Pollution & Health
Blame 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 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 READINGGulf spill estimates revised up — again
Let’s review the bidding. Since the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20, estimates of the volume of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico have gone steadily up. They began at zero, then 1000 barrels a day, then 5000 barrels (210,000 gallons), a number that has been repeated over and over in media reports. But …
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CONTINUE READINGEPA’s Clean Air Act tailoring rule finalized today
Just a quick post to point you to the fact sheet on the final tailoring rule, the final rule itself, and an early Greenwire piece on its content. Sure enough, as Adminstrator Jackson had been signaling for some time, the final rule significantly increases the GHG emission thresholds that will trigger New Source Review / PSD coverage, …
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CONTINUE READINGCongressional review begins
UPDATE: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is also getting in on the act this afternoon with a hearing on economic and environmental impacts of the oil spill starting at 2:30 EDT. Witnesses include representatives of the three companies, and representatives of fishing, tourism, and state interests. An environmental law perspective will be provided …
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CONTINUE READINGA Corporate Culture of Carelessness
Of course, if it’s true that BP is weak on accident prevention, that doesn’t necessarily mean that there were lapses in this instance or that the lapses were the cause of the blowout. But BP’s record is a reason for concern.
CONTINUE READINGHeads in sand, oil in water
Cross-posted at CPRBlog. As oil drifts on and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, forcing the closure of wildlife refuges and more fishing grounds, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has called a temporarily halt to new offshore drilling while his staff prepare a report on the disaster and even Republicans in Congress are calling for new …
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CONTINUE READINGHow Did It Happen?
An article in today’s Washington Post has some useful background on oil-well blowouts: Blowouts are infrequent, because well holes are blocked by piping and pumped-in materials like synthetic mud, cement and even sea water. The pipes are plugged with cement, so fluid and gas can’t typically push up inside the pipes. Instead, a typical blowout …
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CONTINUE READINGEPA dithers on coal ash
UPDATE: Over at CPRBlog, Rena Steinzor and James Goodwin have a nice analysis of the red-lined version of the proposal EPA has posted at regulations.gov, showing the difference between what it wanted to do and what OIRA was able to bully it into doing. Transparency really is a wonderful thing. Looks like EPA was ready …
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