The National Commission of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling released its final report this morning. (I know—you were watching the Verizon iPhone launch.) We’ll have a story up soon on the mainpage about the report and the impact it may have on the offshore drilling industry—I’m guessing not that much—I …
oil spill
Oil Spill: How the Gulf Cleaned Itself—The Bacterial Way
Over on the TIME.com mainpage, I have a piece about the growing number of scientific studies that have examined the Gulf of Mexico since oil spill, and found a surprising fact. Most of the oil and other hydrocarbons released by the blown Macondo well seem to have vanished, broken down and digested by bacteria. It’s a sign that the Gulf, …
Government Commission: The Gulf Oil Spill Was Avoidable—But Corporate & Regulatory Mistakes Made It Virtually Inevitable
Internal medicine training programs in hospitals have what are called morbidity and mortality conferences—known as M&Ms. The reviews usually take place after unexpectedly poor patient outcomes—like deaths, for instance—and investigate what medical errors might have been made that contributed to the failure. M&Ms are dreaded by …
Oil Spill: Providing Clean Energy for the Victims of Deepwater Horizon
Last week I wrote a column asking the question: whatever happened to the Gulf oil spill? Thanks to presidential commissions and great investigative reporting, we know a great deal about why the spill happened and what impact it might have on the land and the water of the Gulf. In the news, though, the spill seems largely gone.
But …
Oil Spill: The Federal Government Takes BP to Court
I’m finishing up the Energy Innovations 2010 conference in Washington, of which more later today, but I wanted to note the news that the U.S. Justice Department has decided to sue BP and a number of other companies over this summer’s oil spill in the Gulf. From Attorney General Eric Holder’s statement today:
We intend to prove that
…
Energy: The White House Reverses Itself on Offshore Drilling [UPDATE]
The official announcement will come at from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at 1:30 EST today, but sources are already reporting that the White House will be pulling back on offshore oil and gas drilling. Drilling will only be allowed in the central and western Gulf of Mexico, and in parts of the Alaskan Arctic—both territories …
Oil Spill: Kenneth Feinberg Makes the Final Rules for Spill Settlements. But Are They Fair?
There are people who have tougher jobs in the world, like sergeants in Afghanistan or maybe the coach of the 76ers. But Kenneth Feinberg doesn’t have it easy. The Boston-bred lawyer took over the Gulf oil spill claims process in late August, and since then he’s managed to be criticized by nearly everyone in the Gulf Coast region. …
Oil Spill: The National Academy of Engineers Spreads the Blame Around
It’s only been seven months since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill began, but doesn’t it feel so much longer? Maybe it’s the accelerated pace of modern media, which I attribute to Politico, Twitter or too easy access to Monster energy drinks. The offshore drilling industry is still complaining about government attempts at …
Oil Spill: Commission Finds That Companies Knew of Cement Flaws in the Macondo Well [UPDATE]
[Update 10/29/10: Halliburton has responded to the commission’s report—and unsurprisingly, the company deflects the blame and places the responsibility back on BP’s shoulders. Halliburton questioned the commission’s tests, arguing that the panel’s investigators used a different cement mixture than the one that eventually went into the …
Oil Spill: A Damning Indictment of BP’s Safety Culture
New BP CEO Bob Dudley isn’t happy with me. Well, not just me—all of the reporters who dug into BP’s past safety problems and raised questions about the mistakes the company made on the road to the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. And he’s also mad at the environmentalists and scientists who raised the alarm in the wake of the spill, and …