This topic includes oil as a source of energy, as well as pollution and environmental damage caused by oil spills and related disasters.
The Vermillion 380 offshore platform, owned by Mariner Energy, has exploded. This disaster is occurring while there is still oil throughout the Gulf of Mexico because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Vermillion 380 platform gets its name from Vermillion Bay, Louisiana which is north of the platform. Although this platform was about 90 […]
Norway’s oil company, Statoil, is drilling wells in the far north, in the Barents Sea. This offshore drilling project includes many safeguards because of Norway’s relatively strong environmental regulations. According to the University of Alaska, some of the features of this project include reinjecting carbon dioxide into the field, as well as drill cuttings. The […]
After the spill in the Gulf, British Petroleum used Corexit to disperse the oil in the ocean. Corexit is harmful to sea life, so many people protest the use of this compound. BP claims that Corexit is the safest dispersant it can use. So I decided to see if I could find any alternatives to […]
Oil continues to flow into the Gulf of Mexico and new information suggests some of the public’s worst fears may be true. A post at the Oil Drum, from a Democratic Underground link, suggests that the well is structurally damaged in a way that makes it nearly impossible to fix. The poster, Dougr, claims that […]
BP is using dispersants to mitigate the effects of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. A dispersant breaks up large patches of oil on the surface and forces them to sink into the ocean. Some dispersants are toxic, some are less toxic. The dispersant BP is using is called Corexit. According to the […]
New reports are coming out today that BP’s top kill plan is a success. The pipe full of mud is blocking further flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The news can’t come soon enough since it’s definitely possible that the well was leaking 100,000 barrels a day. The top kill is a temporary method before […]
The recent spill after the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon is releasing large quantities of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The reports are still unclear about the amount of oil that this well is releasing. Information about the underwater drilling methods and the field itself provides data which can help estimate the amount of […]
This fund is established to create a government account to pay for oil spill cleanup, and was financed in the past by a tax on sales of oil barrels. Tax collection expired in 1994 along with other Superfund tax collection, but now there are rumors that this tax will return at a higher level. According […]
There are now several makes and models of hybrid cars to choose from. Most of them are compact cars and even some much smaller vehicles. What sets the Altima and Fusion hybrids apart is that they are midsize sedans, so they offer more luxurious seating and more space than the smaller hybrids. They don’t get […]
The leak in the Gulf is different from many other famous oil spills. Tanker catastrophes like the Exxon Valdez crash dump oil mostly at the top of the ocean. This time, a large quantity of oil is being spilled deep under the waves. The IXTOC disaster in 1979, which was also in the Gulf of […]