Oil Drilling News

OIL/ENERGY POLICY

Republicans study offshore drilling, one year after lifting of deep-water ban

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/10/12/republicans-study-offshore-drilling-one-year-after-lifting-of-deepwater-ban/

"The committee's leading Democrat said Hastings' concern is misplaced. Instead of holding a hearing focusing on a short-term deep-water drilling ban, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said the panel should be studying the long-term environmental effects of the Deepwater Horizon disaster and reports of oil sheens near BP's failed Macondo well. "Holding a hearing on the impact of a safety check following an unimaginable oil spill is a little like holding a hearing on wearing a cast after shattering your leg, without looking at the accident that required the cast," Markey said. Markey added that the Natural Resources Committee also was overlooking the economic damage to tourism throughout the Gulf Coast caused by the spill itself."

Rep. Jeff Landry (LA) meets with drilling officials after 'Gestapo' comment

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2011/10/offshore_regulators_meet_with.html

"Moments after the meeting, Bromwich released a statement saying that agency staffers "should not be placed in positions where they may feel they are being subjected to political influence, especially in connection with decisions on specific regulatory matters.""

THE GULF

Waterkeeper Alliance Takes Legal Action on Chronic Leak at 23051 Site in Gulf (Skytruth)

http://blog.skytruth.org/2011/10/waterkeeper-alliance-takes-legal-action.html

"One of our partners in the Gulf Monitoring Consortium, Waterkeeper Alliance, has filed a notice of intent to sue over the ongoing, chronic oil leak from the site of former platform 23051 in the Gulf of Mexico.  We discovered this leak last May while analyzing imagery of the BP / Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  According to the operator, Taylor Energy, and the Coast Guard, the wells at that location were damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and, we presume, have been leaking 24/7 ever since. Repeated observations of the site on satellite images and via aerial overflights confirm that the leak is ongoing."

FLORIDA

BP begins work to remove tar patties on Pensacola Beach

http://www.pnj.com/article/20111010/NEWS01/111010008/BP-begins-work-remove-tar-patties-Pensacola-Beach?odyssey=nav%7Chead

"BP is taking its heavy equipment back to Pensacola Beach today to remove a concentration of tar patties buried in the sand near Portofino Resort."

Adam Hasner's changing positions on oil drilling

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/10/bizpac-adam-hasners-changing-positions-on-oil-drilling.html

ALTERNATIVES TO OIL

Nissan Develops 10-Minute Rapid Charger For Leaf Electric Car

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1067182_nissan-develops-10-minute-rapid-charger-for-leaf-electric-car

Oil Drilling News

THE GULF

U.S. Wildcat Culture Risks Macondo Oil Spill Repeat, Graham Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-10/u-s-wildcat-culture-risks-macondo-oil-spill-repeat-graham-says.html

"U.S. oil and gas culture is the culture of the wildcat that's been transferred offshore," Bob Graham said today in an interview at an oil conference in Abu Dhabi. "The Gulf of Mexico had a culture of complacency. For every one fatality in the North Sea, there were four in the Gulf of Mexico."

When the Catch Disappears (NY Times slide show)

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/10/10/us/SHRIMP.html

"Shrimpers on the Gulf Coast say the white shrimp season, which began in late August, is a bad one, if not the worst in memory."

CALIFORNIA

Sunken World War II-era tanker -- which may hold 3 million gallons of oil -- to be investigated by high-tech divers.

http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_19083948

"Since the shipwreck's discovery in 1996, the Coast Guard, state wildlife agencies and environmental groups have worried that the steel tanker, which held up to 3 million gallons of crude oil, could rust through. A resulting oil spill could blacken the California coastline, particularly the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, which is only about a mile from the wreck site."

NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand oil spill: conservationists warn of wildlife 'tragedy'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/10/new-zealand-oil-spill-wildlife-tragedy?newsfeed=true

Oil Drilling News

OIL/ENERGY POLICY

Drilling it in (Daily Princetonian Op-ed)

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2011/10/10/28975/

"Regulation might never be able to remove the risk from the dangerous enterprise of offshore drilling. The only path to true energy independence and greater national security is to decrease American energy consumption and to invest in homegrown renewable energy."

NORTH CAROLINA

Why drilling for oil off N.C. coast is a bad idea

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/10/09/2676106/why-drilling-for-oil-off-nc-coast.html

NEW ZEALAND TANKER SPILL

'Highly toxic' water at Mt Maunganui

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10757900

"Maritime New Zealand has ordered people away from "highly toxic" water at Mt Maunganui beach as oil from a stricken container ship washes up onshore. The Liberian-flagged Rena cargo ship was carrying about 1700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and about 70 tonnes of marine diesel when it struck the Astrolabe Reef at top speed on October 5."

ALTERNATIVES TO OIL

Post oil: Glimpses of life after fossil fuel

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Tech/2011/1007/Post-oil-Glimpses-of-life-after-fossil-fuel

Oil Drilling News

EFFECTS OF THE BP OIL SPILL

Fish still suffering after BP oil spill

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20111002/ARTICLE/111009951/-1/sports?p=1&tc=pg

"According to a new study, fish living in marshes exposed to BP crude showed clear signs of oil-related toxicity, even when only trace amounts of oil could be detected in their tissues and the environment. The fish showed damage to their gills, making it harder for them to get oxygen and adapt to natural changes in salinity and temperature. The study also revealed that the marsh water was toxic to fish eggs, even when it tested clean by conventional sampling."

ALASKA

Shell moves closer to gaining offshore drilling approval

http://peninsulaclarion.com/news/2011-10-06/shell-moves-closer-to-gaining-offshore-drilling-approval#.To9f9nHlFYQ

"Step by step, Shell is moving closer to gaining final permission to drill exploration wells in offshore Arctic waters next summer. But, environmental groups aren't giving up on court challenges."

ALTERNATIVES TO OIL

Solar plant generates at night

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/10/07/Backers-Solar-plant-generates-at-night/UPI-50861317981720/

"...the power plant was hailed by the two leaders as technological breakthrough because of a first-of-its-kind design that uses molten salt to keep turbines humming after sunset. "During the day we capture the energy of the sun and we store that energy into a tank," Sener mechanical engineer Santiago Arias told CNN. "Then, whenever we want, regardless if it is day or night, we convert that energy into electricity.""

Oil Drilling News

OIL/ENERGY POLICY

Governors asked to help revive offshore leasing at energy summit

http://www.ogj.com/articles/2011/10/governors-asked-to-help-revive-offshore-leasing-at-energy-summit.html

Coalition Calls for End to $122 billion in Handouts to Fossil Fuels

http://priceofoil.org/2011/10/04/coalition-calls-for-end-to-122-billion-in-handouts-to-fossil-fuels/

"Eliminating subsidies to the fossil fuels industry could reduce the national debt by $122 billion over ten years while bettering the environment and public health for America's families these leaders asserted. "Americans of all political orientations strongly favor ending these subsidies to the oil, gas and coal industries" they wrote, adding that "[M]ost Americans feel that Members of Congress are more responsive to their campaign donors than their constituents. Working to remove subsidies from the fossil fuel industry is one of the clearest ways you can help restore your constituents' faith in the ability of Congress to represent them.""

OECD, IEA Urge Cuts to Fuel Subsidies

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204524604576610780467196892.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

"The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Energy Agency Tuesday urged governments world-wide to cut billions of dollars in fossil-fuel subsidies, arguing the rollbacks would bolster sagging government budgets while cutting wasteful energy use and carbon emissions. A group of 24 industrialized countries now spends $45 billion to $75 billion annually on more than 250 support measures to producers and consumers..."

U.S. Regulators Promise Oversight Of Offshore Drilling Contractors (NPR)

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/10/04/141045160/u-s-regulators-promise-oversight-of-offshore-drilling-contractors

CUBA/FLORIDA

Concern Grows Over Plan to Drill for Oil Near Florida Keys

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-deibert/florida-oil-drilling-_b_990183.html

"The location of the proposed drilling is only 65 miles from the Marquesas Keys, an uninhabited group of islands near Key West, in an area of strong 4-6 mile per hour currents that come from the Gulf of Mexico, shoot through the Florida Straits and then churn northwards up the Atlantic Coast of the continental U.S. A wide swath of protected areas could be threatened, including the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary -- which spans some 2,800-square-nautical-miles and includes important repositories of coral reefs, seagrass and 1,600 miles of mangrove shoreline -- and Biscayne National Park, an area that contains the beginning of the third-largest coral reef in the world and mangrove areas along its shore. The million-plus acre Everglades National Park -- a subtropical wilderness that has famously been described as a "river of grass" -- is also nearby."

VIRGINIA

No offshore oil drilling for Virginia (Chesapeake Climate Action Network)

http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/campaigns/virginia/virginia-offshore-oil-drilling

"Let's make Virginia a leader in offshore wind, not oil!"

Oil Drilling News

GULF OIL DISASTER

Revenge of the Tarballs (NRDC blog)

http://www.onearth.org/blog/revenge-of-the-tarballs

Environmental groups: Oil spill's effects persist

http://blog.al.com/live/2011/10/environmental_groups_oil_spill.html

"The basic, underlying message of this report is: There is a lot more work to do," Callaway said. "The oil is not gone. We have to clean it up; we have to put methods in place to never let this happen again; and most importantly, we need to do significant restoration."

ALASKA

Interior Department Reaffirms Alaska Oil and Gas Lease Sale

http://www.boemre.gov/ooc/press/2011/press1003.htm

"Today's decision affirms the sale of 487 leases covering 2.8 million acres under Lease Sale 193. All of these leases are subject to a series of conditions to mitigate operational and environmental risks, including: protection of biological resources; orientation programs to familiarize personnel with environmental, social, and cultural issues; environmental requirements regarding the placement of pipelines; precautionary action to mitigate potential oil spill impacts; and measures to minimize the effects to Spectacled and Steller's eiders. BOEM has also required specific mitigation measures for the corridor of leases closest to the coastline, including a corridor 52 miles from the shore in which no lease activity will take place, a site-specific monitoring program to assess behavioral effects on a number of marine mammals and polar bears, and conflict avoidance mechanisms to protect subsistence harvesting activities."

Shell clears another hurdle for offshore oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/shell-clears-another-hurdle-offshore-oil-drilling-alaskas-arctic

"In a statement reacting to the news, Rebecca Noblin, of the Center for Biological Diversity, called the Obama administration an "an ostrich lost in the Arctic." "Today, the Obama administration today buried its head in the snow," Noblin said in a statement. "Its decision to open the Chukchi Sea to offshore drilling without first obtaining the basic data it needs to inform its decision threatens polar bears, whales, walrus, and the region's Alaska Native communities The government should not compound this error by allowing Shell to start drilling next summer.""

Oil Drilling News

GULF OIL DISASTER 

Kitchener biologist studying effects of Gulf oil spill

http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/602635--kitchener-biologist-studying-effects-of-gulf-oil-spill

"He said he expects the damage will continue long-term because oil is still soaked in sediment and it's not breaking down. Occasionally wind and waves stir up blobs of oil and work crews continue to clean up the mess. It's a process that can continue to contaminate wildlife for decades, he said."

ALTERNATIVES TO OIL

Utilities Giving Away Power as Wind, Sun Flood European Grid

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-29/utilities-giving-away-power-as-wind-sun-flood-european-grid.html

Yes, this is a real headline, not a dream of the future.

Biofuel a viable option for U.S. military

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2011/10/03/Biofuel-a-viable-option-for-US-military/UPI-34041317651802/