Posted by jamie -
20 April 2012 at 5:54pm -
4 Comments
The stricken Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico
The second anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster is upon us - and looking at the lessons the oil industry got from it, you’d think it never happened. Here are the most important points governments and oil companies didn’t learn.
Daniel Beltra wins Wildlife Photographer of the Year for this photo
Today, I have the honour of congratulating Greenpeace photographer Daniel Beltra on becoming the Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
Daniel made his winning picture for Greenpeace, of oil-oaked brown
pelicans at a temporary bird-rescue facility in Fort Jackson, Louisiana,
while documenting the environmental impacts caused by the BP Deepwater
Horizon oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP are hoping that everyone has forgotten about the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, and are quietly putting in place plans to drill in the deep waters off of the west of Shetland, risking an even bigger disaster.
The winning entry to our 2010 'Rebrand BP' competition
Another week, another push for reckless oil drilling by a UK company. This time it's BP, which wants to drill its deepest ever well in UK waters - a 1300 metre well - off the coast of North Uist.
On March 31, three weeks before the BP Deepwater Horizon
disaster, President Barack Obama announced plans to open offshore oil
drilling along the east coast of the United
States from Virginia to Florida and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, ending a
decades-long moratorium.
He further announced research to assess the
feasibility of offshore drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off
the north coast of Alaska.
On March 31, three weeks before the BP Deepwater Horizon
disaster, President Barack Obama announced plans to open offshore oil
drilling along the east coast of the United
States from Virginia to Florida and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, ending a
decades-long moratorium.
He further announced research to assess the feasibility of offshore drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off the north coast of Alaska.
Explaining the 2010 decision was “intended to reduce dependence on oil imports, generate revenue from the sale of offshore leases and help win political support for comprehensive energy and climate legislation,” the New York Times wrote: “the sheer breadth of the offshore drilling decision will take some of [the president’s] supporters aback...
Even as Mr. Obama curries favors with pro-drilling interests, he risks a backlash from some coastal governors, senators and environmental advocates, who say that the relatively small amounts of oil to be gained in the offshore areas are not worth the environmental risks.”
Scientist Charles Messing in Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida
Thursday marked the one year
anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. 11 rig workers were
killed and 16 injured in the initial explosion. And, after nearly 5 million barrels of oil spewed in to the ocean for five months, the long term effects on the Gulf of Mexico are still being uncovered.
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