"A U.S. judge has decided that BP Plc was “grossly negligent” and “reckless” in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill four years ago, a ruling that could add nearly $18 billion in fines to more than $42 billion (25.73 billion pounds) in charges the company took for the worst offshore environmental disaster in U.S. history."
"Tropical storm Dolly lashed Mexico's northeast coast on Tuesday night, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, bringing torrential rain and life threatening flash floods."
"Halliburton, the company contracted by BP to cement the ill-fated Macondo oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, has reached a $1.1 billion settlement with thousands of businesses, individuals and local governments that suffered losses from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, the company and plaintiffs announced on Tuesday."
"Pacific Gas and Electric Co. must pay a record $1.4 billion in fines and other penalties for more than 3,700 violations of pipeline safety laws leading up to the deadly San Bruno natural-gas explosion, two administrative law judges said Tuesday."
"Royal Dutch Shell submitted a plan to the federal government on Thursday to try once again to explore for oil in the Alaskan Arctic, following years of legal and logistical setbacks as well as dogged opposition from environmentalists."
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More evidence of Congress' ineffectiveness comes in its ongoing failure to keep its secrets actually secret. Its official policy is to keep the Congressional Research Service from publicly releasing the handy explainers it produces at taxpayer expense. Thanks again to the Federation of American Scientists' Government Secrecy Project for unauthorized publication of these reports.
"Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said the recent earthquake in Northern California shows the need for an earthquake early warning system."
"SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Cristobal hurled heavy rains across Atlantic and Caribbean islands on Tuesday as it headed toward Bermuda, and officials said the storm already had caused at least five deaths."
"Japan is facing the toughest test yet in its effort to restore nuclear energy more than three years after the Fukushima disaster: scrutiny from a skeptical population."
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