Berm controversy rises — Permit process for sand barrier rouses critics

By MARK BALLARD AND AMY WOLD, Advocate staff writersPublished: Sep 5, 2010 – Page: 1A Gov. Bobby Jindal’s controversial project to build sand barriers in the Gulf of Mexico to block oil from invading Louisiana’s marshes is reaching a critical juncture. As Jindal attempts to get permits to expand the project — plus more funding […]

Coast Guard responding to rig fire in Gulf of Mexico; people reported in water

By Bob Warren, The Times-Picayune Thursday, September 02, 2010, 10:10 AM, Updated: Thursday, September 02, 2010, 10:36 AM The Coast Guard is responding to a report of a rig on fire “and people in the water” in the Gulf of Mexico south of Vermillion Bay, authorities said. Petty Officer Casey Ranel said the rig is […]

Devastating psychological effects of BP Gulf disaster — ‘Really unfathomable and profound despair’

New Rochelle, NY, August 30, 2010—Anger, depression, and helplessness are the main psychological responses being seen in response to the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and they are likely to have long-lasting effects, according to an interview in Ecopsychology, a peer-reviewed, online journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com). […]

Degraded oil in Mississippi Sound tests positive for dispersants

By Ben Raines, Press-Register Tuesday, August 31, 2010, 5:00 AM Lumpy, degraded oil collected in the Mississippi Sound has tested positive for several of the main ingredients in the Corexit dispersant used in connection with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to scientists working for a New Orleans-based lawyer. Officials with the federal government and […]

Gulf oil spill waste heads to landfills, some with problems

By GARANCE BURKE and JASON DEAREN, Associated Press WritersWed, Aug. 25, 2010 02:06 AM The cleanup of history’s worst peacetime oil spill is generating thousands of tons of oil-soaked debris that is ending up in local landfills, some of which were already dealing with environmental concerns. The soft, absorbent boom that has played the biggest […]

Previously unknown microbe ate BP oil deep-water plume

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment CorrespondentTue Aug 24, 2010 5:25pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Manhattan-sized plume of oil spewed deep into the Gulf of Mexico by BP’s broken Macondo well has been consumed by a newly discovered fast-eating species of microbes, scientists reported on Tuesday.   The micro-organisms were apparently stimulated by the massive oil spill […]

Mysterious biological residue washing ashore in Alabama

By Ben Raines, Press-Register Sunday, August 22, 2010, 5:30 AM     Scientists are intrigued by the heavy sheen and persistent clouds of dingy brown water washing up in pockets from Perdido Pass to Petit Bois Island since July. Waves carrying the brown water ashore leave a conspicuous amber stain on the white sand. A recent snorkeling […]

Gulf of Mexico still in crisis four months after BP explosion

By Kierán Suckling, (520) 275-5960August 20, 2010 NEW ORLEANS— Today marks the end of the fourth month since BP’s negligence and lack of government oversight caused the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig to explode, sending more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. To assess how much damage was done and […]

Deep plumes of oil expected to cause dead zones in the Gulf that last ‘a couple of years’

(American Geophysical Union) A new simulation of oil and methane leaked into the Gulf of Mexico suggests that deep hypoxic zones or “dead zones” could form near the source of the pollution. The research investigates five scenarios of oil and methane plumes at different depths and incorporates an estimated rate of flow from the Deepwater […]

Underwater Gulf oil plume 22 miles long, likely to threaten marine life for months – ‘Detectable in the marine environment for the rest of my life’

The Associated Press Published: Thursday, August 19, 2010, 1:00 PM     WASHINGTON — A 22-mile-long invisible mist of oil is meandering far below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, where it will probably loiter for months or more, scientists reported Thursday in the first conclusive evidence of an underwater plume from the BP spill. The […]

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