tagged w/ Oil Dispersants
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The Wall Street Journal reports that BP’s lawyers helped prepare its internal investigation into its Gulf of Mexico drilling disaster, according to the report's lead author, raising questions about the study's impartiality.The Wall Street Journal reports that BP’s lawyers helped prepare its internal... more
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Propublica’s Marian Wang reports that even as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calls for more research into the long-term effects of the chemical dispersants BP used in the Gulf, representatives of BP and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been dispatching public relations officials to local schools to do what they refer to as dispelling myths about dispersants and subsurface oil.Propublica’s Marian Wang reports that even as the U.S. Environmental Protection... more
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Levels of some cancer-causing oil compounds rose significantly in the waters off the Louisiana coast during the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Oregon State University researchers.Levels of some cancer-causing oil compounds rose significantly in the waters off the... more
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A White House commission appointed to investigate the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico found that the Obama administration lost the public trust and may have sabotaged clean-up operations by grossly underestimating the amount of oil gushing from BP's broken Macondo well.A White House commission appointed to investigate the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf... more
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An environmental whistleblower group charges in a lawsuit that the Obama administration is withholding documents that would reveal why it issued an estimate on the gravity of the Gulf of Mexico oil well blowout that later was proved to be far too low.An environmental whistleblower group charges in a lawsuit that the Obama... more
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US officials recorded a big jump in the numbers of dolphins, endangered brown pelicans and sea turtles injured or killed by the BP oil geyser over the past week, at the same exact time as officials were proclaiming that the oil was rapidly disappearing from the Gulf.US officials recorded a big jump in the numbers of dolphins, endangered brown pelicans... more
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BP says it is no longer using toxic dispersants to break up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Gulf Coast residents claim otherwise, and say they have the sicknesses to prove it.BP says it is no longer using toxic dispersants to break up the Gulf of Mexico oil... more
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China recruits 800 fishing boats to disperse Yellow Sea oil slick
The flotilla will join the 24 specialist ships that have been spraying dispersal agents and soaking up crude
* Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent
* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 July 2010 17.48 BST
* Article history
Photo: Oil spill washes ashore in the port of Dalian, China Oil washes ashore in the port of Dalian, China, 20 July 2010. Photograph: Jiang He/Greenpeace /EPA
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Chinese authorities stepped up their efforts to disperse a major oil slick in the Yellow Sea yesterday by mobilising 800 fishing boats to help the clean-up operation.
The flotilla will join the 24 specialist ships that have been spraying dispersal agents, soaking up crude with panels of absorbent felt and using a floating barrage to prevent the slick from contaminating the beaches near Dalian.
Investigators have also launched a probe into the pipeline explosion that caused the seepage on Friday night and has subsequently forced the authorities to restrict access to Dalian Xingang oil terminal.
A 300,000-tonne crude oil tanker, owned by Singapore Pacific Petroleum which was unloading its cargo at the time of the accident, has been held for checks.
The domestic media said there have been safety concerns at the port for some time.
An environmental protection bureau study on the petrochemical industry in 2006 identified five projects at the Dalian Xingang Port as potential risks, according to Global Times.
Economic activity in the north-eastern port has been seriously disrupted. Six "very large crude carriers", with about 12m barrels of oil, were expected to be diverted, possibly to South Korea or other terminals in China with the capacity for such large vessels. Ships carrying imported corn have also been forced to dock elsewhere.
Thousands of firefighters have doused the flames and port engineers have staunched the leak, but the clean-up mission will take at least four more days, according to the domestic media.
Officials said the dispersal operation was making progress despite rough seas. Considerably smaller in scale than the BP leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the slick has reportedly shrunk by more than a third from its peak of 50 square kilometres.
But local reporters said the crude was evident on nearby beaches, where patches of sand and rocks were coated in a layer of oil.
The leak is likely to add to persistent calls for tighter environmental regulation in China. The need for improved standards was also highlighted by a toxic spill from a copper mine in Fujian month that poisoned a major river, killed countless fish and threatened the drinking supplies of downstream communities.
The director of the Environmental Inspection Office, Zou Zhimin, told the local media that the state council - China's cabinet - have arranged inspections of safety standards at petrochemical sites across the country."China recruits 800 fishing boats to disperse Yellow Sea oil slick
The flotilla will... more
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