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Oil spill: May 2010

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Oil spill

Mission Impossible: Obama Taps Crack Team Of Scientists To Do The Job BP Can't

Zachary Roth | May 14, 2010, 5:36PM


Scientists tapped by the Obama administration to help fix the Gulf Coast oil spill. From left to right: Richard Garwin, Tom Hunter, Alexander Slocum, Jonathan Katz and George Cooper

President Obama's new plan to fix the Gulf oil spill is so crazy it just might work...

As BP's high-priced industry experts flail, the president last week turned to a rag-tag band of big-think scientific renegades, and sent them on a mission to somehow MacGyver a way to stop up the leak -- before it's too late.

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Topics: Alexander Slocum, BP, Barack Obama, George Cooper, Jonathan Katz, Oil spill, Richard Garwin, Steven Chu, Tom Hunter

Lisa Murkowski

Murkowski, Oil Lobby Block Effort To Make Industry Fully Pay For Spills

Zachary Roth | May 14, 2010, 10:01AM


Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)

Even in a Washington as dominated by corporate money as today's, it's not often that you see a lawmaker side with financial backers over the public interest as brazenly as Alaska's senior senator did yesterday.

In the wake of last month's catastrophic Gulf Coast oil spill, Sen. Lisa Murkowski blocked a bill that would have raised the maximum liability for oil companies after a spill from a paltry $75 million to $10 billion. The Republican lawmaker said the bill, introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), would have unfairly hurt smaller oil companies by raising the costs of oil production. The legislation is "not where we need to be right now" she said.

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Topics: BP, Lisa Murkowski, Lobbyists, Oil, Oil spill, Robert Menendez

Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Transocean To Workers After Rig Explosion: Sign The Waiver Here, Please! (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 12, 2010, 2:34PM


The Deepwater Horizon oil rig sinks; the Transocean form presented to survivors (inset)

When rescued workers were brought ashore following the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig last month, officials with drilling giant Transocean presented them with forms stating they had not been injured and that they had no first-hand knowledge of what happened. Lawyers for the workers are now crying foul about what they say is an all too common industry practice to impeach workers' credibility in future legal proceedings.

Some workers are saying they were coerced into signing the form, a charge Transocean denies. But the episode is reminiscent of reports that BP presented Alabama fishermen with contracts that included a no-sue clause in exchange for $5,000.

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Topics: BP, Deepwater Horizon, Forms Signed By Rig Workers, Gulf Coast Oil Spill, Oil, Oil spill, Tony Buzbee, TransOcean LTD.

Gulf Coast Oil Spill

TPM's Tour Of The Oil Spill Flack Universe -- Who's On Damage Control?

Christina Bellantoni | May 5, 2010, 12:25PM


Clockwise, from top left: Workers organize for oil cleanup efforts in Venice, LA, the U.S. Capitol, the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling platform sinks, and API President and CEO Jack Gerard

As the oil industry went into full damage control mode following the catastrophic spill in the Gulf of Mexico, their corporate public relations went into overdrive too, with firms across Washington jumping in to help British Petroleum and BP firing up its Facebook page and Twitter feed. The universe of flacks Americans might be seeing on television and quoted in news stories has widened, with BP executives making the rounds, hosting journalists for explainer sessions and corporate PR folks helping craft an image of a company doing everything it can to help.

The industry already had an army of lobbyists and PR hands deployed in Washington to influence the negotiations over climate change legislation (which may be in dire straits thanks to the spill), and BP brought in the international consulting firm the Brunswick Group.

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Topics: BP, British Petroleum, Gulf Coast Oil Spill, Oil, Oil Business, Oil spill

BP

Paying For The Oil Spill: A Guide To Who's On The Hook

Justin Elliott | May 4, 2010, 2:15PM


The Deepwater Horizon rig burning before it sank

There are two broad categories of costs associated with the catastrophic BP Gulf oil spill: one is cleanup; the other is damage caused by the oil -- to shoreline property, local tax revenues, the fishing and tourism industries, and other businesses and individuals.

Here's a guide to who's on the hook for which costs.

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Topics: BP, British Petroleum, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf Coast Oil Spill, Halliburton, Obama Administration, Oil, Oil spill, TransOcean LTD.

Oil spill: November 2010 »

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