oil drilling

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Obama Blocks Atlantic Oil Drilling

Offshore proposal reversed after protests

(Newser) - In a major reversal, the Obama administration said Tuesday it will bar oil drilling off America's Atlantic Coast, a move cheered by environmentalists and consistent with the president's aggressive steps to combat climate change, the AP reports. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the decision "protects the Atlantic...

Obama: Go Ahead, Shell, Drill Deeper for That Arctic Oil

Environmentalists lambast decision, saying it will 'worsen climate disruption'

(Newser) - President Obama has disappointed a slew of environmental activists by giving Shell the green light yesterday to drill deeper in the Arctic for oil, Quartz reports. The approval issued by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement expands the oil company's current permissions, allowing it to drill even further...

Obama Accepts Science, Chooses to Ignore It

His decision on Shell in the Arctic is a joke, writes Bill McKibben

(Newser) - President Obama's decision to give Shell the green light to drill in the Arctic is an environmental abomination, writes Bill McKibben in the New York Times . Shell and the entire fossil fuel industry have been ignoring warnings for years about the Arctic, and yet now that it's clearly...

Obama Moves to Ban Drilling in Chunk of Alaska

Alaskan senators outraged by 'lawless' proposal

(Newser) - In a move that has the state's Republicans boiling with rage, President Obama has moved to seek protection for a vast wildlife habitat in Alaska. The president says he plans to ask Congress to preserve the "amazing wonder" of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by declaring 12 million...

Oil-Rich Area Sees Spike in Baby Deaths

13 infant mortalities in Vernal, Utah, raise questions

(Newser) - Thirteen baby deaths in one part of Utah last year have some locals and scientists asking whether oil drilling is to blame, the Denver Post reports. Almost 12,000 gas and oil wells add to air pollution in Vernal, Utah—one of the nation's most energy-intensive areas—but many...

Obama Approves Sonic Gun for East Coast Oil Search

Eastern Seaboard will be open for exploration in 2018

(Newser) - The Obama administration is opening the Eastern Seaboard to oil exploration for the first time in decades, it announced today, and it's approving the use of a controversial sonic cannon in the effort. Companies will be able to apply for permits from Delaware to Florida in 2018, when the...

BP Allowed Back in Gulf Waters

British Petroleum and the EPA reach agreement

(Newser) - BP is taking a big step in its recovery following 2010's massive oil spill . The US has agreed to lift the 2012 ban that kept the oil company from doing business with the US government—including seeking contracts in the Gulf of Mexico. That means the company can begin...

Russia Hits Greenpeace Activists With Piracy Charges

Could face 15 years in jail; more activists to be charged

(Newser) - Greenpeace said today that five of its activists who were detained after protesting at a Russian oil platform have been charged with piracy and could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty. The environmental group said in a statement that activists from Brazil, Britain, Finland, and Sweden...

Greenpeace: Russia Boarded Our Ship, Took Us Captive

Activists were trying to board Gazprom oil platform

(Newser) - Russian security forces boarded and took control of a Greenpeace ship in the Arctic yesterday, holding its crew at gunpoint, the activist group has announced. Greenpeace's Arctic Campaign coordinator Christy Ferguson tells CBC News that at least 15 Russian coast guard officers rappeled down onto the Arctic Sunrise ship...

New Gulf Leases Could Yield 1B Barrels of Oil

38M acres set for auction

(Newser) - The US is nearly ready to auction off oil and gas drilling leases for up to 38 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico—an area which could yield some 1 billion barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the Wall Street Journal reports. The March...

Romney: I'll Make US an Energy 'Superpower'

Candidate tries to shift focus to energy with oil-friendly plan

(Newser) - Mitt Romney will unveil an energy plan today that he says will make the US an "energy superpower," in what the AP sees as an attempt to shift the focus away from issues like rape, abortion, and welfare, and put it back on the economy. Romney's plan...

To Drill or Not to Drill

 To Drill or 
 Not to Drill 
Krugman vs. Krauthammer

To Drill or Not to Drill

Krauthammer: Obama 'fatuous'; Krugman: GOP 'intellectually bankrupt'

(Newser) - The US president may not directly control gas prices, but Barack Obama's "disdain" for oil is still hurting Americans terribly, writes Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post . Restricting drilling, vetoing the Keystone pipeline, and similar anti-oil moves are killing thousands of local jobs, hurting relations with Canada, and...

Deepwater Drilling to Pass Pre-Spill Heights

Oil demand keeps drills humming in Gulf of Mexico

(Newser) - It's been almost two years since the Deepwater Horizon explosion, and deepwater drilling is back. With a year-long moratorium over, BP and other companies are intensifying their operations in the Gulf of Mexico, and production there will soon exceed its pre-accident highs, the New York Times reports. The practice...

Xena Actress Arrested After 3 Days on Oil Ship

Lucy Lawless, five other Greenpeace activists busted in New Zealand

(Newser) - Lucy Lawless was arrested today in New Zealand along with five other Greenpeace members, three days after they boarded an oil-drilling ship that had been contracted by Shell. Lawless, aka Xena: Warrior Princess, occupied the vessel to protest its plan to do exploratory drilling off Alaska. "This chapter has...

Xena Star Occupies Oil Ship
 Xena Star Occupies Oil Ship 

Xena Star Occupies Oil Ship

Greenpeace seeks to halt Arctic drilling

(Newser) - Xena Warrior Princess star Lucy Lawless is back in battle, this time against oil drilling in the Arctic. Lawless and six other Greenpeace activists slipped past port security in New Zealand and boarded an Arctic-bound Shell drilling vessel. The activists, who have scaled a derrick on the ship, say they...

Did Drilling Cause Oklahoma's Quakes?

Some blame fracking, amid sketchy evidence

(Newser) - Scientists aren’t entirely sure what caused the earthquakes that rocked Oklahoma last week , but many in the state are wondering whether it might have something to do with the oil wells and fracking operations that dot the state, the LA Times reports. Oil companies scoff at the notion—“...

Rep. Landry Stands by 'Gestapo' Dig Against Oil Regulator

Not into 'political niceness,' says Jeff Landry

(Newser) - Louisiana Rep. Jeff Landry is standing by his charge that the nation's leading offshore oil and gas regulatory agency is acting "like the Gestapo." Asked if he had any regrets using the name for Hitler's deadly security force, Landry replied: "Absolutely not. I didn't...

Exxon Strikes Deal With Russia for Arctic Drilling

Company teams with state-owned Rosneft for exploration

(Newser) - Exxon Mobil scored a major coup in the search for Arctic oil today, signing a deal with Russia to explore areas with state-owned Rosneft, reports Reuters . The deal gives Exxon access to spots controlled by Moscow in the Kara Sea, which has become a much sought-after region within the petroleum...

Bachmann: I'd Drill in the Everglades

...as long as it's done 'responsibly'

(Newser) - Speaking in Florida yesterday, Michele Bachmann supported drilling for oil and natural gas wherever we can find them, even in the Everglades—as long as we do it “responsibly,” the AP reports. “The United States needs to be less dependent on foreign sources of energy and more...

Obama OKs More Drilling in Alaska, Offshore

Orders annual lease sales in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve

(Newser) - With both gas prises and anger on the rise, President Obama has decided to allow new drilling in Alaska's national petroleum reserve. Lease sales in the 23.5 million-acre reserve—which serves as home to millions of migratory birds, two caribou herds, gray wolves, and other wildlife—have been...

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