BP oil spill news stories on Newser

Fishing Haul Way Down in Estuary Near BP Spill

Evann Gastaldo — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:45:05 CDT

The seafood stats are in for the Gulf's 2011 harvest, and though the finger-pointing (at BP and the oil spill, of course) has begun, the numbers paint a complicated picture. Last year was the first full year of fishing since the spill, and some areas definitely saw a depressed catch:...

Feds: Engineer Deleted 200 BP Spill Texts

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:06:05 CDT

The Justice Department said today it filed the first criminal charges in the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, accusing a former BP engineer of destroying evidence. Kurt Mix was arrested on two counts of obstruction of justice, and is accused of deleting a string of 200 text...

Eyeless Shrimp? Report Raises Concerns in Gulf

Dustin Lushing — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:47:08 CDT

Shrimp missing their eyeballs (and even eye sockets), fish covered in lesions, deformed crabs, and other mutated sea creatures are showing up in unsettling numbers in the Gulf of Mexico two years after the giant BP oil spill, according to an investigation by Al Jazeera English . "The fishermen have never...

Ailing Dolphins May Be Linked to BP Spill

Dustin Lushing — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:43:51 CDT

Another sign that the catastrophic 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is taking a serious toll on the local dolphin population: Researchers conducted physicals on 32 of them last summer in a particularly hard-hit bay and discovered that many suffered from anemia, low blood sugar, low weight, and...

BP Reaches $7.8B Settlement in Gulf Oil Spill

Mark Russell — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 05:46:21 CST

BP has agreed to pay about $7.8 billion to thousands of individuals and businesses around the Gulf of Mexico in economic and medical compensation for the massive 2010 oil spill, reports the Washington Post . About $2.3 billion will go to compensation to the seafood industry alone. BP also...

BP Faces $52B in Gulf Spill Fines

Mark Russell — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 05:45:39 CST

With the trials set to begin tomorrow for BP and the other companies involved in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP alone could conceivably face up to $52 billion in fines and compensation, reports the AP . Under the Clean Water Act, which requires a minimum of $1,100...

Waterboarding, Paris Hilton Liked More Than Congress

Matt Cantor — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:50:05 CST

A Gallup poll released Wednesday finds that Americans' approval of Congress has hit yet another record low: 10%. There aren't many institutions Americans have liked less over the last 50-or-so years, according to Gallup: Only Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and OJ Simpson detective Mark Fuhrman have ever...

Oil Appearing Around BP Well Again

Matt Cantor — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:28:57 CDT

A year after BP capped its ill-fated Macondo well, oil is once again appearing on the surface overhead. Oil blobs climbed to the surface and spread into patches 4 and 5 feet wide, the Press-Register reports. The thin sheen covered an area some 50 yards wide and a quarter-mile long....

New BP Oil Spill, This Time in Alaska

M Cantor — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 06:19:49 CDT

A burst pipeline in Alaska has prompted BP's latest US spill, with a mixture of methanol, crude oil, and water leaking onto the tundra on Saturday, the company announced. The spill—somewhere between 2,100 and 4,200 gallons—happened during a pressure test and is currently being cleaned up,...