Two employees of Transocean, owner of the rig that exploded, killed 11, and fouled the Gulf, are refusing to testify on the incident in a federal hearing. Transocean says it is powerless to make them do so. Citing a "best" year in safety despite the 11 deaths, Transocean awarded bonuses to executives.
"In the last 150 years, prospectors and energy companies have drilled as many as 12 million holes across the U.S. in search of oil and gas. Many were plugged after they dried up. But hundreds of thousands were simply abandoned and forgotten, often leaving no records of their existence. Government reports have warned for decades that abandoned wells can provide pathways for oil, gas or brine-laden water to contaminate groundwater supplies or to travel up to the surface."
"BP is in talks with the Interior Department about permits that would allow it to resume deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. The company hopes that it can restart several projects sometime this summer."
"With so many pipeline accidents in the last few months that federal investigators cannot get to them all, the secretary of transportation plans to introduce a safety campaign on Monday aimed at coordinating federal, state and local oversight and making more information available to the public about potential hazards under foot."
"The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could continue to release dangerous radiation into the air for several months, Japanese officials said Sunday, acknowledging their painstakingly slow progress in the battle to regain control of the badly damaged facility."
"The nuclear disaster is now also a disaster for Fukushima's farmers. The government has banned the sale of milk, spinach and other leafy vegetables, not just from here but also from the neighboring prefectures."
"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is conducting a 'more intensive review' of several U.S. plants as part of its 'very conservative' safety review system, its chairman told lawmakers at a hearing on Thursday."
"The nuclear crisis in Japan provides an impetus for Congress to confront a failed national policy on dealing with spent fuel from U.S. reactors, witnesses told a Senate subcommittee yesterday."
"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has allowed reactors to phase out some equipment that eliminates explosive hydrogen, the gas that blew up the outer containments of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi in Japan."
"The workers at Japan's stricken nuclear power plant — known as the Fukushima 50 — expect some of them will die within weeks or months, the mother of one has reportedly said."
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