BP oil still polluting Gulf coast

From Wildlife Promise blog in the USA:

“There Goes Another Piece Of Our Valuable Coastal Louisiana Marsh” (Video)

4/19/2011

One year ago on April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing 11 workers. Two days later, the burning rig sank. The ensuing oil gusher would eventually release more than 200 million gallons of oil, costing thousands of jobs along the Gulf Coast and leading to the deaths of thousands of birds, hundreds of endangered sea turtles, and more than 100 dolphins.

On Tuesday, I took a boat trip across the windy waters of Louisiana’s Bay Jimmy with the National Wildlife Federation’s Dr. Doug Inkley and Maura Wood to see the lingering effects of the oil disaster. Far from “gone,” a layer of oil remains in many coastal marshes, and attempts to remove it may be doing more harm than good.

One year after BP catastrophe, Congress hasn’t passed a single oil spill law: here.

They get muddy, wet, endure extreme temperatures – and love it! Meet our Gulf scientists: here.

FACTBOX-Impact on wildlife from the BP oil spill: here.

England: Protesters angry at BP sponsorship of arts institutions staged an oily demonstration at Tate Britain today to mark a year since the Gulf of Mexico spill: here.

1 year since the spill, still the push to drill: here.

The Gulf Disaster One Year Later: here.

The Obama administration’s Gulf “claims czar,” Kenneth Feinberg, has blocked the vast majority of those hurt by the BP Gulf oil disaster from compensation: here.

BP’s criminal negligence exposed: here.

Jason Leopold, Truthout: “BP continues to receive tens of millions of dollars in government contracts, despite the fact that the British oil company is under federal criminal investigation over the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and twice violated its probation late last year. Last week, the Defense Logistics Agency awarded Air BP, a division of BP Products North America, a $42 million contract to supply fuel to Dover Air Force Base for the next month and a half”: here.

BP Marks Gulf Oil Spill Anniversary With Campaign Contributions: here.

A year after spill, BP gives big bucks to GOP leadership: here.

BP is still blocking reporters from the beaches, Why? Some facts about BP Disaster: here.

Rose Aguilar, Truthout: “Gulf Coast resident Foytlin marked the one-year anniversary of the BP oil disaster by walking 1,243 miles from New Orleans to Washington, DC, to remind the country that even though the Obama administration and BP claim that life in the Gulf is back to normal, facts on the ground prove otherwise. She says people are experiencing everything from kidney damage to skin lesions, wildlife is dying, the economic devastation continues and the ecosystem has forever been damaged. Foytlin arrived in DC on April 14 after 34 days of rainstorms, heat exhaustion, tornadoes and countless blisters. She says it was worth it”: here.

Mike Ludwig, Truthout: “Scientists are still working to understand the ecological and human health impacts of the environmental disaster that followed BP’s Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico one year ago. While it may too soon to identify the long-term consequences of the disaster, a growing body of evidence reveals that the massive release of oil combined with the unprecedented amount of chemical oil dispersants applied by BP is still an environmental threat a year later”: here.

BP funds for environmental research dragging: here.

Powerful slideshow about the oil spill and the species it threatens: here.

April 2011: Citing a study that concludes that modest changes in oil and gas platform lighting could prevent the deaths of hundreds of thousands of migrating birds, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) has called on BP to implement changes in lighting on its platforms in the Gulf of Mexico: here.

BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Wildlife Update: Roseate Spoonbills: here.

Gulf spill: the lost, dead whales: here.

Photos: A year after Gulf oil spill, Louisiana’s Cat Island ecosystem struggles to recover: here.

Sasha Chavkin, ProPublica: “The government currently regulates only operators of offshore drilling rigs, such as BP, and in turn holds them responsible for any contractors they hire. Experts say that by delegating the supervision of contractors the government is essentially taking the word of rig operators that facilities are safe and comply with regulation. As Reuters reported, the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, Michael Bromwich, first raised the issue Monday, saying he thinks his agency has the authority to oversee contractors and that he intends to do so”: here.

More than 3,200 Gulf wells unplugged, unprotected: here.

Oil, gas industry “celebrates” anniversary of BP blowout with major fracking spill: here. And here.

Big Oil fighting against new EU deep water drilling laws: here.

Activists occupy oil rig in fight to prevent Arctic drilling: here. And here.

Kate Galbraith, The New York Times News Service: “Texans pride themselves on being the heart of the nation’s oil and gas business. But even here, public concern about natural gas drilling is growing. On Wednesday, several dozen protesters marched through downtown Fort Worth, waving signs and chanting anti-drilling slogans that reflected concern over air and water pollution.The anxiety centers on a recently expanded drilling method called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which is now used in more than half of new gas wells drilled in Texas”: here.

USA: Oil company earnings skyrocket, taxpayer subsidies continue: here.

Huge profits reported for Big Oil: here.

Big surprise? Sponsors of oil-drilling expansion bill got $8.8 million in industry contributions: here.

US gas industry refuses to release crucial data on hydrofracking: here.

Environmental protesters will target the Canadian high commission in London today over the country’s controversial tar sands project: here.