By Ker Than for National Geographic News Published May 21, 2010 If the Gulf of Mexico oil spill kills just three sperm whales, it could seriously endanger the long-term survival of the Gulf’s native whale population, scientists say. Right now between 1,400 and 1,660 sperm whales live year-round in the Gulf of Mexico, making up […]
By Bob Warren, The Times-Picayune May 21, 2010, 4:28PM St. Bernard Parish officials on Friday announced a two-pronged effort to combat the potential spread of oil into parish marshes. A BP subcontractor on Wednesday began driving two parallel rows of 60-foot, 8-inch pilings some 500 feet apart off the coast, according to a parish news […]
By The Associated Press May 21, 2010, 2:39PM ROBERT — BP now says it will likely be at least Tuesday before engineers can shoot heavy mud into a blown-out well spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Three ultra-deepwater rigs and other equipment are at the site where the Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded April […]
By Ben Raines May 19, 2010, 5:00AM In its 2009 exploration plan for the Deepwater Horizon well, BP PLC states that the company could handle a spill involving as much as 12.6 million gallons of oil per day, a number 60 times higher than its current estimate of the ongoing Gulf disaster. In associated documents […]
By KEVIN McGILL and VICKI SMITH Associated Press WritersMay 21, 11:35 AM EDT GRAND ISLE, La. (AP) — Thick, sticky oil crept deeper into delicate marshes of the Mississippi Delta, an arrival dreaded for a month since the crude started spewing into the Gulf, as anger and frustration mounted over efforts to plug the gusher […]
By Ben Raines May 21, 2010, 5:00AM U.S. Coast Guard officials have apparently known for years that there could be significant problems in the federal and industry response to a major oil spill. The report that followed a 2004 “Spill of National Significance” training exercise concluded, “Oil spill response personnel did not appear to have […]
By Jenny Hurwitz, The Times-Picayune May 21, 2010, 12:07PM Government officials in Grand Isle are closing all beaches until further notice, citing the fact that oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill is washing up on the shore. “They’re starting to see dead wildlife,” said Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts. Roberts said there is more […]
By Ben RainesMay 21, 2010, 5:00AM Mobile-area scientists warned BP PLC officials and Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen a week ago that the use of dispersants both on the surface and underwater at the Deepwater Horizon well could have grave consequences for the Gulf ecosystem. The scientists, Bob Shipp of the University of South Alabama […]
Caption by Michon Scott Nearly a month after a deadly explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, the damaged well on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico continued to spill oil. In the weeks since the accident occurred, the oil slick has periodically drifted northeast toward the Mississippi Delta and reached the the Chandeleur […]
By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun 9:43 a.m. EDT, May 19, 2010 While the Chesapeake Bay’s overall health improved slightly last year, the rivers that drain much of the Baltimore area remain in such poor shape that they earn a “failing grade,” University of Maryland scientists reported Tuesday. The bay as a whole improved […]
