The Environment / Oil Spills

• Fish Embryos Reveal that Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Still Lingers

  After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, crude oil toxicity continued to sicken a sentinel Gulf Coast fish species for at least a year or more, new research shows.The researchers found that Gulf of Mexico killifish embryos exposed to sediments from oiled locations in 2010 and 2011 show developmental abnormalities, including heart defects, delayed hatching, and reduced hatching success.Killifish exposed to sediments from oiled sites affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill continue to show health defects, three years after the spill. (Credit: Andrew Whitehead/UC Davis)The killifish is an environmental indicator species, or a “canary in the coal mine,” used to predict…

• PERU: Environmental Authorities Get Serious

  Bottom Line: Peru is taking tough action against oil and gas companies over poor environmental practices following an oil spill earlier this month, halting operations and imposing fines. There’s more of this to come as the government investigates other violations. Analysis: Last week, the government of Peru declared a 90-day environmental emergency in the Pastaza Amazon region after an oil spill from drilling operations managed by Pluspetrol.  Operations will be halted for three months at Pluspetrol’s site on the Rio Pastaza, near the border with Ecuador, and some 900km north of Lima. Peru’s Environmental Evaluation and Prosecution Agency (OEFA) has…

• Exxon Oil Spill in Arkansas, Keystone Spoiler?

  The rupture of an Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) pipeline on 29 March in Mayflower, Arkansas, just northwest of Little Rock, adds to Keystone XL’s woes as the public tallies recent oil spills and So far, Exxon has managed to collect around 12,000 barrels of oil and contaminated water from the spill, but not before some 22 homes were evacuated. Exxon’s Pegasus pipeline carries up to 96,000 barrels a day, running from Patoka, Illinois to Nederland, Texas.The Arkansas spill adds to the tally of 364 spills last year alone from US pipeline ruptures. In total, some 54,000 barrels of oil…

• Canada Sends Billion-Dollar Message to Oil Industry

  Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper may be about to get tough on offshore oil developers and pipeline companies with legislation that could make them liable for billions of dollars in the event of an accident. The rumor is that Harper’s cabinet is pouring over some major legislation that would go a long way to appease environmentalists who view the country’s laws governing the sector as far too lenient. Speaking to Canadian media, Environment Minister Peter Kent went on record both to describe the potential new legislation as “significant” and that the current legislation essentially requires taxpayers to foot the bill…

• Top Ten Costs of the BP Oil Spill that won't be Covered by the $4.5 Billion Fine

  BP recently agreed to pay a fine of some $4.5 billion dollars from the US Department of Justice for malfeasance in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest fine paid in US history. There are also manslaughter and obstruction of justice charges against individual executives.BP also was forced by President Obama to pay out $20 billion for damage claims, though it has dragged its feet in actually making the payments. It faces further lawsuits and private payouts.Given the high price of petroleum, however, BP can pay the fine with no difficulty (it is allowed to pay it over five…

• Pipeline Companies Leak Detection System Only Detects 1 out of 20 Oil Spills

  An investigation of pipeline accident reports from the last ten years has revealed that the much touted leak detection systems employed by pipeline companies only catch one out of twenty spills.The article, by Lisa Song of Inside Climate News, illustrates an alarming disconnect between industry rhetoric and reality when it comes to detecting leaks on pipelines. Not only do pipeline leak detection systems miss nineteen out of twenty spills, they miss four out of five spills larger than 42,000 gallons. Understanding the limits of current leak detection technology has never been more important. As companies like Enbridge and TransCanada propose…

• Bacteria Consumed Over 200,000 Tons of Oil from Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

  Over a period of five months following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, bacteria consumed at least 200,000 tons of oil and natural gas that spewed into the Gulf of Mexico.For a study published this week in Environmental Science and Technology, researchers analysed an extensive data set to determine not only how much oil and gas was eaten by bacteria, but also how the characteristics of the feast changed with time.“A significant amount of the oil and gas that was released was retained within the ocean water more than one-half mile below the sea surface, says co-author John Kessler, associate…

• The Horrifying Effects of a Canadian Tar Sands Oil Spill

  Part of the US’s attempts to secure energy independence involves increasing the imports from friendly neighbours such as Canada. This has led to a large number of new pipelines spreading out across America in preparation for the increase in tars sands deliveries.With more pipelines comes the risk of more spills, and Canada’s tar sands do not produce conventional crude oil. It is thick, sticky and full of sand and other materials that are used in the extraction techniques.Little is known about how tar sands crude will behave after a spill, or whether its density and the fact that it contains…

• Shell Confirm that they Cannot Recover 95% of an Arctic Oil Spill, Only Find it

  As Shell’s rigs head toward the Arctic to exploit melting sea ice to drill for more oil, the company took a small step this weekend in clarifying what would happen in an oil spill during the company’s planned Arctic drilling operations this summer.Despite the oil industry’s spin, experts know it is impossible to recover more than a small fraction of a major marine oil spill, as retired Coast Guard Admiral Roger Rufe told NPR: “But once oil is in the water, it’s a mess. And we’ve never proven anywhere in the world — let alone in the ice — that…

• Chevron's Third World Woes

  Chevron is revered in Wall St. and City of London for its massive abilities as a money machine. Last year Chevron, the United States’ largest oil and gas company after ExxonMobil, boosted its revenues by an impressive 25% over FY 2010 to $245.6 billion. Of even greater interest to Chevron shareholders, profits soared by 41% to $26.9 billion. Little wonder then that Chevron CEO and chairman John Watson strolled home with roughly $25 million in total compensation in 2011, a 52% increase over his 2010 pay, according to Chevron's securities filing.2012 and the next couple of years also promise to…