Disasters

An armada of crop-dusters is poised to attack billions of hungry high plains and Rocky Mountain grasshoppers in what is seen as the biggest plague in a generation.

"The disaster in the Gulf was preceded by ample warnings – yet the administration had ignored them. Instead of cracking down on MMS, as he had vowed to do even before taking office, Obama left in place many of the top officials who oversaw the agency's culture of corruption."

"U.S. EPA has quietly released a full list of ingredients in the two controversial dispersants BP PLC is using to combat the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, following weeks of complaints from members of Congress and public health advocates that the dispersant manufacturer had kept its complete formula a secret from the public."

"Journalists struggling to document the impact of the oil rig explosion have repeatedly found themselves turned away from public areas affected by the spill, and not only by BP and its contractors, but by local law enforcement, the Coast Guard and government officials."

"With oil  continuing to leak Wednesday from a runaway well in the Gulf of Mexico despite BP’s success in capturing some of the flow, a top Coast Guard official ordered the company to come up with a plan 'to ensure that the remaining oil and gas flowing can be recovered.'"

"Fishermen, property owners and businesspeople who have filed damage claims with BP are angrily complaining of delays, excessive paperwork and skimpy payments that have put them on the verge of going under as the financial and environmental toll of the seven-week-old disaster grows."

"The stock price of BP plunged more than 15 percent Wednesday to a 14-year low as it became increasingly clear that the amount of oil spewing out of the Deepwater Horizon well is substantially greater than the company or the federal government initially estimated." BP stock opened down another 4 percent today.

As BP increased the amount of oil it siphoned to the surface from the leaking Gulf well, it became clear that the total amount leaking was greater than previously admitted.

"BP PLC's 582-page regional spill plan for the Gulf, and its 52-page, site-specific plan for the Deepwater Horizon rig are riddled with omissions and glaring errors, according to an Associated Press analysis that details how BP officials have pretty much been making it up as they go along. The lengthy plans approved by the federal government last year before BP drilled its ill-fated well vastly understate the dangers posed by an uncontrolled leak and vastly overstate the company's preparedness to deal with one."