Offshore Drilling – No Fricking Fracking

Katrina’s legacy – oil spills that no one is being held accountable for

This article discusses 540 oil spills that the oil companies are escaping liability for. All told, the federal agency overseeing oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico reported that more than 400 pipelines and 100 drilling platforms were damaged. The U.S. Coast Guard, the first responder for oil spills, received 540 separate reports of spills into Louisiana waters. Officials estimated that, taken together, those leaks released the same amount of oil that the highly publicized 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster spilled into Alaska’s Prince William Sound — about 10.8 million gallons.

Fourteen years later, not one assessment of the damage to natural resources after the two 2005 hurricanes has been completed. None of the 140 parties thought to be responsible for the spills has been fined or cited for environmental violations. And no restoration plans have been developed for the impacted ecosystems, fish, birds or water quality, a review by The Times-Picayune and The Advocate and ProPublica has found.

Even small spills have impacts, said Darryl Malek-Wiley, an organizer with the environmental conservation organization Sierra Club. Oil seeps into the marsh mud and affects the worms and snails. Birds that eat those animals are affected, as are the fish and the fishermen who bring them home. Then the marsh plants start to die, and saltwater intrudes to push them over. The coastline recedes. The next storm churns closer.

Interior Dept. Loosens Offshore-Drilling Safety Rules Dating From Deepwater Horizon

This NY Times article discusses how the US Interior Dept. has loosened Offshore-Drilling Safety Rules Dating From Deepwater Horizon.

The Trump administration on Thursday made public its rollback of a major offshore-drilling safety regulation, significantly weakening an Obama-era rule that was put in place after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 people and sent 4.9 million barrels of oil gushing into the sea, causing the worst oil spill in American history.

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, a former oil lobbyist who was confirmed by the Senate last month to head the agency that oversees the nation’s public lands and waters, announced the plan Thursday afternoon in Port Fourchon, La., the vast industrial hub that serves as the onshore base for most companies that drill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil industry praised the move. Environmental groups warned that the rollbacks could pave the way for similar crises to happen again.

Trump administration’s proposed offshore oil drilling expansion ‘sidelined indefinitely’

This Virginia Mercury article discusses a Wall Street Journal article on how the Trump administration’s proposed offshore oil drilling expansion is being ‘sidelined indefinitely’.

President Donald Trump’s administration has shelved for the moment a plan to potentially open vast stretches of American waters, including off the coast of Virginia, to offshore oil drilling, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The announcement comes after a federal court decision that blocks drilling in the Arctic, setting up a long appeals process.

Report: Trump and Offshore Drilling & South Carolina efforts to stop it

This The Guardian article discusses how the Trump policy of less safety and more offshore drilling is ‘a recipe for disaster’. Nine years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Trump administration is exacerbating the industry’s ‘systemic failures’, report warns.

Offshore oil and gas drilling in the US is plagued by “systemic failures” in oversight that are being worsened by Trump administration attempts to expand drilling and roll back safety requirements, a new report has warned.

The analysis of public documents by the conservation group Oceana found that while some minor improvements have been made since the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, a system of lax oversight, paltry fines and overstretched inspectors risks further major oil spills.

This situation is further deteriorating due to the Trump administration opening up almost all US waters to offshore drilling, as well as repealing Obama-era safety rules put in place after the Deepwater Horizon spill, according to the report, released on the eve of the ninth anniversary of the disaster.

This article discusses South Carolina attempts to bar offshore drilling with budget proposal.

This article discusses how the South Carolina Senate voted against oil drilling as fight against Trump plan heats up.

Another DeSmogBlog post – worth reading!

Another blog post from DeSmogBlog. It highlights:

In the U.S., it’s been hard to ignore the current, messy battle playing out over Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination (and we’ve covered what it might mean for regulations and the climate if he’s confirmed). Despite the tough news week, we haven’t let up on our coverage of the key energy and environmental issues of the day:
DeSmog’s Ben Jervey calls out the Koch-funded groups rallying, once again, to get rid of the electric vehicle tax credits in Congress.
On the Gulf Coast, Sharon Kelly documents the dozens of petrochemical, oil, and gas projectsthat have been permitted in recent years — which will have the global warming impact of running 29 coal-fired power plants around the clock.
And Graham Readfearn dives into the worrisome scientific debate over research suggesting that the common seismic surveys used to search for undersea oil and gas reserves could have a major impact on the base of the marine food web.
And from the Climate Disinformation Database: Craig Richardson.

Scientists: Offshore oil drilling would put Chesapeake Bay at risk

This article discusses how offshore drilling could impact the Chesapeake Bay. Many fear a spill would be inevitable and could reach the Bay and its resources under the right conditions.

After the Trump administration proposed allowing oil and gas exploration off the East Coast in January, the debate has largely focused on the potential harm to the Atlantic Ocean’s water quality and marine life.

That is, after all, where any new oil rigs would sprout if the administration has its way.

But what about impacts to the Chesapeake Bay? Could the United State’s largest estuary — the subject of a federal and multi-state program centered on reducing nutrient and sediment pollution — be at risk?

Yes, say some of the Bay’s top scientists.

Trump’s Offshore Drilling Plan Is Roiling Coastal Elections

This article discusses the Trump administration’s proposal to allow offshore oil and gas drilling. That has met significant opposition from Republican candidates up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

Carteret County sits in a region of North Carolina known as the Crystal Coast. It’s celebrated for its charming lighthouses, sun-bleached beaches, and relaxed atmosphere. The population is 89.9 percent white and staunchly Republican.

President Trump won the county in 2016 with 71 percent of the vote. But he has touched off an insurrection among the GOP faithful here on the issue of offshore drilling, which the county almost universally views as a threat to tourism. In that, Carteret is typical of areas up and down the Eastern Seaboard, where opposition to the Trump administration’s proposed plan to allow offshore drilling in nearly all U.S. coastal waters has become a top issue in the 2018 midterms. While coastal Republicans’ support for Trump remains strong, their opposition to drilling underscores the limits of his support when local pocketbook and quality-of-life issues are at stake.

Mi’kmaq chiefs voice concern over BP drilling off Nova Scotia coast

This article discusses offshore drilling concerns in Nova Scotia.

First Nations and environmental activists say they’re “extremely concerned” after drilling fluids were spilled off the coast of Nova Scotia during a BP Canada oil exploration project.

The incident came just two months after the province’s offshore petroleum regulator granted the energy giant permission to drill the Aspy D-11 exploration well approximately 330 kilometres off the coast of Halifax.

Study: Sunshine is making Deepwater Horizon oil stick around

This article discusses the impact that the Deep Water Horizon oil disaster is still havaing on the Gulf of Mexico. Nearly a decade after the spill, oxygen-rich by-products don’t seem to be going anywhere. So much for BP’s claims that it has cleaned up its mess.

Sunlight shapes oil spills’ long-term legacies.

In the days and weeks after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, sunlight hit the oil slicks on the surface of the water. That triggered chemical reactions that added oxygen to oil molecules that once were just chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms. These oxygenated hydrocarbons are still sticking around eight years later with little evidence of degradation, researchers report May 29 in Environmental Science and Technology.

Oil lobby seeks to boost support for offshore drilling despite bipartisan opposition

This article discusses how the fossil fuel industry is attempting to change people’s minds over offshore drilling.

Top oil and natural gas lobbyists are attempting to breathe life into a Trump administration plan to expand offshore drilling across U.S. coasts despite vocal opposition from Democrats and even many Republicans in seaside states.

The American Petroleum Institute, the largest U.S. oil and gas lobbying group, launched an initiative Wednesday called “Explore Offshore” that attempts to boost public support for offshore development.

The oil and gas industry’s public relations and community outreach push comes eight years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill hurt the reputation of offshore drilling in much of the American consciousness, weighing against the odds the U.S. public will want to risk expanding offshore drilling even further.