Deep Water Horizon

Image: BP's Deepwater Horizon oil platform burns in April 2010, fouling the Gulf Coast: Is it responsible for a massive die-off of dolphins? (Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)

latimes.com - February 16th 2015 - Michael Hiltzik

In the years since its Deepwater Horizon oil spill befouled huge stretches of the Gulf of Mexico, oil giant BP has honed its skill at cherry-picking scientific studies to duck responsibility for the spill's environmental impacts.

Its latest effort concerns a study of a massive die-off of bottlenose dolphins in the gulf from 2010 through June 2013, occurring mostly after the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout caused the worst oil spill in history. The peer-reviewed study, led by Stephanie Venn-Watson of the National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego, was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and published last week in the open-access journal PLoS One.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB7IIN098IM

Pensacola, Florida - June 10, 2014

Objective: By April of 2015, the ALERT pilot study will conduct health evaluations and environmental baseline monitoring, and establish networks of informed health care providers, in two regions of the country at-risk from petrochemical exposure----Gulf Coast communities harmed by the 2010 BP DWH disaster and Keystone XL corridor communities. ALERT will test for evidence of chemical exposure and provide training for treatment for oil-chemical related illness in these exposed communities. An important component of the ALERT project will be focused on educating community leaders and the public on the risks and health effects of petrochemical exposure to work toward solutions for treatment of current illnesses and protect against future exposure events.

A BP cleanup crew shovels oil from a beach on May 24, 2010 at Port Fourchon, Louisiana (Getty/AFP/File, John Moore)

nytimes.com - by Clifford Krauss - March 13, 2014

HOUSTON — Four years after the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, BP is being welcomed back to seek new oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

An agreement on Thursday with the Environmental Protection Agency lifts a 2012 ban that was imposed after the agency concluded that BP had not fully corrected problems that led to the well blowout in 2010 that killed 11 rig workers, spilled millions of gallons of oil and contaminated hundreds of miles of beaches. . .

. . . Under the agreement, BP will be allowed to bid for new leases as early as next Wednesday, but only as long as the company passes muster on ethics, corporate governance and safety procedures outlined by the agency.

Deepwater Horizon disaster, 2010: BP's bill keeps rising. Photograph: Handout/Getty Images

Latest update on continuing costs of Macondo blowout comes as oil firm reports fall in quarterly and yearly profits

theguardian.com - by Terry Macalister - February 4, 2014

BP has been forced to set aside an extra $200m (£123m) for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, bringing the bill so far to $42.7bn.

The final figure could be far higher, however, as the latest tally does not take account of additional provisions for economic loss claims from a further legal settlement BP has made, the group said. BP is also waiting for a final US court decision over whether it was considered grossly negligent for the Deepwater Horizon accident.

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