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Louisiana Blasts BP-Coast Guard Plan that Effectively Ends Oil Spill Cleanup

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The federally approved plan amounts to a sweetheart deal for BP, and a huge black eye for Louisiana and the entire Gulf Coast. The plan – which transitions out of the cleanup phase into the restoration phase – allows BP to walk away from miles and miles of contaminated coastline, marshlands and beaches that are still being hit by fresh, highly toxic oil. A high-ranking Louisiana public official...

Macondo Mystery Deepens: Nine Large Vessels Spotted Working in Vicinity of Deepwater Horizon Site

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The mystery continues to unfold at the site of last year’s massive oil spill. Flyover surveillance footage taken Nov. 12 reveals no fewer than nine large oil-related work vessels in the waters surrounding BP’s Macondo Prospect. Vast expanses of surface oil have been reported at the site since we broke the story here on this blog in mid-August, but both BP and the U.S. Coast Guard have...

Dereliction of Duty: U.S. Coast Guard Approves BP’s Plan to Shut Down Spill Cleanup

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As fresh oil continues to blot on our sugar-white beaches and our fragile coastal marshes remain choked with thick crude, BP is set to pull the plug on cleanup efforts across the Gulf Coast – and, inexplicably, the U.S. Coast Guard is clearing the way for the oil giant’s hasty retreat. Here’s how Associated Press reporters Cain Burdeau and Dina Cappiello covered the disturbing...

More Legal Woes for Oil Companies on Gulf Coast: Judge Awards $11 Million to Houma Family for Unpaid Oil Royalties

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A Terrebonne judge has put oil companies on notice: If you withhold oil royalties from landowners, you will be held accountable. In a ruling that represents a significant victory for Louisiana landowners and marks the oil industry’s second major legal setback this year on the Gulf Coast, District Judge Johnny Walker awarded $11 million to the St. Martin family in a royalty dispute with...

Another In A Long List of Gulf Casualties: Pensacola’s East Bay Oyster Population Decimated By Mass Die-Off

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You can add oysters from the Florida panhandle – an area slammed by the BP oil spill – to the widening list of marine life experiencing mass die-offs in the Gulf of Mexico. Dolphins, sea turtles, shrimp, blue crabs, sea stars, sand dollars and fish, such as red snapper and the minnow-like killifish, are being hit hard by disease, deformities, cellular abnormalities and, yes, die-offs. Now we have...

The Big Fix – the Must-See BP Spill Documentary – Makes Exclusive Week-Long Run in New Orleans Nov. 4th-10th

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The Big Fix – the wildly successful, critically acclaimed documentary film on the BP oil spill – is making big waves across the country and around the world. Fresh from its explosive North American premiere and its “standing ovation” debut at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, The Big Fix is making an exclusive week-long run at Chalmette Movies in New Orleans Nov. 4-10. Do...

Is BP’s Macondo Prospect Still Leaking? Fresh Oil Is Coming Ashore More Than 100 Miles Away

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Scientists confirmed last month that BP’s oil continues to bubble to the surface where the infamous Deepwater Horizon rig once sat. While federal officials bury their heads, the situation in the Gulf worsens by the day. We now believe this second wave of BP oil has made landfall on Horn Island, a narrow strip of federally protected land just 12 miles off the Mississippi coast. Here’s the...

Government Scientists Tie BP Spill to Dolphin Die-Off in Gulf – And Suggest Humans Also Could Be Affected

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In a breaking news story that went viral over the weekend, government scientists have (finally) established a tie between last year’s BP oil spill and the epidemic of dolphin deaths and rash of “mysterious” human illnesses that have rattled the Gulf Coast since early last summer. Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Center for...

Dolphin Death Toll Hits 400 Since BP Spill: Four Carcasses Wash Ashore in Five Days

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The procession of purple, bloated carcasses serves as a grim reminder. As of mid-October, more than 400 dead dolphins – many of them pregnant mothers and calves – have washed up on Gulf beaches since BP’s crippled Macondo Well dumped more than 200 million gallons of crude into the waters 60 miles off the Louisiana coast. Local media outlets are reporting a flurry of recent deaths and...

News Round-Up: October 25, 2011

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A selection of today’s headlines and must-read articles on issues ranging from fracking and the BP oil spill to Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster:
EPA to Develop National Regulations on Disposal of Fracking Wastewater
EU Crackdown on Oil Firms Will Not Extend to Overseas Operations
China Urges IAEA To Solve Iran Nuclear Issue Through Dialogue, Negotiations

Stuart H. Smith is an attorney based in New Orleans fighting major oil companies and other polluters.
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