Florida residents have photographed nearly every mile of the state’s 825 miles of beaches, part of a campaign launched by Florida’s tourism officials to show the world that its beaches are as clean and beautiful as they were before BP’s disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Faced with ongoing cleanup costs and widespread ecological damage, the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit today against BP and eight other companies involved in the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
MONTGOMERY, ALA—The state of Alabama’s lawsuits against BP PLC and its business partners are advancing smoothly and have an advantage over others, Rhon Jones of Beasley Allen told the Mobile Press-Register.
The senior investigator looking into the BP Oil Spill disaster has lodged a written complaint with the Oil Spill Commission (OSC), saying an oil drilling technology firm is being uncooperative. In his letter, Fred Bartlit says National Oilwell Varco (NOV) is hampering the investigation by refusing to release a proprietary software application. Bartlit calls NOV’s refusal to provide access to the application a “roadblock” in the investigation.
According to National Geographic magazine, scientists discovered a massive deep-sea coral die-off this month about 7 miles southwest of the site where BP’s blown-out well spewed millions of gallons of crude oil for months.
Weeks before the Deepwater Horizon platform exploded and sank into the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and creating the country’s worst offshore oil spill, BP and Halliburton knew the cement they were using to plug the exploratory well was unstable but went ahead and used it anyway. The presidential commission investigating the causes of the spill announced its first official finding today after weeks of probing the disaster.
On August 12, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced BP finally agreed to pay a record $50.6-million fine for safety violations that led to the 2005 explosion at its Texas City, Texas, refinery that killed 15 workers and injured 170 others. Now, in the wake of its oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, BP faces federal fines that will make the Texas City penalties look like pocket change.
Working with teams of doctors, scientists, and public health experts, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is currently planning and developing a large-scale study of the short-term and long-term physical and psychological tolls the BP oil spill has had upon the cleanup workers and the larger population of the Gulf Coast. The federal agency expects the study to encompass several thousands of people in the five states adversely affected by the massive oil spill: Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
BP announced yesterday that its blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico has been permanently sealed, five months after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded killing 11 workers and causing the largest oil spill in history.
BP has said it will not pay the state of Alabama $148 million in tax revenue lost when the massive oil spill crippled industry along its entire length of Gulf coastline. The oil company cited the lawsuit brought against it by Alabama attorney general Troy King for oil spill damages as one of the reasons for its refusal to pay the claim.
