Approaching the BP Spill's One Year Anniversary: The Disaster in the Gulf Lives On
"...make no mistake, life along the Gulf of Mexico has not returned to normal. The oil keeps rolling in with the tide, and the damage keeps undercutting people's lives.
The economic fallout alone continues to hammer local residents. Fishermen, restaurants, hotels, contractors, and shrimp wholesalers are struggling after months and months of absent tourists and tiny fish harvests.
Alabama's Gulf Coast beaches saw 1 million fewer visitors in 2010. Those who did venture to the beaches did so in part because hotels offered deep discounts in the wake of the spill, which means local businesses took a double hit from the disaster. State officials are trying to lure tourists back to their beaches, but they have set their sights low: They hope to recover just half of the lost visitors.
The spill has undermined much more than profit margins and business plans. It has endangered a way of life."
U.S. May Reject Off-Shore Drilling Permits Due to Ruling
"The Obama administration says it may have to reject seven permits for deep-water drilling that have become the subject of high-profile legal and political battles if a federal judge in New Orleans forces the government to make a quick decision on the applications.
In court filings late Friday, the Interior Department said the permit applications are flawed or incomplete, and that Judge Martin Feldman's order that it decide on them before the end of the month disrupts the normal back-and-forth negotiations between oil companies and federal regulators."
The resumption of deep-water drilling
THE ARCTIC
