"The BP drilling rig explosion five years ago sent 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, causing widespread damage to wildlife, ecosystems and livelihoods still seen today."
April 20 was the fifth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon offshore well blowout that led to one of the biggest environmental disasters in U.S. history. The Gulf of Mexico, its fish and wildlife, and the people whose jobs and lives depend on it are still recovering. Media coverage abounds — some of it focusing on whether the industry or the government learned anything from the disaster and how likely it is to happen again in the Gulf, in the Arctic, or elsewhere. SEJ has rounded up some of the coverage in its daily news digest, EJToday Headlines. We also published two useful explainers on the money issues and the science issues.
"Five years after the largest oil spill in U.S. history spewed millions of gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico, many Louisiana oystermen are fearful that a once-bountiful population of the mollusks may never recover."
"Billionaire activist Tom Steyer's climate change advocacy group offered unexpected praise on Friday to Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush for saying the United States should work with the world to reduce carbon emissions."
"Utah's oldest coal-fired power plant is no longer in operation."
"In a settlement with a coalition of animal advocacy groups, Mendocino County has agreed to suspend renewal of its contract with a federal wildlife management agency pending completion of an environmental impact report that will consider nonlethal methods of predator control."
"Honduras is the deadliest place for environmental activists with scores of Hondurans killed defending land rights and the environment from mining, dam projects and logging, a campaign group said on Monday."
"Electricity producers in several states are asking for hundreds of millions of dollars in financial support to keep costly nuclear power plants in business—a move that is likely to boost customers’ power bills."
"President Obama will tout his administration's efforts to protect the environment during a visit to the Everglades in south Florida on Wednesday, as the White House presses its go-it-alone climate-change agenda."
"A Friday afternoon pipeline explosion at the Fresno County Sheriff gun range left 11 people injured and caused a massive traffic jam on the nearby state Highway 99, according to the Associated Press."
