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WASHINGTON, Kan., Dec 10 (Reuters) - Residents near the site of the worst U.S. oil pipeline leak in a decade took the commotion and smell in stride as cleanup crews labored in near-freezing temperatures, and investigators searched for clues to what caused the spill.. ....Pipeline operator TC Energy (TRP.TO) said on Friday it was evaluating plans to restart the line, which carries 622,000 barrels per day of Canadian oil to U.S. refineries .. ...

Dapper - wholesome post - Imgur

Non Profit Using Surplus Hair To Help Clean Up Oil Spills Hopes New Facility In San Francisco Will Be Model For OthersSpend enough time in San Francisco and you begin to think there's nothing that could happen on the streets of this famously unconventional city that could surprise you. Then a tractor-trailer pulls up on Howard Street and begins to unload box after box of, well, we will allow the woman who was waiting for the delivery to fill you in. "It's hair," said Lisa Gautier, founder and president of the non-profit Matter of Trust. "And fur. And fleece." 20,000...

Any time there's an oil spill on the water, the media are filled with photos and videos of crude-soaked birds. The coverage is the cue for the self-appointed environmentalist defenders of wildlife to wring their hands and furrow their brows.

DON SMITH/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER An air permit issued on Nov. 6 by the state Department of Environmental Protection allows Buckeye Partners to accept large amounts of Canadian tar sands oil at its newly renovated oil terminal in Perth Amboy. As debate rages in Washington over the environmental risks of allowing Canadian tar sands oil to be pumped across the U.S. in the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, the Christie administration has quietly approved a permit that essentially opens New Jersey’s rail lines to carry that kind of oil through densely populated towns, past thousands of homes and businesses.  An air permit,...

Who could have ever imagined that North America would surpass Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas liquids? A decade ago, that would have seemed laughable. Yet that’s exactly what has happened; and it’s not just Saudi Arabia that has been left in North America’s dust -- Russia has, too.

Who could have ever imagined that North America would surpass Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas liquids? A decade ago, that would have seemed laughable.Yet that’s exactly what has happened; and it’s not just Saudi Arabia that has been left in North America’s dust -- Russia has, too. The surge in North American oil and gas production is arguably the most important development in energy over the last decade. That’s the good news. The not so good news is that North America doesn’t have nearly enough oil and gas pipelines to accommodate its 11-million-barrel-a-day...

The Keystone XL Pipeline got another nail in its coffin Monday, in the form of a Senate energy vote that excluded the pipeline issue. But Keystone was already near death thanks to the Obama's administration's recent decision to ignore the evidence of a definitive government study—and instead keep listening to environmentalists' dubious claims. The upshot will be more political fires in Washington caused by train derailments in the absence of a pipeline to transport oil more safely. After the derailment in downtown Lynchburg, Va., on April 30, approximately 30,000 gallons of Bakken crude oil burned or spilled into the James...

Leica DM4000M microscopySuper sucker. Copper needles could help remove oil from the ocean. Researchers looking for a better way to clean up oil spills are taking a cue from the humble cactus. A new study shows that synthetic needles based on those of the desert plant can take up oil droplets from the ocean much as the cactus takes up water from the air.Cactus needles have a curious effect on water. When tiny water droplets in the air land on them, the needlesÂ’ conical shape distorts them, nudging them into a clamlike shape. Because water droplets like to be circular,...

NEW ORLEANS -- BP agreed late Friday to settle lawsuits brought by more than 100,000 fishermen who lost work, cleanup workers who got sick and others who claimed harm from the oil giant's 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, the worst offshore oil spill in the nation's history. The momentous settlement will have no cap to compensate the plaintiffs, though BP PLC estimated it would have to pay out about $7.8 billion, making it one of the largest class-action settlements ever. -snip - Trial preparations produced a staggering 72 million pages of documents and included depositions of more than 300 witnesses....

No, it’s not a headline from The Onion. It appears to be real. The Wall Street Journal editorial board provides the details: Two weeks ago, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule that subjects dairy producers to the Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure program, which was created in 1970 to prevent oil discharges in navigable waters or near shorelines. Naturally, it usually applies to oil and natural gas outfits. But the EPA has discovered that milk contains “a percentage of animal fat, which is a non-petroleum oil,” as the agency put it in the Federal Register.In other words, the EPA...

WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says oil companies that cause major spills like the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico should face unlimited liability for economic damages. Federal law caps liability at $75 million for economic damages beyond direct cleanup costs. Pelosi said at a news conference that she supports legislation eliminating the cap as part of a series of bills Congress is working on in response to the spill.

Responding to the massive BP oil spill, Congress is getting ready to quadruple—to 32 cents a barrel—a tax on oil used to help finance cleanups.

The Obama administration has lacked vision and urgency in responding to the worst environmental disaster it has faced. The oil gushing from the destroyed rig into the Gulf of Mexico has overwhelmed the industry and local governments, and only Washington can muster the resources to meet such an ominous threat to the entire coast. Yet the president did not send his top environmental aides and mobilize the Navy and Air Force until Friday — after the giant slick already had reached the fragile marshes and shorelines of the Mississippi Delta...President Barack Obama met U2's Bono in the Oval Office on...

Chinese chemists have made sturdy nanotube sponges that can selectively absorb oil and volatile chemicals in preference to water. The sponges float on water and can absorb up almost 180 times their own weight in oil, giving them great potential for mopping up industrial spillages. 'We are very excited about the potential of our material,' says Anyuan Cao, who led the work at Peking University, Beijing, China. 'The sponges can absorb a variety of oils - from volatile solvents to thick and sticky oil - but they are also elastic and robust. They can be wrung out like towels and re-used,...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- At least 49 offshore oil platforms, all with production of less than 1,000 barrels a day, were destroyed by Hurricane Ike as it raced across the Gulf of Mexico, and some may not be rebuilt, the Interior Department said Thursday. It said in the latest hurricane damage assessment that the platforms altogether accounted for 13,000 barrels of oil and 84 million cubic feet of natural gas a day. There are more than 3,800 production platforms in the Gulf producing 1.3 million barrels of oil and 7 billion cubic feet of gas each day. Most remain shut down.

Katrina & Rita - 1 year later - Appeal for help from a resident near Ground Zero... Let's see what the power of Freep can do to motivate the United States Government and it's legislators and beauracrats for 2 small Parishes (counties) in the United States of America compared what it can do for a hostile country roughly twice the size of Idaho (Iraq)

The Offshore Technology Conference at Reliant Center is an endless maze of booths with thousands of companies and subsidiaries represented. Each booth vies for the attention of passers-by with giveaways like pens and candy. But Booth No. 2269 offered Kevin Costner, and it was mobbed. Women froze in their tracks. "Oh, my God. That is Tin Cup," one said. Costner's appearance was not some company stunt. He is the company -- the driving force behind Costner Industries Texas, whose product, the liquid-liquid centrifugal separator, separates oil from water and was designed to clean up major oil spills. Costner, who said...