The oil industry spills again, this time in Michigan. Pipelines owned by Enbridge Energy Partners leaked crude into the Kalamazoo River. The EPA estimates more than 1 million gallons have been spilled.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has criticized both Enbridge and the EPA for their inadequate response to the crisis. She warned of a “tragedy of epic proportions” if the oil reaches Lake Michigan, a distinct possibility.

What’s so striking is how formulaic the oil spill story has become.

First, there are the governmental notices of potential problems with the current system, in the months and years leading up to the leak. In this case, the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration notified Enbridge that the old pipeline could be corroding and needed monitoring. The Detroit Free Press reports that it’s not clear if the company acted on the government notices or whether the concerns played any role in the leak.

Second, the company lowballs the extent of the problem. Enbridge says 800,000 gallons; EPA says 1 million.

Next, reporters trying to cover the leak are hampered in their work. A reporter and photographer from the Detroit Free Press were not allowed into a wildlife recovery area, but the newspaper doesn’t specify whether it was government or Enbridge that stopped them.

Then it’s time for the President to pledge swift response. Done.

Meanwhile, local pols say cleanup needs more resources. Granholm toured the affected area by helicopter and then met with state and federal officials. She remains unimpressed by current efforts. “From my perspective, the response has been anemic,” she said.

And this story always has a sad ending. The spill has already killed fish and soaked snails, frogs, and muskrats. Get ready for pictures of oil-coated king fishers and great blue herons.

Jesse Jacox, who enjoyed canoeing the Kalamazoo River, told the Free Press, “It saddens me to death. I don’t see any way they’re going to clean all that.”

Oil spills don’t “just happen.” Companies drill for oil because it makes them profits. Our economic system—one that demands growth, not sustainability—guarantees environmental degradation.

Until we start to heavily invest in renewable energy and get off the carbon economy, we are bound to hear this story over and over again.

In the circus known as Illinois politics, the center ring corruption trial of former Governor Rod Blagojevich is coming to an end. Closing arguments are set for Monday, and a verdict is expected in August.

The trial is ending surprisingly early, as Blago told a judge this week he would not be taking the witness stand. “His attorneys rested their case quietly, without calling a single witness or putting on any kind of defense, and jurors looked at each other with raised eyebrows,” writes John Kass of the Chicago Tribune. “There was no cross-examination to worry about, no embarrassing tapes to explain, no jury comparing his credibility against FBI recordings in which he expressed his desire to ‘(bleep)’ the people of Illinois.”

Blago’s quiet defense lets a lot of other people off the hook, including Jesse Jackson Jr.

After Barack Obama was elected President in November 2008, Blago was left to fill the vacancy of the Illinois Senate seat. Blago’s top priority was taking care of himself and his family. He wanted to cash in with his choice.

His choices ranged from Valerie Jarrett to Oprah Winfrey, secret FBI recordings show.

But no one pushed harder for the seat than Jesse Jackson Jr. He commissioned a Zogby poll that showed him being the choice of most Illinoisans.

“Jackson was the most publicly aggressive candidate for the Senate appointment, launching a campaign-like bombardment of e-mails, petitions, and phone calls from supporters to try to pressure Blagojevich into appointing him,” write John Chase and Rick Pearson of the Trib.

The governor laughed off the idea at first, ridiculing the Congressman as a political lightweight.

Blago was right about that—Jackson hasn’t been the progressive politician many were hoping for. He hasn’t done all that much in Congress.

The governor and the Congressman knew each other back in the 1990s when both were ambitious, young pols serving in the Illinois Congressional delegation. They both had delusions of grandeur. “Jesse was leaking to the press his hopes to become the nation’s first black president in 2004; Blago was envisioning the governor’s office as a steppingstone to the Oval Office,” writes Carol Felsenthal in Chicago magazine.

But in Illinois, the governor’s office is more likely a stepping stone to a minimum security prison.

When Blago ran for governor, Jackson did not endorse him, and Rod’s ego has been bruised ever since. Perhaps this explains Blago telling his advisers (caught on those FBI recordings) calling Jackson a “a bad guy . . . he’s really not the guy I hoped or thought he was.”

But by December 2008, the governor was warming to the idea of appointing Jackson to Obama’s old seat. Why the change of heart? Money.

No one else in Washington or Illinois was interested in cutting a deal with Rod. “And I can cut a better political deal with these Jacksons and, and most of it you probably can’t believe, but some of it can be tangible upfront,” Rod tells his brother in a taped phone conversation.

Both Blagojevich and Jackson have a funder in common—Raghuveer Nayak, a prominent businessman. In an FBI recording, the governor’s brother told Blago that Nayak offered to do “some accelerated fundraising” on the governor’s behalf if Jackson got the seat.

Blagojevich met with Jackson to discuss the Senate seat the day before the feds closed in and arrested Blago on December 9, 2008.

Jackson has long denied knowledge or involvement of the alleged scheme to buy the Senate seat. But a few weeks ago, the federal prosecutors for the first time publicly suggested that Jackson was aware of efforts by his allies to swap campaign cash for his appointment.

At this point, Jackson hasn’t been charged with any wrongdoing. He has kept quiet throughout the trial, promising to “clear up the misstatements made by some” when the trial ends. Then he faces the resumption of a House ethics probe into his actions.

It’s disappointing to many that it’s come to this. So many Illinois politicians knew to stay away from the corrupt governor. House Speaker Michael Madigan and his daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, wouldn’t play this game. On those FBI tapes, Blago is heard calling the Madigans “the Madigoons.”

It begs the question: If the Madigan dynasty was smart enough to avoid getting ensnarled in a classic “Chicago Way” corruption probe, why wasn’t the Jackson dynasty?

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald may have saved the Dems from themselves. What more could he had found out if the wiretapping had continued?

Blago’s silence during his corruption trial doesn’t mean that his voice wasn’t heard in court. In one memorable recording, the governor talked with an advisor about the Senate seat pick and said, “I’ve got this thing and it’s fucking golden, and, uh, uh, I’m just not giving it up for fuckin’ nothing.”

Silence is golden, too. But the time for Jesse Jackson Jr. to remain silent is over. His constituents and progressives who believed in him deserve to hear him speak.