Gulf Oil Disaster: Blog of New Orleans, Gambit

Judge rules against BP in settlement dispute

Charles Maldonado — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:20:55 -0500

U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier this morning reaffirmed his prior rulings that Pat Juneau, claims administrator for the Deepwater Horizon Economic Settlement, is correctly interpreting how the multi-billion settlement is paid out to business claimants who suffered losses related to the 2010 Gulf Oil Disaster. Barbier dismissed a lawsuit BP filed against Juneau and denying the company's motion for a preliminary injunction on certain types of claim payments.…

Transocean to pay $1.4 billion in fines for 2010 oil disaster

Alex Woodward — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:15:00 -0600

Transocean Deepwater Inc. has agreed to pay $400 million in criminal fines and penalties and, within the terms of a proposed partial consent decree, $1 billion for Clean Water Act violations for its role in the 2010 Gulf oil disaster.

The order mandates $150 million of the $400 million will be dedicated to "acquiring, restoring, preserving and conserving" marine and coastal environments and wildlife habitat along the Gulf of Mexico, and a portion will also benefit barrier island restoration and wetland restoration along Louisiana.…

Updates: fire on Gulf oil platform

Alex Woodward — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:40:57 -0600

Updated 12:05 p.m., following Coast Guard press conference.

Here's a quick summary of some of the updates from this morning's news of an oil platform (not a rig) that caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico at about 9:15 a.m.:

The U.S. Coast Guard announced that an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico was on fire — Facebook photos shared with KLFY-TV confirmed.

Houston station KHOU-TV reported ~~two deaths on the platform~~, with two missing (presumed dead) and four with serious injuries, who were airlifted from the platform.…

Video and summary: Attorney General Eric Holder's press conference on BP criminal plea

Charles Maldonado — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:31:00 -0600

BP has agreed to plead guilty to 14 federal criminal counts related to the 2010 Gulf Oil Disaster — including 11 counts of felony manslaughter for the workers killed in the Deepwater Horizon explosion — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced at a New Orleans press conference today.

"BP has agreed to plead guilty to all 14 criminal charges including responsibility for the deaths of 11 people and the events that led to an environmental catastrophe," Holder said.…

Long-term oil disaster study still seeks participants

Alex Woodward — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 15:35:17 -0500

Since it began its data collection in March 2011, the Gulf Long-Term Follow-Up (GuLF) study — a $25 million, 10-year project under the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — has gathered more than 29,000 participants to study the health implications of handling (and exposure to) oil, dispersants and other chemicals in the cleanup operations following the BP oil disaster.

The study closes its enrollment period at the end of year, on Dec. 31, and cleanup workers, rig workers, or people who received cleanup training or were assigned to the Gulf following the disaster are all encouraged to participate to help "get a full picture of what happened during oil spill and understand how it affected people’s health," said Dr. Dale Sandler, who heads the study.…

Y@ Speak: Dark-sided edition

Lauren LaBorde — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 11:21:00 -0500

Hearing from locals there was a bondage club behind the meth lab. Not sure which the Hazmat suits are for.…
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New report outlines 30 recommendations for rebuilding the Gulf Coast

Alex Woodward — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:12:17 -0500

The America’s WETLAND Foundation's latest report urges lawmakers to pledge billions of dollars to Gulf Coast restoration.

Released today, “Beyond Unintended Consequences: Adaptation for Gulf Coast Resiliency and Sustainability" is the result of forums held in 11 Gulf Coast communities (including Lake Charles, Avery Island, Houma, Plaquemines Parish and New Orleans) in the last year.…

How is BP's Gulf Coast promotion going?

Alex Woodward — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 18:15:13 -0500

When BP announced earlier this month that it's sending chefs and musicians from the Gulf Coast to the 2012 Olympics in London, which officially kicks off this week, there was mostly positive press from Gulf papers proud to send their hallmark chefs and cuisines to thousands of potential future tourists as part of the oil giant's "Spirit of the Gulf" promotion.

But last week, U.K.'s The Guardian, under the headline "BP's 'spirit of the Gulf' Olympics hospitality is hard to swallow," didn't exactly roll out the welcome mat: "BP has co-opted the phrase 'spirit of the Gulf' as a promotional device to position itself as the gatekeeper to the region's culture and cuisine," and quotes frequent oil disaster source and shrimper Dean Blanchard.…

LPB to air Louisiana Bicentennial music program underwritten by BP

Alex Woodward — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 11:18:30 -0500

The Kinfolk Brass Band — who will perform in London for the 2012 Olympic Games, thanks to BP — introduced Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne at the Old U.S. Mint this morning, who announced a partnership with Harry Connick Jr. and Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LBP).…

BP sends Gulf Coast chefs to London

Alex Woodward — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 12:08:00 -0500

Eight Louisiana and Gulf Coast chefs — including John Folse and Galatoire's executive chef Michael Sichel — are on their way to London. BP will send them to the 2012 Olympic Games host city to fill it with a "dash of spice."

BP announced today via local public relations firm The Ehrhardt Group (of which BP is a client) that the "Spirit of the Gulf" events at the games will target "more than 1,000 people each day" to encourage them to visit the Gulf Coast, and "sample the world’s freshest and best-tasting seafood and experience the Gulf’s unique culture and distinctive attractions."

... the Gulf Coast’s finest are gearing up for a trip across the pond to deliver the ultimate good luck charm — Gulf Coast tastes and tunes.…
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BP's Olympics billboards trashed

Alex Woodward — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 12:54:00 -0500

BP currently is spending millions in advertising during the international rush to London for the 2012 Olympic games, including a massive wraparound, marquee-style billboard featuring athletes bursting out the BP "sun" logo, alongside the slogan "Fuelling the Future." (The double "L" is their spelling.)

Yesterday, that billboard and other ads and surfaces throughout the city were vandalized — slapped with a "To Go BP Free in 2012" sticker or, in the billboard's case, smothered in "oil."

Stuffed sea animals covered in oil and placed outside the Tate Britain, the National Portrait Gallery and Royal Opera House.…

Greenpeace releases photos of BP oil spill damage

Will Coviello — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:57:00 -0500

Greenpeace filed many Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for information, including photos, related to the 2010 BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Today, it published photos related to an endangered species of turtle.…

The oil disaster, two years later: seafood, human health in jeopardy

Alex Woodward — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:15:00 -0500

Two long, essential reads spell out the still burning impact of the BP oil disaster, two years after the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion killed 11 men and sent millions of gallons of oil and chemicals into the Gulf of Mexico for months.

For Al Jazeera, Dahr Jamail looks at crustacean and fish populations in the Gulf and makes disturbing finds — seafood with tumors, lesions and deformities.…

A 1960 newsreel proves that Louisiana oysters thrive on oil

Kevin Allman — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:03:00 -0500

The Political Desk has unearthed a real gem — a 1960 "public information service" newsreel by the American Petroleum Institute, which debunks the crazy theory that the oil industry might have some deleterious effect on the Louisiana oyster population ... as proven with a "two-million-dollar oyster research program!".

Back then, something was retarding the growth of oysters in the Gulf, so oil company scientists put some oysters in a tank and fed them a diet of crude oil and other gunk.…

Report: Louisiana dolphins "severely ill"

Alex Woodward — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:20:00 -0500

In Barataria Bay, scientists and researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association have been studying bottlenose dolphins in the wake of the BP oil disaster.

The NOAA performed physicals on 32 dolphins in 2011, and today, the early results are dramatic: many are "underweight, anemic, have low blood sugar and/or some symptoms of liver and lung disease," and "nearly half also have abnormally low levels of the hormones that help with stress response, metabolism and immune function."…

Buddy Roemer to appear on Real Time With Bill Maher

Kevin Allman — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:07:24 -0600

For someone who can't get in any of the GOP debates (though there's certainly room on the stage these days), Buddy Roemer sure knows how to get TV time. He's appeared on The Colbert Report several times with Stephen Colbert and once on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.…

Will BP face criminal charges?

Alex Woodward — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:30:00 -0600

The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Fox News and NPR are all reporting U.S. prosecutors are preparing a criminal case against BP employees following the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig and the 2010 Gulf oil disaster.

The prosecutors, according to WSJ, are aiming for Houston-based engineers and at least one BP supervisor.…

More Oil and Water: Shannon Wheeler's sketches

Alex Woodward — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:00:00 -0600

In this week's cover story, I talked to the Steve Duin and Shannon Wheeler, author and illustrator of Oil and Water, a mostly nonfiction graphic novel about a group visiting the Gulf of Mexico last year — days after the Deepwater Horizon well had been capped.

The group, part of the real-life PDX 2 Gulf Coast project, was condensed from its 22 participants to 10 characters, and they quickly realize the oil disaster is a much larger and more complex problem than they believed.…

New BP ad says 2011 was "best tourism season in years"

Alex Woodward — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:20:00 -0600

... followed with Galatoire's owner Bill Kearney approaching the camera, saying "all because so many people wanted to visit us — in Louisiana."

BP America announced on its Facebook page yesterday that it's "expanding its Gulf Coast tourism advertising campaign with new ads highlighting 2011's successful tourism season. Part of BP's ongoing commitment to support economic restoration on the Gulf Coast, the ad highlights 2011 as the best Gulf Coast tourism season in years and will be part of an integrated television, online and social media campaign."

The ad, another in a series of ads like "Great Vacation" and "Best Place," is peppered with lines promoting Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.…

The Big Fix filmmakers, subjects introduce oil disaster documentary

Alex Woodward — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:44:59 -0500

The Big Fix has its U.S. premiere tonight at the Prytania Theater, but filmmakers Josh and Rebecca Tickell were joined by the film's subjects at the Contemporary Arts Center this afternoon to introduce the film. It's a necessary intro, as the film drops a bomb on BP and authorities, dropped by a seemingly quiet couple who previously worked on a documentary about clean energy solutions.…

First impressions: oil disaster doc The Big Fix

Alex Woodward — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:22:07 -0500

The Big Fix's cold open starts years before the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion on April 20, 2010. Archive footage illustrates how the company then-named British Petroleum, aided by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the CIA and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, wrangled control of Iran's government and retained rights to its plentiful oil fields.…

Landry, Vitter meet with oil regulators on drilling

Alex Woodward — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:35:00 -0500

When Rep. Jeff Landry, R-New Iberia, was denied last month from meeting with officials from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), he said the agency was acting "like the CIA and the Gestapo." He later defended his choice of words, and today, Landry, along with U.S. Sen. David Vitter, got that meeting — an almost two-hour long discussion at the agency's office in Elmwood.…

BP dollars closer to Coast, while oil regulators are "Gestapo"

Alex Woodward — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:26:45 -0500

In July, a bipartisan group of Gulf Coast senators introduced the RESTORE Act, which, they promised, would ensure 80 percent of the fines BP incurs from Clean Water Act violations for the Gulf oil disaster would be divvied among states on the Gulf Coast — rather than the feds.

The act passed the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and now makes its way to the Senate floor.…

Report: BP oil back in the Gulf

Alex Woodward — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:10:47 -0500

When reports surfaced last week of a possible oil sheen in the Gulf of Mexico, there was speculation concerning the return of oil from the Macondo well, the source that leaked millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf last year.

Louisiana State University chemists Ed Overton and Scott Miles tested samples of the oil, collected by Alabama's Press-Register.…

Gulf senators: Send BP dollars to the coast

Alex Woodward — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:54:22 -0500

A bipartisan group in the Senate today called for Clean Water Act fines for last year's oil disaster be distributed among Gulf Coast states. The RESTORE Act, they proposed, would set up a Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund, backed by 80 percent of the penalties paid by BP and other responsible parties in the oil disaster.…