Today in oil-spill news:
BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells was on the hot seat yesterday, as federal investigators dug in on the oil giant’s abysmal safety record. Investigators noted a letter Minerals Management Service sent to Wells in 2003 criticizing the company for “incomplete planning, poor communication, insufficient knowledge or training, and a lack of effective supervision.”
Meanwhile, another BP executive testified that the Deepwater Horizon was “considered one of the most efficient and safest mobile floating rigs in the Transocean Ltd. fleet.”
The New York Times has a piece today detailing some of the behind-the-scenes stories from the now four-month long process to kill BP’s Gulf well. It was “far more stressful, hair-raising and acrimonious than the public was aware of,” the paper reports.
And for a little bit of good news, BP has given up plans to drill in the Arctic off Greenland’s coast.
Republicans are planning a number of probes into executive branch dealings should they take over the House this November, including an investigation of the Minerals Management Service (now renamed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or “BOEM”).
Speaking of “BOEM,” the selected acronym for the agency, apparently it’s pronounced like “home.” This is an improvement over using the longer acronym, BOEMRE, which many of us thought was pronounced “bummer.”
And in other environmental news:
Tastykake has a new “green” bakery in Philadelphia, a 345,000-square-foot facility with more efficient water and energy systems, recycled building materials, and other “environmentally friendly” features.
It’s possible that we won’t know the outcome of the Alaska Republican primary until the end of September.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that at least four acts slated to appear at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Game have pulled out in protest of the event’s sponsorship by a coal company. Alliance Coal is one of the main sponsors, and the groups would be performing under a banner touting “clean coal.”
