National (U.S.)

"BP and the oil industry drilling in the Gulf of Mexico lacked the proper safety attitude to handle the large risks of deepwater drilling, leading to the many bad decisions behind the nation's worst offshore spill, a panel of expert engineers said today.

More specifically, the industry needs to radically redesign the blowout preventers that are meant to be a last line of defense against runaway wells or else risk a repeat of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the National Academy of Engineering concluded.

"U.S. EPA has failed to provide adequate oversight of state regulatory programs, leading to inconsistent environmental protections, the agency's inspector general said in an unusually pointed audit."

"Three years into Lisa Jackson’s tenure as head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than a dozen formal complaints alleging air pollution is disproportionately harming low-income, minority communities remain unresolved. Each of these complaints has languished — in some instances, for more than a decade — in the EPA’s Office of Civil Rights despite Jackson’s stated commitment to environmental justice."

"WASHINGTON — The Senate has given final approval to a bill that doubles the maximum fine for pipeline safety violations and adds penalties for obstructing safety investigations.

The compromise bill cleared the Senate Tuesday by a voice vote and now goes to the White House. The House approved the same measure on Monday."

The Associated Press had the story December 13, 2011.

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"Environmental groups on Tuesday challenged the first attempted auction of offshore petroleum leases in the western Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, filing a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Washington."

"More than 20 years ago, Congress ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate toxic air pollution. It's done that for most industries, but not the biggest polluters — coal and oil-burning power plants.

The EPA now plans to change that later this week, by setting new rules to limit mercury and other harmful pollution from power plants.

"An environmental monitor Tuesday identified 19 new sites across the United States where groundwater near coal-ash dumps from power plants was found to be contaminated with arsenic and other pollutants."

Congress is struggling to resolve a complex year-end standoff that has enmeshed both payroll tax-cut and omnibus spending legislation. Dozens of environmental riders are making compromise more diffficult. President Obama has threatened to veto the payroll tax bill if GOPers attach an amendment forcing him to act on the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

"YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Until this year, this Rust Belt city and surrounding Mahoning County had been about as dead, seismically, as a place can be, without even a hint of an earthquake since Scots-Irish settlers arrived in the 18th century."

"Despite lower demand, more than $448 billion has been paid so far for fuel — $100 billion more than in 2010. Consistently high oil prices are blamed."