Two employees of Transocean, owner of the rig that exploded, killed 11, and fouled the Gulf, are refusing to testify on the incident in a federal hearing. Transocean says it is powerless to make them do so. Citing a "best" year in safety despite the 11 deaths, Transocean awarded bonuses to executives.
"In the last 150 years, prospectors and energy companies have drilled as many as 12 million holes across the U.S. in search of oil and gas. Many were plugged after they dried up. But hundreds of thousands were simply abandoned and forgotten, often leaving no records of their existence. Government reports have warned for decades that abandoned wells can provide pathways for oil, gas or brine-laden water to contaminate groundwater supplies or to travel up to the surface."
"As the United States gears up for higher vehicle fuel efficiency standards, two new reports from investors and industry experts conclude that U.S. automakers will be more profitable than they are today at a fleetwide 42 mile per gallon average in 2020."
"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is conducting a 'more intensive review' of several U.S. plants as part of its 'very conservative' safety review system, its chairman told lawmakers at a hearing on Thursday."
"The nuclear crisis in Japan provides an impetus for Congress to confront a failed national policy on dealing with spent fuel from U.S. reactors, witnesses told a Senate subcommittee yesterday."
Neighbors say the land dumping of drilling mud strips the paint off of their houses. The Texas Railroad Commission says it's not a problem.
"The UN atomic watchdog said Wednesday radiation in a village outside the evacuation zone around a stricken Japanese nuclear plant was above safe levels, urging that Japan reassess the situation."
"President Barack Obama on Wednesday proposed to cut U.S. oil imports by a third over 10 years, a goal that eluded his predecessors and seen as extremely ambitious by analysts skeptical it can succeed."
"The oil and gas industry has nearly 7,200 permits to drill on public lands that it has yet to use, according to Bureau of Land Management data obtained by Greenwire."
"Top U.S. nuclear regulators, scientists and industry leaders will flesh out details of the nuclear crisis unfolding in Japan and its implications for nuclear safety in the United States for key Senate and House energy committees this week."
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