oil spill
-
Bad guys bicker over Gulf oil spill
Apparently today is the day we talk about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill? The White House released its year-in-the-making report about what needs to be done for cleanup ("more better things"), and now it looks like BP is still trying to palm off blame. They're claiming that Halliburton, which produced the cement used to […]
-
Government invests in robots that prevent oil spills
As oil and gas companies wander ever further offshore in search of fossil fuels, the government's putting some money into technology that safeguards against oil spills. The amount they’re spending — $9.6 million — is a paltry sum as federal investments go. But the important thing here is the result, which is robots. And not […]
-
Chevron on Brazil spill: ‘Oh whoops, our bad’
Earlier this month, an oil well that Chevron was drilling off the coast of Brazil sprung a leak, and as many as 110,000 gallons of oil have spread over the sea bed and into the ocean. Chevron didn’t even notice at first — Brazil's state oil company had to sound the alarm about the spill, […]
-
New skimmer can capture nearly 90 percent of spilled oil
After the BP oil spill, the X Prize Foundation offered a $1 million prize to anyone who could come up with a better way of cleaning up oil. But the winning team, Team Elastec/American Marine, didn’t merely do better -- they blew other oil skimmers out of the water (ha). Their skimmer sucks up nearly 90 percent of spilled oil. You can check it out in the video above. The details, according to NPR:
-
You know you want to knit a sweater for a penguin
Now is the time for all good knitters to come to the aid of some penguins. The New Zealand oil spill has left the little guys in need of some warmth and protection, and a Kiwi yarn store has posted patterns for how to knit "penguin jumpers" and instructions on where to send them.
-
Critical List: Leaking New Zealand oil tanker could break apart; EPA to speed Great Lakes cleanup
Eeek. A huge crack has opened up in the hull of the ship leaking oil off the coast of New Zealand, and the ship could break up apart "at any point," according to Maritime New Zealand.
In the U.S., the Justice Department had to sue Transocean to force the company to answer government subpoenas related to the Macondo well spill.
Can we feed people without killing the planet? Yes, says a new study, but it’ll take money, planning, and eating less meat.
-
Oil spill is New Zealand’s worst-ever environmental disaster at sea
It's bad when a tanker strikes a reef. It's worse when that tanker is carrying oil that starts tarring some of your country's nicest beaches. It's even worse when bad weather makes more oil leak from that tanker.
That's the series of increasingly problematic events that's been unfolding off the New Zealand coast, and the country's government is now calling it the worst maritime environmental disaster they've ever dealt with. The weather is keeping response crews from doing their thing, and birds and seals are both at risk. Plus, in addition to oil, the tanker was carrying smaller quantities of materials like ferrosilicon, which have the potential to wreak havoc in their own special way.
-
Critical List: Spilt oil tars New Zealand shores; climate change is a top issue for Europeans
Oil has reached New Zealand beaches, after an oil tanker ran into a reef last week. The tanker was carrying 1,700 tons of oil and 200 tons of diesel.
All these attacks on obscure regulations about boilers and concrete might seem boring, but in reality, they're part of a campaign that could destroy decades of environmental progress.
Europeans think that climate change is one of the top two issues facing the globe. (Although the No. 1 concern was a sort of Voltronesque mega-problem: poverty, hunger, and lack of drinking water.)
Rick Perry used to be against ethanol, but now he's in Iowa, so … he's not sure what he thinks.
-
Shocker: BP oil spill was BP's fault
A federal report, based on an investigation by the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement, has officially placed the blame for the BP oil spill at the feet of -- who knew? -- BP.