"An enormous cloud hits Lubbock, where residents compare it to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The ongoing drought helped produce the storm, an expert says."

Molly Hennessy-Fiske reports for the Los Angeles Times October 18, 2011. [2]

"The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a pipeline safety bill late Monday after a senator with strong Tea Party ties did an about-face - lifting a hold that had blocked the legislation for weeks and adding a provision that would close a regulatory loophole that drew widespread attention after the San Bruno disaster."

"The bill boosts the federal government's regulatory enforcement powers, calls for automatic shutoff valves for new pipelines and, thanks to last-minute language, ends an exemption from rigorous safety inspections for older natural-gas pipelines.

"Salvage crews have resumed pumping fuel from a stricken cargo ship listing badly on a reef off the northern coast of New Zealand."

"LONDON — Anadarko Petroleum Co. has agreed to pay $4 billion to BP PLC as part of a settlement related to last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill."

"

"In wake of last year's BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a new study from an environmental watchdog group contends that current federal standards underestimate the risk to pregnant women and children of cancer-causing contaminants that can accumulate in seafood from such spills."

"BP will be allowed to participate in an upcoming U.S. offshore oil and gas lease sale despite its role in the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, a top government regulator said on Thursday."

"NEW ORLEANS -- Federal regulators on Wednesday cited oil company BP PLC and two other companies – Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton – for alleged safety and environmental violations stemming from last year's rig explosion and massive Gulf oil spill.

The companies have 60 days to appeal the citations issued by the Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

The bureau says the alleged regulatory violations could result in civil penalties once the appeal period has ended.

"TOKYO — Even as Japan plans to phase out nuclear power as too risky for domestic use, the government is supporting a new push by Japanese industry to sell nuclear power technology to other countries."