Summit Voice: Week in review & most-viewed stories

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
Atmospheric CO2 now at 400 parts per million - how high will it go?

Atmospheric CO2 now at 400 parts per million – how high will it go?

Oil spill, climate and weather stories top the list

FRISCO — Out story on lingering Deepwater Horizon oil spill impacts to Gulf of Mexico aquatic ecosystems got a lot of social media love to become the most-viewed story of the week, while local weather, marked by a series of wet spring storms, also garnered reader attention. Also of note, two Summit Voice photo essays, as well as a guest post by Stan Wagon, also cracked the top 10 list:

A few more stories worth reading from the past week:

 

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Environment, Snow and weather | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Environment: Study finds lingering impacts from Gulf oi spill

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

UC Davis scientist Andrew Whitehead collects fish at a field site in May 2010, weeks after the April Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A 2013 study he co-authored shows killifish at oil-impacted sites continue to develop health defects, three years after the spill. Credit: Pat Sullivan


UC Davis scientist Andrew Whitehead collects fish at a field site in May 2010, weeks after the April Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A 2013 study he co-authored shows killifish at oil-impacted sites continue to develop health defects, three years after the spill. Photo courtesy Pat Sullivan.

Fish embryos exposed to oil show developmental abnormalities

By Bob Berwyn

FRISCO —Small fish living in coastal Louisiana waters were sickened by crude oil toxicity for more than a year after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to researchers from Lousiana, California and South Carolina.

Oil collected from the spill in 2011 continues to show toxic effects in the lab, suggesting there’s a risk of multi-generational exposure, according to Andrew Whitehead, a University of California, Davis, scientist who co-authored the study of killifish, considered an indicator species for coastal ecosystems.

Killifish embryos exposed to sediments from oiled locations in 2010 and 2011 show developmental abnormalities, including heart defects, delayed hatching and reduced hatching success. (more…)

Filed under: BP Gulf oil spill, Environment | Tagged: , , , , | 2 Comments »

Environment: Deepwater Horizon disaster may have caused a ‘dirty blizzard’ in the Gulf of Mexico

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
sdfg

A NASA satellite image shows the widespread sheen of oil spreading across the Gulf of Mexico after the April 2010 failure of the Deepwater Horizon drilling operation.

Researchers try to trace fate of BP oil in the Gulf of Mexico

By Summit Voice

FRISCO—It’s been nearly three years since BP’s failed Deepwater Horizon drilling operation spewed millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, but scientists are still looking for signs of long-term impacts and trying to understand how the oil affected Gulf ecosystems.

One of the biggest questions remaining is exactly what happened to all the oil — about 5 million barrels. Along with a tiny percentage that was physically cleaned up, most studies suggest that much of the oil was processed by bacteria, or simply broken down into constituent molecules, but none of the studies have been able to account for the entire amount. (more…)

Filed under: BP Gulf oil spill, energy, Environment, oil drilling | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Environment: More Gulf restoration projects coming online

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Bob Berwyn
Northern Gulf of Mexico beaches will get some TLC this coming summer as part of the ongoing restoration work in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.

Northern Gulf of Mexico beaches will get some TLC this coming summer as part of the ongoing restoration work in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.

Sea turtle and bird habitat improvements planned in Florida, Mississippi and Alabama

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — More restoration projects — valued at about $9 million — to repair damage from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster are set to begin in the next months along the beaches of the Florida panhandle, Mississippi and Alabama, including habitat improvements for nesting sea turtles and seabirds.

The work is part of the second phase of early restoration projects being organized by the Natural Resource Damage Assessment trustees. Altogether, BP will fund $1 billion in early restoration projects.

“These additional projects are important steps in recovering from the oil spill, but they, along with the other Phase I projects, are just first steps,” said Trudy D. Fisher, Chair of the NRDA Trustee Council and Mississippi’s trustee. “Use of the early restoration funding has not moved quickly enough to suit any of us. I want to stress that the NRDA trustees are working hard to see that restoration funding is used in a way that is in the best interest of our natural resources.” (more…)

Filed under: BP Gulf oil spill, Environment | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Environment: Traces of Deepwater Horizon oil cause deformities, swimming deficiencies in Gulf fish

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Bob Berwyn
dfg

An explosion and subsequent fire on BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico led to the biggest oil spill on recornd in U.S. coastal waters. Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard.

Study shows that sunlight intensifies the impacts of PAHs

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — In yet another sign that BP’s spilled Deepwater Horizon may have long-lasting impacts on Gulf ecosystems, a team of researchers said last week that even low-level, short-term exposure to traces of oil remnants causes deformities and impairs the swimming ability of fish.

The research was led by scientists with the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science. The school is a leader in the field of marine toxicology and used a state of the art hatchery to study the effect of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on various species of fish, including cobia and mahi mahi.

PAH’s are toxic components of oil that are released from oil into the water column. The team also studied the effects of photo-enhanced toxicity, or the impact of sunlight on the potency of the toxic compounds found in the oil from the DWH spill.

A previous study by Smith University scientists showed similar impacts to fish during  embryonic stages of development.

“We found that in more sensitive species the photo-enhanced toxicity could account for up to a 20-fold higher sensitivity,” said Dr. Martin Grosell, professor and associate dean of graduate studies for the Rosenstiel School. “This is an important part of the equation because it means that traditional toxicity testing performed under laboratory conditions will tend to underestimate the toxicity that might have occurred in the natural environment under the influence of sunlight,” he added. (more…)

Filed under: biodiversity, BP Gulf oil spill, Environment, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

BP hit with $4.5 billion fine for Gulf oil spill

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Company accepts criminal responsibility for 2010 disaster

A NASA satellite captures an image of a swirling oil slick from BP’s failed Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — After spending more than $14 billion on the response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP will pay another $4.5 billion in penalties under a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the biggest fine ever levied by the department.

Federal officials said they will also pursue gross negligence charges under the Clean Water Act, which could result in up to $20 billion in additional fines, ranging up to $4,300 per barrel of spilled oil.

The explosion killed 11 workers on the drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico and sent millions of gallons of crude oil spewing into the water, damaging fisheries, smearing beaches and wetlands and squelching tourism in the region for months. Followup studies have shown that oil remnants may affect Gulf ecosystems for years to come. (more…)

Filed under: BP Gulf oil spill, Environment, gas drilling, oil drilling | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Environment: New Gulf oil leases challenged in court

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

A massive oil slick from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster spreads across the northern Gulf of Mexico, visible in this NASA satellite image as a sheen on the surface.

Conservation coalition says feds are ignoring painful lessons of Deepwater Horizon oil disaster

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — New deep water drilling plans in the Gulf of Mexico won’t go forward without a legal test, as a coalition of environmental groups last week challenged the Department of Interior’s decision to proceed with new permits without fully addressing the risks to wildlife and the environment.

While drilling regulators believe they have developed a robust new set of safety and environmental regulations, the conservation community thinks otherwise, claiming in the lawsuit that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management dismissed the lessons learned during the Deepwater Horizon disaster and failed to obtain essential information about the status of species and resources still suffering from the 2010 oil spill. (more…)

Filed under: biodiversity, BP Gulf oil spill, Environment, oil drilling | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Environment: Deepwater oil disaster radically altered microbial communities on Gulf Coast beaches

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Oil from BP’s failed Deepwater Horizon drill rig and the Macondo well spread across the ocean in May 2010. PHOTO COURTESY NOAA.

Followup research will determine how long the impacts last

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Biologists said they were shocked by the dramatic changes they observed in microbial communities along Gulf of Mexico beaches after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.

The study led by by scientists from University of New Hampshire’s Hubbard Center for Genome Studies, sampled sites around Dauphin Island, Ala., and Grand Isle, La., just after the Deepwater Horizon spill began but before oil reached the shore, then again several months later, in September 2010. (more…)

Filed under: biodiversity, BP Gulf oil spill, Environment | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Feds plan test of Gulf oil-spill containment gear

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Live drill to test deep water response capability

A Google map created by SkyTruth shows the extent of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Click on the image for more information from SkyTruth.

The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig ablaze April 21, 2010. IMAGE COURTESY U.S. COAST GUARD.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Hoping to avoid a repeat of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, federal officials last week charged the Marine Well Containment Company with conducting a live drill this summer to deploy a capping stack in the Gulf of Mexico.

The capping stack is similar to the equipment that was ultimately used to stem the flow of oil from the Deepwater Horizon’s well. In the test, the company will show how it deploy the equipment in a timely fashion from and on-shore base to the deep water seabed of the Gulf.

Under political pressure to drill for more domestic oil, and preparing to lease more offshore areas, the Obama administration hopes the demo will convince a skeptical public and highly critical watchdog groups that deep-water drilling can be done safely. (more…)

Filed under: energy, Environment, federal government, oil drilling | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Gulf oil spill: It could’ve been … worse?

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Freshwater ‘bulge’ from the Mississippi River may have kept some oil away from the Gulf Coast

A NASA satellite image shows the Deepwater Horizon oil slick spreading across a huge section of the northern Gulf of Mexico.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster that fouled huge stretches of the northern Gulf Coast could have hit the coast even harder but for the mighty Mississippi, according to geoscientists with the University of Pennsylvania, who said in a new study that pulses of freshwater from the river helped keep some of the oil offshore.

According to Douglas Jerolmack, the force of the Mississippi River emptying into the Gulf of Mexico created mounds of freshwater which pushed some of the oil slick off shore. The results of the study could help responders during future oil disasters decide where to focus preventive and cleanup efforts during the immediate response.

Jerolmack said he decided to do the study after noticing a disconnect between daily forecasts of where the oil movement and the locations where it actually ended up. The problem, he said, was that the models were based on looking the movement of the oil based primarily on known ocean currents, while not considering all the other factors that could affect the incoming pollution.

Other follow-up studies show that the oil continues to have profound effects on Gulf ecoysystems, including elevated levels of metals in oysters, and toxic effects on marine mammals and fish. (more…)

Filed under: BP Gulf oil spill, Environment, oil drilling | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Next Page »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 5,717 other followers