On the one-year anniversary of the catastrophic BP oil spill in the gulf, scientists are still struggling to figure out just how much oil is in the marshes. This excellent New York Times video explores their challenges, not the least of which is the inherent complexity of determining the damage to a vast and vibrant ecosystem. One group of researchers, for example, are guesstimating the number of bird deaths by taking bird carcasses out to sea, dropping them in, and seeing how many wash ashore. [More]
gulf spill
So Whatever Happened To All That Oil Spilled In The Gulf Anyway?
By 1.4.11
Remember all that oil that BP spilled into the Gulf this summer? Whatever became of it? Well, good news. Bacteria ate most of it, reports Slate, and the other stuff was skimmed back up, evaporated, burned off, or it got diluted out into the seas. [More]
See The Show BP Would Rather Blot Out With Black Gook
By 10.26.10
Catch the FRONTLINE doc on the BP Gulf spill on PBS tonight. A newly released excerpt shows how the oil giant behaved in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, pushing aging infrastructure that was supposed to only last until 1987 for years past its limits. [More]
Frontline Investigates BP's Internal Culture Of Wet Greed And Hot Fear
By 10.15.10
Frontline digs into the muck of BP’s corporate culture leading up to the biggest environmental disaster in American history in a new hard-hitting investigation. Through interviews with current and former employees and regulators and experts, Frontline probes the internal environment of wet greed and hot fear that spawned the oily monster ravaging the Gulf. Catch “The Spill” on Oct 26. Here’s a preview: [More]
Officials: Massive Fish Kill Hits Louisiana Bayou, But BP Ain't To Blame
By 9.16.10
A whole mess of fish just up and died at Bayou Chaland in Louisiana. What you’re looking at is a jambalaya of different kinds of lifeless fish, crabs, stingray and eel. You might think BP is to blame, but Louisiana’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has a different suspect in mind. [More]
Internal BP Report Deflects Blame Onto Contracted Rig Workers
By 9.8.10
An BP internal investigation has found that responsibility for the Gulf spill lies less with its corner-cutting practices and more with poor decisions and bad judgment calls by Transocean and Halliburton workers on the doomed oil rig. Gee, what a surprise. [More]
BP Says Well Is Plugged, Report Says 3/4 Of Oil Gone
By 8.4.10
BP says that they have stoppered up the well leaking in the Gulf of Mexico. They have filled the well up with mud and reached the desired pressure, they say, a maneuver known as “Static Kill.” [More]
If You Get An E-Mail From The CEO Of BP, It's Probably A Scam
By 7.22.10
Here’s a tip: Unless you’re a high-ranking member of the military or government, you’re probably not going to be getting any e-mails sent to you by big-mouthed British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward. But for those who do see something from ol’ T-Bone in the their inbox, the Attorney General in Florida wants you to know it’s probably a scam. [More]
What The BP Spill Might Look Like 360 Days Later
By 7.12.10
If you’ve got any plans to ever visit any beaches on the east coast, best get them in this summer before it’s too late. That’s the conclusion you can draw if this simulation by researchers of how the BP Gulf spill will look 360 days after April 20th comes to pass. [More]
'70s "BP Offshore Oil Strike" Board Game Eerily Prescient
By 7.7.10
You’ve seen the box cover on MSNBC and CNN, but now you can actually see the pieces and board of the genuine 1970s “BP Offshore Oil Strike” game. BoardGameGeeks has a full image gallery. [More]
BP Spill Now Spoiling All Gulf States As Tar Balls Hit Texas
By 7.6.10
Congratulations to BP and all the others responsible for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. You’ve officially managed to screw up every U.S. state along the Gulf of Mexico. Texas had been the only of the five states bordering the greasy body of water to be untainted by the spill, but that changed over the weekend when the first batch of tar balls washed up on the shore of the Lone Star State. [More]
Costner's Waterworldian Devices To Clean Up BP Oil Spill
By 7.1.10
From the fell through the cracks file, Kevin Costner is going to save us all from the BP oil spill, using technology inspired by the urine-drinking opening sequence to Waterworld. Except this time the noxious substance extracted from the water will be oil and no one will drink it. [More]
BP Offices To Be Serenaded By Orchestra Of Vuvuzelas
By 7.1.10
Woe to those unfortunate souls who work in the London offices of British Petroleum. An angry soul in Brooklyn is marshalling an army of like-minded souls and arming each man, woman and child with the most deadly of instrument — the vuvuzela — for an impromptu concert outside your building. [More]
Oil Now Washing Up In Biloxi; BP Sends Three People To Clean It Up
By 6.28.10
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to expand, despite BP’s boasting about the number of barrels they pull out of the water each day. Over the weekend, the crude washed up for the first time on the shores of mainland Mississippi, driving away the already scant number of tourists. [More]
BP's Internal Mag Discovers Oil Spill Helped Gulf Coast Economy
By 6.22.10
According to BP’s in-house online magazine, Planet BP, there is a silver lining in the giant puddle of oil they caused to spew all over the Gulf of Mexico. That’s right, the spill, far from devastating the local economy, is causing it to prosper! [More]
BP Document Puts Early Spill Estimate At Up To 100K Barrels A Day
By 6.21.10
Though British Petroleum’s own CEO has made public statements like “The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into [the Gulf of Mexico] is tiny in relation to the total water volume,” and the always classic “The environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest,” a recently released internal document shows that BP’s initial estimates of the ongoing oil spill were outright apocalyptic. [More]
BP-Hired Mercenaries Keep Reporters From Interviewing Workers
By 6.17.10
This video shows a BP-hired mercenaries working for “Talon Security” trying to keep WDSU-New Orleans reporter Scott Walker from talking to cleanup crews on a public beach. I would normally say something like, “Apparently they didn’t get the memo last week from from National Incident Commander Thad Allen and BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles that the media is to have full access to oil-affected areas and to cleanup workers,” – except that the mercs in the video are perfectly aware of the memos, and yet continue to obstruct the journalist! [More]
