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Marine scientists in Brazil are closely monitoring a mysterious oil spill from August that has reached the Abrolhos Bank along the central part of the Brazilian coastline–which is the largest biodiversity hot spot in the South Atlantic Ocean.
At the same time, it was revealed last week that the Keystone Pipeline leaked 383,000 gallons of oil in its second big spill in two years.
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A large regional pipeline owned by Enbridge that carries natural gas from the Mexican border in Texas to New York City exploded in rural Kentucky early Thursday morning, killing one and injuring five others in what one resident described as a tornado of fire. CBS News reported that the explosion destroyed railroad tracks and several trailer homes causing tremendous damage in its vicinity — it was so big it could be seen by weather radar — and it took several hours to bring under control by local fire officials.
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At the southernmost tip of South America, ten thousand gallons of diesel fuel spilled into the sea off the coast of Chile’s Patagonia, in one of the most pristine areas of the world.
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As we have reported previously, in 2004, an oil production platform owned by Taylor Energy Company sank in a mudslide triggered by Hurricane Ivan. This sparked an oil spill that has been quietly leaking millions of barrels into the Gulf of Mexico for the past 15 years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s recent flow rate calculations revealed that between 378 to 4,536 gallons of oil has been spilling into the Gulf per day, as opposed to the estimated 3 to 5 gallons per day claimed by Taylor Energy.
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After two barges struck an oil tanker, at least nine thousand barrels of gasoline “blending stock” called Reformate spilled into the Houston ship channel, causing it to be closed, and creating a noxious odor in the neighborhoods nearby the spill. Texas state officials are collecting air monitoring samples and say they will notify the public if any of the readings are at dangerous levels.
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by Yoel Fessahaye A nightmare is unraveling in the jewel-toned waters of the Solomon Islands. According to CNN and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, a ship carrying 700 metric tons of heavy oil ran aground in Solomon Islands’ Kangava Bay, near East Rennell — the only natural UNESCO World Heritage site in […]
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The Trump Administration has allowed 1700 “exceptions” of the “Well Control Rule” that the Obama Administration put in place in 2016 to improve drilling safety as a result of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Today, in a hearing on Capitol Hill, the Interior Department defended these actions saying that the exceptions were granted only if the requester demonstrated that the exception to the rule was equally protective.
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The Florida Everglades may soon be the site of new oil and gas drilling operations. A Miami real estate developer has, after a four-year legal battle, received a permit to drill an exploratory oil well in the Everglades, just west of populous Broward County suburbs.
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The National Audubon Society published a new report yesterday calling for the largest ecosystem restoration effort ever attempted — a $1.7-billion slate of distinct restoration projects spanning the states of Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Louisana, and Florida. The funding for these projects is available due to the $20B settlement in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill litigation.
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Special to ODP from David Helvarg, first published in the San Francisco Chronicle, January 25, 2019 Fifty years after a California oil spill launched the modern environmental movement, we may finally be moving beyond the age of oil, and none too soon. In October, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made up of the world’s […]
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Fifty years after a California oil spill launched the modern environmental movement, we may finally be moving beyond the age of oil, and none too soon.
Continue Reading 756 words
