The U.S. Justice Department is ramping up its rhetoric against BP PLC for the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, laying out in a new court filing examples of what it calls “gross negligence and willful misconduct.” [Reuters]
“The behavior, words, and actions of these BP executives would not be tolerated in a middling size company manufacturing dry goods for sale in a suburban mall,” government lawyers wrote….
Under assault from Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, President Obama and other leading Democrats are planning a vigorous defense of the administration’s track record on energy issues, highlighting a sharp drop in oil imports, a doubling in renewable energy output and improved fuel efficiency in new vehicles. [Washington Post]
The books have closed on meteorological summer, which encompasses the June-through-August period, and the data that is starting to trickle in from the National Weather Service shows that tens of millions of Americans experienced their hottest summer on record. [Climate Central]
As the final weeks of the 2012 presidential campaign unfold, one of the starkest contrasts between the recently released Democratic and Republican party platforms is in climate change policy. [Huffington Post]
It will likely take weeks to bring Louisiana back to normal after last week’s visit from Hurricane Isaac, an unusually wet storm that caused serious flooding in 10 parishes and damaged more than 13,000 homes. [Los Angeles Times]
A wildfire in the Angeles National Forest has consumed 3,600 acres, driving local residents and thousands of holiday weekend visitors from the popular wilderness area about 25 miles east of here. [New York Times]
The municipal government of Guangzhou, a sprawling metropolis that is one of China’s biggest auto manufacturing centers, introduced license plate auctions and lotteries last week that will roughly halve the number of new cars on the streets. [New York Times]
Once known for oil and gas production, Oklahoma has quickly established itself as a major player in the wind power generation industry. Today the state is taking advantage of its abundant natural resources with rapid development of wind. [Renewable Energy World]
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Additional energy and climate headlines for 9/5 are posted at http://www.marcaccicomms.com/news/energy-and-environment-news-roundup-8-5-12/
Wonder why it took them until 2 months before the election to bring this suit.. Betting the fine will be slap-on-wrist-sized.
Perhaps.
On the other hand, if they had brought it earlier, say a year ago, and the verdict went against BP, and BP (inevitably) appealed while ramping up their contributions to Republican candidates, and a Republican (whom we now know to be Rmoney — I mean Romney) won the White House, and he appointed conservative judges before the appeal went to trial…
I think speculation can run both ways.
Ah, you are assuming Obama would’ve gone through with this had there not been an election. Nah, once election’s over this will go back into the hiding place it was in before last week.
Pre-cisely!
BP needs another independent review of their Gulf spill reaction following the recent oil washing up on the beaches from Isaac. The extensive use of dispersants will be no more effective than treatments of the Exxon Valdez spill where oil is still not cleaned up or naturally degraded. The chemical response for Deepwater Horizon likely took sufficient oil out of the reach of any natural degradation.
Yeah, BP tried to “sweep it under the rug” with dispersants, but Isaac picked the rug up and brought more of the mess to light. Tough luck, BP!
Funny… All this happens right before labor day to drive the price of gas up. This was “ALL” on purpose. The government thinks we are clueless…
It takes a long time to put an indictment of this magnitude together and if they are saving it for a campaign issue in the face of unprecedented corporate influence, well stranger things have happened. It is a dirty trench war out there and humanity is fighting for survival, not just a higher profit margin. Yes, way too many are clueless!
News from the NSIDC says that Arctic Sea Ice extent was the lowest in the satellite record in August:
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
5 September 2012 Last updated at 14:20 ET
Arctic ice melt ‘like adding 20 years of CO2 emissions’
Loss of Arctic ice is effectively doubling mankind’s contribution to global warming, ice scientist Professor Peter Wadhams has told BBC Newsnight.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19496674
Hurricane Isaac: BP Oil May Be Resurfacing In Aftermath Of Storm http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/05/hurricane-isaac-bp-deepwater-horizon-oil_n_1858733.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular