7/30/13
Oil Spill
BP's Deepwater compensation fund running dry
Company raises estimate of compensation claims to $9.6bn in second quarter
and ups overall provision for oil spill to $42.4bn
The Guardian
BP has revealed that there is just $300m left in its Gulf of Mexico oil
spillcompensation fund after costs jumped $1.4bn (£913m) in the second
quarter of the year.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jul/30/bp-deepwater-compensation-fund-running-dry?CMP=twt_fd
BP Says Spill Fund Is Running on Fumes
Payments Related to Gulf Spill Continue to Weigh on Energy Giant
Wall Street Journal
LONDON—BP PLC said Tuesday that the $20 billion fund it set up to cover
the cost of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill will soon run out, as
compensation claims have accelerated despite legal efforts from the
company to halt what it claims are excessive payouts.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323854904578637180606036090.html
Lift hold on clients' Gulf oil spill claims payments, law firm urges judge
Mark Schleifstein
The Times-Picayune
July 29, 2013 at 6:16 PM
A New Orleans law firm representing more than 600 individuals and companies
with pending BP oil spill economic damage claims has urged the federal
judge overseeing the settlement between BP and claimants to remove his hold
on their claims, which was put in place pending investigations into claims
processing by the Deepwater Horizon Claims Center.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2013/07/lift_hold_on_clients_gulf_oil.html
National News
Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone' above average but not near record, scientists
say
The Associated Press
July 29, 2013 at 2:19 PM
NEW ORLEANS -- This summer's "dead zone" at the bottom of the Gulf of
Mexico, where there's so little oxygen that starfish suffocate, is bigger
than average but doesn't approach record size as scientists had predicted,
according to findings released Monday.
http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2013/07/gulf_of_mexico_dead_zone_above.html#incart_river
Opinion
The EPA's Game of Secret Science
The agency pursues rules that will cost billions but refuses to reveal its
research. Maybe a subpoena will be needed.
Wall Street Journal
By LAMAR SMITH
As the Environmental Protection Agency moves forward with some of the most
costly regulations in history, there needs to be greater transparency
about the claimed benefits from these actions. Unfortunately, President
Obama and the EPA have been unwilling to reveal to the American people the
data they use to justify their multibillion-dollar regulatory agenda.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323829104578624562008231682.html
Making case for energy efficiency
Politico
By: Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Sen. Rob Portman
July 29, 2013 09:25 PM EDT
For the past three years, we have worked together to develop the Energy
Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, legislation that will go a long
way toward making the United States more energy efficient and more
economically competitive. Our bill makes good environmental sense. It makes
good energy sense. And it makes good economic sense, too.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/making-shaheen-portman-energy-efficiency-94875.html?hp=r9
Press Releases
NOAA-supported scientists find large Gulf dead zone, but smaller than
predicted
Heavy rains increase nutrient pollution flow down Mississippi River
July 29, 2013
NOAA-supported scientists found a large Gulf of Mexico oxygen-free or
hypoxic "dead" zone, but not as large as had been predicted. Measuring
5,840 square miles, an area the size of Connecticut, the 2013 Gulf dead
zone indicates nutrients from the Mississippi River watershed are
continuing to affect the nation's commercial and recreational marine
resources in the Gulf.
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/2013029_deadzone.html
