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oil spill

Oil Men Raked Over the Coals

The key executives of the companies responsible for the titanic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico were raked over the coals by members of Congress this week and managed to skillfully dance away and blame each other when the grilling got too hot.

Called to account before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer (D) of California, were BP America President Lamar McKay; Steven Newman, CEO of well driller Transocean limited; and Halliburton chief health, safety and environmental officer Tim Probert.

In their testimony, all three men appeared simultaneously to accept responsibility for what happened then shift the blame to the other parties. All relied heavily on the fact that critical details regarding the precise cause of the accident are not yet available. Indeed, when asked by several senators about whether certain industry standards for building ocean-based oil rigs were followed, the witnesses indicated several times that they didn’t know the answer or would have to wait for the outcome of what they promised will be a thorough investigation of the disaster.

05/14/2010 0 comment

Clean Transportation Renewable Energy

The Week in Clean Tech News: Oil Spill Victims, New Electric Cars, China Steps Up on Wind

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The Oil Spill’s Unlikely Victim: As oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill continued to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, it tarred the feathers of an endangered creature: the climate bill. Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman introduced a retooled American Power Act on Wednesday to little fanfare. Perhaps that’s because the media’s klieg lights were already divided between the grilling of oil executives on Capitol Hill or the so-far hapless efforts to plug the leak. Or maybe it’s because the two senators took to the dais without their erstwhile Republican ally, Lindsey Graham. Nevertheless, it was ironic to see a solution to our fossil-fuel addiction pushed to the side because of a fossil-fuel disaster. Must we cap the gusher before we get a cap on CO2?

More Electric Cars Roll to the Starting Line: You’ve heard that the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt are on the way, but how about the Think and the Wheego? Wheego, a maker of electric putt-putt vehicles based in Atlanta, hopes that 200 highway-ready copies of its Whip Life will roll off the assembly line by August, months ahead of the well-publicized launch of the Leaf. Meanwhile, the Norwegian carmaker Think raised $40 million this week and plans to start assembly of the tiny Think City in Elkhart, Indiana in early 2011.

05/14/2010 0 comment

Water & Conservation

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Makes a Political Mess

written by Walter Wang

They say timing is everything. And when it comes to the timing of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the politics of climate and energy in the United States, they are right — although it’s not entirely clear what about.

First off, there was President Obama’s sudden — and some would argue surprising — announcement of his intention to lift the moratorium on offshore oil exploration and development on parts of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS): a move that many environmentalists decried as political pandering, ceding a valuable bargaining chip or just plain bad policy.

But Obama saw opening up some areas to offshore oil and gas development as politically expedient, economically rational and — thanks to assurances from the oil industry — environmentally responsible. And then there was the explosion at a BP-leased offshore oil well where contractors were finishing a deepwater exploratory well about 30 miles off the coast of Louisiana.

05/13/2010 1 comment

Renewable Energy Water & Conservation

Oil Execs Quizzed on Safety as BP Tries New Well Fix

written by Walter Wang

WASHINGTON/PORT FOURCHON, Louisiana (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers pressed oil executives about flaws in a well safety device on Wednesday while BP scrambled with its latest deep-sea effort to control the huge Gulf of Mexico spill that threatens environmental disaster.

BP Plc, Transocean Ltd and Halliburton Co are all back in the hot seat in Washington over their responsibility in what could be the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

After a day of hearings on Tuesday where company officials traded blame for the April 20 rig explosion and oil spill, a U.S. House of Representatives panel said it had uncovered significant problems with a safety control mechanism on BP’s oil well that could have contributed to the accident.

05/12/2010 0 comment

Renewable Energy

Gifts, Sex and Drugs: Energy Agency to be Split as Result of Oil Spill

written by Walter Wang

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In response to the BP oil spill, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will announce on Tuesday that the Minerals Management Service will be divided so collection of oil royalties and safety inspection of offshore drilling are separated, a department official told Reuters.

The MMS currently carries out both roles, drawing criticism from some U.S. lawmakers and environmental groups.

Critics argue the MMS is faced with a conflict of interest because it is responsible for regulating and shutting down offshore oil production over safety concerns, if necessary, and also charged with keeping the oil flowing so the government can collect royalties.

05/11/2010 0 comment

Water & Conservation

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: An Accident Waiting to Happen

written by Yale Environment 360

The oil slick spreading across the Gulf of Mexico has shattered the notion that offshore drilling had become safe. A close look at the accident shows that lax federal oversight, complacency by BP and the other companies involved, and the complexities of drilling a mile deep all combined to create the perfect environmental storm.

It’s hard to believe now, as oil from the wrecked Deepwater Horizon well encroaches on the Louisiana marshes. But it was only six weeks ago that President Obama announced a major push to expand offshore oil and gas drilling. Obama’s commitment to lift a moratorium on offshore drilling reflected the widely-held belief that offshore oil operations, once perceived as dirty and dangerous, were now so safe and technologically advanced that the risks of a major disaster were infinitesimal, and managing them a matter of technocratic skill.

But in the space of two weeks, both the politics and the practice of offshore drilling have been turned upside down. Today, the notion that offshore drilling is safe seems absurd. The Gulf spill harks back to drilling disasters from decades past — including one off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif. in 1969 that dumped three million gallons into coastal waters and led to the current moratorium. The Deepwater Horizon disaster is a classic “low probability, high impact event” — the kind we’ve seen more than our share of recently, including space shuttle disasters, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina. And if there’s a single lesson from those disparate catastrophes, it’s that pre-disaster assumptions tend to be dramatically off-base, and the worst-case scenarios downplayed or ignored. The Gulf spill is no exception.

05/10/2010 3 comments

Clean Transportation Water & Conservation

The Week in Clean-Tech News: Oil Rigs and Google’s Curious Investment

written by Yale Environment 360

Are Offshore Oil Rigs a Threatened Species? Is the Deepwater Horizon spill the beginning of the end for offshore oil drilling, or just another Exxon Valdez? Today, as BP attempted to place a 100-ton cap over the broken well gushing under the Gulf of Mexico, it was uncertain if they’d be able to stanch the spreading damage at sea or in Washington, D.C.

The spill has muddied the prospects for a climate bill as one of its pillars — a new round of offshore oil drilling — founders in unstable political soil, as Mackinnon Lawrence reports. Meanwhile, environmental groups are hustling to make the case, as in this Sierra Club video, that offshore oil is dirty and unsafe. Perhaps it’s not only brown pelicans and terns who will have trouble flying after all this is over, and the black tide might yet turn against its maker.

Efficiency Experts To America: Stop Dreamin’ and Pick Up Yer Caulkin’ Gun. At a symposium of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy — what, you missed it? — experts concluded that weatherstripping beats windfarms as the fastest way to save the US economy, and released some numbers to prove it. First, America is not as efficient as it thinks: the domestic economy is only 13 percent efficient, compared to 20 percent efficiency in Japan and some European countries. We were left pondering if it’s more efficient, percentage-wise, to order a veggie pizza from Papa John’s or gnaw on a frozen one from Trader Joe’s.

05/10/2010 0 comment

Recycling & Waste Mgmt.Water & Conservation

News Roundup: Climate Policy After the Oil Spill

written by Mackinnon Lawrence

The BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast adds an unexpected wrinkle to the climate bill drama. Senators weigh in on next steps while Schwarzenegger withdraws offshore drilling support.

The broad energy and climate bill that Sens. John Kerry (D-MA), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have crafted contains measures to promote wider offshore drilling. Offshore drilling incentives are considered critical by many to win enough votes to pass such legislation in the U.S. Senate by garnering enough support from senators such as Mary Landrieu (D-LA).

While environmentalists and some coastal state Democrats are mounting new attacks on offshore drilling in the wake of the Gulf accident, the jury is out whether the climate bill will move forward.

05/05/2010 2 comments

Renewable Energy

Sierra Club Launches Oil Spill Action Center

written by Walter Wang

The Sierra Club has created an online action center to to keep people informed about the oil spill in the gulf of Mexico last month. The site offers the latest news and updates on the spill as well as offering people ways to volunteer.

The Sierra Club is calling for President Obama to stop all new drilling off America’s coasts immediately and permanently, stating:

05/04/2010 2 comments

Clean Transportation Renewable Energy Water & Conservation

The Week in Clean-Tech News: Offshore Wind Wins; Offshore Oil Pollutes

written by

Two Tales of Ocean Energy: Major events in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico laid out the U.S.’s energy choices in stark contrast. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill made landfall in Louisiana, a week after the offshore rig caught fire and sank. Oyster beds and wildlife are at risk, and the spill may grow to be one of the largest in U.S. history. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar gave the green light to the Cape Wind installation, the first offshore wind farm to be approved in U.S. waters. Its 130 turbines, projected to be up and running by 2012, will provide 75 percent of the electricity needed on Cape Cod and the islands of Nantucket Sound.

Climate Bill Stalls: The U.S. Senate’s version of a climate bill was yanked at the last moment when Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Republican co-sponsor of the legislation, withdrew his support to protest the Democrats’ sudden crusade for immigration reform. No definite plans for a new bill have emerged.

05/03/2010 0 comment

Water & Conservation

BP Had Other Problems in Years Leading to Gulf Spill

written by Walter Wang

BP, the global oil giant responsible for the fast-spreading spill in the Gulf of Mexico that will soon make landfall, is no stranger to major accidents.

In fact, the company has found itself at the center of several of the nation’s worst oil and gas–related disasters in the last five years.

In March 2005, a massive explosion ripped through a tower at BP’s refinery in Texas City, Texas, killing 15 workers and injuring 170 others. Investigators later determined that the company had ignored its own protocols on operating the tower, which was filled with gasoline, and that a warning system had been disabled.

04/30/2010 0 comment

Water & Conservation

Government Mobilizes to Contain Gulf Spill

written by Environmental News Network

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been spreading steadily and at a much greater rate than earlier determined. Like the Exxon-Valdez spill in Alaska, it is devastating to the affected marine ecosystems and has the potential to get much worse. For clean ocean and anti-drilling advocates, it represents the worst-case scenario they have been warning about.

Now that the damage has been done, all that’s left is to contain it from affecting the shoreline and estuary systems of the gulf coast. In that effort, the federal government is deploying its resources in concert with British Petroleum, owners of the Deepwater Horizon rig which exploded and sank.

The U.S. Coast Guard is one of the agencies taking the lead in containment, but there is another agency involved that is playing a vital role, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Its main task is to protect coastal and marine resources and provide comprehensive solutions to environmental hazards caused by oil, chemical, and marine debris.

04/29/2010 1 comment

Water & Conservation

Spill, Baby, Spill

written by Paul Schwartz

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

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