April 2, 2012
BARLING, Ark. (AP) - The Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers are investigating a possible oil spill in the Arkansas River in Barling.
The Coast Guard received a report of a rainbow-colored sheen on the water near lock and dam 13, which they said is consistent with an oil spill.
Coast Guard officials told KHBS-TV (http://bit.ly/HG3Nrs) the river is moving swiftly and they are trying to catch up with the sheen as it moves toward Mississippi.
March 29, 2012
EDINBURGH, Scotland – Environmental groups warned Thursday they fear an oil spill could be triggered at a North Sea offshore platform that has been leaking highly pressurized gas since the weekend.
A flame is still burning in the stack above the Elgin platform, which stands about 150 miles off the coast of Aberdeen, eastern Scotland, after a leak of flammable gas Sunday-- prompting all 238 staff to be evacuated on Monday.
Platform operator Total S.A. insists there is no threat of any explosion under current weather conditions, but said that surveillance flights have detected a sheen around the platform estimated to extend over 1.85 square miles.
March 28, 2012
FORT MCMURRAY, ALTA. - A recent study from Cornell University argues that if Keystone XL is approved in its entirety, it’s not a matter of if a catastrophic leak will occur, it’s when.
Industry officials, however, insist pipelines are the safest method of transporting crude oil.
The authors of the study compiled statistical data from spills in the completed portion of the pipeline between Alberta and Illinois.
The study found that since June 2010, that section experienced more than 35 spills in the U.S. and Canada. In its first year, the spill frequency for Keystone’s U.S. segment was 100 times higher than TransCanada’s forecast.
The authors say this data means a major spill for Keystone XL is a statistical certainty if the pipeline is operated over the next 50 years.
March 28, 2012
WASHINGTON – Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday the department would approve Royal Dutch Shell's (RDSA, RDSA.LN) oil-spill response plan for exploratory oil wells in the Beaufort Sea this summer, a move the company called "another major milestone" toward drilling there this summer.
Salazar, speaking at a press conference about Atlantic Ocean energy development, said the approval would come later Wednesday as part of the Obama administration's effort to support oil and gas development as well as renewable energy.
March 27, 2012
After months of laboratory work, scientists say they can definitively finger oil from BP's blown-out well as the culprit for the slow death of a once brightly colored deep-sea coral community in the Gulf of Mexico that is now brown and dull.
In a study published Monday, scientists say meticulous chemical analysis of samples taken in late 2010 proves that oil from BP PLC's out-of-control Macondo well devastated corals living about 7 miles southwest of the well. The coral community is located over an area roughly the size of half a football field nearly a mile below the Gulf's surface.