U.S. Oil Drilling Review Proposes Higher Fees, Development Curbs
The Biden administration proposed a slew of changes on Friday to the nation's federal oil and gas leasing program, including hiking fees on drilling companies and limiting their access to sensitive wildlife and cultural zones.The recommendations followed a months-long review aimed at ensuring drilling on federal lands and waters benefits the public. But in a sign of the extreme controversy surrounding the issue, environmental groups slammed the proposals as too weak and the industry…
22 Seaports to Receive AAPA Awards
The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), a trade group representing port authorities throughout the Western Hemisphere, has selected 22 seaports to be recognized for exemplary projects, programs and initiatives at its annual awards event later this summer. The awards, for achievements in facilities engineering, environmental improvement, information technology and communications, will be presented to winning ports at a Sept. 14 luncheon in conjunction with AAPA's 100th Annual Convention in Seattle (https://www.aapa2011.org/main.aspx), which runs Sept. 11-15. * the Port of Long Beach, winner of the 2011 Dan Maynard Communications Award for Overall Excellence, which is bestowed on the port earning the most award points in AAPA's Communications Awards Program competition.
BP Sued by Watchdog Group Over Atlantis Platform
According to a September 10 report from Bloomberg, an environmental watchdog group said in a lawsuit that BP Plc’s Atlantis oil and gas production platform in the Gulf of Mexico should be shut until the company can prove it meets U.S. safety and engineering standards. Food & Water Watch sued BP in federal court in Houston on Sept. 10. The group revised a lawsuit that it filed against U.S. regulators in May, accusing them of failing to investigate Atlantis after a whistleblower warned that the platform lacks critical safety documentation. The group withdrew the initial lawsuit in June, after London-based BP won court permission to intervene in the case. (Source: Bloomberg)
Call for Safety Checks of All BP North Sea Rigs
According to a June 6 report from The Observer, BP will come under further pressure when, on June 7, a U.S. consumer advocacy group, lawyers and a whistleblower call for safety checks on all the company's rigs in the North Sea. The group, Food and Water Watch, has just filed for an injunction in a Houston court calling for BP to be stopped from drilling at the Atlantis platform in the Gulf of Mexico, and it will argue that the case raises questions about the way the company's rigs are operated throughout the world. (Source: The Observer)
