MSM: "Charges Loom in Deepwater Disaster" [12/30/11] "US authorities are on the verge of bringing their first criminal charges related to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, with several Houston-based engineers and at least one BP supervisor likely facing felonies, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The men are suspected of providing false information to regulators regarding the risks at the Macondo well, the sources said, though they added that the Justice Department may ultimately let them off the hook, instead using the threat of charges to pressure them into aiding the investigation. [...]" 

MSM: "BP: Halliburton "Destroyed Evidence" [12/06/11] "BP is accusing Halliburton of having "intentionally destroyed evidence" related to the explosion aboard an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that led to the worst oil spill in U.S. history. The accusation comes in court papers filed by BP Monday in federal court in New Orleans as part of a lawsuit aimed at having sanctions imposed on Halliburton Energy Services Inc., which was a contractor for BP on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. An explosion on the rig on April 20, 2010, killed 11 people working on the rig and injured 16 others. The explosion led to more than 200 million gallons of oil being released into the Gulf. BP alleges in its filing that Halliburton destroyed evidence on cement testing and violated court orders by not bringing forth "inexplicably missing" computer modeling results. "Halliburton has steadfastly refused to provide these critical testing and modeling results in discovery. Halliburton's refusal has been unwavering, despite repeated BP discovery requests and a specific order from this Court," the documents state. "BP has now learned the reason for Halliburton's intransigence -- Halliburton destroyed the results of physical slurry testing, and it has, at best, lost the computer modeling outputs that showed no channeling. More egregious still, Halliburton intentionally destroyed the evidence related to its nonprivileged cement testing, in part because it wanted to eliminate any risk that this evidence would be used against it at trial," the BP papers say. [...]"  

Commentary: "The Eight Families’ Rigged Oil Game" [12/06/11] "After World War II – during which Royal Dutch Shell Chairman Sir Henry Deterding loudly supported the Nazis, while Exxon and Texaco collaborated with the Nazi I.G. Farben combine – the Four Horsemen turned their full attention to the Middle East. There the cartel operated under names like Iranian Consortium, Iraqi Petroleum Company and ARAMCO.  With the rise of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as a producer cartel, the companies devised increasingly sophisticated ways to diminish OPEC’s collective bargaining ability. Nationalistic governments were destabilized, discredited and overthrown by the CIA at the behest of Big Oil. Henry Kissinger set up his International Energy Agency (IEA), which the French called a machine de guerre.  Both Nixon’s Twin Pillars Policy and Reagan’s Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) were efforts to divide OPEC between wealthy banker nations and poor industrializing nations, with the Saudis playing the key role of swing producer in both schemes.  As oil trader George Perk once commented of the Four Horsemen/Saudi relationship, “The oil markets are not free markets. Oil company officials bribe officials in Saudi Arabia. They only get into the market for a fix.” [...]"  

MSM: "US To Set Water Pollution Standards For 'Fracking'" [10/21/11] "The US government unveiled plans Thursday to set national standards for wastewater discharges from natural gas drilling amid growing concern over water pollution from a technique known as "fracking." The EPA said in a statement it would accept comments for new standards over the coming months for shale gas extraction as well as for gas from underground coalbeds. "No comprehensive set of national standards exists at this time for the disposal of wastewater discharged from natural gas extraction activities," the agency said in a statement. The new regulations come in the face of criticism that the frenzy for natural gas exploration and new horizontal drilling techniques such as hydraulic fracturing or fracking to extract gas from shale formations would lead to contamination of underground water supplies. [...]"  Related: "Rush to Drill for Natural Gas Creates Conflicts With Mortgages" "As natural gas drilling has spread across the country, energy industry representatives have sat down at kitchen tables in states like Texas, Pennsylvania and New York to offer homeowners leases that give companies the right to drill on their land. And over the past 10 years, as natural gas has become increasingly important to the nation’s energy future, Americans have signed more than a million of these leases. [...]"  

MSM: "Fresh Uganda Oil Find ‘Africa’s Biggest’" [10/17/11] "Heritage Oil announced details of a large oil discovery in Uganda yesterday, which the company claimed could be the largest onshore discovery in sub-Saharan Africa. Heritage said that its latest discovery – Giraffe1 – in the Lake Albert region, could total at least 400 million barrels of oil. However, Paul Atherton, chief financial officer, told The Times that the wider field it was developing, dubbed Buffalo-Giraffe, had several “billions of barrels of oil in place”, although it was unclear how much of this would be recoverable. He said that the field, which is 9,000 square kilometers in size – or six times the size of Greater London – was unquestionably the largest onshore discovery made in sub-Saharan Africa in at least 20 years, possibly ever. Mr Atherton said that of the 18 wells the company had drilled in the basin so far, all had produced oil. “Clearly the entire basin is full of oil,” he said. “It’s a world-class discovery, the most exciting new basin in Africa in decades.” Previously, the largest onshore fields discovered in sub-Saharan Africa were at Rabi-Kounga in Gabon, where 900 million barrels were found in 1985, and at Kome in Chad, where 485 million barrels were found in 1977. Mr Atherton said that it would take at least another three years to start commercial production. The crude could be exported by road or rail, he said, but analysts believe that the most practical solution would be to build an 806-mile pipeline to take it to Kampala, Uganda’s capital, and then the Kenyan coast. The pipeline would need to be heated and designed to traverse swampy and mountainous land. It would cost an estimated $1.5 billion (£1 billion) to complete. [...]"  Note: See other related articles links on page. Related: Obama sends 100 U.S. military advisors to Uganda"  "The Obama administration announced plans on Friday to send about 100 U.S. forces to Uganda to act as military advisers to Ugandan and African Union forces fighting the Lords' Resistance Army (LRA). The U.S. special forces will provide information and training to assist Ugandan forces trying to apprehend the LRA's top commanders and bring them to justice, and to bring about an end the guerrilla group's two-decade campaign of atrocities, plunder and destabilization of the region, the administration said.  [...]" 

Commentary: "5 Reasons to Question "Peak Oil" Theory" [10/11/11] “Peak Oil” is the theory that the world is running out of “fossil fuels” whose depletion will turn society on its head. However, there still exist dual theories on the origin of oil, neither of which can yet be fully proven. It is of great importance to weigh both theories and their implications. Special interests, hidden agendas and policy are at stake which could have dire consequences for governments, private interests and individuals if decisions are made based on faulty intelligence. There also exists the third argument that it is irrelevant whether oil is a “fossil fuel” or “abiotic”, we simply are pumping much faster than the oil wells can renew themselves. This argument tends to be made by “fossil fuel” theorists and those heavily invested in the environmental movement. “Peak Oil” theory suggests that the world has reached its zenith in terms of extraction and level of oil consumption. [...]"  

MSM: "France to Keep Fracking Ban to Protect Environment, Sarkozy Says" [10/05/11]   "France will maintain a ban on fracking until there is proof that shale gas exploration won’t harm the environment or “massacre” the landscape, President Nicolas Sarkozy said. “Development of hydrocarbon resources underground is strategic for our country but not at any price,” Sarkozy said during a visit to Ales in southern France. “This won’t be done until it has been shown that technologies used for development respect the environment, the complex nature of soil and water networks.” The French government plans to revoke shale permits, including one held by Total SA, because of concerns over the environmental repercussions of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which was made illegal in July. This process, widely used in North America, involves pumping water and chemicals into rock to release gas. The government is in the process of canceling the Montelimar permit held by Total and the Nant and Villeneuve-de- Berg licenses granted to Schuepbach Energy LLC, according to a statement yesterday from the environment and industry ministries. Lawmakers voted to make fracking illegal last June, making France the first country in the world with such a ban. [...]"  

Legal Case: "Corexit Makers May Be Liable for Use at Oil Spill" [10/04/11] " Companies involved in the use of the dispersant Corexit during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill last year cannot get immunity from what may be hundreds of thousands of personal injury claims, a federal judge ruled. After the Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling rig exploded on April 20, 2010, unleashing the worst oil spill in U.S. history, BP directed third-party cleanup workers to spray and inject more than 1.8 million gallons of Corexit into oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Early on, the Environmental Protection Agency told BP to stop using Corexit because of the dispersant's known toxicity, but BP objected and continued to use the chemical. Part of the massive multidistrict litigation for the oil spill involves claims by those who have allegedly suffered injuries from exposure to Corexit. The dispersant's manufacturer, Nalco, tried to dismiss these claims by noting that it merely followed orders passed down from the president of the United States in distributing the highly toxic chemical. Corexit is banned in several counties including the U.K. because of its known toxicity. If Nalco had been following federal orders, it could have sought immunity under two separate rules: the government contractor defense and a provision of the Clean Water Act (CWA) that protects any private contractor following orders from the federal government. But U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled Friday that Nalco was following orders from BP, not orders from the United States, and can therefore be held liable for damages. [...]"  

MSM: "Gas Industry: Speech Suppression Against Scientists Becoming Standard Operating Procedure" [10/03/11] "For more than a year the gas industry has been at war with those raising concerns about the hydraulic fracturing process. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as many know it, is a process where large quanties of a water/chemical mixture are injected at high pressures into the ground to get at previously inaccessible gas pockets. For nearly a year the Checks and Balances Project has reported on several individuals whose reputations and careers have been put in jeopardy following studies that reflected poorly on the gas industry. Many of these individuals have gained national attention for their findings. [...]"  

MSM: "US Court Rules Against Chevron In Ecuador Oil Case" [09/21/11] "A US court has overturned a block on Ecuadoreans collecting damages totaling $18.2bn (£11.5bn) from Chevron over Amazon oil pollution. The order reversed a previous judge's ruling that froze enforcement of the fine outside Ecuador. But it is not the end of the legal saga, which is also going through the courts in Ecuador. Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, was accused of dumping toxic materials in the Ecuadorean Amazon. [...]" 

MSM: "Fracking Disposal Wells Linked to Earthquakes, Banned in Arkansas" [09/17/11]   "The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission has banned fracking disposal wells for unconventional gas drilling wastes due to earthquakes. The Commission voted unanimously to ban them, and the decision requires the immediate closure of one disposal well and prohibits the construction of new wells within a 1,150 square mile radius. Arkansas residents insisted that there was a correlation between the increase in earthquake activity in the state and wastewater disposal wells. Imagine being on your way out one afternoon, opening your garage door, and experiencing an earthquake that you knew was being caused by gas drills. [...]" 

Commentary:  "New Oil Leaking from Deepwater Horizon Macondo Well" [08/20/11] "No, this isn’t a post from last year. Oil from the Macondo Well site is fouling the Gulf anew – and BP is scrambling to contain both the crude and the PR nightmare that waits in the wings. Reliable sources tell us that BP has hired 40 boats from Venice to Grand Isle to lay boom around the Deepwater Horizon site – located just 50 miles off the Louisiana coast. The fleet rushed to the scene late last week and worked through the weekend to contain what was becoming a massive slick at the site of the Macondo wellhead, which was officially “killed” back in September 2010. [...]"  

Legal Case: "Boat Owners Call BP's Cleanup Program a Corrupt Conspiracy" [08/10/11] "Nearly 100 Gulf Coast boat owners who let BP hire their ships for its "Vessels of Opportunity" oil spill cleanup say BP's program was a corrupt conspiracy that left "thousands of participants ... holding the bag for millions of dollars of unpaid services, equipment, materials, repairs and decontaminations" - and that BP intended it that way. The 94 individual plaintiffs say BP touted its Vessels of Opportunity (VoO) program for public relations purposes, but the program "was marred by mismanagement, corruption and broken promises," and that BP and its co-conspirators "intended to underpay VoO participants." [...] The complaint lists 23 named defendants, including BP, its support companies and individually named staff, and 100 "fictitious defendants" who allegedly participated in the conspiracy to defraud the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs seek punitive damages for conspiracy, breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation, and fraudulent misrepresentation. Lead counsel for the plaintiffs is George Finkbohner III with Cunningham Bounds in Mobile. Also of counsel are David Bagwell of Fairhope, and Sam Crosby of Daphne.[...]"  

World Politics: "Iran Opens Oil Bourse: Harbinger of Trouble for New York and London?" [07/20/11] "The last three years of global recession have dealt a major blow to American capitalist ideas trumpeted throughout the world on the value of “free markets.” Wall St. has been revealed as a form of casino economy, with the bankster insiders gambling with other people’s, and eventually, the government’s money in the form of bailouts. As the Republicans in Congress, scenting victory in the 2012 presidential elections, hold a gun to the Obama administration’s head and rating agencies consider downgrading U.S. government bonds in light of Washington’s possible defaulting, many ideas around the world that previously seemed implausible because of the dominance of the U.S. economy are garnering renewed interest. Not surprisingly, many of these concepts originate in countries not enamored with Washington’s influence, perhaps none so more than “Axis of Evil” charter member Iran, which has seen its economy hammered by more than three decades of U.S.-led sanctions. Now Iran is working a program that, if it succeeds, could help undermine the dollar’s preeminence as the world’s reserve currency more effectively than a Republican filibuster. Iran’s sly weapon against the Great Satan’s currency? An oil bourse on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf, which has now begun selling high-grade Iranian crude oil. [...]" 

"Fracking Water Killed Trees, Study Finds" [07/15/11] "A study that argues for more research into the safe disposal of chemical-laced wastewater resulting from natural gas drilling found that a patch of national forest in West Virginia suffered quick and serious loss of vegetation after it was sprayed with hydraulic fracturing fluids. The study, by researchers from the United States Forest Service, was published this month in the Journal of Environmental Quality. It said that two years after liquids were legally spread on a section of the Fernow Experimental Forest, within the Monongahela National Forest, more than half of the trees in the affected area were dead [...]"  

"France Becomes First Nation To Ban Fracking" [07/08/11]   "France became the first nation to ban the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking in drilling for natural gas and oil on June 30 when French senators voted to ban the practice. Oil and gas companies operating in France with fracking permits will have them revoked according to the legislation passed by a 176 to 151 vote. The bill passed the National Assembly on June 21. [...]"  

"Shares Of Transocean Plunge After A Report About One Of Its Rigs Sinking" [07/06/11] "Shares of Transocean -- remember them from the Gulf blowout? -- are tanking right now on a vague report about a rig in Africa possibly sinking.  [...]" 

ProPublica: "Critics Find Gaps in State Laws to Disclose Hydrofracking Chemicals" [06/21/11] "Over the past year, five states have begun requiring energy companies to disclose some of the chemicals they pump into the ground to extract oil and gas using the process of hydraulic fracturing. While state regulators and the drilling industry say the rules should help resolve concerns about the safety of drilling, critics and some toxicologists say the requirements fall short of what’s needed to fully understand the risks to public health and the environment. The regulations allow companies to keep proprietary chemicals secret from the public and, in some states, from regulators. Though most of the states require companies to report the volume and concentration of different drilling products, no state asks for the amounts of all the ingredients, a gap that some say is disturbing. “It’s a shell game,” said Theo Colborn, a toxicologist who has testified before Congress about the dangers of drilling chemicals. Colborn and her organization, TEDX, examine the long-term health risks of chemicals and have opposed the expansion of drilling in Colorado and elsewhere. “They’re not telling you everything that there is to know.” [...]"  

Legal Case: "Federal Judge Dismisses Third Party Environmental Claims Against Transocean and BP" [06/19/11] "Ruling in favor of Transocean and BP, a federal judge on Thursday dismissed third-party environmental claims in a giant pleading bundle in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill litigation, saying the fact that the oil flow has stopped makes those lawsuits irrelevant. “Moreover, BP and the agencies comprising the Unified Area Command have been and are cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico. An injury is not redressable by a citizen suit when the injury is already being addressed.” [...]"  Note: But there is no independent PROOF that the oil flow has stopped ... more of the same treachery continues ...

Corexit Poisoning: "Hundreds Of Penguins And Marine Animals Wash Up On Beaches In Uruguay" [06/09/11] "As many as 600 Magallan penguins have been found dead on Uruguayan coasts; scientists are investigating why so many penguins have died on their way to Brazilian waters. Authorities said they also spotted turtles, several albatros, and dolphins, in addition to the large amount of penguins. Scientists are baffled; though it is not unusual to have dead sea life in the area, as large boats do their maintenance in the vicinity, it is very unusual to have such large numbers, as well as the fact that no small animals have washed up ashore, only large animals. “It’s worrisome, because in these case, the penguins didn’t have oil in them,” said Lourdes Casas, a veterinarian for the Biodiversity Conservation Society of Maldonado, Uruguay. “We’ve performed necropsies and sent samples away for analyses.” [...]"  Note: This has to be Corexit poisoning ... there is no other explanation ... killing off animal life, which is going away anyway at some point in the near future. We are not likely to be privy to any necropsy data; the biological effect of these compounds on life is severe, and considered to be 'acceptable damage' by oil interests, and this scene is now being seen all over the world on coastlines, as life drifts to shore.

MSM: "Shale Boom in Texas Could Increase U.S. Oil Output" [05/30/11] "Until last year, the 17-mile stretch of road between this forsaken South Texas village and the county seat of Carrizo Springs was a patchwork of derelict gasoline stations and rusting warehouses.  Now the region is in the hottest new oil play in the country, with giant oil terminals and sprawling RV parks replacing fields of mesquite. More than a dozen companies plan to drill up to 3,000 wells around here in the next 12 months. [...]"  Note: Greed run amok.

US Politics: "US Senate Blocks Bill Targeting Oil Firm Subsidies" [05/18/11] "The US Senate defeated a bill taking aim at some $2 billion in annual subsidies to some of the world's largest and most profitable oil companies amid deep voter anger at high gasoline prices. Lawmakers voted 52-48 to end debate on the measure, falling short of the 60 required and effectively killing a proposal that the White House's Democratic allies had portrayed as a belt-tightening step in cash-strapped Washington. [...]"  

"Fracking Hell: Toxic And Radioactive Waste – The Untold Story" [05/08/11] [17:53]   "An original investigative report by Earth Focus and UK's Ecologist Film Unit looks at the risks of natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale. From toxic chemicals in drinking water to unregulated interstate dumping of potentially radioactive waste that experts fear can contaminate water supplies in major population centers including New York City, [...]"  Related: "Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers"  "The American landscape is dotted with hundreds of thousands of new wells and drilling rigs, as the country scrambles to tap into this century’s gold rush — for natural gas.  With hydrofracking, a well can produce over a million gallons of wastewater that is often laced with highly corrosive salts, carcinogens like benzene and radioactive elements like radium, all of which can occur naturally thousands of feet underground. Other carcinogenic materials can be added to the wastewater by the chemicals used in the hydrofracking itself. While the existence of the toxic wastes has been reported, thousands of internal documents obtained by The New York Times from the Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators and drillers show that the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood.
The documents reveal that the wastewater, which is sometimes hauled to sewage plants not designed to treat it and then discharged into rivers that supply drinking water, contains radioactivity at levels higher than previously known, and far higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for these treatment plants to handle. [...]" 

"EPA, Army Corps Draft New Clean Water Act Guidelines That Threaten to Seize Control of All Water Supplies" [05/08/11]   "On Wednesday, April 27, the Obama administration’s US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and US Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) jointly released a new draft guidance for the federal Clean Water Act that aims to dramatically expand both the scope of what constitutes a “water source,” as well as the legal power federal agencies can exert over those water sources. If enacted, the proposal will basically allow the EPA and ACE to control any stream, pond, or even puddle that they determine “has a physical, chemical or biological connection” to any larger body of water, which includes even privately-owned water sources. One of the biggest impacts of the guidance will be to reverse previous Supreme Court decisions that have established the proper constitutional limits on the scope of federal government regulatory authority over not only water, but other natural resources. By undoing these decisions, the EPA and ACE will essentially be giving themselves a free pass to arbitrarily develop and establish their own rules, and they will be able to do so without proper congressional approval. [...]"    

"US gasoline prices surpass $4" [05/01/11] "As oil companies rake in record profits in the first-quart earnings, the price of gas at the pump has risen to more than USD 4 per gallon in the United States. In some states, the price of gasoline has risen to more than USD 4.50 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association's (AAA) Daily Fuel Gauge Report. With the price of gas continuing to rise across the country, the Big Five oil companies -- ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips -- have announced record earnings totaling USD 34 billion within the first quarter of 2011, The Huffington Post reported. This is a 42 percent increase in combined profits from last year. Exxon alone reportedly has gained USD 10.7 billion in profits this year, which is up 69 percent from 2010. The price per barrel of oil is at a record high of USD 113, while producing it costs companies approximately USD 30. This, itself, has added to the companies' record profits. Additionally, taxpayer subsidies for oil and gas companies are at around USD 4 billion a year. Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs admitted that speculation on oil and gas stocks has contributed to the rise in the price of oil. The American Petroleum Institute (API), however, claims that the companies' profits reflect their contributions to the US economy. “The US oil and natural gas industry's strong earnings signal growing strength in our economy,” API President and CEO Jack Gerard stated earlier this week.  [...]"  

Exposé: "Whistleblower Claims BP Employees Slashed His Tires And Threatened Him" [05/01/11] [15:30] "John Bolenbaugh (whistleblower) is a former oil spill clean up worker for Enbridge during the Kalamazoo Oil spill last year in Michigan. Since John came out with videos exposing the poor clean-up he claims he has received threats, death treats, and even more harassment such as getting all four of his tires slashed on his vehicle. This is the type world we live in now, one in which people have to actually make videos in advance just in case they are murdered. The local police department is not responding to all of the threats he is receiving.  [...]"   

Commentary: "Oil Companies Are Making More Money And Less Gasoline" [04/29/11] "Refiners are raking in profits while producing less gasoline in the U.S. than usual for this time of year. They're also exporting more. With oil prices rising, that makes for sticker shock at the pump. What they aren't making is fuel, at least not in normal quantities. And that's a key factor in their reinvigorated financial performance. Despite increasing demand, refiners are producing less gasoline and diesel in the U.S. than usual for this time of year. They're also exporting more to foreign countries. Add rising oil prices, and you get the kind of sticker shock at the gas pump that some analysts say could challenge 2008's all-time highs — with regular gas already averaging about $3.88 a gallon in the U.S. and $4.22 in California, more than a month before the summer driving season kicks in. [...]"  Related: Commentary:  "The Roller Coaster Ride of Oil Continues" "... That was a cute move by Obama last week, calling out the “oil speculators” with a memo to his Attorney General, Eric Holder. The President proved a few weeks ago, in his energy speech to the nation, that he doesn’t understand how these resources are produced and traded. Consequently, the people he addressed remain clueless, but ticked off nonetheless. And the logic of politics now compels Mr. Obama to call out the dogs on…people who make money trading paper claims on oil? Funny, he didn’t show any interest the past two-plus years in people who make money swindling taxpayers via booby-trapped Collateralized Debt Obligations and Credit Default Swaps. Maybe those things sound too abstruse to get excited about – but believe me, it was a heckuva lot more money. In fact, a case could be made that Mr. Obama abetted a gigantic conspiracy in fraudulent financial paper which makes the oil speculators look like shoplifters in a Kentucky Wal-Mart. For those of you interested in the reality side of things, here’s the scoop: The price of oil is going to go way up, and way down, and way up again, and way down again until everyone is too broke to ask for any, and companies are too ruined to go get it for them, and governments are too broken to interfere in the process.[...]"   "Oil Bosses Rake In Record Profits As US Economy Stalls" "Exxon-Mobil made nearly $11 billion in the first quarter [...]"  Note:  The Pentagon and the military in general, are the largest consumers of petroleum products.

ProPublica: "Chief Offshore Drilling Regulator Criticizes Lack of Oversight for Contractors" [04/28/11] "The top regulator of offshore drilling said this week that his agency is exploring expanding its oversight to include thousands of contractors on offshore rigs. The majority of offshore oil workers in the Gulf of Mexico are contractors and the their central role in safety issues came into focus after last year's Gulf oil spill. BP had leased the Deepwater Horizon rig from the contractor Transocean and relied on the contractor Halliburton to provide casing for the Macondo well. The government currently regulates only operators of offshore drilling rigs, such as BP, and in turn holds them responsible for any contractors they hire. Experts say that by delegating the supervision of contractors the government is essentially taking the word of rig operators that facilities are safe and comply with regulation.  As Reuters reported Monday, the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, Michael Bromwich, said he thinks his agency has the authority to oversee contractors and that he intends to do so.  Brownwich expanded on his comments Tuesday at a recruiting event at Columbia University attended by a ProPublica reporter. "It makes absolutely no sense to me why we should not regulate contractors as well as operators," said Bromwich. "Historically we have only gone against the operator. My question is: why?" Overseeing contractors could drastically expand Bromwich's mandate, and it's not clear whether his agency has sufficient resources to do it. In the Gulf of Mexico, almost all of the personnel involved in offshore oil exploration are contractors, said Robert Bea, an engineering professor at Berkeley who specializes in offshore drilling. For oil production, Bea said, the proportion of offshore workers employed by operators varies significantly depending upon the site and the operating company, ranging from 20 percent to 60 percent. [...]"  

"Greg Palast Interview: One Year After Deepwater Horizon" [04/25/11] [10:11] Full Screen "Investigative journalist Greg Palast j discusses the state of the Gulf of Mexico one year after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. [...]"   See related stories at the "Oil & Gas" link at the top of this panel.  

"The Mysterious Deaths of Nine Gulf Oil Spill Whistleblowers" [04/24/11] Video clip [7:57]  "In the past year, nine vocal critics or potential whistleblowers of the Gulf oil spill all died in extremely mysterious ways. Their deaths could be strange, unrelated coincidences. Or they could have been killed as part of a conspiracy to silence those who were speaking out against the worst oil spill in American history. [...]"    See related stories at the "Oil & Gas" link at the top of this panel.  

"BP Sues Gulf Rig Firm, Shifting Blame For Oil Spill" [04/22/11] "BP is taking legal action to shift the blame for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster which devastated the environment and the group's image a year ago, suing rig operator Transocean for damages of $40 billion (24 billion pounds). The disaster threatened to ruin BP as a business at one point, and the company said it was the victim of bad practice by sub-contractors. The British oil giant filed suit against Swiss-based Transocean in a New Orleans court on Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of the start of the biggest maritime oil spill in US history. It also sued oil services giant Halliburton and parts manufacturer Cameron. [...]"   

"Row after BP offers 35 new Gulf clinics at Oil Spill Summit" [04/22/11] "After a U.S. Department of Health and Human Service press release this week announced the agency creating thirty-five new health clinics throughout the Gulf Coast region and banning Nalco's Corexit dispersant, those announcements were made at the Oil Spill Summit in New Orleans on Tuesday along with an apology, followed by a flurry of questions, confusion and dismayed officials. The announcements, said to be made by BP in conjunction with DHSS, were recorded and the video is embedded on this page. [...]"  

"Oil And Gas Companies Pumped Millions Of Gallons Of Carcinogenic Chemicals Into U.S. Water Supply" [04/21/11] "Millions of gallons of potentially cancer-inducing chemicals have been pumped into the U.S. water supply by leading gas and oil companies, an investigation has revealed. The chemicals were pumped into wells as part of a process called hydraulic fracturing to access natural gas, which needs large amounts of water and fluids injected underground at high volumes and pressure. A report quizzed 14 different companies about the chemicals used in the process and found 29 chemicals were known or suspected human carcinogens. [...]"  Related: "Fracking Blowout Causes Massive Spill In Pennsylvania"   "The well blew near the surface, spilling thousands and thousands of gallons of frack fluid over containment walls, through fields, personal property and farms, even where cattle continue to graze. [...]"  

"Plans For Tough European Rules On Oil Spills Come Under Attack" [04/21/11]   "European plans to crack down hard on oil companies with a series of measures to prevent a spill in EU waters like that of BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster, are under attack from the UK and other national governments, the Guardian has learned. The measures, backed by the EU's energy chief Günter Oettinger, require companies to use a higher standard of equipment, pay for damage for which they are not liable now, and prove they have enough funds to clear up after any accident, before they can be licensed to drill. [...]"  

Commentary: "Koch And Native-American Reservation Oil Theft" [04/11/11]   "Just what is this Koch Industries? Should it be called a “company?” If so we need to re-think the idea of what a company and a business is supposed to be. Even the brother of Koch Industries owners David and Charles Koch called the company an “organized crime” operation. Koch money is a key driver of the conservative movement. Almost every conservative-movement rock you turn over has Koch money crawling around under it. As the movement becomes more and more of a pay-to-play operation, conservatives of every stripe do more and more to protect and enrich the Koch operation. This has included blocking, disrupting and avoiding official investigations of accusations. It also includes funding front groups to advance the political and financial interests of the company and its owners. [...]"   

Alex Jones Interviews: "Lindsey Williams Back With New Intel" [04/10/11] [15:30] Part 2 [15:19]| Part 3 [15:39]| Part 4 [5:18]| "Lindsey Williams is back on The Alex Jones today with some hot new Intel , Gold going to $3000 Silver to $300 an ounce crude oil to $200 , do not you dare sell your gold and silver Pastor Lindsey Williams says , Gold and silver are going to go only in one way , if you think they are expensive now you have not seen anything yet , the elite need to impose a New World currency and will have it backed by gold and silver , the dollar will be dead before the end of 2012 , all middle eastern monarchies will be overthrown one after the other , that last one being that of Saudi Arabia , we are giving Libya and Egypt to the Muslim Brotherhood , China is the big one they were double crossed with paper money ( the us dollar and the T bills) now they are buying gold by the tons [...]"    Related: See below.

"Gas Prices Keep Soaring As U.S. Fuels Other Countries' Growth" [04/10/11] "Recently, Judy Dugan, a petroleum market commentator for Consumer Watchdog, noted that the shares of oil refiners jumped in price last month "on bets that Japan would soon have to import a lot more heating oil and gasoline because of refinery fires and quake/tsunami damage."   Dugan noted that the biggest gain was posted by one Texas-based refiner, Valero Energy Corp., whose stock price jumped 6 percent in one day. She explained that the company's refineries "are all in the U.S West Coast region, and it is most able to get gasoline, diesel and heating oil onto tankers headed to Asia." In short, U.S. refinery capacity and usage may be staying high because the refiners are indeed producing gasoline and other fuels, but not for U.S. motorists' cars. Instead, it's being shipped across the Pacific to China and other countries where the "worldwide economic recovery" is under way at a faster pace than in the U.S. [...]"   

US Politics: "How The Oil Lobby Greases Washington's Wheels" [04/07/11] "Clout in Washington isn't about winning legislative battles -- it's about making sure that they never happen at all. The oil and gas industry has that kind of clout. Despite astronomical profits during what have been lean years for most everyone else, the oil and gas industry continues to benefit from massive, multi-billion dollar taxpayer subsidies. Opinion polling shows the American public overwhelmingly wants those subsidies eliminated. [...]"   

"3 Transocean Employees Refuse to Testify in Probe of Gulf Oil Rig Disaster " [04/06/11]   "Three employees of Transocean, owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon, have refused to cooperate with a federal investigation into last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement are together conducting hearings in New Orleans on why the oil rig’s blowout preventer failed to stop the April 20, 2010, accident that killed 11 workers—nine of them Transocean employees— and spewed nearly five million barrels of oil into the ocean. Michael Bromwich, director of the ocean energy bureau, said the employees’ refusal to testify was “unacceptable” and that Transocean should punish them for not cooperating. A company spokesman claimed that Transocean was not responsible for two of the employees, James Kent and Jay Odenwald, because they have hired their own lawyers to represent them. Bromwich, in turn, responded that “this is less a legal issue than one whether Transocean recognizes its moral and corporate responsibility to cooperate with an investigation into the causal factors of the most significant oil spill in Untied States history.” At the time of the Deepwater Horizon accident, Kent was Transocean’s asset manager in charge of the rig that exploded. Odenwald, a senior subsea engineer, was in charge of the blowout preventer that failed. The third Transocean employee who has refused to testify is Geoff Broughton, who served as the company’s representative during a four-month investigation that concluded the blowout preventer failed because the force of surging oil and gas caused a drill pipe to buckle and bend, stopping the preventer from covering the well hole. A Transocean lawyer told the government that a senior technician would be sent to the hearings to answer general questions about the design, maintenance and performance of the blowout preventer. [...]"  

Absurdities:  "Transocean Hails ‘Best Year’ In Safety, Gives Execs Bonuses, Despite Gulf Spill " [04/04/11] "The company that owns the now-infamous Deepwater Horizon, the oil rig that caused immeasurable damage to the Gulf, recently applauded itself for the “best year in safety performance in our Company’s history.” The company, Transocean Ltd., rewarded its executives millions in bonuses for the achievement, according to the annual report it released yesterday. ... Notwithstanding the tragic loss of life in the Gulf of Mexico, we achieved an exemplary statistical safety record as measured by our total recordable incident rate and total potential severity rate. As measured by these standards, we recorded the best year in safety performance in our Company’s history, which is a reflection on our commitment to achieving an incident free environment, all the time, everywhere,” the company wrote in their annual statement to shareholders. [...]"  Note: Here we see a new high in delusion.  

"Gagging Order on Scientists Probing Dolphin Deaths as U.S. Builds Criminal Case Against BP" [03/27/11] "Scientists probing the deaths of baby dolphins in the area affected by last year’s BP oil spill have been ordered by the government not to speak about the project. Wildlife biologists who have been contracted by the National Marine Fisheries Service to investigate a huge rise in dolphin mortality this year must keep their findings confidential. The gagging order was imposed because the review of the deaths is part of the federal criminal investigation into last year’s BP disaster. [...]"

"Israel: Oil and Vinegar" [03/24/11] "... Dr Vinegar, the former chief scientist of Royal Dutch Shell, is at the centre of an ambitious project to turn Israel into one of the world’s leading oil producers. According to Dr Vinegar, Israel has the second-biggest oil shale deposits in the world, outside the US: “We estimate that there is the equivalent of 250 billion barrels of oil here. To put that in context, there are proven reserves of 260 billion barrels of oil in Saudi Arabia.” [...] “These Israeli deposits have been known about, but have never been listed before. It was previously assumed there was not the technology to deal with it.” According to Dr Vinegar, IEI, which is owned by the American telecoms group IDT Corp, hopes to begin production on a commercial basis by the end of the decade, with a view to producing 50,000 barrels per day at the outset. This would be a fraction of the 270,000bpd consumed daily by Israel, but would be a significant step towards making the country energy-independent."  

"Photos Of New Oil Spill Near Deepwater Horizon" [03/21/11] "The Coast Guard is investigating reports of a potentially large oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico not far from the Deepwater Horizon site. According to a knowledgeable source, the slick was sighted by a helicopter pilot on Friday and is about 100 miles long. A fishing boat captain said he went through the slick yesterday and it was strong enough to make his eyes burn. According to the Times Picayune, the Coast Guard has confirmed they are investigating apotentially large 100 mile slick about 30 miles offshore. They are going to a site near the Matterhorn well site about 20 miles north of the BP Deepwater Horizon site, according to the paper. The Matterhorn field includes includes a deepwater drilling platform owned by W&T Technology. It was acquired last year from TotalFinaElf E&P. [...]"  Related: "Florida Spring Breakers Find The Oil" [03/21/11] [2:51] "New huge spill near Deepwater Horizon, at MC243 — Slick is 100 miles long, skimming started days ago" [03/20/11]   "New HUGE slick confirmed. 25 miles South of Grand Isle. 12 X 100 miles. Skimming operations begun days ago. Pics coming soon. Exact source location is Matterhorn MC243 [...] See "Oil & Gas" link at the top of this panel for related stories.   

Report: "Nearly 50 Percent Of The Population Along The Gulf Coast Is Experiencing Sickness Indicative Of Chemical Poisoning" [03/13/11] "Along the Gulf Coast, the marketing blitz for spring break is rolling out as the oil from the BP blowout 11 months ago continues to roll in along with increasing numbers of dead infant dolphins, in numbers completely without precedent. The beaches remain polluted with toxic oil and dispersant even as local politicians and government officials insist everything is fine and the oil miraculously gone. Thousands of pounds are collected each day from the few areas that remain under scrutiny, all of those being in highly visible resort areas. In one zone on Ft. Morgan beach in Alabama, a record 17,000 lbs was collected in one day after a winter storm rolled through. Along the beaches of Alabama in areas not frequented by media or guests, dead infant dolphins are left uncollected in the sand. Current plans by mayors of resort communities along the Gulf Coast will have thousands of vacationers, including at-risk populations, once again making sandcastles and sunbathing on toxic, polluted beaches. [...]"   

Exposé:  "Death Cloud: The Oil Industry's Defense" [03/12/11]  [7:51]  "Oil refineries insist hydrofluoric acid is safe, alternatives too expensive. Related:  UK:  "Chevron Finds Buyer For Refinery "   "Chevron finds a buyer for its oil refinery in Pembrokeshire, which employs about 1,400 people. [...]"  

"Leaked EPA Documents Expose Decades-Old Effort To Hide Dangers of Natural Gas Extraction" [03/06/11] "Efforts by lawmakers and regulators to force the federal government to better police the natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" have been thwarted for the past 25 years, according to an expose in the New York Times. Studies by scientists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on fracking have been repeatedly narrowed in scope by superiors and important findings have been removed under pressure from the industry. The news comes as the EPA is conducting a broad study of the risks of natural gas drilling with preliminary results scheduled to be delivered next year. Joining us is Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, a firm that tracks environmental spills and releases across the country based in Ithaca, New York, where fracking is currently taking place. [...]" Related: "Republican Led Chemical Security Bills Fail To Remove Nation’s Chemical Plants From Terror Targets"   "Today Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Representatives Dan Lungren (R-CA) and Timothy Murphy (R-PA) introduced three chemical security bills. These bills extend a flawed temporary law for three and seven years respectively earning them the support of chemical industry lobbyists. The temporary law was enacted in 2006 to give Congress time to enact a comprehensive program. It is far from comprehensive and leaves more than 100 million Americans at risk of chemical disasters in 41 states. [...]"  Note: Because the Republicans know that 9/11 was NOT done by terrorists, but by CIA/Mossad .... they don't need to protect plants from non-existent terrorists. The only real terrorists are from the governments themselves.  

Commentary: "Koch Brothers Behind Environment Killing Measures" [03/03/11] "By now you're probably familiar with Koch Industries, a major polluter that's involved with just about every kind of unsustainable industry - oil, gas, coal, chemicals, cattle, forestry, and synthetics. They're behind much of the right wing organizing that won Republicans the majority across the states and in the House through extremely well-funded misinformation campaigns of such front organizations as Americans for Prosperity. The Koch political poison has spread across the nation. Robocalls from Koch's Americans for Prosperity group flooded New Hampshire in support of a bill to repeal participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which has cut greenhouse pollution and created 1,130 jobs as a result of energy efficiency benefits. Americans for Prosperity climate deniers in New Jersey are trying to kill RGGI there as well. Koch's main man in Congress, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) was the one who inserted the amendment to slash EPA funding in the House GOP's already wildly anti-environment budget. Koch's many subsidiaries have filed challenges against health and environmental rules from toxic chemical disclosure to dumping in streams. [...]"  

Commentary: "Department Of Interior Poised To Issue Deepwater Drilling Permit To Benefit BP" [03/03/11] "Talk about short-term memory. For the first time since 2010’s oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the Department of Interior has granted the first deepwater drilling permit for a well in which BP has the largest financial stake. To do so without imposing stronger environmental and safety standards is a recipe for disaster. The agency must be naïve to think this is about Noble Energy, the applicant. The Interior Department must start evaluating financial partners in its assessment of whether to grant drilling permits and should not be granting application status to minority interest partners. By considering this drilling permit a venture of Noble Energy, which has a 23.25 percent financial stake in the operation, the Interior Department has its head in the sand. BP, the corporation responsible for 4.9 million barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, has a financial interest double that of the application’s namesake. A 46.5 percent share is nothing to scoff at. ...If the Obama administration is really as serious as it claims about reforming the deepwater drilling industry, it must uphold the standards it has proposed. This is no time to be waiving the new stringent regulations, particularly when the involved corporation has a history of environmental and worker abuses. [...]"  Note: The Dark Spike is not over, apparently.

MSM: "Aging Equipment, Repeated Safety Violations Put Refinery Workers At Risk" ABC News [03/02/11] "Industry can stall penalties and fixes despite rash of fires and explosions.  [...]"  Note:  The 'usual' in the oil industry. One wonders how they're going to refine all the oil in the US when overseas oil is gone, since they're not building new ones.

"Oil Rain: BP's black gold lands on Louisiana"  [03/02/11]   [1:03] "Louisiana residents witness a strange rain that leaves oil puddles near their homes. [...]"  

"Chevron Sues Amazon Natives It Poisoned With Toxins" [03/01/11] "Real classy, Chevron. Not content with ruining the lives of thousands of indigenous people across the Amazon by poisoning the land they live on and the water they drink, Chevron is suing them. Hunh? You heard right. Chevron is suing Amazon tribesmen whose only crime was imagining they might get Chevron to take responsibility and clean up the mess they made. Yeah. Classy. Chevron has: …Threatened the trial judge with criminal liability for refusing to grant the oil giant’s motions to dismiss the case; sued each of the 47 impoverished indigenous and farmer plaintiffs in Ecuador’s rainforest in New York federal court; sought an unprecedented injunction from a U.S. federal judge to bar any American lawyer from enforcing a judgment out of Ecuador anywhere in the world; and finished its 13th day deposing one of the plaintiff’s American lawyer, apparently breaking the record for the longest deposition of a lawyer on a sitting case. The company also filed a civil RICO suit in New York yesterday, claiming the indigenous groups were trying to extort money from Chevron via the lawsuit. [...]" 

"The Looming Economic Crisis, The Price Of Oil, And Our Strategic Petroleum Reserve" [02/25/11] "The events in Libya, more out of fear and distorted trading on the exchanges have pushed the price of oil to levels that are threatening the economic recovery worldwide even though our market is amply supplied. Yet, importantly, because of the current schism in the price of oil (WTI vs Brent) we are in a position to do something about it. We have a Strategic Petroleum Reserve holding some 750 million barrels of oil -- available to the nation in case of national emergency. The looming economic crises caused by the massive jump in oil prices must certainly be classified a national emergency. [...]"  

"Hydrofracked? One Man’s Mystery Leads To A Backlash Against Natural Gas Drilling" [02/25/11] "There are few things a family needs to survive more than fresh drinking water. And Louis Meeks, a burly, jowled Vietnam War hero who had long ago planted his roots on these sparse eastern Wyoming grasslands, was drilling a new well in search of it. The drill bit spun, whining against the alluvial mud and rock that folds beneath the Wind River Range foothills. It ploughed to 160 feet, but the water that spurted to the surface smelled foul, like a parking lot puddle drenched in motor oil. It was no better — yet — than the water Meeks needed to replace. [...]"  Note: A long investigative piece, but a nice overview. 

"Gaddafi Orders Explosion Of Libya's Oil Pipelines" Jerusalem Post [02/23/11] "Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has ordered his security forces to sabotage oil facilities, Time magazine reported Wednesday, quoting a source close to Gaddafi. According to the report, the forces were ordered to start blowing up oil pipelines in order to cut off flows to ports in the Mediterranean. "The sabotage, according to the insider, is meant to serve as a message to Libya's rebellious tribes: It's either me or chaos," said the report. Time also reported that the insider said Gaddafi only has the support of about 5,000 soldiers in the army and that the Libyan leader has told people close to him that he realizes he cannot take control over Libya with the troops he has. [...]"   

"Oil Hits 2.5-year High on Arab Revolts" [02/22/11] "As the Libyan revolt convulses into the bloodiest protest in the Arab world, oil reached its highest level in two-and-a-half years. Brent crude reached $108 per barrel for the first time since 2008. Libya is one of the biggest oil producers in the world with one of the largest proven oil reserves on the African continent. They export approximately 400 million barrels of oil per year, or about 1.1 million per day. The civil unrest in Libya follows the overthrow of Mubarak in Egypt which has left the future of the Suez Canal somewhat uncertain. Although all indications are that the transitional Egyptian authorities will respect diplomatic and economic treaties, commodities markets are still concerned. Diplomatic staff and oil services companies from the United States and the European Union announced their evacuations from Libya further straining the flow of oil. Oil prices will likely continue to increase as long as the civil unrest persists in the Arab world. [...]"  Note: If there is unrest, the price of oil should be frozen until its over.

Alex Jones Interviews: "Lindsey Williams: NWO to Target Iran & Saudi Arabia Next, Oil to Hit $200 a Barrel" [02/22/11]   [15:25]  "Alex welcomes to the show ordained Baptist minister Lindsey Williams. Lindsey will reveal on the Alex Jones Show today new groundbreaking information about the plans of the global elite. Because of the executive status accorded to him as Chaplain of the Alyeska Pipeline Company, Williams has been privy to the plans of the elite for years. Last year Williams predicted the price of oil would go up significantly and the market has since skyrocketed, most recently in response to the outbreak of engineered revolution and violence in the Middle East, developments also revealed to Williams by the global elite. Alex also covers the latest breaking news and takes your calls during the show.  [...]" Part 2 [15:26]| Part 3 [13:49]| Part 4 [14:43]| Part 5 [13:47]  

Alex Jones Interviews:  "Lindsey Williams: Globalists Hijack Middle East, Cause Food Riots and Spike Gas Prices" [02/22/11]   [15:20] Part 2 [8:50] Related: "Bilderberg Hand': Deadly Chaos In Libya, Bahrain As Wave Of Rage Spreads"     [2:35] "Government buildings are reported to be on fire in the Libyan capital Tripoli as demonstrators demand an end to the 41-year rule of Colonel Gaddafi. The son of the Libyan leader blamed opposition groups and outsiders for instigating the protests. The army is reported to be using live ammunition against demonstrators, with international organisations putting the current death toll at over 200. In a televised national address Seif Al-Islam Gaddafi said this number was exaggerated, also dismissing reports that his father fled the country. Meanwhile the unrest continues to spread further through the region with protests in Yemen, Bahrain and Morocco. Regional expert Adrian Salbuchi says that global dominance groups are behind the wave of revolts.[...]"

"Gas Pipeline Explodes In East-Central Canada" [02/21/11] "Police say a natural gas pipeline ruptured and exploded into a huge fireball in northwestern Ontario, but no one was injured. Greenstone Provincial Police Staff-Sgt. Carl Pettigrew said Sunday that the blast occurred late Saturday near Beardmore, Ontario, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) northeast of Thunder Bay. Pettigrew says the flames were extinguished by Sunday morning. Police say the section of the TransCanada Corp. mainline that exploded forced a few hundred people to evacuate their homes, but they were told shortly after that they could return home. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says they are investigating the cause of the explosion.  [...]"   

"Judge Rules Kenneth Feinberg Is Acting In BP's Interests, Not The People Of The Gulf" [02/20/11]   [2:09]  

"Gas Companies Blamed For More Than 30 Earthquakes In Two Cities In Four Days" [02/19/11] "A rash of earthquakes affecting two small American cities in the past week have baffled geologists - though locals are blaming gas companies. The north-central Arkansas cities of Greebrier and Guy have been affected by more than 30 earthquakes since Sunday ranging in magnitude from 1.8 to 3.8. Geologists are still trying to discover the exact cause of the recent seismic activity but have identified two possibilities. Geohazards supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey Scott Ausbrooks, said: 'The quakes are part of what is now called the Guy earthquake swarm — a series of mild earthquakes that have been occurring periodically since 2009. [...]"  

"Oil Jumps To $90 Per Barrel" [02/19/11] "Crude oil prices jumped to more than $90 overnight Friday in New York as tensions escalated in the Middle East. [...]"  Note: Tensions exacerbated by the US .... the winners ... the Oil Companies .... and Wall Street ... and the Military-Industrial-Security-Congressional Complex. 

"Chevron Fined For Amazon Pollution By Ecuador Court: $8.6 Billion" [02/18/11] "The oil firm Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, was accused of dumping billions of gallons of toxic materials into unlined pits and Amazon rivers. Campaigners say crops were damaged and farm animals killed, and that local cancer rates increased. Condemning the ruling as fraudulent, Chevron said it would appeal. The company will also have to pay a 10% legally mandated reparations fee, bringing the total penalty to $9.5bn (£5.9bn). Pablo Fajardo, lawyer for the plaintiffs, described the court ruling as "a triumph of justice over Chevron's crime and economic power". "This is an important step but we're going to appeal this sentence because we think that the damages awarded are not enough considering the environmental damage caused by Chevron here in Ecuador," he told the BBC. A Chevron statement said the firm would appeal, and called the ruling "illegitimate and unenforceable". [...]"  Related: "Chevron Runs from Judgment in Ecuador"  "Chevron petroleum Corporation is attempting to slither out of an $8 billion judgment rendered yesterday by a trial court in Ecuador for cancer deaths, illnesses and destruction caused by its Texaco unit. [...]"  

"Study Finds Massive Flux Of Gas, In Addition To Liquid Oil, At BP Well Blowout In Gulf" [02/15/11] "A new University of Georgia study that is the first to examine comprehensively the magnitude of hydrocarbon gases released during the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil discharge has found that up to 500,000 tons of gaseous hydrocarbons were emitted into the deep ocean. The authors conclude that such a large gas discharge—which generated concentrations 75,000 times the norm—could result in small-scale zones of "extensive and persistent depletion of oxygen" as microbial processes degrade the gaseous hydrocarbons. [...]"  

Investigations:  "Regulators Warn that Trans-Alaska Pipeline Poses Safety Risk" ProPublica [02/14/11] "The federal agency that regulates pipeline safety flagged several problems with the Trans-Alaska Pipeline that it said could pose a risk “to public safety, property, or the environment,” according to the Wall Street Journal.  As we noted last month, a leak had been discovered on the pipeline along a segment that had been flagged for replacement in 2008 by the pipeline operator, the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. Earlier this month, Alyeska received a letter from regulators at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration warning that the pipeline had “a history … of corrosion problems” and urging safety repairs and upgrades, according to the Journal. Reuters details more from the letter, which we've posted: Probes as far back as 2008 found issues including internal corrosion that had thinned pipeline walls by up to 80 percent in some spots, the letter said. While some measures have been taken since to mitigate corrosion risks, closer monitoring is required, it added. Among other areas of concern is TAPS' ability to withstand a prolonged shutdown during Alaska's frigid winter months, when the risk of ice plugs and wax deposits in the line could make operations hazardous, according to the letter. The company was given 30 days to give a written response to the notice, but no deadline was set for compliance with the recommendations. As we’ve noted, Alyeska is owned by BP—its largest single shareholder—as well as ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Unocal Pipeline and Koch Alaska Pipeline. In 2007, Alyeska representatives told the House Energy and Commerce committee that accelerated corrosion was not a threat to the integrity of the pipeline system, according to Rep. Edward Markey, a member of the committee. The company told the Journal that it disagrees with some of regulators latest findings, but has begun addressing a few items mentioned in the letter and plans to “work through this process" with regulators. [...]" 

"Ex-Shell CEO Says Big Oil Can Live Without Subsidies" [02/13/11] ""In the face of sustained high oil prices it was not an issue - for large companies - of needing the subsidies to entice us into looking for and producing more oil," John Hofmeister told National Journal Daily. Hofmeister retired from Shell in 2008 and founded the group Citizens for Affordable Energy. He testified to a House subcommittee Thursday on how Egyptian unrest affects oil prices. Before that hearing, he told Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., in a private conversation that big oil companies don't need government help. Markey mentioned Hofmeister's comment in a news conference later Thursday when introducing legislation eliminating $5 billion worth of subsidies to the major oil and gas companies. "He told me that privately [Thursday] but that he would say that in public if asked to do so," Markey said after the news conference. [...]"  

"Gas Explosion Rocks Pennsylvania Neighborhood" [02/11/11] "A gas explosion killed five people in Allentown, Pennsylvania, making it the third deadly natural gas line fire in the U.S. in recent months. NBC's Brian Williams reports. (Nightly News) [...]"   

"EPA Wants to Look at Full Lifecycle of Fracking in New Study" [02/10/11] "The EPA has proposed examining every aspect of hydraulic fracturing, from water withdrawals to waste disposal, according to a draft plan the agency released Tuesday. If the study goes forward as planned, it would be the most comprehensive investigation of whether the drilling technique risks polluting drinking water near oil and gas wells across the nation. The agency wants to look at the potential impacts on drinking water of each stage involved in hydraulic fracturing, where drillers mix water with chemicals and sand and inject the fluid into wells to release oil or natural gas. In addition to examining the actual injection, the study would look at withdrawals, the mixing of the chemicals, and wastewater management and disposal. The agency, under a mandate from Congress, will only look at the impact of these practices on drinking water. [...]"  Note: Better late than never, but we'll never see any final reports ... there isn't enough time left here as a civilization.

Propaganda: "Saudi oil reserves 'overstated by 40%'" [02/09/11] "US diplomat convinced by Saudi expert that reserves of world’s biggest oil exporter have been overstated by nearly 40% Saudi oil refinery. WikiLeaks cables suggest the amount of oil that can be retrieved has been overestimated. The US fears that Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude oil exporter, may not have enough  [...]"  Note: Bullshit. Why would this Wikileaks item be propaganda? Cui Bono? Oil companies, because it would cause the price of oil to skyrocket. Recall that oil, currently at $88 per barrel, was only $11 a barrel a few years ago. Hype and emotion are all that set the price ... and all they need is another excuse .... BP suffered a huge loss recently ... the first in 20 years. They want to make that back. This story is, of course, being parroted by mainstream media. Again, my assessment of Wikileaks is that it is probably a deep intel operation featuring both true (revealing and selectively embarassing) and false (propaganda useful to the system) information used in specific ways. 

"Buffalo, NY Bans Hydraulic Fracturing" [02/09/11] "The city of Buffalo, New York, banned the natural gas drilling technique of hydraulic fracturing on Tuesday, a largely symbolic vote that demonstrates concern about potential harm to groundwater from mining an abundant energy source. The city council voted 9-0 to prohibit natural gas extraction including the process known as "fracking" in which chemicals, sand and water are blasted deep into the earth to fracture shale formations and allow gas to escape. The ordinance also bans storing, transferring, treating or disposing of fracking waste within the city. [...]"  Note:  Yeah .... no fracking waste.

Legal Case: "Lawyer Says Feinberg's Payment Plan for Oil Spill Victims 'Borders on Delusional'" [02/08/11] "A Texas attorney representing more than 15,000 people affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has several complaints about Kenneth Feinberg's method of calculating payments through BP's Gulf Coast Claims Facility. Attorney Tony Buzbee says Feinberg failed to consider income losses for several months, and fails to consider that 2008 and 2009 were the worst economic years in recent memory for the Gulf States. [...]"   

"U.S. in Contempt Over Gulf Drill Ban, Judge Rules" [02/05/11] "The Obama Administration acted in contempt by continuing its deepwater-drilling moratorium after the policy was struck down, a New Orleans judge ruled. Interior Department regulators acted with “determined disregard” by lifting and reinstituting a series of policy changes that restricted offshore drilling, following the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history,  [...]"    

"Shell Scraps Arctic Drilling" [02/05/11] "Shell Oil has dropped plans for exploratory drilling in Arctic waters off Alaska this year, the company announced Thursday, citing regulatory delays. [...]"   

Absurdities: "Anatomy of a Gas Well: What Happened When a Well Was Drilled in a National Forest" [02/05/11] "A new report by the U.S. Forest Service offers one of the most detailed accounts yet of how natural gas drilling can affect a forest – in this case the Fernow Experimental Forest, deep in the mountains of West Virginia. The report traces the construction and drilling of a single well and an accompanying pipeline on a sliver of the 4,700 acre forest that federal scientists have been studying for nearly 80 years. It found that the project felled or killed about 1,000 trees, damaged roads, eroded the land and—perhaps most important—permanently removed a small slice of the forest from future scientific research. The report said "the drilling didn’t appear to have a substantial effect on groundwater quality". The scientists did not monitor the forest’s most sensitive ecosystems, including extensive caves, and did not evaluate the operation’s impact on wildlife. The authors also did not test for any of the chemicals added to drilling and hydraulic fracturing fluids.  [...]"  Note: Well, it was fairly worthless study then, wasn't it .... paid-off scientists creating something to minimize effects.

"Judge Rules On Gulf Payout" [02/04/11] "The administrator of the US$20 billion ($25.8 billion) compensation fund for Gulf oil spill victims is not independent from BP and must stop telling potential claimants that he is, a federal judge ruled yesterday, just hours after the fund czar released details on how final payments would be determined. United States District Judge Carl Barbier said Ken Feinberg and any of his agents must clearly disclose in all communications that he is acting for and on behalf of BP, not independently. [...]"   

"Drilling Industry: Injecting More Than 32 Million Gallons Of Diesel Fuel Into The Ground In 19 States Was Legal" [02/03/11] "After three members of Congress reported this week that drilling companies have been injecting large amounts of diesel fuel underground to hydraulically fracture oil and gas wells, the industry is fighting back -- not by denying the accusation, but by arguing that the EPA never fully regulated the potentially environmentally dangerous practice in the first place. According to a letter to the EPA from Henry Waxman, D-Calif., Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., 14 fracking companies injected more than 32 million gallons of diesel fuel into the ground in 19 states between 2005 and 2009. And they did it without asking for or receiving permission from environmental regulators in those states. Diesel fuel contains benzene, a known carcinogen, which has been detected in water supplies near drilling facilities across the country. At first, the lawmakers' findings look like the prelude to a slam-dunk criminal case. The 2005 Energy Policy Act states that hydraulic fracturing using diesel is subject to federal regulations that protect drinking water by governing the injection of materials underground. Those injection regulations, contained in the Safe Drinking Water Act, say that companies need a permit before they put anything down a well. By the lawmakers' reading of these statutes, the drilling companies broke the law. But the energy companies now say there was no law to break.
"We are not questioning that EPA has the authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing under the Safe Drinking Water Act if diesel fuel is being used. It's the fact that there are no rules to do that," said Lee Fuller, vice president of government relations for the Independent Petroleum Association of America and executive director of industry-funded Energy in Depth. [...]"  Note: Common sense says you don't inject fuel into the ground as it will contaminate groundwater. Gross criminal negligence, jail time for corporate misfits, and a $20 billion fine would be nice to see.

"The Perfect Genetic Storm – Synthetic DNA and the Gulf Blue Plague" Michael Edward [01/23/11] "There’s a new proprietary recipe being force-fed to all of us here on the Gulf of Mexico that is now becoming available worldwide. Although this recipe has been closely guarded for 8 months, we were able to break it down after examining the plentiful supply us “Gulf Coasters” have available here. The ingredients are abundantly available while both the recipe and the brewing process are not as secret as everyone had thought. ... In September 2010, reporter Stephen Fry of the UK’s BBC was granted a video interview with Mike Utsler, the Chief Operating Officer of BP’s Gulf Coast Restoration. Here’s what Mr. Utsler publicly admitted on camera:  “There is a new form of microbiology that is attacking this (oil) plume and using it as a food source”.  You can view him saying this [0:17]   on our YouTube Channel or on our Gulf Blue Plague internet blog, as BP Admits Using Synthetic Microbes in Gulf of Mexico. This 17 second video snippet is taken from a November 7, 2010 broadcast entitled Has the Oil Really Gone?   It appears that the BBC has now restricted this video so that it can no longer be viewed from within the US.  A NEW FORM OF MICROBIOLOGY  A “new form of microbiology” is not a natural biological organism. Genome scientist J. Craig Venter, PhD, the founder of Synthetic Genomics Inc. and JCVI, clearly defined this new biological structure on May 27, 2010 in his prepared testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce: [...]"   Related: "The Perfect Genetic Storm: Synthetic DNA and The Gulf Blue Plague" [111:37]  In this broadcast from 1/21/11, Michael Edward discusses his article "The Perfect Genetic Storm: Synthetic DNA and the Gulf Blue Plague"  Note: Clip is timed to start at time reference 7:37, after all the initial rambling.  

"Sick Gulf Residents Beg Officials for Help: Officials Continue to Stonewall" [01/17/11] "In an emotionally charged meeting this week sponsored by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, fishermen, Gulf residents and community leaders vented their increasingly grave concerns about the widespread health issues brought on by the three-month-long disaster.  "Today I'm talking to you about my life," Cherri Foytlin told the two commissioners present at the Jan. 12 meeting. "My ethylbenzene levels are 2.5 times the 95th percentile, and there's a very good chance now that I won't get to see my grandbabies…What I'm asking you to do now, if possible, is to amend [your report]. Because we have got to get some health care." "I have seen small children with lesions all over their bodies," Foytlin, co-founder of Gulf Change, a community organisation based in Grand Isle, Louisiana, continued. [...]"   See 'Oil & Gas" link at the top of this panel for related stories and background.

"Venezuela Oil Reserves Surpass Saudi Arabia"  [01/17/11] "Venezuela has overtaken Saudi Arabia as the world leader in oil reserves with certified deposits leaping to 297 billion barrels at the end of 2010, President Hugo Chavez’s government said Saturday. Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told Reuters that the new reserves, which pushed the total 41 percent higher than the previous year, were booked in the South American OPEC member’s vast Orinoco extra heavy crude belt. A jubilant Chavez told parliament that Venezuela’s reserves now surpassed those of Saudi Arabia. [...]"   

"Opponents to fracking disclosure take big money from industry" [01/16/11] "Congress isn’t going to regulate hydraulic fracturing any time soon. But the Department of Interior might. For starters, Interior is mulling whether it should require drilling companies to disclose the chemicals they use to frack wells drilled on public lands, and already the suggestion has earned Interior Secretary Ken Salazar an earful. On January 5, a bipartisan group of 32 members of Congress, who belong to the Natural Gas Caucus, sent Salazar a letter imploringhim to resist a hasty decision because more regulations would “increase energy costs for consumers, suppress job creation in a promising energy sector, and hinder our nation’s ability to become more energy independent.” [...]"  

"Sick Gulf Residents Beg Officials for Help" [01/14/11] "In an emotionally charged meeting this week sponsored by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, fishermen, Gulf residents and community leaders vented their increasingly grave concerns about the widespread health issues brought on by the three-month-long disaster. [...]"  

"Alaska pipeline shut down after leak discovered" [01/09/11] "The Trans Alaska Pipeline shut down on Saturday after an oil leak was discovered at the intake pump station at Prudhoe Bay, the system's operator said.  [...]"     

"Gulf Oil Drilling May Soon Resume" [01/05/11] "The Obama administration said that 13 companies whose deepwater drilling activities were suspended last year may be able to resume drilling without detailed environmental reviews. The companies - including Chevron USA Inc. and Shell Offshore Inc. - will be allowed to resume work at previously drilled wells, as long as they meet new policies and regulations, officials said. "For those companies that were in the midst of operations at the time of the deepwater suspensions [last spring], today's notification is a significant step toward resuming their permitted activity," said Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. The decision is a victory for the drilling companies, which in the past had routinely won broad waivers from rules requiring detailed environmental studies. After the disastrous BP spill in April, the Obama administration pledged it would require companies to complete environmental reviews before being allowed to drill for oil. [...]"   

"Russia-China oil pipeline opens" [01/02/11] "The first oil pipeline linking the world's biggest oil producer, Russia, and the world's biggest consumer of energy, China, begins operation. [...]" 

Exposé:  "Kindra Arnesen: Explosive New Revelations, “Wake Up America” [01/01/11] [10:38] "Activist, Mother, and Voice of the Gulf People, Kindra Arnesen sat down with the Project Gulf Impact team, Matt Smith, Heather Rally, and Gavin Garrison recently to reveal shocking new information about the BP oil disaster and why the whole world should be paying attention to the Gulf. A must watch for anyone wanting new information on the Gulf of Mexico, she reveals shocking new information sure to send waves through the country. [...]"  Related:  Project Gulf Impact   See:  "Oil & Gas" Big News link at the top of this panel for related stories and background. 

Price of Oil Inversely Proportional to Value of Dollar

 

 

  Antemedius on BP's Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico spill   Environmental News from OilPrice.com