Gulf oil spill

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Study: Gulf's Carcinogen Levels Explode 40-Fold

Meanwhile, Obama administration issues new drilling safety rules

(Newser) - Researchers have detected a 40-fold increase in potentially cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons off the coast of Louisiana’s Grande Isle. The study is especially scary because it only measured PAHs that could seep through a biological membrane, the Huffington Post explains. “This is a measure of what would enter...

BP Well Is 'Effectively Dead'
 BP Well Is 'Effectively Dead' 
FIVE MONTHS LATER

BP Well Is 'Effectively Dead'

Final pressure test seals the deal, Allen says

(Newser) - A permanent cement plug sealed BP's well nearly 2.5 miles below the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico, five agonizing months after an explosion sank a drilling rig and led to the worst offshore oil spill in US history. Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said today that...

BP Finishes Relief Well
 BP Finishes Relief Well  

BP Finishes Relief Well

Now comes the 'bottom kill' permanent fix

(Newser) - It's been off the radar for a while, but BP has reached a milestone of sorts in the Gulf: The relief well is finally finished—it has intersected with the blown well, putting the company on the brink of a permanent fix (after 5 months), reports CNN . Next step is...

In Louisiana, a Huge 'Fish Kill'
 In Louisiana, a Huge 'Fish Kill' 

In Louisiana, a Huge 'Fish Kill'

Residents fear it's related to oil spill, experts not sure

(Newser) - Near Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish, there lies what looks like a gravel road. It's not: It's a waterway clogged with hundreds of thousands of dead fish, crabs, stingrays, and eel—so many that it appears solid. A dead whale was also found in the area, WWL-TV reports. "Fish kills" are...

Oil Driven to Gulf Floor Via 'Slime Highway'

Huge layer of oily residue found on seabed

(Newser) - Scientists trying to figure out what happened to the oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster believe most of it likely sank to the seafloor instead of evaporating or being eaten by microbes. Researchers taking sediment samples say they have found evidence that a huge amount of oily residue is on...

Who Is Getting Gulf Cleanup Contracts?
 Who Is Getting Gulf 
 Cleanup Contracts? 
ANALYSIS

Who Is Getting Gulf Cleanup Contracts?

Review finds some oddball examples of big spending by feds

(Newser) - It might have been cheaper if the feds had plugged BP's blown wellhead with dollar bills—or so an early AP analysis of Uncle Sam's expenditures on the response and cleanup. Mind you, these details are for the first $142 million the government is disclosing, a small fraction; BP , however,...

BP Workers Almost Saved Rig

Blowout preventer worked; crew made 2 bad calls

(Newser) - In the moments before the Deepwater Horizon blew skyward, rig workers came extraordinarily close to averting disaster, reports the Wall Street Journal in a closer look at BP's internal report on the Gulf oil spill. Contrary to popular belief, as the well failed, the blowout preventer was both deployed and...

BP Report: Everybody Screwed Up

Inquiry concludes spill was result of interwoven mistakes

(Newser) - BP has published its own report on what went wrong on its doomed Macondo well, and predictably, the blame gets spread around among "multiple companies and work teams." While admitting BP workers misread pressure readings, the oil giant points its finger squarely at TransOcean's rig crew and Halliburton's...

MIT Builds Robots to Clean Oil Spills

Tech is too late for Gulf, but may prove useful

(Newser) - A fleet of robots to clean up oil spills for us: Sounds pretty nice, right? Thanks to some smart people at MIT, we'll soon have exactly that. Researchers have developed a robotic prototype called Seaswarm that can autonomously navigate waterways, sucking oil off the surface of the ocean using super-absorbent...

Blowout Preventer Raised to Surface

Key oil spill evidence could shed light on elusive question

(Newser) - Investigators may now be able to answer the most elusive question since a rig explosion unleashed the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill more than four months ago, as they get a close-up view of a key piece of equipment for the first time: Why didn't it stop the oil?...

At Last: BP Raises Blowout Preventer

Key piece of evidence should tell feds what went wrong

(Newser) - BP is slowly raising from the depths of the Gulf the blowout preventer that, well, failed to prevent a blowout at its infamous Macondo well. The 50-foot, 300-ton device is on a delicate mile-long trip to the surface that will place it in the hands of federal investigators eager to...

Oily Mist Coats Gulf Towns
 Oily Mist Coats Gulf Towns 

Oily Mist Coats Gulf Towns

Airborne oil could be trouble for humans, plants

(Newser) - Beach workers in Orange Beach, Alabama, have noticed that strong winds from the south—that is, from the oil-soaked Gulf of Mexico—bring with them a greasy mist. Few in the town believe BP's claims that the oil is gone—why would they, when, after a day at the beach,...

BP: Kick Us Out of the Gulf and We Won't Pay Up

Company threatens Congress over rights to drill

(Newser) - BP has issued a veiled threat, warning Congress that if it bans BP from operating in the Gulf, it might not be able to pay for all the damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon spill, or participate in the ambitious coast cleanup project. Though the company promises to honor its...

13 Workers Rescued From Oil Platform Blast

One person injured; no oil leaks seen

(Newser) - An offshore oil platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico about 100 miles off the Louisiana coast today, but this one appears headed toward a better ending than BP's explosion. All 13 people aboard have been rescued—though one is reportedly injured. Earlier reports that the platform was inactive have...

BP Spends $1M a Week on Ads
 BP Spends $1M a Week on Ads 

BP Spends $1M a Week on Ads

Oil giant expected to admit to spending today

(Newser) - This is sure to go over real well with the public: BP is expected to report today that it has spent $1 million a week advertising since the oil spill. The figure will be part of the company's report to the US House of Representatives, the Telegraph reports. The ad...

BP Report: We Messed Up
 BP Report: We Messed Up 

BP Report: We Messed Up

Investigation faults engineers for spill

(Newser) - An internal investigation by the folks at BP confirms what we all suspected: BP messed up. The in-house report says that the company's engineers made mistakes while finishing the oil well and also misread pressure data that warned of a blowout, reports Bloomberg . It is therefore in part responsible for...

Obama: 'New Orleans Is Coming Back'
 Obama: 
 'New Orleans 
 Is Coming 
 Back' 
anniversary speech

Obama: 'New Orleans Is Coming Back'

President pledges to complete levees, stick with region

(Newser) - President Obama arrived in New Orleans today to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and pledged to stick with the Gulf Coast until rebuilding is complete. In a speech at Xavier University, soon to be back in operation after being devastated by floodwaters, he called the city a “...

BP Skipped Certification of Blowout Preventer

They also changed safety test at last minute

(Newser) - Yet more details are emerging on the missteps that may have led to the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Among them: The all-important blowout preventer wasn’t recertified in 2005, as required by federal regulations, one worker responsible for maintaining the equipment told investigators yesterday. Transocean tells the AP that the blowout...

Microbes Gobbling Gulf Oil
 Microbes Gobbling Gulf Oil 

Microbes Gobbling Gulf Oil

Newly discovered species may have consumed plume

(Newser) - The latest take on the oil plume left behind by the Deepwater Horizon disaster: It's vanished, thanks to the luckiest microbe species on Earth. Researchers say that the newly discovered species, one of several that eats oil, multiplied rapidly after the spill and have dominated the natural clean-up in the...

Gulf Seafood Tested, Results 'Immaculate'

But industry still battered by low demand

(Newser) - In a rare spot of good news, an analysis of seafood from the Gulf of Mexico came black clean of oil or chemical dispersants—in one word, "immaculate." The Daily Beast commissioned a lab to test shrimp, lump crabmeat, and red grouper and found that all three, like...

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