Oil-spill cleanup yields treasures

CAMINADA HEADLAND, La. - Cleanup after the BP oil spill has turned up dozens of sites where archaeologists are finding human and animal bones, pottery, and primitive weapons left behind by prehistoric Indian settlements - a trove of new clues about the Gulf Coast's mound dwellers more than 1,300 years ago.

Company seeking permission to build new pipeline underestimates worst case spill

The company that is seeking permission to build a new crude oil pipeline between Canada and the U.S. Gulf Coast has wildly underestimated the damage that could occur in a worst case spill scenario, a University of Nebraska researcher warned this week.

Even a small, undetected leak from an underground rupture of the pipeline in the Nebraska Sandhills could pollute almost 5 billion gallons of groundwater with benzene at concentrations exceeding safe drinking water levels,” University of Nebraska researcher John Stansbury said.

BP Oil Still Washing Ashore One Year After Spill

The pollution consists of “a light sheen and tar balls of all shapes and sizes,” Zink said in an interview yesterday. “For roughly the first year, it was heavy, moderate to light oiling.”

The latest survey in Louisiana by the agency found 5 milesof beaches and 8 miles of marsh heavily oiled, according toresults provided by Zink. The July survey covered almost 4,300miles of shoreline in the four states.

Oil spill aftermath: 'Drill, baby, drill' era may be gone forever

The Gulf oil spill was capped a year ago Friday, but offshore drilling is still far off its pre-spill pace. With a new regulatory agency putting a greater emphasis on safety, the industry might have to adjust to a new normal. The centerpiece of those reforms was abolishing the federal agency that previously oversaw offshore drilling and replacing it with a new one, BOEMRE. And to those in the oil industry, BOEMRE's regulations – seen as too cumbersome and lined with uncertainty – are the problem.

BP Wants to Stop Paying Claims

NEW ORLEANS — BP is arguing that victims of last year’s Gulf oil spill should not be paid any more claims for future losses because the areas affected by the spill have recovered and the economy is improving and claims that at some times it has paid victims more than is allowed under the federal Oil Pollution Act.

“Multiple lines of evidence demonstrate that, to the extent that portions of the Gulf economy were impacted by the spill, recovery had occurred by the end of 2010, and that positive economic performance continues into 2011, with 2011 economic metrics exceeding pre-spill performance,” the BP document said.
The Associated Press July 8, 2011