Category Archives: Stopping The Spill
The debate is over, and both BP and our federal government have some serious explaining to do. Upending repeated denials from the British oil giant and ongoing obfuscation from NOAA officials, a Louisiana State University scientist has confirmed through rigorous testing that oil surfacing in the vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon site – the epicenter of last year’s catastrophic Gulf spill – is indeed coming from BP’s Macondo Prospect. In [...]
Read More »A shroud of secrecy continues to hang over the Deepwater Horizon site, 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana in the northern quadrant of the Gulf of Mexico. The Helix Producer I, a massive oil production vessel, is back in the area where the Deepwater Horizon rig sank to the sea floor – roughly 170 miles northeast of where BP officially lists its location. You may recall that the Helix, [...]
Read More »WASHINGTON – The federal official running the BP oil spill response today proposed having a third party from the oil industry represent polluters to correct perceptions that the company responsible in such disasters is in charge of cleaning up the mess. Incident Commander Thad Allen told a panel appointed by President Barack Obama to investigate the oil spill that BP in no way tried to short-change costs, even though the [...]
Read More »(CNN) – U.S. officials formally declared an end to the worst oil spill in U.S. history Sunday, a milestone that followed nearly five months of dashed hopes and blistering criticism of nearly everyone involved. After a weekend of pouring cement into the base of the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, pressure tests conducted early Sunday confirmed the seal was holding, former Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said announced. [...]
Read More »As the subsea effort to permanently plug the blown out Macondo oil well in the Gulf of Mexico draws to a close this week, the man who has been the government’s point person for the oil spill response effort said he also is preparing for the completion of his duties. Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who was named national incident commander on May 1, will step down from that [...]
Read More »BP said Monday that it resumed drilling of a relief well that is intended to put the final plug in its stricken well in the Gulf of Mexico. The company said that the crew of the Development Driller III rig began drilling again after technicians installed a device called a lockdown sleeve at the top of the stricken well on the seabed. The sleeve will keep a seal in place, [...]
Read More »ON THE GULF OF MEXICO — BP crews faced delays Saturday as they slowly raised the 300-ton blowout preventer that failed to stop oil from spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, taking care not to damage or drop a key piece of evidence in the spill investigation. The device was about 500 feet from the surface and likely wouldn’t be hoisted onto the deck of the Helix Q4000 vessel until [...]
Read More »LONDON — BP PLC Friday disclosed various lessons and capabilities built from trouble-shooting the big oil spill in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico which, it said, would allow the industry to more quickly cope with any future offshore oil drilling accidents. “These advances can serve as part of an initial discussion on how to institutionalize the increased capabilities and ensure that they can be readily mobilized in addressing a marine [...]
Read More »NEW ORLEANS — Engineers removed a temporary cap Thursday that stopped oil from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s blown-out well in mid-July. No more oil was expected to leak into the sea, but crews were standing by collection vessels just in case. The cap was removed as a prelude to raising the massive piece of equipment underneath that failed to prevent the worst offshore oil spill in [...]
Read More »The federal government’s point man on the Gulf of Mexico spill response said Wednesday there is no “significant risk” that more oil will leak into the sea when engineers remove the temporary cap Thursday that first contained the gusher in mid-July. Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said vessels will remain on standby just in case to collect any leaking oil. “We do believe the risks are small for any [...]
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