environmental damage

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Arctic Ozone Took 40% Hit This Winter

Up from previous record of 30%

(Newser) - The ozone layer above the Arctic withered by 40% this winter, according to the UN's weather agency, a stark increase from the previous seasonal record of 30%. The loss was driven largely by frigid conditions in the stratosphere—though surface temperatures were actually warmer than normal—and lingering chemicals banned...

Chevron Fined $8B for Ecuador Pollution

Oil giant says plaintiffs unduly influenced ruling

(Newser) - An Ecuadorean judge ruled today that Chevron was responsible for oil contamination in a wide swath of Ecuador's northern jungle and fined it at least $8 billion, the plaintiffs' lead attorney says. Chevron said it would appeal and called the ruling "illegitimate and unenforceable" in a news release. The...

Toxic Sludge Reaches Danube
 Toxic Sludge Reaches Danube 
Oct 7, 2010 2:59 PM CDT

Toxic Sludge Reaches Danube

Hungarian spill moves into Europe's 2nd largest river

(Newser) - A spill of toxic waste has reached a branch of Europe's second largest river, the Danube. The sludge from a burst containment reservoir in Hungary has already devastated the first river it came into contact with, the Marcal, reports Voice of America . EU officials say that all fish and wildlife...

Oily Mist Coats Gulf Towns
 Oily Mist Coats Gulf Towns 
Sep 3, 2010 5:55 PM CDT

Oily Mist Coats Gulf Towns

Airborne oil could be trouble for humans, plants

(Newser) - Beach workers in Orange Beach, Alabama, have noticed that strong winds from the south—that is, from the oil-soaked Gulf of Mexico—bring with them a greasy mist. Few in the town believe BP's claims that the oil is gone—why would they, when, after a day at the beach,...

Gulf 'Dead Zone' One of the Biggest Ever

Low-oxygen marine wasteland measures 7,772 square miles

(Newser) - The Gulf of Mexico is seeing one of the biggest low-oxygen areas—or "dead zones"—on record this year. A dead zone forms in the Gulf around this time every year, but the 2010 incarnation is 7,722 square miles, just a few hundred short of the record...

Gulf Shrimpers, Out of a Job, Work for BP

Oil giant pays victims competitive wages to clean up its mess

(Newser) - For shrimpers on the Gulf of Mexico unable to practice their trade because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, one employment option remains: working for BP, the company that destroyed their livelihood. The oil giant's "Vessels of Opportunity" program covers costs and pays trawlers close to what they would...

'Bottom Kill' Relief Wells No Sure Thing

BP estimates well will close by August, but huge challenges remain

(Newser) - The only technique BP has left in the fight to close the gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is the "bottom kill"—in which engineers pump mud into the well using parallel relief wells. Bottom kill is difficult and dangerous, but it has a track record...

Gulf Oil Spill Fallout Baffles Scientists

Scientists have little experience with oil from below

(Newser) - The Gulf oil spill will affect all living things in the area—but determining what those consequences will be is stumping the best minds in environmental science. There's never been an oil spill of the magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon accident on the ocean floor, and data is scarce on...

Tar Balls Hit Fla. Beaches as Obama Returns to Gulf

Residents plan 'last swim' before more oil arrives

(Newser) - Beachgoers in Florida got their first taste of the Gulf oil spill today as tar balls—some as large as hubcaps—washed up on Panhandle beaches. BP crews at some locations swept up the refuse, instructing visitors not to touch the balls. Although Florida has yet to declare swimming in...

Contract Worker Says BP Covers Up Spill's Worst

Firm wants images of dead wildlife kept to a minimum

(Newser) - BP is covering up the worst of the environmental damage from the Gulf oil spill, using its influence to keep images of crude-choked wildlife from becoming public, an anonymous contract worker tells the New York Daily News . The worker gave the newspaper a tour of the spill's most devastating views,...

BP Execs in Slammer? Unlikely
 BP Execs in Slammer? Unlikely 


fines, baby, fines
Jun 2, 2010 9:50 AM CDT

BP Execs in Slammer? Unlikely

Expect a big fine, possible restrictions on future drilling

(Newser) - So if the government gets as tough on BP as President Obama promised yesterday, does that mean oil company execs will be wearing stripes? Experts on environmental law doubt it. A criminal investigation or prosecution is far more likely to end in a massive fine for the company. “It’...

Oil Disaster: Obama's Best Options

The president needs a plan of attack

(Newser) - The Gulf oil spill is becoming a lesson in "ineffective leadership and the corporate capture of government," writes Dan Froomkin on the Huffington Post . Today's press conference offers a chance for President Obama to change that. Here's what he should do:
  • Take control: "Obama should make it
...

Spill May Screw the Gulf, but It Won't Kill BP

Oil giant's profits are prodigious enough to pay for cleanup

(Newser) - If you've been up late worrying about BP , rest easy. Whatever the ultimate toll to the Gulf states, and indeed the nation, the still-gushing oil spill isn't likely to kill BP. The British firm may be shelling out $17.5 million per day in clean-up costs, but it averaged $93...

Dome Reaches Floor of Gulf
 Dome Reaches Floor of Gulf 
May 7, 2010 4:17 PM CDT

Dome Reaches Floor of Gulf

BP crews start efforts to fit cap over broken well

(Newser) - Robots and technicians have successfully placed a containment dome on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, 5,000 feet below the surface. BP teams are now attempting to fit the dome, which they started maneuvering last night , over the Deepwater Horizon well that has been gushing 5,000 barrels...

Who Regulates Big Oil? Big Oil

Investigation finds gaps in oversight, safety measures

(Newser) - Over the past decade, the federal agency tasked with monitoring offshore oil drillers has gradually ceded control to the industry itself, finds the Wall Street Journal . The Minerals Management Service doesn't actually write rules, but rather sets "broad goals" for drillers, an approach that is taking heat post-Gulf spill....

Oil Slick Blasted With Record Dose of Cleanup Chemical

Oil dispersant helps break up slick

(Newser) - The massive oil slick bobbing in the Gulf of Mexico still hasn't reached shore, thanks in part to the unprecedented doses of an oil-dispersing chemical that are being dropped on it. The spill is being blasted with as much as 60,000 gallons of the dispersant each day, by way...

BP Building 'Containment Dome' to Slow Spill

'Giant iron funnel' will pump oil to surface

(Newser) - The firm at the center of the Gulf Coast spill is building a giant dome to slow the spread of oil. BP is constructing a 4-story, 70-ton contraption to lower over one of the leaks. The BBC likens the device to a "giant iron funnel" that "resembles a...

Gulf Coast Dreads Oil's Creep to Shore

Scope of disaster could be epic

(Newser) - President Obama headed for the Gulf Coast today, where all eyes are focused on the massive oil slick threatening to swallow the environment and economy of American shores from Louisiana to Florida. With tourist beaches, fragile marshes, marine life, and lush fishing grounds at stake, experts tried in vain to...

Protecting Wildlife Will Be 'Mind-Boggling' Job
Oil Spill: Protecting Wildlife Will Be 'Mind-Boggling' Job
slick hits shore
Apr 30, 2010 7:51 AM CDT

Oil Spill: Protecting Wildlife Will Be 'Mind-Boggling' Job

As oil reaches land, scientists worry about marshes

(Newser) - Migrating birds, nesting pelicans, and river otter and mink living along Louisiana's fragile coastline are in the path of the oil oozing ashore after the massive oil spill in the Gulf Coast. Louisiana's coastal islands and barrier marshes are home to hundreds of species. Protecting the ecosystem will be a...

Feds Will Remove 'Ghost Fleet' From Calif. Bay

52 ships, and their pollutants, will be gone by 2017

(Newser) - Dozens of mothballed US Navy ships that have been sitting in—and polluting—a northern California bay for years will finally be disposed of, the federal government announced today. Composed mainly of obsolete, World War II-era ships, the “ghost fleet” has dumped some 20 tons of toxic metal and...

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