USA: Kenneth Feinberg, the “independent claims czar” overseeing payouts to compensate victims of the BP oil spill, says that about half of the $20 billion fund set up by the oil giant and the Obama administration will be adequate to compensate victims of the Gulf oil spill: here.
Oil still fouling La. marshes, tour finds: here.
The Gulf oil spill in pictures: here.
Dahr Jamail and Erika Blumenfeld, Truthout: “In October 2010, Truthout tested several water and soil samples from the Gulf of Mexico for chemicals in BP’s crude oil and toxic dispersants. One sample of dead marine life was also tested. Truthout also obtained and had analyzed a sample of pure Corexit 9500, one of the toxic dispersants used to sink the crude oil. The dispersants BP has used in the Gulf of Mexico are banned in at least 19 other countries. BP has used at least 1.9 million gallons of the dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico to sink their 4.9 million barrels of crude oil. The samples were tested in a private lab via gas chromatography by an analyst who requested anonymity”: here.
The national commission on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill released its final report Wednesday, a key step in the Obama administration’s program to continue unregulated offshore drilling after the greatest man-made ecological disaster in US history: here.
The Gulf coastal ecosystems in Florida are foci of the highest species richness of imperiled shoreline dependent birds in the USA. However environmental processes that affect their macroecological patterns, like occupancy and abundance, are not well unraveled. In Florida the Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus) is resident along northern and western white sandy estuarine/ocean beaches and is considered a state-threatened species: here.
On Louisiana Coast, Damage From Oil Goes Much Deeper Than Spill: here.
Russian state-owned oil firm Rosneft and oil giant BP have joined forces to explore the resource-rich Russian Arctic: here. And here.
Naomi Klein: The Search for BP’s Oil: here.
Last week, the federal government released a report from the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling: here.
A graveyard of deep-sea gorgonian corals has been discovered 11 kilometres south-west of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: here.
Today marks nine months since the BP Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig exploded, killing 11 workers and sending millions of gallons of crude oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico. Though the gushing well was capped last July, oil continues to wash ashore along the Gulf Coast. BP’s oil is also washing up in people’s bodies, raising concerns about long-term health effects: here.
(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) To combat last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, nearly 800,000 gallons of chemical dispersant were injected directly into the oil and gas flow coming out of the wellhead nearly one mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution chemist Elizabeth B. Kujawinski and her colleagues report that a major component of the dispersant itself was contained within an oil-gas-laden plume in the deep ocean and had still not degraded some three months after it was applied: here.
Dr. Robert Hueter, Director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory, reveals how the Gulf Oil Disaster could lead to a redistribution of apex predators, like sharks and other large oceanic species. The primary cause for concern is this redistribution can have a cascading effect down the entire food web and create hazards: here.
He’s Back! BP’s Tony Hayward Cuts Deal To Drill In Arctic Wildlife Haven: here.
Gas leak prompts evacuation of offshore platform in Gulf of Mexico: here.
