2010

When BP conducts a controlled burn in the Gulf of Mexico, two shrimp boats drag a boom across the water’s surface, collecting floating oil until it’s thick enough to set afire. The boom also captures everything else on the surface, including oiled…

Updated with Barton’s retraction of apology to BP and a new apology.
Updated with statement from White House calling Barton’s comments “shameful.”
U.S. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) apologized to BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward at this morning’s…

Why is Cuba so quiet about BP oil spill?

NOAA’s projected trajectory for the BP Oil Spill shows the first tongue of oil poking south on Wednesday, aiming toward Cuba, the Straits of Florida and the Gulf Loop Current.
If the plume continues in that direction, oil that has been roiling in…

Retail sales are down because Americans are crazy

Faced with seemingly contradictory financial data–retail sales dropped in May but consumer confidence rose–the stock market plunged and then soared Friday, ending slightly higher on light trading.
This erratic behavior tested the financial press,…

The U.S. Coast Guard is requiring BP to develop a plan to collect 40,000 to 50,000 barrels of oil per day at the site of the Deepwater Horizon well site, Admiral Thad Allen told reporters moments ago.
Two facilities currently at the surface, the…

Murkowski vote reveals dirty Democrats

UPDATED with tally of Gulf Coast senators.
If you want to know why the United States has failed to act on climate change–a political failure that could precipiate a larger political failure for the world–here’s one answer: Evan Bayh of Indiana, Mary…

Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen released a letter to BP CEO Tony Hayward this morning demanding BP release detailed information on claims people have submitted for damages and lost income because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The letter…

BP tries to rename oil spill

In its $50 million advertising campaign, BP is trying to make sure the disaster currently unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico does not go down in history as the “BP Oil Spill.”
In BP’s preferred parlance, the spill is called the “Gulf of Mexico Oil…