Oceans
Not So Good At Safety But Great Lobbyists
It’s no surprise that the petroleum industry has political heft, but the number (courtesy of the Times) are impressive: The oil and gas industry is a formidable presence in Washington. It spent more on federal lobbying last year than all but two other industries, with $174.8 million in lobbying expenditures, according to the Center for …
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CONTINUE READINGA Gateway to Information on the BP Spill
There’s getting to be too much material on the disaster in the Gulf to keep up with. With the assistance of Aspen Publishing, we’ve posted a list of two-dozen key links here — just click on the “Related Links” tab on the left side of the page. The Berkeley Law Library is working on a …
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CONTINUE READINGWe’ve Known the Risks in the Gulf for Forty Years
We’ve known all along that offshore drilling in the Gulf placed at risk exceptionally valuable and sensitive coastal areas. We need look no further than a forty-year-old court decision on Gulf oil drilling, which made the dangers abundantly clear. In 1971, President Nixon announced a new energy plan involving greatly expanded offshore drilling. In a …
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CONTINUE READINGBlame and the BP Oil Spill
Like most observers, I suspect, I find myself so enraged by the BP oil spill I don’t even know where to direct my anger. Obviously, BP should be at the top — Dan was appropriately eloquent in his word choice by calling the company’s series of errors and negligent acts a cluster%#@*. And the …
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CONTINUE READINGToday’s Oil Spill News
BP is attempting the “top kill” method of stemming the leak with uncertain results as of yet. Early results are encouraging, and we all hope for the best. In other developments: According to the White House, President Obama will announce six-month extension of moratorium on drilling new wells and will cancel new lease sales off …
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CONTINUE READINGA Two-Word Phrase Beginning with “Cluster” and Rhyming with “Luck”
There’s a classic military term for the series of foul-ups that led to the BP oil spill.
CONTINUE READINGThe Oceans Heat Up
Here’s the data from the latest research in Nature, courtesy of Real Climate: I’m sure that at least some economists will view this as a desirable development: soon we’re going to have our very own planetary hot tub!
CONTINUE READINGMMS needs more than a facelift
The Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has brought new attention to the Minerals Management Service, the obscure branch of the Department of Interior responsible for overseeing offshore oil and gas production. MMS has been on the hot seat together with BP, Transocean, and Halliburton as Congressional committees and others have begun to …
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CONTINUE READINGBP’s Disastrous PR Blowout
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZidQAf8epE] Even Fox News is berating BP for its callous and inapt public response to the oil blowout. And for good reason. As Newsweek says: This hasn’t been a good few weeks for Tony Hayward, the chief executive officer of BP. In the weeks since the huge oil spill in the Gulf began, he has …
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CONTINUE READINGCosts and Benefits of Offshore Oil
In thinking about the economics of off-shore oil, the main benefit is increased energy security. According to an RFF study, Netted out, the Brown and Huntington estimates suggest that the effect of increased U.S. oil production is about $1 per barrel (or 2.4 cents per gallon of gasoline); for each barrel of increased U.S. oil …
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