| Nov 07 |
BP pays record $50 million settlement to Texas BP, the disgraced British energy company which is now allowed to start drilling again in the Gulf of Mexico whose waters it ravaged last year, will pay $50 million to the state of Texas as a settlement for state claims that it violated pollution standards 72 times after its Texas City refinery explosion in 2005. (more…) |
| Nov 07 |
Feds OK extending almost 1,400 offshore drilling leasesThe federal government has approved extending almost 1,400 offshore drilling releases in an attempt to offset work stoppages or delays sparked by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster. That event claimed 11 offshore workers’ live and spewed the worst oil spill in America’s history into the Gulf of Mexico. (more…)
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| Oct 26 |
BP says ‘spirit coming back,’ but Deepwater remains a deep stainBP is crowing now that the feds have said it can drill again in the Gulf of Mexico. “You can feel the spirit coming back,” says CEO Bob Dudley.
Of course, while banned from drilling after the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP had kept some Gulf wells active anyway, using loopholes and surrogate drillers. But now it has the all-clear to drill seven new wells on its own. Plus, profits are up. So its “spirit is coming back.” (more…) |
| Oct 21 |
Deepwater deaths, debacle don’t deter BP from more Gulf drilling The federal government today approved further offshore drilling by British energy giant BP — just 18 months after its Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 offshore workers and spawned the worst oil spill in American history. The new drilling will not be in BP’s Macondo prospect near Louisiana’s coast — site of Deepwater Horizon — but in its Kaskida prospect almost 200 miles from the Louisiana coast. BP will be allowed to drill up to seven new deepwater wells and shift the site of two other wells. (more…) |
| Oct 13 |
Feds fine 3 companies for Deepwater Horizon catastrophe The three companies involved in last year’s catastrophic Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig explosion, fire and oil spill all have been fined by the federal government for offshore drilling rule violations.
Federal fines could total as much as $45.7 million for BP, Halliburton and Houston-based Transocean. The move was made by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, an arm of the Interior Department. Its investigation along with that of the Coast Guard found “violation of numerous federal regulations designed to protect the integrity of offshore operations,” according to Michael Bromwich, bureau director. (more…) |
| May 06 |
Feds seek to raise BP’s cap on oil spill economic damages
As it stands now, British Petroleum, or BP, which was operating the doomed oil platform, has a $75 million cap on payments for non-cleanup and containment costs. In other words, if Louisiana’s $3 billion fishing industry is ruined, or if the Gulf Coast’s $100 billion tourism industry is staggered, they can stand in line to try getting a fraction of that cost from the company which seems to have caused it through negligence. Fortunately, the Obama administration is trying to correct this problem, which was created by the 1990 Oil Pollution Act. Indeed, the administration is working with Congress to lift the $75 million cap to pay for oil spill damages, in order to help those who suffer financially in Gulf Coast states Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. |
The oil business rakes in many billions of dollars in profits while you pay high prices at the gas pump and try to feed your family. But imagine how much more galling it will be to fishing, tourism and other business along the Gulf of Mexico coast as the economic fallout of last month’s