Gulf of Mexico

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Team Mulls 'Trash Plug' for Oil Leak

'Junk shot' would be blasted into contraption

(Newser) - The team that failed to cap the Gulf oil well with a dome may next try to plug the gusher with trash. The so-called "junk shot" would be used to aid the "blowout preventer" contraption that now sits near the leaker, but hasn't worked to prevent the spill...

BP Spill Plan Bore No Resemblance to Reality

Critics blast company's preparedness

(Newser) - As BP struggles to fix its oil containment dome, many in Washington and the oil industry say the company's botched handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill shows it failed to prepare for a major disaster—and comparing its spill plan to the reality of the current situation seems...

BP Weighs Trying Smaller Dome
 BP Weighs Trying Smaller Dome 
May 9, 2010 4:00 PM CDT

BP Weighs Trying Smaller Dome

Company considers multiple strategies as oik continues to gush

(Newser) - BP is considering more options to stop the flow of oil spewing at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. COO Doug Suttles said today BP is thinking about putting a smaller containment dome over the massive leak after a four-story, 100-ton box became clogged with icelike crystals yesterday. BP...

Dome Reaches Floor of Gulf
 Dome Reaches Floor of Gulf 
May 7, 2010 4:17 PM CDT

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
May 7, 2010 6:33 AM CDT

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
May 6, 2010 2:47 PM CDT

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...

Gulf Oil Spill Will Rock Insurers

Billions in environmental-related damages expected

(Newser) - Fishermen and environmentalists aren't the only ones casting a worried glance at that oil spill in the Gulf. Add insurance companies to the list. Estimates are flying around: $7 billion for final cleanup, $2.5 billion for Louisiana's fishing industry, $3 billion for Florida's tourism industry, and billions more to...

Oil Slick Blasted With Record Dose of Cleanup Chemical

Oil dispersant helps break up slick

(Newser) - The massive oil slick bobbing in the Gulf of Mexico still hasn't reached shore, thanks in part to the unprecedented doses of an oil-dispersing chemical that are being dropped on it. The spill is being blasted with as much as 60,000 gallons of the dispersant each day, by way...

BP Closes 1 of 3 Gulf Oil Leaks

But it won't cut the amount of oil gushing from the damaged well

(Newser) - One of the three leaks gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico from the ruptured undersea well was shut down last night, BP said this morning. The success in installing a valve, after several days of rough seas that hampered efforts, won't slow the oil flowing into the Gulf, but...

Schwarzenegger Drops Support for Drilling

Gulf tragedy shakes him up

(Newser) - Disturbing images of the Gulf oil spill have caused California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to change his mind about allowing new drilling for oil off the California coast. The governor withdrew his support for a project expected to raise $100 million for the cash-strapped state, telling reporters: "If I have...

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,...

Thank Dick Cheney for Gulf Oil Spill

Blogger connects dots and finds arrow pointing to ex-VP

(Newser) - The scope of the Gulf oil spill is far from clear, but the finger-pointing is already under way, and a lot of fingers ought to be aiming at Dick Cheney, Alex Pareene blogs for Salon . Connecting the dots that begin with a Wall Street Journal exposé, we learn that Cheney's...

Op-Ed Columnist - Oil Drilling, Disaster and Denial - NYTimes.com
Gulf Spill Will Make Us Care About the Planet Again
Paul Krugman
May 3, 2010 10:34 AM CDT

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 
May 1, 2010 7:09 AM CDT

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...

Feds Press BP on Funding Gulf Cleanup

Homeland Security, Interior secretaries tour oil spill area

(Newser) - BP is not doing enough to remedy the effects of the oil spill created when one of its offshore drilling facilities exploded, and the federal government plans to pressure the company to fund and complete the cleanup of the crude-choked Gulf of Mexico. "We cannot rest and will not...

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