RSS Feed
Archive for May, 2010
BP “top kill” fails
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 29th, 2010
Reuters: BP Plc said on Saturday the complex "top kill" maneuver to plug its Gulf of Mexico oil well has failed, crushing hopes for a quick end to the largest oil spill in U.S. history already in its 40th day. The beleaguered London-based energy giant said its next option is a "lower marine riser package" that will not plug the well ruptured in a rig blast, but rather capture most of the oil on the sea floor and channel it to the surface for collection. BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward ...
Posted in 
Summertime 2100, and the living isn’t easy
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on May 29th, 2010
Independent (UK): The year is 2100. Londoners and their guests need a pastiche of Arcadia in the heart of the capital. Peak summer daily temperatures are nearly seven degrees hotter than they were in 2000, and the city is far more crowded. By mid-afternoon the day's heat is starting to hang heavy, and will not disperse until the small hours. Evenings are febrile and nights fitful. Shaded open spaces draw people out of doors like a magnet summoning iron filings. The natural appearance of St James's Park ...
BP’s behaviour in the Gulf is appalling. But our thirst for oil is the real issue
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 29th, 2010
Guardian: As this piece is written, act one of the Gulf of Mexico tragedy continues, agonisingly, to unfold. We, the people of the region, keep hoping to leave behind the terrifying explosions and ghastly loss of human life, the dread invoked by black jets billowing endlessly from below and the floating oil spreading over an ever-growing area. We want to move on to act two, which will feature many dirty shovels, corpses of birds and people crying over the loss of a landscape they love. Act ...
EARTH MEANDERS: United States of Ecocide: Spilling and Consuming Way to Oblivion
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on May 29th, 2010
By Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet
Earth Meanders come from Earth's Newsdesk
A great, free nation remains immobilized in the face of ecological collapse
The United States of America is an epic experiment, as despite great accomplishments and numerous imperfections, we share a long history of constantly striving to improve our union. As Americans settle in for Memorial Day to remember veterans of all stripes from great wars of world defense to more recent military adventurism it is appropriate to consider what the current Gulf Oil Spill says about the American way of life. Plainly, our addiction to oil and consumption in general threatens to destroy regional and global ecosystems the water, air, land and oceans upon which Americans, humanity and all species depend upon for habitat and life.
America is truly exceptional. Yet it is not because of our materially excessive lifestyles, as best demonstrated by our wide girths and ample posteriors. There is more to America than consumption. Our greatness is primarily due to our wavering, imperfect yet unique commitment to freedom and liberty. Over two hundred years ago a just revolution was fought asserting individual liberties from monarchial authoritarianism. The principles of freedom and liberty were a gift ...
More than 80 beaches fail standards for clean water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2010
Telegraph: The Marine Conservation Society said one in seven -- a total of 83 -- of Britain's beaches fail the European Commission's mandatory minimum water quality standard. This means the water is polluted with sewage or litter and could cause stomach upsets or ear infections for swimmers. The annual Good Beach Guide produced by the charity rated more than half of the UK's 769 bathing beaches as "excellent" for water quality according to their own tests. The number of sites failing the MCS's ...
BP CEO: Chance of “top kill” success 60-70 percent
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2010
Reuters: BP Plc's chances of succeeding in its "top kill" effort to plug a blown-out oil well beneath the Gulf of Mexico remains at 60 to 70 percent, CEO Tony Hayward told Reuters on Friday. "We have wrestled it to the ground, but we haven't put a bullet in its head yet," Hayward said while aboard a helicopter inspecting the spill site over the Gulf. Hayward said BP will know in the next 48 hours if the procedure has worked. "Top kill," BP's best short-term option for choking off the ...
BP’s Top Kill to Quell Oil Spill Begins in Gulf
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2010
Time Magazine: The spiraling disaster that is the BP oil spill has at least one more day to run. That was the word from BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles at a press conference on Thursday, May 27, more than 25 hours after the company's much awaited top-kill procedure got under way. Following a day of encouraging news - and a false report from the Los Angeles Times that the leak had actually been stopped - a weary-looking Suttles had one message: Not so fast. Part of the reason for the caution ...
Land management chief to take over drilling agency
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2010
Associated Press: The chief of the Interior Department's land management bureau has stepped in to run the much-criticized agency that oversees offshore oil drilling after its director resigned under pressure. Bob Abbey took over Friday as acting director of the Minerals Management Service and will also keep his post at the Bureau of Land Management. He replaces Elizabeth Birnbaum, who left Thursday after 10 months as director of the agency that oversees drilling on federal land and water. It has been ...
Obama and BP CEO visit Gulf as spill remains unsolved
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2010
Reuters: BP said on Friday it may need two more days to know if its complex maneuver to plug a gushing Gulf of Mexico oil well has worked, while President Barack Obama warned there was no "silver bullet" solution to the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. Trying to assert leadership in the face of growing criticism over his handling of the spill, Obama toured the Louisiana Gulf coast, where oil has seeped into delicate marshlands and shut down much of the lucrative fishing trade. BP CEO ...
3 million feet of boom in Gulf, but does it help?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2010
Associated Press: Globs of sticky brownish ooze soil miles of sensitive shoreline and marsh from Alabama to Louisiana. Pelican rookeries are awash in oil. Oyster beds and shrimp nurseries face certain death. All the while, long, slender barriers intended to protect the shoreline float twisted, tangled or sometimes just broken apart, unable to stop the creeping crude. Since last month's rig explosion and spill of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico -- now the largest spill in U.S. ...