stronger growth in the labor market. Today’s report suggests that we're not yet there." Mohamed A. El-Erian inBloomberg View.

'Guardians of the Galaxy' interlude: The Lego version of Star Lord's mixtape.

3. The war on Ebola is getting fast-tracked

Two vaccines to protect against Ebola could be ready in weeks. "Two potential vaccines against the deadly Ebola virus ravaging West Africa could be available as soon as November and would first be given to health care workers most at risk of exposure to the disease there, the World Health Organization announced on Friday. The organization also announced that blood from recovered Ebola patients and serums derived from that blood should be used to treat the sick, and it said treatment centers should quickly begin testing other experimental therapies to combat the viral disease, which has escalated into a devastating health crisis." Sheri Fink and Rick Gladstone in The New York Times.

Explainer: 5 steps the U.S. could take on Ebola. Elise Viebeck in The Hill.

Military aid is on its way from U.S. "President Obama said Sunday that the U.S. military will begin aiding what has been a chaotic and ineffective response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, arguing that it represents a serious national security concern. The move significantly ramps up the U.S. response and comes as the already strained military is likely to be called upon further to address militant threats in the Middle East. The decision to involve the military in providing equipment and other assistance for international health workers in Africa comes after mounting calls from some unlikely groups...demonstrating to the White House the urgency of the issue." Lena H. Sun and Juliet Eilperin in The Washington Post.

White House seeks even more funding for CDC's Ebola response. "Friday's $30 million request would pay for agency epidemiologists and intelligence officers who are tracing the spread of the disease in Africa, boosting the number of staff from 100 to 150 or more. It would also pay for support staff in the U.S. An earlier $58 million requestfor the Centers for Disease Control would help the agency ramp up production and testing of the experimental drug ZMapp, which has shown promise in fighting the Ebola epidemic in western Africa. It would also help keep the development and manufacturing of two Ebola vaccines on track. The White House request seeks to use $10 million in unused balances at the Department of Health and Human Services to help with the Ebola outbreak in Africa." Andrew Taylor in the Associated Press.

Ebola vaccine candidate works in monkeys, needs booster, study says. "Some healthy people are rolling up their sleeves at the National Institutes of Health for the first human safety study of this vaccine in hopes it eventually might be used in the current Ebola outbreak....One reason the vaccine was deemed promising was that a single dose protected all four vaccinated monkeys when they were exposed to high levels of Ebola virus just five weeks later, researchers reported in the journal Nature Medicine. Is five weeks fast enough? That's in line with other vaccines routinely used today....The bigger challenge is that the protection wanes over time." Lauran Neergaard in the Associated Press.

Other health care reads:

Six more deadly pathogens found improperly stored in FDA and NIH labs. Brady Dennis and Lena H. Sun in The Washington Post.

Companies race to adjust health-care benefits as Affordable Care Act takes hold. Aaron Gregg in The Washington Post.

Feds reverse course, will release hospital mistake data. Jayne O'Donnell inUSA Today.

The cities where Obamacare is getting cheaper. Sam Baker in National Journal.

Businesses are testing employees' body fat and paying them to lose weight.Aaron Gregg in The Washington Post.

Animal argument interlude: Watch how this Great Dane argues with its owner.

4. Congress is in full-blown campaign mode already

Congress isn't letting legislating get in the way of campaigning. "Lawmakers will have as few as seven legislative days....And they have set their sights relatively low for that brief time: Pass a stopgap spending bill that keeps the government operating until December, keep the doors of the federal Export-Import Bank open until a lame-duck session of Congress in November and, possibly, extend a moratorium on federal Internet taxes that is scheduled to end on Nov. 1. Senate Democrats and House Republicans will also take a series of politically freighted votes designed not to pass legislation but to rally their base voters, a difficult task when Americans hold members of Congress in such low collective regard." Jonathan Weisman in the The New York Times.

Explainer: A list of deadline-driven items and political hot topics that Congress will have on its mind. The Wall Street Journal.

As border crisis fades from attention, Dems' hopes for emergency funding may rest on continuing resolution. "Border apprehensions are down significantly...and press coverage of the child migrant crisis has waned over the recess. With less perceived urgency among the public and only about two-and-a-half weeks of legislative days scheduled for September, Democrats will likely have less leverage as they try to convince Republicans to revisit the politically bruising issue of extra border funding before the elections....It may suit them to try to merge that debate with the fiscal 2015 stopgap in the days ahead. Combining the two issues is perhaps the most feasible way for supporters to secure at least some new funding for the child migrant crisis ahead of the lame duck." Tamar Hallerman in Roll Call.

House GOP leaders mull punting on Ex-Im Bank reauthorization. "The 80-year-old agency tasked with helping U.S. businesses sell their goods overseas has split the House GOP conference, with staunch conservatives eager to close the bank breaking from their more business-friendly colleagues. The schism...has taken on a sense of urgency with the bank's authorization expiring at the end of the month....The most likely scenario involves reauthorizing the bank for a limited period that could last for several months or into the middle of next year. That would give GOP lawmakers more time to reach some consensus on whether to try and overhaul the bank's authorities, start the process of winding it down, or just let it expire." Michael R. Crittenden and Kristina Peterson in The Wall Street Journal.

Boeing's situation shows jobs at risk as Ex-Im's fate hangs in balance. "Boeing, however, is the focal point of attack for conservatives. That's because it is the nation's largest single exporter and biggest beneficiary of the bank's loans and other aid. Boeing plays an outsized role in the U.S. economy. Its production of large commercial jetliners is so important that a good or bad month by the company alone can cause a major swing in the Commerce Department's report on orders for long-lasting durable goods....The aerospace giant and its supporters note that Boeing funneled $48 billion in business last year to 15,600 U.S. suppliers."Jim Puzzanghera in the Los Angeles Times.

Potential nightmare scenario for lame-duck lies ahead. "Confusion and legislative paralysis could reign if the national results on Nov. 4 give Republicans a 50-to-49 advantage in the Senate. Whether Democrats lose control of the chamber in January...would then depend on the results of a Dec. 6 runoff in Louisiana....Legislative work that might otherwise be done postelection could become locked in lame-duck limbo. Adding more uncertainty, the Senate race in Georgia could also end up in a runoff — in January. Such a result would likely affect not just legislation like the continuing resolution that would keep government running and authorizations like the Export-Import Bank renewal, but also leadership elections." Billy House and Michael Catalini in National Journal.

NSA reform will wait until after the election. "The inaction amounts to another stinging setback for reform advocates, who have been agitating for legislation that would rein in the National Security Agency ever since Edward Snowden's leaks surfaced last summer. It also deflates a sudden surge in pressure on Congress to pass the USA Freedom Act, which scored a stunning endorsement from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper last week." Dustin Volz in National Journal.

Related: Tech frustration with Congress boils over. Julian Hattem in The Hill.

Other political reads:

Why polarization could persist after Obama. Dan Balz in The Washington Post.

The Democrats' Katherine Harris strategy. Patricia Murphy in The Daily Beast.

Maru interlude: Celebrity cat pushes the pushcart.

5. Diving deeper into the impacts of BP's increased Gulf-spill liability

Oil-spill penalty will hurt, but not cripple, the firm. "BP fought long and hard to avoid the defeat it suffered in court on Thursday when afederal judge ruled that the oil company was chiefly responsible for the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, opening the door to new civil penalties that could potentially amount to $18 billion. But analysts say that it could be years before the company pays any of those penalties and that they could turn out to be as low as $8 billion to $10 billion. And with the company expecting cash flow of $30 billion to $31 billion this year, the environmental payments will be stiff but not impossible to make." Clifford Krauss in The New York Times.

Related: Fines could prompt BP to cut back in Russia, elsewhere. Dmitry Zhdannikov and Ron Bousso in Reuters.

Ruling could have a broader chill on growth in higher-risk drilling... "Companies...are also facing increasing pressure to show investors they can still grow as production declines. As producers scour the globe for oil and natural gas, the ruling shows they’ll be held accountable for mistakes that may be inevitable given the complexity of the work, said Edward Overton, professor emeritus at Louisiana State University’s department of environmental sciences in Baton Rouge. While the judge has yet to rule on how much oil was spilled, a key factor in determining additional fines, millions of barrels of crude from the well harmed wildlife and fouled hundreds of miles of beaches and coastal wetlands." Bradley Olson, Margaret Cronin Fisk and Harry R. Weber in Bloomberg.

Explainer: What the ruling means for the future of oil drilling. Christine Dell'Amore in National Geographic.

...and on a whole bunch of other things. "Legal experts said that if Barbier's interpretation is upheld and adopted by other courts, it may leave a range of industries more exposed to potentially greater penalties....These include activities that may accidentally pollute waterways or cause environmental harm, like nuclear power, fracking and paper processing, Owley and other legal experts said. These businesses may also be subject to penalties under federal statutes like the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act. Barbier's ruling remains a long way from setting a wide-ranging legal precedent. Considering the stakes, the case could drag on for years, ultimately landing before the U.S. Supreme Court." Mica Rosenberg in Reuters.