Archive by category | Oil spill science

Historic Gulf oil spill settlement to bolster US research

Historic Gulf oil spill settlement to bolster US research

Research and recovery efforts linked to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill received a welcome boost on 15 November as part of a landmark settlement by the oil-and-gas giant BP plc.  Read more

Gulf of Mexico gets $50 million to improve water quality

On Monday 5 December, the 350 or so attendees at the State of the Gulf of Mexico Summit in Houston were among the first to hear of a $50 million, three-year commitment from the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service for projects to improve water quality in the Gulf of Mexico.

Final Deepwater disaster report paints bleak picture

Final Deepwater disaster report paints bleak picture

The full catalogue of failures that led to the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and the subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have been laid out by a final US government report.  Read more

NOAA science appointment: no end to the hold

NOAA science appointment: no end to the hold

Earlier this week US Senator David Vitter released his hold on a senior administration official after his demands regarding offshore drilling were met, but the Louisiana Republican has no intention of lifting a similar hold on the White House’s nominee for the position of chief scientist at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.  Read more

BP’s beach clean-up ‘contaminated clean sand’

BP’s beach clean-up ‘contaminated clean sand’

BP’s efforts to clean beaches soiled by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in some cases spread the oil to previously clean sand. Its method of finding pockets of buried oil and excavating and sieving sand were unproven and of questionable effectiveness, researchers who observed the efforts say in a new paper.  Read more

Oil spill commission calls for stronger science role

Oil spill commission calls for stronger science role

In its final report, the presidential commission investigating the Gulf Oil Spill called for scientists to play a more important role in the federal government’s decisions about where to allow offshore oil production and also in how the government responds to spills.