Desdemona Despair

Blogging the End of the World™

Slick Operator: How British oil giant BP used all the political muscle money can buy to fend off regulators and influence investigations into corporate neglect

By Michael Isikoff and Michael Hirsh | NEWSWEEKPublished May 7, 2010From the magazine issue dated May 17, 2010 Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP, has a couple of major problems on his hands these days. One lies down near the earth’s crust; the other exists deep in the muck of Washington politics. It may take […]

Oil on shore of barrier island off Terrebonne Parish, state reports

By The Times-PicayuneMay 12, 2010, 2:19PM The state says oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has reached the shoreline of Whiskey Island, one of the barrier islands off the coast of Terrebonne Parish. Aerial reconnaissance also showed possible oil impact on Raccoon Island, another of the barrier islands off the parish’s coast. Other […]

BP had wrong diagram to close blowout preventer

By Maria Recio, Dave Montgomery and Mark Washburn | McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON — In the days after a oil well spun out of control in the Gulf of Mexico, BP engineers tried to activate a huge piece of underwater safety equipment but failed because the device had been so altered that diagrams BP got from […]

Graph of the Day: Projected Oil Spill Path to 15 May 2010

Today weather conditions prevented vessel skimming and in-situ burning operations, but overflights and SCAT teams were in the field. Sea conditions are expected to moderate over the course of the week and marine operations are expected to recommence. Also today, NOAA Fisheries announced modifications to the area closed to fishing in the Gulf of Mexico […]

Schwarzenegger preps ‘terrible cuts’ to close California deficit

By Michael B. Marois and William Selway May 11 (Bloomberg) — California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will seek “terrible cuts” to eliminate an $18.6 billion budget deficit facing the most-populous U.S. state through June 2011, his spokesman said. Schwarzenegger, 62, who will introduce his revised budget plans on May 14, has said he won’t seek tax […]

Video: First view of seabed crater plume from Gulf oil spill

By The Associated PressMay 12, 2010, 4:44PM ROBERT, La. — Video released by BP shows oil spewing from a yellowish, broken pipe 5,000 feet below the surface. The oil looks like steam rushing from a geyser. The video released Wednesday gives a not-yet-seen glimpse of the leaking well a mile underwater. The stream occasionally can […]

BP still deciding how best to deploy 'top hat' to contain Gulf of Mexico oil spill

By Jaquetta White, The Times-Picayune May 12, 2010, 3:04PM BP will decide which of two “top hat” solutions it will use to try to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill by midday Thursday, a company spokesman said Wednesday. The containment box, 5 feet tall and 4 feet in diameter, arrived in the Gulf above […]

How will the BP oil spill affect critically endangered bluefin tuna?

By Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada  on 05. 3.10 The Gulf of Mexico, where a massive oil spill is taking place right now, is also the spawning ground for the critically endangered (according to the IUCN Red List) bluefin tuna. Stocks have already fallen about 90% since the 1970s, and they could fall even closer […]

India oil spill causes mass turtle hatchling mortality

By Rushikulya Rookery (Orissa), May 11, (PTI) Thousands of eggs of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles on the beach adjoining river Rushikulya in Ganjam district have failed to hatch this year because of the recent oil spill at a nearby port, conservationists claim. “We have found that the hatching of the eggs, which ended last […]

Senator Lieberman: Drilling still part of energy bill — ‘accidents happen’

By Darren Goode Sen. Joe Lieberman, I/D-Conn., said today offshore oil and gas drilling provisions will remain in a draft Senate climate and energy bill he has coauthored, despite a massive Gulf Coast spill that has given fresh ammunition to drilling critics. “There were good reasons for us to put in offshore drilling, and this […]

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