Information on the task force: http://www.restorethegulf.gov/task-force
From: U.S. EPA

Sent: Monday, March 28, 2011 11:08 AM
Subject: News Brief (HQ):

CONTACT: press@epa.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2011

Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force Opens State Information Call Lines
WASHINGTON- The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force, which has been charged by President Obama with developing a restoration strategy for the gulf, recently announced the availability of a toll-free number for individuals who have questions or suggestions related to the mission of the task force.

Under its charge, the task force must propose a gulf coast ecosystem restoration agenda by October 5, 2011. A series of listening sessions are being held throughout the gulf coast states for community members to provide individual input that will inform the development of the restoration strategy. The goal of the listening sessions is to obtain individual input on priority issues, existing impediments and key outcomes or actions for the restoration of the gulf coast ecosystem.

Citizens from the five gulf coast states, which include Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, can call the state information call line at 1-855-427-9263 to receive additional information on task force meetings and other activities within their state.

The touch tone automated menu provides general information about task force activities and allows callers to be transferred to a task force staff member located in each state. Hours of operation are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (CST) Monday through Friday. The state information call line staff includes representatives from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Interior, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force was established by President Obama through an executive order on October 5, 2010. It is an advisory body made up of lead officials from state representatives appointed by the president upon recommendation of the governors of the five gulf states and 11 federal agencies and White House offices

Citizens can receive automatic updates by emailing the task force at GulfCoastTaskForce@epa.gov.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

(03/24/2011)

Phil Taylor, E&E reporter

The Interior Department today announced it has issued a fifth permit
for deepwater drilling previously banned under last year’s moratorium
and the first such permit for an unexplored oil and gas deposit.

The approval allows Chevron USA Inc. to drill a “wildcat” well in 6,750
feet of water more than 200 miles off the coast of Louisiana.

The well is the first to be approved since the BP PLC oil spill last
April that targets a reservoir or field that is yet to be explored,
Interior said. The revised permit allows Chevron to resume work on a
well it began drilling a year ago but stopped during a mandatory
suspension in June 2010 following the Deepwater Horizon spill.

“Today’s permit approval further demonstrates industry’s ability to
meet and satisfy the enhanced safety requirements associated with
deepwater drilling, including the capability to contain a deepwater
loss of well control and blowout,” said Michael Bromwich, director of
Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and
Enforcement, in a statement. “We will continue to review and approve
those applications that demonstrate the ability to operate safely in
deep water.”

Chevron said it will use a capping mechanism developed by the Marine
Well Containment Co. to stop the flow of oil in the case of a runaway
well.

The approval was deemed a “milestone” by the National Ocean Industries
Association, a trade group.

“We are, of course, pleased with the previous four permits, but today’s
approval of a permit for truly new deepwater exploration in the Gulf of
Mexico is particularly noteworthy,” NOIA President Randall Luthi said
in a statement. “We are encouraged that the backlog of permit
applications is slowly growing smaller, and that some of our member
companies who were sidelined for the past year will soon get back to
work in the Gulf.”

The permit marks the third deepwater permit issued in the last week by
Interior. The agency at the start of the week had approved 26
additional deepwater permits for activities including water injection
wells to boost existing production and for other drilling activities
that involve fixed rigs or surface blowout preventers.

On Monday, the agency approved the first deepwater exploration plan
since the BP spill, a proposal by Shell Offshore Inc. to drill three
new wells more than 100 miles off Louisiana

(E&ENews PM, March 21).

Special thanks to Richard Charter

DATE: 23Mar11

LINK:

The Coast Guard has formed contingency plans to protect U.S. waters and
beaches in case of a major oil spill from drilling operations off the north
coast of Cuba.

Cuba has contracted with a Spanish Company, Repsol, to drill exploratory
wells, likely beginning later this year.

“As a result of the proposed North Cuba Basin oil exploration, the Coast
Guard is updating plans required to ensure that we are ready to address a
potential discharge from drilling off the coast of Cuba that could
potentially impact U.S. waters,” Coast Guard Rear Admiral William
Baumgartner said in a letter to U.S. House members David Rivera and Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, Miami Republicans.

The House members had met with Baumgartner on Monday to talk about Cuban
drilling plans.

“There is no longer a question of if but a question of when Cuba will
start drilling for oil,” Rivera said. “Some of the drilling sites could be
as close as 50 miles from the coast of Key West.”

Rivera has co-sponsored a bill that would deny leases and permits to
drill in U.S. waters to companies that do business with Cuba and other
countries subject to U.S. sanctions or embargoes.

Repsol spokesman Kristian Rix told the Sun Sentinel, “Regarding safety,
we are confident that we have the right personnel and materials to drill
safely and successfully in the area.”

Former Florida Senator Bob Graham, co-chairman of a national commission
on offshore drilling, is urging U.S. officials to form a regional pact with
Cuba and Mexico to establish safety standards and a oil-spill response plan.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/25/gulf-dolphin-deaths-investigation_n_840566.html

Posted: 03/25/11 10:52 AM

BILOXI, Mississippi — The U.S. government is keeping a tight lid on its probe into scores of unexplained dolphin deaths along the Gulf Coast, possibly connected to last year’s BP oil spill, causing tension with some independent marine scientists.

Wildlife biologists contracted by the National Marine Fisheries Service to document spikes in dolphin mortality and to collect specimens and tissue samples for the agency were quietly ordered late last month to keep their findings confidential.

The gag order was contained in an agency letter informing outside scientists that its review of the dolphin die-off, classified as an “unusual mortality event (UME),” had been folded into a federal criminal investigation launched last summer into the oil spill.

“Because of the seriousness of the legal case, no data or findings may be released, presented or discussed outside the UME investigative team without prior approval,” the letter, obtained by Reuters, stated.

A number of scientists said they have been personally rebuked by federal officials for “speaking out of turn” to the media about efforts to determine the cause of some 200 dolphin deaths this year, and about 90 others last year, in the Gulf.

Moreover, they said collected samples and specimens are being turned over to the government for analysis under a protocol that will leave independent scientists in the dark about the efficacy and outcome of any laboratory tests.

TRANSPARENCY UNDERMINED?

Some researchers designated as official “partners” in the agency’s Marine Mammal Stranding Network complained such constraints undermine the transparency of a process normally open to review by the scientific community.

“It throws accountability right out the window,” one biologist involved in tracking dolphin deaths for more than 20 years told Reuters on condition of anonymity. “We are confused and … we are angry because they claim they want teamwork, but at the same time they are leaving the marine experts out of the loop completely.”

Some question why the Marine Fisheries Service, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, has taken so long to get samples into laboratories.

“It is surprising that it has been almost a full year since the spill, and they still haven’t selected labs for this kind of work,” said Ruth Carmichael, who studies marine mammals at the independent Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama.

“I can only hope that this process is a good thing. I just don’t know. This is an unfortunate situation.”
NOAA officials expressed sympathy but insisted the control and confidentiality measures were necessary.

“We are treating the evidence, which are the dolphin samples, like a murder case,” said Dr. Erin Fougeres, a marine biologist with the Fisheries Service. “The chain of custody is being closely watched. Every dolphin sample is considered evidence in the BP case now.”

METHODICAL APPROACH

Blair Mase, a marine mammal scientist for NOAA, said lab results would go directly back to the Fisheries Service in about two to three months.

“We have to be very methodical,” Mase said. “The criminal investigation does play a role in the delay of findings, but it has to be done this way.”

As of this week, scientists have counted nearly 200 bottlenose dolphin carcasses found since mid-January along the shores of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, about half of them newly born or stillborn infants.

That tally, about 14 times the numbers averaged during that time of year between 2002 and 2007, coincides with the first dolphin calving season in the northern Gulf since BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded last April.

The blast killed 11 workers and ruptured a wellhead on the sea floor, dumping an estimated 5 million barrels (206 million gallons) of oil into the Gulf over more than three months.

Nearly 90 dead dolphins, most of them adults, washed up along the Gulf Coast last year in the weeks and months following the blowout.

The latest spike in deaths, and high concentration of premature infants among them, has led some experts to speculate that oil ingested or inhaled by dolphins during the spill has taken a belated toll on the animals, possibly leading to a wave of dolphin miscarriages.

But most of the specimens collected bear no obvious signs of oil contamination, making lab analysis crucial to understanding what caused the deaths.

Mase said the carcasses also are considered potential evidence in the natural resources damage assessment being conducted in conjunction with civil litigation pursued against BP by the government simultaneously with the criminal probe.

(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Jerry Norton)
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

by Timothy B. Hurst on February 1, 2011

http://ecopolitology.org/2011/02/01/cornfields-vs-oilfields-infographic/

In light of recent remarks from Newt Gingrich in support of corn ethanol, as well as a new EPA report about the high environmental costs of corn ethanol, this infographic Online Schools approached us with couldn’t be more timely.