Protecting What's Right

Drilling companies have told us that extracting natural gas from the ground poses no threat to our drinking water.

But for the first time, a report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that may not be the case.

The report released on Dec. 8 shows that chemicals from “fracking,” the controversial process of withdrawing natural gas from the ground, have been found in a rural Wyoming aquifer. Fracking involves pumping water, sand and other chemicals into the ground to crack the shale rock that holds trapped gas inside.

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On Tuesday the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) instated new rules to protect drinking water and monitor carbon dioxide emissions in carbon-capture technology. Specifically, the two new rules govern the capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide.

Carbon capture and sequestration technologies are employed at power facilities and other major emitters to prevent greenhouse gases from reaching the atmosphere.

The new EPA rules requires emitters to make sure groundwater is safe from contamination associated with carbon capture technology and calls for appropriate reporting on the amount of carbon dioxide sequestered.

Hopefully, these new rules will help reduce greenhouse emissions and put the U.S. at the forefront of clean energy technology.

New BP chief executive officer Bob Dudley is making some unprecedented changes at the British oil giant in an attempt to promote a new corporate culture. After being heavily criticized for placing profits over safety after an April explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig resulted in one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history, BP has been trying to clean up its act.

In a new attempt to shift the company’s culture to one of safety, Dudley told staff in an e-mail this week that their next bonuses will be based solely on how they meet safety guidelines. BP usually determines bonuses based on how employees meet operational and financial goals, as well as the safety rules.

While bonuses in the first three quarters of the year will be still be based on all these qualifications, safety will be the only measure in determining employee bonuses in the fourth quarter, said BP spokesperson Toby Odone.

BP asked U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans to require virtually all oil spill claimants to exhaust the economic damage claims process run by third-party administrator Kenneth Feinberg before they are allowed to sue.

Requiring claimants to first present their claims to the Feinberg Fund could delay the start of litigation against oil giant BP for months while administrators sort out which claims qualify for payment.

Judge Barbier has scheduled a hearing on BP’s proposal for Sept. 16. BP’s request is opposed by most spill claimants.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found benzene and methane in wells and in groundwater in Pavillion, Wyoming, agency officials said in a report.

At a community meeting with well owners, EPA officials revealed Tuesday they found low levels of petroleum compounds in 17 of 19 drinking water wells sampled, and that nearby shallow groundwater was contaminated with high levels of petroleum compounds, such as benzene.

The affected well owners were advised not to drink the contaminated water.

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The Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) will begin accepting business and personal claims on Monday from those affected by the Gulf oil spill.

BP said last week that it was no longer accepting claims as the transition to the new entity was taking place. The oil giant, which said it has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in claims so far, will continue to handle claims put in by government entities.

Attorney Kenneth Feinberg, the man in charge of the $20 billion escrow account established to compensate oil spill victims for damages, emphasized Sunday that his facility is independent of the government and BP. Eligible businesses claims that submit a claim will be paid in no more than seven days and eligible individuals will receive a check within 48 hours, according to Feinberg.

Meanwhile, federal investigators are hearing testimony from BP executives in a joint probe into the cause of the explosion that led to the oil spill.

The hearings will continue through Friday.

A new report set to be released Tuesday renews concern about the long- term environmental impact of the Gulf Coast oil disaster. Researchers at the University of South Florida, who have been studying the effects of the spill since it began, have concluded that oil from the

Deepwater Horizon spill may have settled on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico further east than previously suspected and at levels toxic to marine life.

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BP said Tuesday it will suspend drilling activity on the relief well in the Gulf of Mexico, citing a National Hurricane Center prediction of a 60 percent chance of a tropical cyclone forming just off the coast of southwestern Florida. It was previously believed that the relief well would intercept the broken well by the end of the week.

According to the National Hurricane Center, there is a high chance the system could become a tropical or subtropical cyclone in the next 48 hours. As a precaution, BP has installed a device known as a “storm packer” at the base of the well, said BP spokeswoman Elizabeth Adams.

BP also announced Monday that their oil spill response costs have reached $6.1 billion, which includes costs for spill response, relief well drilling, the “static kill” operation, grants to Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs.

As the cement hardens Friday in the broken oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, federal officials are increasingly optimistic that the well will soon be permanently plugged.

BP finished pouring cement down the well Thursday in an operation called “static kill” and completed the job earlier than expected. The process took six hours.

Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said the cementing phase of the “static kill” operation is not the end of the process “but it will virtually assure us there’s no chance of oil leaking into the environment.” Allen is the federal point man in the oil spill response.

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