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BP's plan to sever a leaking pipe as part of an effort to cap its runaway well in the Gulf of Mexico could increase flow by as much as 20%, and the oil giant has no remedy to stop up the well until August, Obama administration and company officials said Sunday. Administration and BP officials on Sunday sought to shift attention from last week's failed attempt to choke the well by focusing on expectations that a new cap could divert much of the leaking oil from the fragile ecosystem of the gulf.

Nobody in this government will be satisfied until BP stops the leak, the oil is cleaned up and the affected people along the Gulf are fully compensated. BP, as a responsible party, is charged with capping their leaking oil well and paying for the response and recovery. After Exxon Valdez, and through the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, no longer can a company cause a disaster like this and then expect the taxpayers to clean up their mess. However, the USG, as led by the Department of Homeland Security with Admiral Thad Allen serving as the National Incident Commander, is...

WASHINGTON—U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday said that he has created a new panel on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and he's giving the commission six months to come up with recommendations for preventing future offshore drilling accidents. "We need to do a lot more to protect the health and safety of our people, to safeguard the quality of our air and water, and to preserve the natural beauty and bounty of America," he said in his weekly radio address. He added that he wants "a comprehensive look at how the oil and gas industry operates and how we...

Robert, two questions. The first one is, we hear so many different timeframes as to when this oil well will actually be under control. What is the best-case and what is the worst-case scenario? GIBBS: Well, I would direct you to B.P. in terms of what -- what they might say. de Nies: So if it takes up to 90 days, is that something that the president is comfortable with? GIBBS: Well, I'm not sure the president can alter the pace of drilling in the Atlantic. We're -- I mean in the Gulf. I'm sorry. de Nies: I wonder, on...

This morning eight sea turtles were found dead in Pass Christian, in addition to nine yesterday, bringing the total number of dead turtle sightings in the wider area to at least 31. Tests on the animals were being carried out at the Institute of Sea Mammal Studies in Gulfport, 10 minutes' drive along the sea from Pass Christian. The institute specialises in the study and treatment of stranded dolphins, sea turtles and other marine life and has a dedicated laboratory where 23 turtles are being kept in plastic bags in an animal morgue. Among them are Loggerheads, Leatherheads and Kemp's...

LONDON (Reuters) - It is easy to blame speculation for the doubling of oil prices over the past 12 months, but the real reasons are strong demand growth, coupled with shortages of supply and refining capacity, the IEA said on Tuesday. In its Medium-Term Oil Market Report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said there was little evidence speculation had distorted prices over both the longer and shorter term, although it noted a lack of data on inventory levels, as well as on financial market participants. "Blaming speculation is an easy solution which avoids taking the necessary steps to improve supply-side...

WASHINGTON — A Democratic lawmaker stepped off the idea of nationalizing oil refineries, telling FOX News on Thursday he only means to put "national pressure" on oil companies a day after he endorsed the idea of government refinery ownership. Following President Bush's call on Wednesday for the re-opening of the Outer Continental Shelf to oil exploration after a 27-year moratorium, Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., endorsed the idea of national ownership of at least some U.S. oil refineries. [snip] But on Thursday, Hinchey avoided questions over his support for U.S. ownership of refineries in an interview with FOX News. He conceded,...

The state's highest criminal court on Monday denied Rep. Tom DeLay's request that the money laundering charges against him be dismissed or sent back to a lower court for an immediate trial.

Lawyers representing a co-defendant of indicted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay have sent a letter to the makers of a new film about the DeLay investigation, saying they will seek a subpoena that would order the filmmakers to turn over a copy of the film and all unused footage from the project. The Big Buy chronicles Travis County, Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle as he pursued the investigation that led to DeLay's indictment on conspiracy charges last week and on money-laundering charges yesterday. Filmmakers Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck describe the film as "a Texas noir political detective story" about the...

Crude futures settled near $44 a barrel in light, pre-holiday trade Thursday as another pipeline attack in Iraq followed news that authorities in Moscow effectively re-nationalized the main production unit of Yukos. Light, sweet crude for February delivery slid 6 cents Thursday to $44.18 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (search), where prices plunged $1.52 a day earlier after the U.S. government reported a surprise increase in supplies of oil and distillate fuel, which includes heating oil and diesel. While oil futures are about 20 percent cheaper than they were two months ago, they remain 38 percent higher...

In a sadly ironic twist, one of the controversial astronomer’s theories did receive a boost shortly after his death. Gold contended that there are extensive stores of oil far below the Earth’s surface, vestiges from our planet’s formation. Conventional wisdom holds that this is impossible. The intense heat and pressure in the mantle would have eventually converted any oil to molten rock, not to mention that petroleum forms when living things decompose, and thus would not have been created during the early days of the planet, when life was absent. So when physicist Henry Scott of Indiana University South Bend...

Planet Hollywood's star cash error Bruce Willis and Demi Moore were among the backers Troubled restaurant chain Planet Hollywood wrote off $5m (£3.2m) of loans to celebrities because its founders were more worried about being friends with the stars than the company's financial problems, a report has said. The high-profile themed restaurant became a worldwide chain after being launched with backing from stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore and Sylvester Stallone. But its founders, Robert Earl and Keith Barrish, have been criticised for their links with stars as their company tries to escape bankruptcy, owing $20m (£13m) to...

Moral relativism contends that principles change depending upon the situation. It also becomes a convenient tool by which to justify political correct causes while condemning others for pursuing courses of action one does not agree with. This cognitive discontinuity has come into particular focus in regards to the sentiments expressed by celebrities in reference to the selective application of force or violence. These pampered dolts make careers of glamorizing it when it arises in inappropriate though fictionalized contexts but get more sanctimonious than Dana Carvey's "Saturday Night Live's" Church Lady upon catching wind that a robust but unfortunate physical response...

TEHRAN, March 6, 2003. /from RIA Novosti correspondent Nikolai Terekhov/. - Iraq has dropped bombs hitting 2,500 oil fields that cover a vast area. According to the IRNA agency, the bombing near Sharjeh resulted in the explosion of an oil refinery near Kirkuk. Some oil-bearing wells were mined with antitank mines. The Iraqi Army units are ditching around near Baghdad and Kirkuk round the clock to resist the US Army.

AN eccentric aristocrat has created a stir in a small English town by suggesting that hundreds of residents pay him 1pc of the value of their homes under feudal land title laws. Representatives for Sir Robert Keith Rous, 6th Earl of Stradbroke, have written to 900 homeowners in Chigwell, Essex, saying they may have breached obscure clauses in the title deeds of their homes by building extensions or alterations without his permission. No problem. He'd be willing to overlook the breaches if they just pay the 1pc. Rous (65) emigrated to Australia at 19 and remains there. But in the...