Tag: Deepwater Horizon

Two years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster , Bill Reilly discusses a new report card Two years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, how has the government and industry responded to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history?The co-chairman of a former White House commission on the incident, and former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Bill Reilly, discusses a new report card on both the progress and delays in responding to the spill.

Transocean argue that Chemical Safety Board does not have jurisdiction to investigate the case Transocean's challenge to the U.S. Chemical Safety Board's ability to investigate the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and resultingGulf oil spill gets a hearing in a Houston court on Wednesday. Transocean, the owner of the rig has argued that the Chemical Safety Board does not have jurisdiction to investigate offshore chemical spills.The safety board contends it can investigate chemical releases and explosions both onshore and on the offshore outer continental shelf, which is where the Transocean rig was located when it exploded the night of April 20, 2010, killing 11 men onboard and beginning the largest accidental offshore oil spill in history.Transocean has refused to honor the board's investigative subpoenas and other requests for information, while other responsible parties, most notably BP, have not challenged the board's authority, the board said. The board contends its investigation is seeking to cover ground not addressed by already completed investigations by the Interior Department, Coast Guard, Marianas Islands, a presidential panel, BP and others.U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal will hear motions on the case Wednesday in Houston.Source: David Hammer, The Times-Picayune

U.S. Chemical Safety Board against Transocean A dispute over the authority of U.S. accident investigators heads to federal court here Wednesday, in a case pitting the U.S. Chemical Safety Board against Transocean Ltd., the owner of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.The House Energy and Commerce Committee asked the board, which investigates industrial accidents, to investigate the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon two years ago that killed 11 workers and unleashed a massive offshore oil spill.But Transocean says the agency has no powers offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and has been ignoring its subpoenas. Last October, the Justice Department filed suit against the company on behalf of the board. Arguments in the case will be heard Wednesday afternoon.If the courts affirm the agency's jurisdiction, the board is likely to become more involved in offshore oil and gas installations. The board, which doesn't issue regulations, now conducts investigations onshore. Offshore operations are regulated by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency.The chemical board says it has a role to play in the aftermath of Deepwater Horizon, because it is focusing on the explosion aboard the rig, not the subsequent spill or its environmental impact. The ...

Gulf of Mexico oil spill has not settled many remaining crucial issues. British oil giant BP's settlement may have satisfied thousands of victims of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill but it has not settled many remaining crucial issues. What's next?

Traces of oil in the zooplankton Since the explosion on the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, scientists have been working to understand the impact that this disaster has had on the environment.For months, crude oil gushed into the water at a rate of approximately 53,000 barrels per day before the well was capped on July 15, 2010. A new study confirms that oil from the Macondo well made it into the ocean's food chain through the tiniest of organisms, zooplankton.Tiny drifting animals in the ocean, zooplankton are useful to track oil-derived pollution. They serve as food for baby fish and shrimp and act as conduits for the movement of oil contamination and pollutants into the food chain. The study confirms that not only did oil affect the ecosystem in the Gulf during the blowout, but it was still entering the food web after the well was capped.Oil, which is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons and other chemicals, contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can be used to fingerprint oil and determine its provenance. The researchers were able to identify the signature unique to the Deep Water Horizon well in the Gulf ...

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation Toxic compounds derived from oil that was released in the Deepwater Horizon spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico nearly two years ago has entered the ocean's food chain through microorganisms, a recent study has confirmed.The study, funded by the National Science Foundation and led by a team of researchers from East Carolina University, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Oregon State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the U.S. Geological Survey, detected chemical compounds found in oil called hydrocarbons, some known to be carcinogenic, within the bodies of microscopic crustaceans called zooplankton."Our research helped to determine a 'fingerprint' of the Deepwater Horizon spill--something that other researchers interested in the spill may be able to use," Dr. Siddhartha Mitra of East Carolina University said in a statement. "Furthermore, our work demonstrated that zooplankton in the Northern Gulf of Mexico accumulated toxic compounds derived from the Macondo well."Zooplankton form the base of the ocean's food web and are typically fed upon by fish larva and smaller crustaceans, said Dr. David Kimmel of East Carolina University. Whether or not these larger organisms have accumulated significant amounts of toxic compounds, or ...

To understand more thoroughly the ecosystem impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill University of Georgia marine scientist Samantha Joye, who is the Athletic Association Professor in Arts and Sciences, and UGA colleagues Patricia Medeiros and Christof Meile have received a $1.3 million grant from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative that will enable UGA researchers and scientists from 13 other institutions to understand more thoroughly the ecosystem impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.The three-year grant, awarded through a competitive merit-review process by a board comprised of researchers from academic institutions, will allow scientists and emergency responders to better predict and respond to future spills, should they occur."This research program will provide a comprehensive assessment of the water column and benthic impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and also will allow us to begin to document the trajectory of ecosystem recovery," Joye said.Joye will serve as the associate science director for the project, titled "Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs to the Gulf," or ECOGIG. Raymond Highsmith, executive director of the University of Mississippi's National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology, is the lead investigator.At areas known as hydrocarbon seeps, Joye said, oil and gasses ...

$US8.7 billion impact The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 will have a large economic impact on the U.S. Gulf fisheries. A new study published in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (CJFAS) says that over 7 years this oil spill could have a $US8.7 billion impact on the economy of the Gulf of Mexico. This includes losses in revenue, profit, and wages, and close to 22 000 jobs could be lost."Unlike the visually obvious and immediate effects on birds and mammals, the effects of oil on fisheries can be more difficult to detect, though they are no less devastating," says lead author U. Rashid Sumaila. "Oil and hydrocarbons are taken up by plankton and other surface-dwelling species that link to aquatic food chains." This in turn affects the fishing industry.The Deepwater Horizon, a British Petroleum oil rig, exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on 20 April 2010. By August 2010 it was estimated that it had leaked an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil (780 million L), making it the largest accidental marine oil spill in US waters. In comparison, the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 amounted to less than ...

Moex Also to Perform Gulf Conservation Projects Worth at Least $20 Million MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC has agreed to settle its liability in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in a settlement with the United States valued at $90 million, announced the Department of Justice, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today. Approximately $45 million of the $90 million settlement is going directly to the Gulf in the form of penalties or expedited environmental projects.According to the terms of the settlement, MOEX will pay $70 million in civil penalties to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act resulting from the spill and agreed to spend $20 million to facilitate land acquisition projects in several Gulf states that will preserve and protect in perpetuity habitat and resources important to water quality and other environmental features of the Gulf of Mexico region. At the time of the spill, MOEX was a minority investor in the lease for the Macondo well. It no longer owns any share of the lease.The terms of today's settlement do not affect the potential liability of - or recoveries from - other parties involved in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.Beginning with a well ...

New trial to apportion blame for the Macondo well blow out A federal judge on Thursday said BP Plc must indemnify Transocean Ltd for some compensatory damage claims over the 2010 Gulf ofMexico oil spill.U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who oversees multistate litigation over the spill, agreed with Transocean that the Swiss driller was not responsible for compensatory damage claims raised by third parties for oil spilled below the ocean surface.He also ruled, however, that London-based BP need not indemnify Transocean for punitive damages, or civil penalties imposed by the U.S. government under the federal Clean Water Act.Thursday's decision reduces the potential liability Transocean faces over the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion that caused 11 deaths and the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.Transocean owned the rig, while BP owned a majority of the Macondo well whose blowout led to the spill.Shares of Transocean rose 8.9 percent in after-hours trading, and BP shares fell 0.6 percent."Indemnification from compensatory damages is key for Transocean," whose litigation exposure is now "materially diminished," UBS Securities LLC analyst Angie Sedita wrote in a research note. She has a "buy" rating on Transocean.Sedita said BP has estimated its Clean Water Act ...