Production rig in Gulf of Mexico explodes; Coast Guard rescuing workers
David Hammer, The Times-Picayune, September 02, 2010
A shallow-water production rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded this morning, causing the thirteen crew members aboard to abandon the structure.
Enbridge denies allegations of coercion
Shawn McCarthy, Globe and Mail, Sep. 01, 2010
House committee members say company asked Michigan residents near spill site to sign waivers against further liability
Enbridge oil pipeline dent under St. Clair River presents "remote chance" of leak
TODD SPANGLER, Detroit Free Press, August 25, 2010
WASHINGTON – A pipeline that spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River late last month has a dent in a section that runs under the St. Clair River where it crosses from southeastern Michigan into Canada, a Michigan congresswoman revealed today.
Enbridge tab for Michigan oil spill could reach $400 million US
By Dina omeara, Calgary Herald, August 18, 2010
Insurance expected to cover 90 per cent of costs
Clean up costs of an oil spill into Michigan waters could reach up to $400 million, not including environmental fines, according to a subsidiary of Calgary-based Enbridge Inc.
PHMSA rejects Enbridge's application to restart Michigan pipeline
Letter to Enbridge, PHMSA, August 10, 2010
Excerpt:
Michigan Oil Spill Increases Concern Over Tar Sands Pipelines
by Kari Lydersen, onearth.org, NRDC, August 6, 2010
Extensive damage to Michigan waterways shows the risk of transporting tar sands oil
Up to a million gallons of oil spilled from a ruptured pipeline into the waterways of southwestern Michigan last week in what the federal government is calling the most destructive oil spill in Midwestern history.
Oil spill in Michigan's Kalamazoo River has echoes of Gulf of Mexico disaster
By Kari Lydersen and David A. Fahrenthold, Washington Post, August 6, 2010
MARSHALL, MICH. -- In the Summer of the Spill, history is already repeating itself, this time in Michigan.
Mitigate That! - Tankers in Douglas Channel
Pipe Dreams, CBC TV News, July 20, 2010
Most news gets stale with time, but this one gets better. Listen to Enbridge's John Carruthers blather on about Enbridge's "learnings" in Wisconsin where it had to "mitigate some issues ... in terms of environmental violations".
What laws would apply if there was a BP-type spill along the B.C. coast?
Graham Walker And Dionysios Rossi, Vancouver Sun, August 3, 2010
Perhaps no single story has dominated news coverage recently like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It has raised questions about the legal status of offshore oil and gas development and tanker traffic along the west coast of British Columbia.
Pipeline leak deals blow to Canada's oil sands industry
By Bernard Simon, Financial Times, UK, July 29, 2010
Canada's oil sands industry was trying to defuse a fresh public relations headache on Thursday after a ruptured pipeline spilled about 4m litres of Alberta crude into waterways in southern Michigan.
Enbridge was warned about pipeline
Tim Martin, The Associated Press, Globe and Mail, July 29, 2010
Battle Creek, Mich. — A Canadian company whose pipeline leaked hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into a major Michigan river was warned by government regulators in January that its monitoring of corrosion in the pipeline was insufficient.
Michigan oil spill estimated by EPA at 1 million-plus gallons
Tim Martin, The Associated Press, Battle Creek Enquirer, July 29, 2010
Federal officials now estimate that more than 1 million gallons of oil may have spilled into the Kalamazoo River, and the governor is sharply criticizing clean-up efforts as “wholly inadequate.”
Oil companies' gulf spill history is a dirty secret
St. Petersburg Times, July 26, 2010
The oil and gas industry's offshore safety and environmental record in the Gulf of Mexico has become a key point of debate over future drilling, but that record has been far worse than is commonly portrayed by many industry leaders and lawmakers.
Oil Rig’s Siren Was Kept Silent, Technician Says
By ROBBIE BROWN, New York Times, July 23, 2010
KENNER, La. — The emergency alarm on the Deepwater Horizon was not fully activated the day the oil rig caught fire and exploded, killing 11 people and setting off the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a rig worker on Friday told a government panel investigating the accident.The worker, Mike Williams, the rig’s chief electronics technician, said the general safety alarm was habitually set to “inhibited” to avoid waking up the crew with late-night sirens and emergency lights.
Oil seeping from Gulf floor near well, but Coast Guard allows cap to stay in place another 24 hours
Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune, July 18, 2010
Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen on Sunday evening agreed to allow a cap to continue to block the flow of oil from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead, despite the discovery of oil or natural gas seeping from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico at a location away from the well.
Technology’s disasters share long trail of hubris
The Associated Press, Las Vegas Sun, July 18, 2010
It's all so familiar. A technological disaster, then a presidential commission examining what went wrong. And ultimately a discovery that while technology marches on, concern for safety lags. Technology isn't as foolproof as it seemed.
How the new oil cap works
Chad Myers, CNN, July 15, 2010
They've stopped the flow ... temporarily. Click here to see how.
BP freezes work on relief well and temporary cap for Gulf oil spill
The Associated Press, NOLA.com, July 14, 2010
BP froze activity on two key projects Wednesday meant to choke off the flow of oil billowing from its broken well in the Gulf of Mexico after days of moving confidently toward controlling the crisis.
Devon Energy shuts down oil sands wells after bitumen-laced steam leak
Nathan VanderKlippe, Globe and Mail Update, Jul. 12, 2010
Failure at one of the company’s wellheads sent a plume of high-temperature steam into the air for nearly 36 hours last weekend
Exec says BP could plug well by end of July
By BRETT CLANTON, Houston Chronicle, July 2, 2010
Gulf Coast native takes over cleanup effort
BP could plug its gushing Gulf oil well by the end of July, ahead of a projected target of August, if weather conditions permit and the drilling of relief wells keeps going smoothly, the newly appointed executive in charge of the company's response said Friday.
Primary relief well edges closer to gushing oil well
Emmett Mayer III, The Times-Picayune, June 30, 2010
The ultimate solution for stopping the gusher is still a relief well. Two are being drilled in the Gulf of Mexico, one as a backup. The primary well, which was started nearly two months ago, had been drilled to about 16,770 feet below the water's surface by Monday [June 28] morning.
BP's relief well moment of truth on collision course with Gulf storm season
By Larry Greenemeier, Scientific American, June 28, 2010
Four Possible BP-Style Extreme Energy Nightmares to Come
Michael T. Klare, TomDispatch.com, June 22, 2010
The disaster in the Gulf is no anomaly. It's an arrow pointing toward future disasters.
