"President Obama will establish an independent commission to investigate the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an administration official said Monday, as the federal government came under increasing scrutiny for regulatory failures that might have contributed to the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig."
"Chrys Oynes, the associate director of Offshore Energy and Minerals Management at the Minerals Management Service will retire May 31, reports The Washington Post."
Following the hazards of dams, refineries, chemical plants, pipelines, and other infrastructure? Find story leads in this Department of Homeland Security report.
After a tornado largely destroyed Greensburg, Kansas, three years ago, the town has made a mark for itself by rebuilding a sustainable infrastructure from the ground up.
"Oil giant BP succeeded Sunday in connecting a mile-long pipe to help capture what it hopes will be most of the oil flowing from a damaged well into the Gulf of Mexico -- 'an important step' toward capping the massive spill, the company said, but not a complete solution."
In a rush to complete the well it was drilling with the Deepwater Horizon, BP and other companies pushed ahead to complete the well despite multiple warnings that conditions were unsafe. CBS Interviews with explosion survivor Mike Williams and Berkeley engineering professor Bob Bea bring to light new information not yet available to the panels investigating the spill. At least five congressional hearings are scheduled on the spill this week.
"Undersea robots were trying to thread a small tube into the jagged pipe that is pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico in BP's latest attempt to cut down on the spill from a blown-out well that has pumped out more than 4 million gallons of crude."
"The political ripples from the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster spread in the capital on Thursday as six West Coast senators proposed a permanent ban on drilling in the Pacific...."
"The Minerals Management Service has routinely issued drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico since 2009 without obtaining other federal permits needed to account for the toll energy exploration would take on endangered species and marine mammals, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post."
"Transocean, owner of the drilling rig that caught fire and sank in the Gulf of Mexico three weeks ago, has asked a Houston federal court to limit its liability for the resulting oil spill to $26.8 million, a small fraction of the anticipated damages from the accident."
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