Island // Current TV

El Tubo de la Muerte/The Pipeline of Death - Puerto Rico's Via Verde

The ‘gasoducto’ is a planned 92-mile natural gas pipeline, running from... more

worrg
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3 months ago
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Philippines cleans up after Typhoon Nesat

A huge clean-up operation is under way in the Philippines after Typhoon Nesat battered... more

sitsi
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8 months ago
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Midway’s Albatrosses Survive the Tsunami

The famed albatrosses of Midway Atoll took a beating from the tsunami, but their... more

eva2
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1 year ago
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Komodo Island is the New 7 Wonders of the World

SEO Contest "Komodo Island is the New 7 Wonders of the World" should we... more

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1 year ago
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Minecraft "Survival Island": Precious Dirt

In minecraft, people are turning to 'survival mode servers' which are... more

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1 year ago
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Aloha, Hawaii!

A paradise in the remote ocean.

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1 year ago
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Online USA News: Rhode Island snow totals: East coast blizzard continues in New England

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1 year ago
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The Island Of The Dolls – A Dark Tourist Attraction In Mexico

A world renowned tourist destination is “La Isla de la Munecas”- a Spanish... more

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1 year ago
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Shark Celebration - Whale Sharks

Some people hype sharks - but at least one island in the Caribbean has turned sharks... more

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1 year ago
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Island of Ghosts: Hashima Island - Japan’s rotting metropolis

Hashima, an island located in Nagasaki Bay, is better known as Warship Island... more

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BP Skirts Offshore Drilling Moratorium by Building an Island 3 Miles Off Alaska Coast « SpeakEasy

The New York Times is reporting today that BP is on the verge of kicking off a “controversial and potentially record-setting” drilling project three miles off the coast of Alaska. The project, which is called “Liberty,” involves drilling down two miles below the ocean, then six miles horizontally to access an oil reservoir. If this process sounds eerily similar to hydraulic fracturing, a disaster-riddled natural gas extraction method that I’ve covered for much of the past year, that’s because it is.

But there’s more. You might be wondering how BP can just up-and-start-drilling three miles offshore when there’s a moratorium that’s supposed to prevent, well, offshore drilling. Here’s how:

BP’s project … has been exempted as regulators have granted it status as an “onshore” project even though it is about three miles off the coast in the Beaufort Sea. The reason: it sits on an artificial island — a 31-acre pile of gravel in about 22 feet of water — built by BP.

A motherf**king BP island!? Come on, people!

This isn’t even the most outrageous part of the story, though. Two scientists from Alaska’s MMS told the Times that “in a break from usual practice,” federal regulators allowed BP to write its own environmental review for the Liberty. BP also wrote its own “consultation documents relating to the Endangered Species Act.” Incidentally, the rig sits smack dab in the middle of a migratory area for bowhead whales.

Critics are charging that a 31-acre pile of gravel will not contain a major spill, if one were to occur on the Liberty. One scientist quoted in the story sums things up pretty well:

“It makes no sense,” said Rebecca Noblin, the Alaska director for the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental watchdog group. “BP pushes the envelope in the gulf and ends up causing the moratorium. And now in the Arctic they are forging ahead again with untested technology, and as a result they’re the only ones left being allowed to drill there.”

Apparently, for BP, “Liberty” still means doing whatever the hell you want, whenever the hell you want, however the hell you want to do it.The New York Times is reporting today that BP is on the verge of kicking off a... more