What’s the scope of a local planning commission authority? When that commission is considering construction project approval at an oil refinery to enable five oil trains (each a mile long) arrive per week at that refinery, does the local planning commission have the authority to consider issues outside on-site safety and…
This summer Royal Dutch Shell worked in the Chukchi Sea to drill for oil, in the open ocean above the arctic circle. That’s a recipe for disaster, which Shell itself admitted would, if oil drilling were fully developed there, cause a large number of large oil spills in a terrain which…
Another day another environmental disaster gifted to us by the fossil fuel industry. Maybe. In the wee hours of Monday morning, a pair of barges collided near the mouth of the Houston Ship Channel. One of the barges was carrying a million gallons of Naptha, which caught on fire and an undetermined…
Oil pipeline operations fail resulting in oil spills. An honest discussion with a US Government official working in pipeline safety oversight, and others. Between lax enforcement of safety regulations, and companies that don’t care, and the fact that the pipeline industry is self-regulated, …. It’s hard to enforce the regulations…
Late last week a “wastewater injection well” blew up after water storage tanks were struck by lightning. The site is operated by NGL Water Solutions near the Greely-Weld County Airport outside Greely Colorado, and has storage tanks to hold fracking wastewater that’s to be injected underground. While these are tanks full…
Yesterday, a BNSF trail carrying 103 crude oil cars derailed on tracks bordering the Mississippi River in a remote part of Illinois near Galena. Today there’s some further information which clears up some unknowns about the incident. It’s now known the fire was more extensive than thought yesterday, involving more…
Mike Burley, THONLINE Another week another bomb train, it seems. Last week it was West Virginia, this week Galena Illinois. This time a 105 car train, 103 of which were crude oil tankers, derailed in a remote section of Illinois just off the Mississippi River. According to a news…
A big deal is being made over approval of the Keystone XL pipeline that’s meant to carry tar sands oil from Alberta down to the Gulf Coast for refining and shipping to the global oil market. Environmental groups like 350.org are raising a stink about the project, saying that it…
It’s not often that we get a direct clear example of the externalities of oil consumption. An “externality” is when someone, say a big oil company like Exxon, makes other people pay some of the costs associated with their business. Most of the externalities related to the Oil business are…
The natural gas drilling rig off the Louisiana coast that blew up on Tuesday appears stable now, thanks to the fire snuffing itself out. While the fire is out, the owner of the rig is still eyeing whether a relief well is required, how to permanently cap the well, how…
On Friday morning local time, a fire and explosion ripped through an oil platform owned by Black Elk Energy in the Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the Mississippi River. The company is a minor oil producer, and was started in 2007 by John Hoffman, a former BP Amoco…
One day after BP agreed to a $4 billion settlement over the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, we have news of another oil rig blowing up off the coast of Louisiana. On Friday (today) an explosion and fire ripped through an oil platform owned by…
Yesterday, Cal/OSHA Chief Ellen Widess held a public meeting in Richmond CA to report on that agencies investigation into the August 6th fire at Chevron’s oil refinery in Richmond. That fire spewed a toxic cloud over the local area, and caused a spike in gasoline prices on the West Coast.…
On Monday evening a small leak at the Chevron refinery in Richmond CA quickly escalated into a fire and explosion. The fire sent a cloud of black smoke and noxious fumes into the air, with residents being forced to “shelter in place”. Following the incident a flood of residents descended…
According to the NRDC, House Speaker Boehner wants to steer America onto a disastrous transportation policy path, that makes America’s energy security and environmental problems worse, is financially dangerous, and leaves the nation’s highway system subject to political manipulation akin to taking a road to nowhere. On Feb 2 the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure…
