offshore drilling

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Feds Tighten Offshore Drilling Rules

All deep-water projects to require impact studies

(Newser) - Oil companies will no longer be allowed to launch new deep-water drilling projects in US waters without submitting environmental impact studies under new guidelines announced yesterday. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the administration is banning "categorical exclusions" like the one that allowed BP to drill its ill-fated Macondo well...

Key Alarm Was Disabled on Oil Rig: Worker

Deepwater Horizon also had previously shutdown problems

(Newser) - As deadly pockets of oil and gas raced up the Deepwater Horizon's pipes on April 20, a key emergency alarm sat intentionally disabled and silent —giving workers no warning of the impending disaster until the oil rig blew sky high, according to testimony by an engineer. When he discovered...

House Panel Votes to Block New BP Drilling

Firm facing 7-year ban on applying for new offshore leases

(Newser) - BP faces being banned from new offshore drilling for up to 7 years under a measure passed by the House Natural Resources Committee. The amendment to a sweeping oil reform bill doesn't mention BP by name, but bans firms that have had more than 10 fatalities at drilling facilities or...

New Containment Cap Reaches Oil Well
 New Containment Cap 
 Reaches Oil Well 
UPDATED
Jul 12, 2010 6:57 PM CDT

New Containment Cap Reaches Oil Well

Feds revise deepwater drilling ban

(Newser) - A new containment cap has just moved into position atop the ruptured oil well beneath the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and officials are taking a wait-and-see attitude about the new equipment, MSNBC reports. "Until we have the cap on, securely fitted in place, and know it's operating...

First Rig Leaves Gulf Over Drill Ban

It could be the first of many in response to Obama moratorium

(Newser) - President Obama's moratorium on deepwater drilling may be stuck in legal limbo for the time being, but it's already having a tangible effect: The first idled drilling rig has sailed away from the Gulf of Mexico to work off the coast of Egypt, reports the Houston Chronicle . Diamond Offshore, based...

US Asks Court to Reinstate Drilling Ban

Feds taking advantage of slow legal pace

(Newser) - Three federal judges will hear the government's plea tomorrow to keep a moratorium on deepwater drilling in place while the case winds its way through the courts. The Obama administration wants to impose the 6-month moratorium in the wake of the BP disaster, but a lower court has deemed that...

Oil Spill Judge Dumped His Energy Stocks

Feldman sold many while hearing case on drilling moratorium

(Newser) - The Louisiana federal judge who struck down a six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling has sold many of his energy investments, a financial disclosure report released yesterday reveals. US District Judge Martin Feldman's disclosure report, which covers investments for 2009, shows he owned eight energy-related investments including stock in Exxon...

Judge Won't Delay His Ruling to Lift Moratorium

White House wanted a stay while it appeals to higher court

(Newser) - A federal judge in New Orleans has refused to delay his decision to strike down a 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling imposed after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Justice Department had asked US District Judge Martin Feldman to stay his ruling while it appeals to the...

BP Response Plan Was Based on Surface Spills

Government models weren't updated for deepwater drilling

(Newser) - BP's response to the Gulf spill was based on outdated government-provided models that were proven wrong by scientists before they were proven wrong by the disaster. The Minerals Management Service predictions—which didn't even address how oil would behave when spilled a mile under the surface—gave very low odds...

Salazar Plans New Drilling Ban

Moratorium will be back in place 'within days'

(Newser) - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, hours after a judge blocked the moratorium on deepwater drilling , announced that a new one is on the way. Salazar says he will order a new ban "within days"to ensure there's no repeat of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Reuters reports. "We see clear...

Judge Blocks Drilling Ban; White House Will Appeal

Affected companies oppose 6-month moratorium

(Newser) - The Obama administration may not impose a 6-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a federal judge in New Orleans ruled today. The White House immediately said it plans to appeal the decision, CNN reports . The Interior Department imposed the ban in the wake of the...

Deepwater Horizon Owner Slams Drilling Ban
 Deepwater 
 Horizon Owner 
 Slams Drilling Ban
Judge may overrrule obama
Jun 22, 2010 5:45 AM CDT

Deepwater Horizon Owner Slams Drilling Ban

Industry could get back to work tomorrow, says Transocean boss

(Newser) - The owner of the busted rig spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico is itching to get back to work. Transocean chief Steven Newman slammed the Obama administration's 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling at an oil conference today, the AP reports. There are things the administration "could implement today...

BP Doesn't Have a Tanker Big Enough

Oil giant will resort to burning some of the crude

(Newser) - Adding to the growing international backlash against BP's botched handling of the Gulf oil spill, US officials said yesterday that the oil giant is collecting for sale so much of the oil gushing out of the broken well that it doesn't have a big enough boat to hold it, the...

Obama to Reopen Drilling in Gulf Shallows

Deep water drilling moratorium to stay put

(Newser) - The government's almost ready to release new safety standards that will allow companies to start searching for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico again, President Obama said yesterday. Obama was seeking to reassure Gulf residents worried that the moratorium introduced after the Deepwater Horizon will destroy thousands of...

Louisiana Oil Industry Fears Drilling Ban Fallout

State projects loss of 20K jobs during 6-month moratorium

(Newser) - President Obama's 6-month drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico is intended to head off another environmental disaster, but it may end up causing an economic one. The oil industry makes up one-sixth of Louisiana's GDP, and the state estimates the ban would result in 20,000 jobs lost, NPR...

BP Constructs 'Floating Hotels' for Workers

Living quarters are spartan, but come with soap

(Newser) - BP has built floating hotels—or 'flotels'—to accommodate more than 500 workers hired to clean up the disastrous Gulf spill . Conditions are spartan: Each facility consists of 40-foot-long corrugated steel boxes stacked two high and three wide atop a barge in the Gulf of Mexico. But the military-style quarters...

BP Oil Rig Had Months of Safety Worries

Well was fraught with problems going back to June 2009

(Newser) - Most of us just woke up one April day to the news that an oil rig had exploded in the Gulf, but BP knew of safety concerns at least 10 months before that, according to documents obtained by the New York Times. The highlights:
  • In June 2009, BP engineers worried
...

Feds Let Big Oil Fill Out Own Inspection Forms

Regulators also took gifts, openly hustled for oil company jobs

(Newser) - Minerals and Management Service regulators accepted gifts from the oil companies they were supposed to be watching over, and allowed those companies to fill out their own inspection reports, according to a damning report from the inspector general, which found sweeping misconduct at the agency from 2005 to 2007. One...

Shell Gets Go Ahead for Arctic Drilling

Court clears the way for exploratory drill

(Newser) - Shell got the go ahead to ' drill, baby, drill ' in the Arctic this summer, after a three-judge panel rejected a legal challenge standing in the way of their plans. The court determined that the federal Minerals Management Service ( Um, remember them? ) weighed the potential threat to...

Poll: 42% Think Obama's Doing Good Job on Oil Spill
 Poll: 42% Think 
 Obama's Doing 
 Good Job on Oil Spill 
50% STILL FAVOR DRILLING
May 13, 2010 11:20 AM CDT

Poll: 42% Think Obama's Doing Good Job on Oil Spill

Majority support more drilling, despite risks

(Newser) - The Gulf oil spill is not "Obama's Katrina," regardless of what Rush Limbaugh says. A new AP/GfK poll finds that the disaster hasn't hurt President Obama—but neither has it dimmed the public's desire for more offshore energy drilling. Some highlights:
  • Obama's handling: Some 42% of those surveyed
...

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