Deepwater Horizon

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Oil Firms Blame Each Other for Spill

3 to point fingers in Senate testimony today

(Newser) - Execs from three firms involved in the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill will blame each other for the disaster when they face a Senate hearing today. In prepared testimony reviewed by the Wall Street Journal , the chairman of well owner BP points the finger at rig owner and operator...

BP's Safety Record Murky
 BP's Safety Record Murky 

BP's Safety Record Murky

Refinery blast, pipeline spill, safety violations

(Newser) - As the Gulf of Mexico turns into an oil-slicked environmental disaster, BP is quick to point the finger at Transocean, the owner and operator of the doomed Deepwater Horizon. But, as the New York Times reports, the oil giant itself has a history littered with spills, blowouts, safety violations, and...

Oil Rig Crew: We All Were Sure We'd Die

Workers recount fateful night Deepwater Horizon blew

(Newser) - It was a pristine day on the Gulf of Mexico, and the crew of the Deepwater Horizon had much to celebrate—they were nearing completion of a difficult oil well ahead of schedule, and a crew of BP execs had landed that morning to laud their safety record. Then at...

Methane Bubble Triggered Blast Aboard Oil Rig

Gas cloud covered Deepwater Horizon, then she blew

(Newser) - The deadly Deepwater Horizon blowout was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before exploding, according to interviews with rig workers. "A small bubble becomes a really big bubble," says an expert...

Dome Reaches Floor of Gulf
 Dome Reaches Floor of Gulf 

Dome Reaches Floor of Gulf

BP crews start efforts to fit cap over broken well

(Newser) - Robots and technicians have successfully placed a containment dome on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, 5,000 feet below the surface. BP teams are now attempting to fit the dome, which they started maneuvering last night , over the Deepwater Horizon well that has been gushing 5,000 barrels...

Containment Dome Nearly in Place
 Containment Dome 
 Nearly in Place 
updated

Containment Dome Nearly in Place

Giant structure being lowered over blown-out well

(Newser) - The big dome is nearly there. With the guidance of undersea robots, crews in the Gulf of Mexico are gingerly lowering the 100-ton concrete-and-steel box over a blown-out well on the ocean floor this morning. If all goes well—and we won't know until Sunday when it's fully operational—it...

Gulf Slick Hits Wildlife Refuge

Oily birds found in Lousiania's Chandeleur Islands

(Newser) - Oil from the massive Gulf of Mexico slick has begun washing ashore in a wildlife preserve off the coast of Louisiana. Officials say there is "oiling all over" the uninhabited Chandeleur islands, the BBC reports. The island chain is home to large numbers of endangered birds. Pelicans and gannets...

Gulf Crews Prepare to Lower Containment Dome
 Gulf Crews  
 Prepare to Lower 
 Containment Dome 
oil reaches shore

Gulf Crews Prepare to Lower Containment Dome

Move to cap BP spill fraught with unknowns

(Newser) - Crews prepared today to lower a 100-ton box they hoped would cut off most of the crude spewing from a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico, the urgency of their task underscored by oil that started washing up on delicate barrier islands. If the concrete-and-steel box works, it could...

Palin: Don't Trust Foreign Oil Companies

Like that no-good BP, which used to employ Todd Palin

(Newser) - Sarah Palin is fired up about the Gulf Coast oil spill, and she's taking away a powerful lesson: Don't trust foreigners, like those tea-sippers over at British Petroleum. “Gulf: Learn from Alaska's lesson w/foreign oil co's: don't naively trust—VERIFY,” she wrote on Twitter . That sounds great and...

If BP Plans Fail, Oil Spill Could Worsen Eight-Fold

Executives estimate 40K barrels a day would gush into Gulf

(Newser) - We know about 5,000 barrels of oil are gushing into the Gulf of Mexico every day because of the BP disaster. (See a nifty animated graphic charting the spill and projecting its course here from the Times-Picayune.) So what happens if the company's schemes to stem the flow—...

Spill leaves energy bill in trouble - Jeanne Cummings and Manu Raju - POLITICO.com


 Oil Spill Dooms 
 Climate Bill 
OH, THE IRONY

Oil Spill Dooms Climate Bill

Expanded drilling suddenly unpalatable for Dems

(Newser) - Energy reform advocates scrambled yesterday to rescue the bill that's been slogging its way through the Senate, but the Gulf oil spill appears to be the final, ironic nail in its coffin, Politico reports. Republicans will only vote for the bill if it includes an expansion of oil drilling, something...

Bush's 'Brownie': Obama Wanted Spill to Spread

Anti-oil prez waited for disaster, says ex-FEMA chief

(Newser) - President Obama's doing a heckuva job in using the Gulf oil spill to further his anti-Big Oil agenda, according to former FEMA chief Michael Brown. Brown—whose handling of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath won praise from few apart from President Bush—says that Obama waited for the oil spill to worsen...

Jon Stewart Savages Oil Spill
 Jon Stewart Savages Oil Spill 
GOLDMAN SACHS DID IT

Jon Stewart Savages Oil Spill

Watch out BP, Mary Landrieu, the media

(Newser) - Jon Stewart tossed a match on the Gulf oil spill mess last night, lambasting everyone from BP (failure to take responsibility) to suddenly meek formerly-pro-drilling politicians (hello, Louisiana's Mary Landrieu!) to the media's crappy coverage (anyone heard the term "Obama's Katrina" much lately?). And he does so,...

Dead Turtles Washing Up Near Gulf Spill

Experts suspect slick is to blame

(Newser) - Dozens of dead sea turtles have washed up along the Mississippi coast over the last couple of days and wildlife officials fear the endangered creatures are among the oil spill's first victims. Necropsies on 5 of the turtles have so far turned up no evidence of oil contamination, although experts,...

Op-Ed Columnist - Oil Drilling, Disaster and Denial - NYTimes.com
Gulf Spill Will Make Us Care About the Planet Again
Paul Krugman

Gulf Spill Will Make Us Care About the Planet Again

Paul Krugman finds a silver lining in changing public opinion

(Newser) - We can't begin to guess the full devastation of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, but Paul Krugman finds an unexpected silver lining: Environmental destruction has become "photogenic again." Just as Earth Day was born four decades ago of an America sickened by images of Santa Barbara beaches coated in...

Obama on Gulf Coast: 'BP Will Be Paying the Bill'

In Louisiana, president gets firsthand look at effects of ruptured oil well

(Newser) - President Obama visited Louisiana this afternoon, seeing for himself the effects of the continuing oil spill and promising an "all-hands-on-deck" reaction, the Times-Picayune reports. "BP is responsible for this leak. BP will be paying the bill," he said. "But as president of the United States, I...

Gulf Coast Dreads Oil's Creep to Shore

Scope of disaster could be epic

(Newser) - President Obama headed for the Gulf Coast today, where all eyes are focused on the massive oil slick threatening to swallow the environment and economy of American shores from Louisiana to Florida. With tourist beaches, fragile marshes, marine life, and lush fishing grounds at stake, experts tried in vain to...

Limbaugh Hits New Low With Oil-Spill Conspiracy

He suggests the rig's explosion is an inside job

(Newser) - Rush Limbaugh thinks the timing of the oil rig explosion is a little fishy: "What better way to head off more oil drilling, nuclear plants, than by blowing up a rig?" he asked on his last show. Which prompts Ezra Klein to dub him an "oil-spill truther" and...

BP Deemed Spill 'Unlikely,' Didn't Prepare

Plan filed with feds predicted 'no significant adverse impacts'

(Newser) - The worst US oil spill in decades reached into precious shoreline habitat along the Gulf Coast as documents emerged showing British Petroleum downplayed the possibility of a catastrophic accident. In a plan filed with the federal Minerals Management Service, BP conceded a spill would impact beaches, wildlife refuges, and wilderness...

Obama Will Head to Gulf
 Obama Will Head to Gulf 

Obama Will Head to Gulf

President's response to oil spill could be as vital as Bush's to Katrina

(Newser) - President Obama will head to the Gulf of Mexico within the next 48 hours to get an update on efforts to contain the massive spill from an offshore drilling rig. A senior administration official says details of the trip are still being worked out, and Obama will likely travel with...

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