Tag: BP oil spill

Though BP has continued to deny that any of its gulf wells are leaking oil, a large-scale oil slick reported in the area is worrying Gulf Coast watchdogs. Concerns abound that the oil could spell trouble for area fisheries, especially since reports of dead dolphins have persisted in recent days.

Reports of a spreading oil slick near British Petroleum’s Maconda well about 40 miles from shore in the Gulf of Mexico have local residents and area scientists concerned. BP has yet to confirm or deny the reports and mainstream media outlets have so far avoided investigating the story.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has responded to reports from over the weekend that BP is set to resume drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and that Transocean, the contractor responsible for BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig, awarded bonuses to its top executives, in part as a reward for “the best year in safety performance in our company’s history.”

Despite the Gulf oil spill, a massive pipeline break in Michigan and broad concerns about global warming, ambitious climate-change and energy legislation is likely dead for the year. That poses a conundrum, going forward, for environmentalists: How to convince lawmakers of the need for legislation to sever the country’s decades-long ties to oil and to reform energy policy more generally?

Colorado U.S. Senator Mark Udall downplayed criticism of President Obama's speech on the Gulf disaster last night and said he was heartened to see the president speaking authoritatively on the matter and that the speech was one of several moves in the last week indicating that a different and better approach by the U.S. government toward the oil industry would come of the catastrophe.

DENVER-- Talking at a Silco gas station in the SoBro or South Broadway neighborhood here Monday, Sen Mark Udall announced he was introducing new legislation that would refocus attention and redirect tax-payer cash toward preventing oil spills. Referencing the Colorado-based Department of Interior scandal that broke in 2008, where regulators cavorted with industry players and traded influence for drugs and sex, Udall said the government has a long history of corruption in its dealings with the oil industry and the result has been that increasing oil and gas production has been the main priority and that citizens have suffered as a result.