Scientists find vast unreported oil leak from Deepwater horizon
Scientists find vast unreported oil leak from Deepwater Horizon
(AP)
BP video shows oil and gas gushing 5,000 feet below the sea’s surface
A plume of oil 10 miles (16km) long, three miles wide and 300ft thick is pouring into the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico from the ruptured Deepwater Horizon oil rig.
The plume is one of a number that scientists have found gushing into the sea a mile underwater, increasing concerns that the size of the spill could be thousands of times larger than has been previously calculated, according to The New York Times.
“There’s a shocking amount of oil in the deep water, relative to what you see in the surface water,” said Samantha Joye, from the University of Georgia, who is involved in one of the first scientific missions to gather information from the spill. “There’s a tremendous amount of oil in multiple layers, three or four or five layers deep in the water column,” Dr Joye told the newspaper.
Labor needs detente with the Greens
Labor needs detente with the Greens
The government ignores the eco-party at its peril – Kevin Rudd must talk to Bob Brown to create a working relationship, particularly if the government hopes one day to have its ETS legislation passed.
Well before the government deferred its plans for an emissions trading scheme, the Labor leadership had become deeply concerned about the potential threat to several prominent Labor members from the Australian Greens.
Lindsay Tanner in the seat of Melbourne, and Tanya Plibersek and Anthony Albanese in their respective Sydney seats, are the high-profile lower house members that the Greens would most like to pick off.
The resolve of the Greens to do so – and perhaps their chances – have only heightened since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last month took the highly expedient decision to defer or abandon the emissions trading scheme.
After the recent Tasmanian state election, in which the Greens won 21 per cent of the vote and went on to play a critical role in the formation of the next government, Tanner warned that the result was a “portent that Labor ignores at its peril”.
Labor, not the Coalition, was the Greens’ real target, he said.
Oil industry failed to heed blowout warnings
Oil industry failed to heed blowout warnings
- 17:57 10 May 2010 by Phil McKenna
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The warnings were there a decade ago. Yet little has been done to address the risk of systems failure in deep-sea drilling operations.
As a consequence, millions of litres of oil have now spewed into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Why wasn’t preventative action taken earlier?
The blast which tore through the Deepwater Horizon drill rig was caused by a blowout – a high-pressure ball of gas, mud and oil that shot up from the oil reservoir. Such sudden spikes in pressure should be controlled by a device known as a blowout preventer (BOP). In this case, however, it failed completely. With no other systems in place to prevent it, oil was free to pour from the open well head into the water.
Scientists: emissions-based climate deal ‘not possible’
Scientists: emissions-based climate deal ‘not possible’ Ecologist 12th May, 2010 Current climate policy of emissions targets and trading will not suceed and should be replaced by a ‘politically attractive’ one based on providing cheap, non-carbon energy, says new paper An international agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions is doomed to failure and must be replaced Continue Reading →
Flannery blasts PM over ‘ breach of faith’ on climate
Flannery blasts PM over ‘breach of faith’ on climate
Posted
Former Australian of the Year Professor Tim Flannery has criticised the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, for breaching the trust of the electorate on climate change.
Professor Flannery says Australia needs to move towards renewable energy.
He says the environment is headed towards the equivalent of a heart attack and he does not have any faith that Mr Rudd is going to take action.
Renewables cash welcome, but will not create jobs or drive industry
Renewables cash welcome but will not create jobs or drive industry Canberra, Wednesday 12 May 2010 The $652 million increased investment in renewable energy in lastnight’s Federal Budget will be welcomed by an industry starved ofsupport, but will not provide any long-term certainty for a seriousexpansion in renewable energy. The Greens will pursue in the Continue Reading →