Latest Oil spills News
Texas bridge connecting Galveston and Pelican Island reopened after barge collision
HOUSTON (AP) — A bridge near Galveston, Texas, that was damaged last week when a barge carrying fuel broke free from a tugboat has reopened to vehicle and pedestrian traffic after safety inspections deemed it safe, officials said. The barge crashed into a pillar supporting the...
US Coast Guard says Texas barge collision may have spilled up to 2,000 gallons of oil
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — Early estimates indicate up to 2,000 gallons of oil may have spilled into surrounding waters when a barge carrying fuel broke free from a tugboat and slammed into a bridge near Galveston, Texas, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday. The barge crashed into a...
Barge hits bridge connecting Galveston and Pelican Island, causing partial collapse and oil spill
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — A barge slammed into a bridge pillar in Galveston, Texas, on Wednesday, spilling oil into waters near busy shipping channels and closing the only road to a small neighboring island. No injuries were reported. The impact sent pieces of the bridge, which...
Once praised, settlement to help sickened BP oil spill workers leaves most with nearly nothing
When a deadly explosion destroyed BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, 134 million gallons of crude erupted into the sea over the next three months — and tens of thousands of ordinary people were hired to help clean up environmental devastation from the biggest offshore...
BP defeated thousands of suits by sick Gulf spill cleanup workers. But not one by a boat captain
John Maas spent years buying and outfitting a 17-foot aluminum boat called the Superskiff 1 so he could take customers fishing for sea trout and flounder in the Gulf of Mexico. But before the Mississippi captain could make his first charter trip in 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon...
Takeaways from AP's story on the BP oil spill medical settlement's shortcomings
When the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in 2010 and spewed many millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the disastrous spill damaged the economy, devastated the environment and required thousands of regular people to help clean it up. Those hired workers picked up tar balls...
Earth Day: How a senator's idea more than 50 years ago got people fighting for their planet
Millions of people around the world will pause on Monday, at least for a moment, to mark Earth Day. It's an annual event founded by people who hoped to stir activism to clean up and preserve a planet that is now home to some 8 billion humans and assorted trillions of other organisms. ...
Environmentalists protest as Biden administration approves huge oil export terminal off Texas coast
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a move that environmentalists called a betrayal, the Biden administration has approved the construction of a deepwater oil export terminal off the Texas coast that would be the largest of its kind in the United States. The Sea Port Oil Terminal being developed...
Towboat owner gets probation in 2018 river oil spill along West Virginia-Kentucky border
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — The owner of a towboat that sank and spilled oil into a river along the West Virginia-Kentucky border was sentenced Monday to 18 months probation on a federal pollution charge, and he and his two companies were ordered to pay nearly $1.9 million in restitution. ...
Activists watch for potential impact on environment as Key Bridge cleanup unfolds
Authorities removing twisted wreckage from the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge are deploying nearly a mile's worth of barriers in the water, testing samples for contamination and monitoring the Patapsco River for oil and other hazardous spills as they confront the potential for...
