Tag:

offshore drilling

Spill, Baby, Spill

The Obama Administration surprised many key supporters in the environmental movement at the end of March by endorsing a plan to include expanded off-shore oil and gas drilling as part of its proposals for energy legislation. Now, a very visible oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has created a 600 square-mile slick, leaving disappointed members of the president’s base wondering if there might be room for a change of heart.

The president’s plan would open millions of acres of ocean for drilling and would end a moratorium that has protected the waters off the southern Atlantic coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and parts of Alaska for decades. Reversing an anti-drilling policy position championed by Mr. Obama during the 2008 campaign, the move has been widely viewed as an attempt to secure Republican votes for a broader energy plan that includes significant provisions for addressing climate change.

04/28/2010 1 comment

Water & Conservation

NASA Image Captures Extent of Oil Leak off Gulf Coast

written by Yale Environment 360

A new image taken by a NASA satellite captures the extent of a major oil spill triggered by the explosion aboard an offshore oil rig about 40 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico.

An estimated 42,000 gallons of oil have been gushing into Gulf waters daily since the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank to the sea floor last week.

Eleven crew members were killed in the blast, and several others were injured, and experts say the spill threatens the marine environment across the region, particularly on the Chandeleur and Breton barrier islands in Louisiana, where thousands of birds are nesting.

Oyster beds on the eastern edge of the Mississippi River also are threatened.

04/27/2010 5 comments

Clean Transportation Water & Conservation

Obama Proposal Would Allow Expanded Offshore Drilling

written by Yale Environment 360

The Obama administration is proposing to open vast areas of open water along the Atlantic coast, in the Gulf of Mexico, and off the northern coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling.

The proposal would end a longtime moratorium on drilling from Delaware to central Florida and would affect nearly 167 million acres of ocean and open 24 million acres in the eastern Gulf to development.

It would also authorize steps toward determining how much oil and natural gas lies off the coast of the Middle Atlantic and Southern states.

While the dramatic policy shift may gain some Republican support for the administration’s energy and climate initiatives, it is expected to alienate many environmental groups and Democrats who oppose expanded offshore drilling because of potential environmental impacts.

03/31/2010 0 comment

Clean Transportation Renewable Energy

Obama Backs CO2 Storage, Biofuels in Bid for Energy Policy

written by Yale Environment 360

President Obama is supporting an ambitious plan to increase biofuel production in the U.S. and to develop 5 to 10 demonstration projects to capture carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants and store the CO2 underground.

Unveiling a policy to develop biofuels not only from corn but also from farm and forest waste and switch grass, Obama said his administration will strive to meet a Congressional target of producing 36 billion gallons of ethanol and advanced biofuels by 2022.

02/04/2010 0 comment

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