Healthy Oceans News
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| 2010-08-25 | |
| Today in Washington, D.C., the President’s Oil Spill Commission will hold a forum that focuses on offshore drilling reform with a variety of industry and academic experts. While the public is invited to watch the discussion and submit comments, testimony from the public will be very limited. Mike Gravitz, Oceans Advocate for Environment America released the following statement. | |
| 2010-08-04 | |
| Today, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and Department of the Interior released a report during a White House press conference called, BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Budget: What Happened To the Oil which attempts to account for where the estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil went that gushed from the broken well in the Gulf. The report is being used as the basis for Administration statements that three quarters of the oil from the BP spill is accounted for and that there is little additional ecological risk from the spill. | |
| 2010-08-04 | |
| In the wake of the Gulf spill, Gov. Bev Perdue signed a bill this week that will make it harder for oil companies like BP to obtain leases to drill off the Outer Banks. If oil companies clear the new hurdles in the law—such as proving they could contain or prevent an oil spill before it harmed the North Carolina coast—they would be fully liable for any damage if an accident did occur. | |
| 2010-08-02 | |
| Environment California collected 500 signatures of support from California businesses in favor of AB 1998, pending legislation that would ban certain stores from providing plastic bags at the point of check out. The stores represent small businesses all across the state and range from restaurants to salons to construction companies and many more. | |
| 2010-07-21 | |
| Environment California applauded the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for moving forward with an ordinance that would ban plastic bags throughout the county, and presented the county with over 1800 petition signatures from county residents in favor of the ban. If passed, the ordinance would ban certain retail establishments from issuing plastic carryout bags in the unincorporated territories of the County. The County would also encourage adoption of comparable ordinances by each of the 88 incorporated cities in the County. | |
| 2010-07-19 | |
| The Obama administration released the Final Recommendations of the Ocean Policy Task Force today. The announcement will for the first time put the U.S. on record as explicitly supporting the health and biological diversity of the ocean, coastal and Great Lakes ecosystems as a policy goal for all federal agencies. | |
| 2010-07-15 | |
| Late this afternoon, the National Oil Spill Incident Commander announced that BP’s broken oil well had been capped at approximately 3:30 PM, shutting off the flow of 1.5 to 2.5 million gallons of oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico. | |
| 2010-07-02 | |
| To offer concerned citizens a way to respond to the more than two-month old disaster in the Gulf, Environment America has launched an effort called Gumbo for the Gulf. Concerned citizens in 28 states have signed up to host over 150 houseparty fundraisers, which started in mid-June, to benefit Environment America’s effort to address the BP oil catastrophe and help prevent future ones. Over the 4th of July weekend, there will be events in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington. | |
| 2010-06-29 | |
| Today, Representative Pallone, NJ-D and Representative Castor, FL-D joined with Environment America, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Greenpeace, MoveOn, Oceana, League of Conservation Voters, and Ocean Champions to release more than 400,000 comments from citizens all around the U.S. asking President Obama to protect our oceans and coasts from the expansion of offshore drilling. | |
| 2010-06-28 | |
| California State Senate Environmental Quality Committee Expected to Pass 2 Key Bills | |
| 2010-06-22 | |
| "Judge Feldman’s decision to allow oil companies to resume deepwater drilling in the Gulf is like putting a drunk back in the driver’s seat after handing him a cup of coffee.” | |
| 2010-06-16 | |
| n the face of the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, President Obama responded with an urgent call to repair the immediate damage done by the BP oil spill and move our nation away from oil and other fossil fuels. The disaster in the Gulf demonstrates in heartbreaking terms that the transition to a clean energy future must begin immediately. | |
| 2010-06-02 | |
| The Department of Interior granted a new drilling permit to Bandon Oil and Gas for a well fifty miles off the coast of Louisiana in shallow water approximately 120 feet deep. This appears to be the first drilling permit issued after a brief pause that started with the BP Oil Spill. This comes mere weeks after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blew up and caused the largest oil spill in U.S. history and just days after a 30 day review of drilling policy by the Department of Interior –the same agency that manages drilling—was released. | |
| 2010-06-01 | |
| Gulf Restoration Network, Louisiana Environmental Action Network, and Environment America Intend to Use Federal Clean Water Act to Force BP to Full Disclosure and Deployment of All Means Available to Clean Gulf Waters | |
| 2010-05-27 | |
| After 37 days of the largest oil spill in U.S. history, it appears that BP is finally bringing some control over the river of oil gushing into the Gulf. | |
| 2010-05-26 | |
| Today, after 34 days of the largest oil spill in U.S. history, BP is attempting to bring some control over the river of oil gushing into the Gulf. At hearings in the House Natural Resources Committee, Secretary of Interior Salazar is expected to preview conclusions from the one month internal review that President Obama asked for after the spill started. | |
| 2010-05-25 | |
| Today the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee considers increasing penalties under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCLSA) for oil companies who violate permit or lease conditions and raising liability limits for economic damages from oil spills. Later this week the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on liability issues surrounding the BP Oil Spill disaster. There are a number of proposals to increase the limits (or remove the limits altogether) on economic damages under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. | |
| 2010-05-20 | |
| [Washington, DC] – Today, 14 major environmental groups joined together on a letter asking President Obama to ban offshore drilling in places off U.S. coasts that are not currently being drilled. One month after the BP Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, the well is continuing to gush thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. The groups called on the President to reverse his previously announced policy of expanding drilling off Florida, the Atlantic coast and Alaska and instead ban drilling in these places. The President has the authority to ban drilling in new areas through a Presidential withdrawal. | |
| 2010-05-18 | |
| Today the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Environment and Public Works Committee and the Commerce Committee continue their investigation of the causes of the tragic blowout, fire and oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon now in its fourth week. | |
| 2010-05-17 | |
| Today, Environment America filed more than 1,000 public comments and joined Natural Resources Defense Council and others in filing detailed technical comments against an administration plan, the first real concrete step, for new drilling off the Atlantic coast. This plan is for large scale seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean off the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states. Specifically, Environment America’s comments oppose the administration’s plans for geological and geophysical (i.e., seismic testing) activities off the mid-Atlantic and Southeast coasts. | |
| 2010-05-11 | |
| Today the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Environment and Public Works Committee investigate the causes of the tragic blowout, fire and oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon which is now entering its third week. | |
| 2010-05-07 | |
| Today representatives of the fishing and seafood industry spoke out on the impact of the BP oil spill on their livelihoods and businesses. | |
| 2010-05-06 | |
| In a reversal of its recent announcement on offshore drilling off the coast of Virginia, the Obama administration today announced its decision to postpone a formal comment period on the lease sale off the coast of Virginia, citing the ongoing review of Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) safety issues. The announcement comes in light of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, caused when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank last month. | |
| 2010-05-03 | |
| Today, Environment America joined 50 other environmental groups on a letter organized by the oceans protection group Oceana, delivered to every Senator urging them to oppose legislative efforts to expand offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling off of our coasts. Environment America has also called for the President to immediately reinstate the offshore drilling moratorium that protected the Atlantic and Pacific coasts from this type of accident for decades and stop plans to drill off Alaska’s coast. In light of the Gulf oil spill disaster, the group is also calling on the President to suspend new drilling on existing leases and make sure that producing wells are immediately inspected with steps taken to minimize the danger of future accidents. | |
| 2010-04-30 | |
| Last week in the Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon, one of the world’s most technologically advanced oil drilling rigs, exploded into a firestorm , killing eleven workers; three days later the rig sank in more than 5,000 feet of water and the well started spilling enormous amounts of oil. Now, the Coast Guard estimates that approximately 5,000 barrels of oil per day (210,000 gallons/day) are being released by the broken well. Today there are reports that the oil is reaching the Louisiana coast, threatening some of the most sensitive and productive wetlands in the U.S and the Delta National Wildlife Refuge . | |
| 2010-04-23 | |
| Three days ago in the Gulf of Mexico the Deepwater Horizon, one of the world’s most technologically advanced oil drilling rigs, exploded into a firestorm; 115 workers escaped to safety with 11 people unaccounted for. The fire was so intense and the smoke so thick that it could be seen from orbiting satellites. Yesterday the rig sank in more than 5,000 feet of water. | |
| 2010-02-04 | |
| Today the Oregon House Environment and Water Committee unanimously passed an amended House Bill 3613 that would establish a 10‐year moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling. | |
| 2009-09-23 | |
| The Senate just voted, 56 ayes to 42 noes, to kill Senator Vitter’s effort to push forward the implementation of the last-minute Bush 2010-2015 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Leasing Program that would have ignored 350,000 public comments just turned in and skipped the standard environmental and economic reviews. | |
| 2009-09-21 | |
| Today, Secretary of Interior Salazar will receive more than 270,000 reasons not to drill in new areas off the Atlantic or Pacific coasts or the eastern Gulf of Mexico. | |
| 2009-09-13 | |
| “Victory prevailed late last night as an attempt to open new oil drilling leases off Santa Barbara coast died without a vote,” said Gina Goodhill, the Ocean Advocate for Environment California. | |
