Gulf of Mexico

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Drilling Halted as Storm Brews
 Drilling Halted as Storm Brews 
forget relief well by weekend
Jul 22, 2010 7:12 AM CDT

Drilling Halted as Storm Brews

Ships prepare to pull out Gulf spill area

(Newser) - Dozens of ships are preparing today to pull out of the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm brews in the Caribbean, halting deep-sea efforts to plug BP's ruptured oil well. Though the rough weather is hundreds of miles from the spill site, officials ordered technicians to suspend work as...

BP's New Plan: Static Kill
 BP's New Plan: Static Kill 


Jul 20, 2010 7:57 AM CDT

BP's New Plan: Static Kill

'In a good position not to have a catastrophic event'

(Newser) - Once again, BP has a new plan. This one's called a "static kill" and could, the company says, make it possible to permanently seal the Deepwater Horizon well sooner than had been expected. The procedure would pump heavy mud into the capped well, forcing oil and gas back down...

Worries Over Leaks Mean Another Day of Tests

'Anomalies' spur caution, Thad Allen says

(Newser) - Worries over "anomalies" and seeping oil near the site of the Gulf spill have led authorities to order another day of testing on the cap over the damaged BP well, CNN reports . "There is no indication at this time this is any indication of a significant problem in...

Cajuns Wonder If Gulf Spill Is Last Straw
 Cajuns Wonder If 
 Gulf Spill Is Last Straw 
PARADISE LOST?
Jul 19, 2010 2:40 PM CDT

Cajuns Wonder If Gulf Spill Is Last Straw

Many plan to stay till the bitter end, if need be

(Newser) - The sultry, salty soul of Louisiana's Cajun culture is inextricably bound to the rhythm of the waters of the Gulf: The sea provides plentiful food, work, and a lifestyle that has endured since the Cajuns settled there in the 1700s. But the sea has also been quick to punish, and...

BP Stock Jumps on News of Leak Stoppage

Oil giant up 7% in late-day trading

(Newser) - BP's stock price jumped 7% on the news that the company had managed to plug the oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, TheStreet reports. Though the company still has 48 hours until it completes tests on its new cap (itself only a temporary solution), markets seemed to take the...

Gulf Seafood Isn't Tested for Oil Dispersants

Current tests detect only the oil itself, and research is thin

(Newser) - Seafood lovers may want to keep this in mind: Anything coming from the Gulf of Mexico is being tested for contamination by oil, but not for contamination by chemical oil dispersants. BP has so far used 1.7 million gallons of one in particular, notes ProPublica . "There’s no...

Why the Oil in This Crab Could Be Very Bad News

Effects in small sea creatures could ripple upwards

(Newser) - Scientists are reporting early signs that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is altering the marine food web by killing or tainting some creatures while spurring the growth of others more suited to a polluted environment. Near the spill site scientists have found a massive die-off of pyrosomes, which endangered...

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...

BP: New Containment Cap Goes on Today

Fix could stop all the oil leaking into Gulf

(Newser) - BP expects to attach a tight, new cap today on its blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, but it will take 48 hours of testing to determine whether the fix will be enough to finally stop crude from gushing into the Gulf. The new cap, known as "...

Hopes High for New Cap on Gushing BP Well

New device, support ship could pump out 25K barrels a day

(Newser) - The effort to plug the gushing oil well in the Gulf of Mexico could make significant progress this weekend, as a larger containment cap and its support vessel arrive at the spill site. Coast Guard officials say a window of clear weather over the next few days could provide a...

27 Thousand Abandoned Wells Dot Gulf's Floor

And nobody's monitoring them for leaks

(Newser) - BP's Macondo oil well is the only one on anyone's mind right now, but there are literally thousands more like it littering the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. Some are only temporarily abandoned (as BP was attempting to do in the Deepwater Horizon fiasco), while others date back to...

Tar Balls Hit Texas Beaches
 Tar Balls Hit Texas Beaches 
Jul 6, 2010 2:10 AM CDT

Tar Balls Hit Texas Beaches

Spill has now affected every Gulf state

(Newser) - Oil from the BP spill has now reached the shores of every Gulf state. Tar balls from the spill were found over the weekend on a Texas beach 400 miles from the Gulf gusher, AP reports. Authorities—who rapidly dispatched cleanup crews and sent BP the bill—believe the tar...

Choppy Seas Foil Tests of 'A Whale'

No definitive answers, more testing needed for skimmer

(Newser) - Choppy seas have temporarily foiled attempts to see if a giant oil skimmer can be a silver bullet for cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. Bob Grantham, spokesman for Taiwanese shipping firm TMT, says the company's vessel, dubbed "A Whale," will need further testing off the coast...

Hopes High for Whale of a Test

Supertanker continues 48-hour oil-skimming trial

(Newser) - The latest hopes are riding on a massive new skimmer to clean oil from near the spewing well in the Gulf of Mexico, while a local Louisiana parish's plan to block the slick has been rejected by federal officials. A 48-hour test of the Taiwanese vessel dubbed "A Whale"...

Massive Gulf Turtle Rescue Launched

Tens of thousands of eggs being moved

(Newser) - Wildlife experts scrambling to save hatchlings from the Gulf oil spill have hatched the biggest turtle rescue effort in history. Tens of thousands of sea turtle eggs will be dug up from beaches along the Gulf coast and trucked to Florida's Atlantic coast, where they will be hatched in temperature-controlled...

Tropical Storm Expected to Miss Oil Spill (for Now)

Alex's path could change quickly

(Newser) - Cross your fingers: The first tropical storm of the season has formed in the Caribbean. Alex is expected to pass over the Yucatan Peninsula this weekend, and while current forecast models say it won't pass over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, its path could change once it...

Storm Could Stop Spill Cleanup for 2 Weeks

'Top hat' would have to be turned off, releasing 840K extra gallons

(Newser) - A looming hurricane could force workers scrambling to slow or stop the Gulf oil spill back to shore—and release even more oil into the water, the Miami Herald reports. A weather system in the west-central Caribbean has a 70% chance of developing into a tropical cyclone over the weekend....

Drunk Man Drifts a Mile Out to Sea on Pool Float

At least he was wearing his life jacket

(Newser) - A man on a pool float was rescued after having drifted a mile into the Gulf of Mexico, the St. Petersburg Times reports. Police suspect he was "extremely inebriated," and note that he was saved only when a boater called the Coast Guard about an unconscious man floating...

Gulf Cleanup Captain Commits Suicide

Spill taking heavy emotional toll on fishing communities

(Newser) - A charter boat captain hired to help with the Gulf cleanup effort killed himself on board his vessel yesterday. Allen "Rookie" Kruse had been running fishing tours from an Alabama port for more than 20 years. Friends and family say the 55-year-old had become despondent over the spill's impact...

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...

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