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Tag: Oil spills

  • Record $9.6M fine for Third Coast after substantial oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico

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    Pipeline safety regulators on Monday assessed their largest fine ever against the company responsible for leaking 1.1 million gallons of oil into the Gulf off the coast of Louisiana in 2023. But the $9.6 million fine isn’t likely to be a major burden for Third Coast to pay.

    This single fine is close to the normal total of $8 million to $10 million in all fines that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration hands out each year. But Third Coast has a stake in some 1,900 miles of pipelines, and in September, the Houston-based company announced that it had secured a nearly $1 billion loan.

    Pipeline Safety Trust Executive Director Bill Caram said this spill “resulted from a company-wide systemic failure, indicating the operator’s fundamental inability to implement pipeline safety regulations,” so the record fine is appropriate and welcome.

    “However, even record fines often fail to be financially meaningful to pipeline operators. The proposed fine represents less than 3% of Third Coast Midstream’s estimated annual earnings,” Caram said. “True deterrence requires penalties that make noncompliance more expensive than compliance.”

    The agency said Third Coast didn’t establish proper emergency procedures, which is part of why the National Transportation Safety Board found that operators failed to shut down the pipeline for nearly 13 hours after their gauges first hinted at a problem. PHMSA also said the company didn’t adequately assess the risks or properly maintain the 18-inch Main Pass Oil Gathering pipeline.

    The agency said the company “failed to perform new integrity analyses or evaluations following changes in circumstances that identified new and elevated risk factors” for the pipeline.

    That echoed what the NTSB said in its final report in June, that “Third Coast missed several opportunities to evaluate how geohazards may threaten the integrity of their pipeline. Information widely available within the industry suggested that land movement related to hurricane activity was a threat to pipelines.”

    The NTSB said the leak off the coast of Louisiana was the result of underwater landslides, caused by hazards such as hurricanes, that Third Coast, the pipeline owner, failed to address despite the threats being well known in the industry.

    A Third Coast spokesperson said the allegations were a shock because the company “consistently meets or exceeds regulatory requirements across our operations.”

    “After constructive engagement with PHMSA over the last two years, we were surprised to see aspects of the recent allegations that we believe are inaccurate and exceed established precedent. We will address these concerns with the agency moving forward,” the company spokesperson said.

    The amount of oil spilled in this incident was far less than the 2010 BP oil disaster, when 134 million gallons were released in the weeks following an oil rig explosion, but it could have been much smaller if workers in the Third Coast control room had acted more quickly, the NTSB said.

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  • Trump admin announces plan for new oil drilling off coasts of California and Florida

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    WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced on Thursday new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production.

    The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas, including Southern California and off the coast of Florida, as a way to boost U.S. energy security and jobs. The federal government has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Florida and part of offshore Alabama, since 1995, because of concerns about oil spills. California has some offshore oil rigs, but there has been no new leasing in federal waters since the mid-1980s.

    Since taking office for a second time in January, Trump has systematically reversed former President Joe Biden’s focus on slowing climate change to pursue what the Republican calls U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. Trump, who recently called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” created a National Energy Dominance Council and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-high U.S. energy production, particularly fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas.

    Meanwhile, Trump’s administration has blocked renewable energy sources such as offshore wind and canceled billions of dollars in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects across the country.

    Even before it was released, the offshore drilling plan has been met with strong opposition from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is eyeing a 2028 presidential run and has emerged as a leading Trump critic. Newsom pronounced the idea “dead on arrival” in a social media post. The proposal also is likely to draw bipartisan opposition in Florida. Tourism and access to clean beaches are key parts of the economy in both states.

    The administration’s plan proposes six offshore lease sales off the coast of California.

    It also calls for new drilling off the coast of Florida in areas at least 100 miles from that state’s shore. The area targeted for leasing is adjacent to an area in the Central Gulf of Mexico that already contains thousands of wells and hundreds of drilling platforms.

    The five-year plan also would compel more than 20 lease sales off the coast of Alaska, including a newly designated area known as the High Arctic, more than 200 miles offshore in the Arctic Ocean.

    All offshore areas “with the potential to generate jobs, new revenue and additional production to advance America’s energy dominance should be considered for inclusion,” the American Petroleum Institute and other groups said in a joint letter to the Trump administration in June.

    The groups cited California’s history as an oil-producing state. “Undiscovered resources could be readily produced given the array of existing infrastructure in the area, particularly in southern California,” the letter said.

    Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican and Trump ally, helped persuade Trump officials to drop a similar offshore plan in 2018 when he was governor. Last week, Scott and fellow Florida Republican Sen. Ashley Moody’ co-sponsored a bill to maintain a moratorium on offshore drilling in the state that Trump signed in his first term.

    “As Floridians, we know how vital our beautiful beaches and coastal waters are to our state’s economy, environment and way of life,″ Scott said in a statement. “I will always work to keep Florida’s shores pristine and protect our natural treasures for generations to come.”

    A Newsom spokesman said Trump officials had not formally shared the plan, but said “expensive and riskier offshore drilling would put our communities at risk and undermine the economic stability of our coastal economies.”

    California has been a leader in restricting offshore oil drilling since the infamous 1969 Santa Barbara spill that helped spark the modern environmental movement. While there have been no new federal leases offered since the mid-1980s, drilling from existing platforms continues.

    Newsom expressed support for greater offshore controls after a 2021 spill off Huntington Beach and has backed a congressional effort to ban new offshore drilling on the West Coast.

    A Texas-based company, with support from the Trump administration, is seeking to restart production in waters off Santa Barbara damaged by a 2015 oil spill. The administration has hailed the plan by Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp. as the kind of project Trump wants to increase U.S. energy production as the federal government removes regulatory barriers.

    Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term reversing former President Joe Biden’s ban on future offshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts. A federal court later struck down Biden’s order to withdraw 625 million acres of federal waters from oil development.

    Democratic lawmakers, including California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff and Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, warned that opening vast coastlines to new offshore drilling “would devastate coastal economies, jeopardize our national security, ravage coastal ecosystems, and put millions of Americans’ health and safety at risk.”

    Oil spills “not only cause irreparable environmental damage, but also suppress the value of coastal homes, harm tourism economies and weaken coastal infrastructure,” the lawmakers said in a letter signed by dozens of Democrats. One disastrous oil spill can cost taxpayers billions in lost revenue, cleanup costs and ecosystem restoration, they said.

    Joseph Gordon, campaign director for the environmental group Oceana, called the Trump administration’s latest plan “an oil spill nightmare.”

    Coastal communities “depend on healthy oceans for economic security and their cherished way of life,” he said. “We need to protect our coasts from more offshore drilling, not put them up for sale to the oil and gas industry. There’s too much at stake to risk more horrific oil spills that will haunt our coastlines for generations to come.”

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  • Trump Administration Announces Plan for New Oil Drilling off the Coasts of California and Florida

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced on Thursday new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production.

    The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas, including Southern California and off the coast of Florida, as a way to boost U.S. energy security and jobs. The federal government has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Florida and part of offshore Alabama, since 1995, because of concerns about oil spills. California has some offshore oil rigs, but there has been no new leasing in federal waters since the mid-1980s.

    Since taking office for a second time in January, Trump has systematically reversed former President Joe Biden’s focus on slowing climate change to pursue what the Republican calls U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. Trump, who recently called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” created a National Energy Dominance Council and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-high U.S. energy production, particularly fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas.

    Meanwhile, Trump’s administration has blocked renewable energy sources such as offshore wind and canceled billions of dollars in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects across the country.

    Even before it was released, the offshore drilling plan has been met with strong opposition from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is eyeing a 2028 presidential run and has emerged as a leading Trump critic. Newsom pronounced the idea “dead on arrival” in a social media post. The proposal also is likely to draw bipartisan opposition in Florida. Tourism and access to clean beaches are key parts of the economy in both states.


    Plans to allow drilling off California, Alaska and Florida’s coast

    The administration’s plan proposes six offshore lease sales off the coast of California.

    It also calls for new drilling off the coast of Florida in areas at least 100 miles from that state’s shore. The area targeted for leasing is adjacent to an area in the Central Gulf of Mexico that already contains thousands of wells and hundreds of drilling platforms.

    The five-year plan also would compel more than 20 lease sales off the coast of Alaska, including a newly designated area known as the High Arctic, more than 200 miles offshore in the Arctic Ocean.

    All offshore areas “with the potential to generate jobs, new revenue and additional production to advance America’s energy dominance should be considered for inclusion,” the American Petroleum Institute and other groups said in a joint letter to the Trump administration in June.

    The groups cited California’s history as an oil-producing state. “Undiscovered resources could be readily produced given the array of existing infrastructure in the area, particularly in southern California,” the letter said.


    Opposition from California and Florida

    Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican and Trump ally, helped persuade Trump officials to drop a similar offshore plan in 2018 when he was governor. Last week, Scott and fellow Florida Republican Sen. Ashley Moody’ co-sponsored a bill to maintain a moratorium on offshore drilling in the state that Trump signed in his first term.

    “As Floridians, we know how vital our beautiful beaches and coastal waters are to our state’s economy, environment and way of life,″ Scott said in a statement. “I will always work to keep Florida’s shores pristine and protect our natural treasures for generations to come.”

    A Newsom spokesman said Trump officials had not formally shared the plan, but said “expensive and riskier offshore drilling would put our communities at risk and undermine the economic stability of our coastal economies.”

    California has been a leader in restricting offshore oil drilling since the infamous 1969 Santa Barbara spill that helped spark the modern environmental movement. While there have been no new federal leases offered since the mid-1980s, drilling from existing platforms continues.

    Newsom expressed support for greater offshore controls after a 2021 spill off Huntington Beach and has backed a congressional effort to ban new offshore drilling on the West Coast.

    A Texas-based company, with support from the Trump administration, is seeking to restart production in waters off Santa Barbara damaged by a 2015 oil spill. The administration has hailed the plan by Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp. as the kind of project Trump wants to increase U.S. energy production as the federal government removes regulatory barriers.

    Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term reversing former President Joe Biden’s ban on future offshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts. A federal court later struck down Biden’s order to withdraw 625 million acres of federal waters from oil development.


    Environmental and economic concerns over oil spills

    Democratic lawmakers, including California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff and Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, warned that opening vast coastlines to new offshore drilling “would devastate coastal economies, jeopardize our national security, ravage coastal ecosystems, and put millions of Americans’ health and safety at risk.”

    Oil spills “not only cause irreparable environmental damage, but also suppress the value of coastal homes, harm tourism economies and weaken coastal infrastructure,” the lawmakers said in a letter signed by dozens of Democrats. One disastrous oil spill can cost taxpayers billions in lost revenue, cleanup costs and ecosystem restoration, they said.

    Joseph Gordon, campaign director for the environmental group Oceana, called the Trump administration’s latest plan “an oil spill nightmare.”

    Coastal communities “depend on healthy oceans for economic security and their cherished way of life,” he said. “We need to protect our coasts from more offshore drilling, not put them up for sale to the oil and gas industry. There’s too much at stake to risk more horrific oil spills that will haunt our coastlines for generations to come.”

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Preliminary findings show fatigue crack caused Keystone Pipeline oil spill

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    BISMARCK, N.D. — A fatigue crack in the Keystone Pipeline led to an oil spill in North Dakota earlier this year that released thousands of barrels of oil onto farmland, according to the pipeline operator.

    In a quarterly report released Thursday, South Bow said initial findings show, “the failure resulted from a fatigue crack that originated along the pipe’s manufactured long-seam weld.” A fatigue crack develops from stress over time. A mechanical and metallurgical analysis found the pipe and welds met industry standards, the company said.

    Spill-related costs total around $55 million, which the company said it expects to recover through insurance early next year. Through September, South Bow had received about $16 million in reimbursements from its insurance policies.

    The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration ordered several corrective actions after the spill. The federal government shutdown delayed the release of a third-party “root cause analysis,” South Bow said.

    It’s unclear when those findings will come. A South Bow spokesperson said PHMSA is leading that process and “out of respect for the process, we can’t speak for them.”

    The spill occurred April 8. An employee at the rural site about 60 miles southwest of Fargo heard a “mechanical bang” and shut down the pipeline within two minutes, a state official has said.

    An estimated 3,500 barrels or 147,000 gallons of oil spilled in a field near Fort Ransom, a small town in a forested area with outdoor recreation and scenic views. South Bow sent vacuum trucks and more than 200 workers to aid the cleanup. The pipeline restarted after a six-day shutdown.

    State regulators inspected the site several times in the months after the spill, noting in September that “the vegetation is recovering well,” and that it should be checked again in spring 2026, according to an incident report.

    Nearly 90% of the spilled oil was recovered, according to the report. Crews removed impacted soil to be disposed of elsewhere.

    Local landowner Myron Hammer said South Bow’s cleanup was completed in time for him to plant a soybean crop on the land.

    “I’m surprised that they got everything put back in place as quick as they did. It was a big project,” he said.

    Roughly 5 acres of land were impacted by the spill, though South Bow utilized 40 acres or more for the entire staging area and access, Hammer said. People and vehicles were on site as recently as Thursday, he said. The area of the spill is in gently rolling farmland.

    The company said it has conducted numerous remedial evaluations of the pipeline and found “no injurious issues” so far, with more in-line inspections and integrity digs to come.

    The nearly 2,700-mile (4,345 kilometers) Keystone Pipeline transports crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas. The pipeline moved an average 580,000 barrels per day from January through September of this year, South Bow said.

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  • Trump Officials Back Firm in Fight Over California Offshore Oil Drilling After Huge Spill

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    When the corroded pipeline burst in 2015, inky crude spread along the Southern California coast, becoming the state’s worst oil spill in decades.

    More than 140,000 gallons (3,300 barrels) of oil gushed out, blackening beaches for 150 miles (240 kilometers) from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, polluting a biologically rich habitat for endangered whales and sea turtles, killing scores of pelicans, seals and dolphins, and decimating the fishing industry.

    Plains All American Pipeline in 2022 agreed to a $230 million settlement with fishers and coastal property owners without admitting liability. Federal inspectors found that the Houston-based company failed to quickly detect the rupture and responded too slowly. It faced an uphill battle to build a new pipeline.

    Three decades-old drilling platforms were subsequently shuttered, but another Texas-based fossil fuel company supported by the Trump administration purchased the operation and is intent on pumping oil through the pipeline again.

    Sable Offshore Corp., headquartered in Houston, is facing a slew of legal challenges but is determined to restart production, even if that means confining it to federal waters, where state regulators have virtually no say. California controls the 3 miles (5 kilometers) nearest to shore. The platforms are 5 to 9 miles (8 to 14 kilometers) offshore.

    The Trump administration has hailed Sable’s plans as the kind of project the president wants to increase U.S. energy production as the federal government removes regulatory barriers. President Donald Trump has directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to undo his predecessor’s ban on future offshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts.


    Environmentalist sue to stop the project

    “This project risks another environmental disaster in California at a time when demand for oil is going down and the climate crisis is escalating,” said Alex Katz, executive director of Environmental Defense Center, the Santa Barbara group formed in response to a massive spill in 1969.

    The environmental organization is among several suing Sable.

    “Our concern is that there is no way to make this pipeline safe and that this company has proven that it cannot be trusted to operate safely, responsibly or even legally,” he said.

    Actor and activist Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who lives in the area, has implored officials to stop Sable, saying at a March protest: “I can smell a rat. And this project is a rat.”

    The California Coastal Commission fined Sable a record $18 million for ignoring cease-and-desist orders over repair work it says was done without permits. Sable said it has permits from the previous owner, Exxon Mobil, and sued the commission while work continued on the pipeline. In June, a state judge ordered it to stop while the case proceeds through the court. The commission and Sable are due back in court Wednesday.

    “This fly-by-night oil company has repeatedly abused the public’s trust, racking up millions of dollars in fines and causing environmental damage along the treasured Gaviota Coast,” a state park south of Santa Barbara, said Joshua Smith, the commission’s spokesman.


    Sable keeps moving forward

    So far, Sable is undeterred.

    The California Attorney General’s office sued Sable this month, saying it illegally discharged waste into waterways, and disregarded state law requiring permits before work along the pipeline route that crosses sensitive wildlife habitat.

    “Sable placed profits over environmental protection in its rush to get oil on the market,” the agency said in its lawsuit.

    Last month, the Santa Barbara District Attorney filed felony criminal charges against Sable, also accusing it of polluting waterways and harming wildlife.

    Sable said it has fully cooperated with local and state agencies, including the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and called the district attorney’s allegation “inflammatory and extremely misleading.” It said a biologist and state fire marshal officials oversaw the work, and no wildlife was harmed.

    The company is seeking $347 million for the delays, and says if the state blocks it from restarting the onshore pipeline system, it will use a floating facility that would keep its entire operation in federal waters and use tankers to transport the oil to markets outside California. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, the company updated its plan to include the option.


    Fulfilling the president’s energy promise

    The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said in July it was working with Sable to bring a second rig online.

    “President Trump made it clear that American energy should come from American resources,” the agency’s deputy director Kenny Stevens said in a statement then, heralding the “comeback story for Pacific production.”

    The agency said there are an estimated 190 million barrels (6 billion gallons) of recoverable oil reserves in the area, nearly 80% of residual Pacific reserves. It noted advancements in preventing and preparing for oil spills and said the failed pipeline has been rigorously tested.

    “Continuous monitoring and improved technology significantly reduce the risk of a similar incident occurring in the future,” the agency said.


    CEO says project could lower gas prices

    On May 19 — the 10th anniversary of the disaster — CEO Jim Flores announced that Sable “is proud to have safely and responsibly achieved first production at the Santa Ynez Unit” — which includes three rigs in federal waters, offshore and onshore pipelines, and the Las Flores Canyon Processing Facility.

    State officials countered that the company had only conducted testing and not commercial production. Sable’s stock price dropped and some investors sued, alleging they were misled.

    Sable purchased the Santa Ynez Unit from Exxon Mobil in 2024 for nearly $650 million primarily with a loan from Exxon. Exxon sold the shuttered operation after losing a court battle in 2023 to truck the crude through central California while the pipeline system was rebuilt or repaired.

    Flores said well tests at the Platform Harmony rig indicate there is much oil to be extracted and that it will relieve California’s gas prices — among the nation’s highest — by stabilizing supplies.

    “Sable is very concerned about the crumbling energy complex in California,” Flores said in a statement to The Associated Press. “With the exit of two refineries last year and more shuttering soon, California’s economy cannot survive without the strong energy infrastructure it enjoyed for the last 150 years.”

    California has been reducing the state’s production of fossil fuels in favor of clean energy for years. The movement has been spearheaded partly by Santa Barbara County, where elected officials voted in May to begin taking steps to phase out onshore oil and gas operations.

    Associated Press writer Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Salvagers launch new attempt to tow an oil tanker blown up by Yemen’s Houthi rebels

    Salvagers launch new attempt to tow an oil tanker blown up by Yemen’s Houthi rebels

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A new attempt has begun to try to salvage an oil tanker burning in the Red Sea after attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, a European Union naval mission said Saturday.

    The EU’s Operation Aspides published images dated Saturday of its vessels escorting three ships heading to the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion.

    The mission has “been actively involved in this complex endeavor, by creating a secure environment, which is necessary for the tugboats to conduct the towing operation,” the EU said.

    A phone number for the mission rang unanswered Saturday. However, satellite images taken Saturday morning by Planet Labs PBC and later analyzed by The Associated Press showed what appeared to be the three salvage vessels close to the Sounion. A warship could be seen nearby.

    The Greek state news agency ANA-MPA later reported the Aigaion Pelagos, a Greek-flagged tugboat, was involved in the effort. It said “three frigates, helicopters and a special forces unit” backed the salvagers.

    “Despite challenging conditions, with temperatures reaching up to 400 degrees Celsius (752 degrees Fahrenheit) due to the fire, the specialized salvage team successfully secured the tanker to the Aigaion Pelagos,” the report said.

    The Sounion came under attack from the Houthis beginning Aug. 21. The vessel had been staffed by a crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, who were taken by a French destroyer to nearby Djibouti.

    The Houthis later planted explosives aboard the ship and detonated them. That’s led to fears the ship’s 1 million barrels of crude oil could spill into the Red Sea.

    The Houthis have targeted more than 80 vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that also killed four sailors. One of the sunken vessels, the Tutor, went down after the Houthis planted explosives aboard it and after its crew abandoned it due to an earlier attack, the rebel group later acknowledged.

    Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets.

    The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

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  • Oil Spills Fast Facts | CNN

    Oil Spills Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at oil spill disasters. Spill estimates vary by source.

    1. January 1991 – During the Gulf War, Iraqi forces intentionally release 252-336 million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf.

    2. April 20, 2010 – An explosion occurs on board the BP-contracted Transocean Ltd. Deepwater Horizon oil rig, releasing approximately 168 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

    3. June 3, 1979 – Ixtoc 1, an exploratory well, blows out, spilling 140 million gallons of oil into the Bay of Campeche off the coast of Mexico.

    4. March 2, 1992 – A Fergana Valley oil well in Uzbekistan blows out, spilling 88 million gallons of oil.

    5. February 1983 – An oil well in the Nowruz Oil Field in Iran begins spilling oil. One month later, an Iraqi air attack increases the amount of oil spilled to approximately 80 million gallons of oil.

    6. August 6, 1983 – The Castillo de Bellver, a Spanish tanker, catches fire near Cape Town, South Africa, spilling more than 78 million gallons of oil.

    7. March 16, 1978 – The Amoco Cadiz tanker runs aground near Portsall, France, spilling more than 68 million gallons of oil.

    8. November 10, 1988 – The tanker Odyssey breaks apart during a storm, spilling 43.1 million gallons of oil northeast of Newfoundland, Canada.

    9. July 19, 1979 – The Atlantic Empress and the Aegean Captain tankers collide near Trinidad and Tobago. The Atlantic Empress spills 42.7 million gallons of oil. On August 2, the Atlantic Empress spills an additional 41.5 million gallons near Barbados while being towed away.

    10. August 1, 1980 – Production Well D-103 blows out, spilling 42 million gallons of oil southeast of Tripoli, Libya.

    Union Oil Company
    January 28, 1969 – Inadequate casing leads to the blowout of a Union Oil well 3,500 feet deep about five miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. About three million gallons of oil gush from the leak until it can be sealed 11 days later, covering 800 square miles of ocean and 35 miles of coastline and killing thousands of birds, fish and other wildlife.

    The disaster is largely considered to be one of the main impetuses behind the environmental movement and stricter government regulation, including President Richard Nixon’s signing of the National Environmental Policy Act, the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970. It also inspired Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson to found the first Earth Day.

    Exxon Valdez
    March 24, 1989 – The Exxon Valdez runs aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling more than 11 million gallons of oil.

    March 22, 1990 – Captain Joseph Hazelwood is acquitted of all but one misdemeanor, negligent discharge of oil. Hazelwood is later sentenced to 1,000 hours of cleaning around Prince William Sound and is fined $50,000.

    July 25, 1990 – At an administrative hearing, the Coast Guard dismisses charges of misconduct and intoxication against Captain Joseph Hazelwood, but suspends his captain’s license.

    October 8, 1991 – A federal judge approves a settlement in which Exxon and its shipping subsidiary will pay $900 million in civil payments and $125 million in fines and restitution. Exxon says it has already spent more than $2 billion on cleanup.

    September 16, 1994 – A federal jury orders Exxon to pay $5 billion in punitive damages to fishermen, businesses and property owners affected by the oil spill.

    November 7, 2001 – The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rules that the $5 billion award for punitive damages is excessive and must be cut.

    December 6, 2002 – US District Judge H. Russel Holland reduces the award to $4 billion.

    December 22, 2006 – The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reduces the award to $2.5 billion.

    June 25, 2008 – The US Supreme Court cuts the $2.5 billion punitive damages award to $507.5 million.

    June 15, 2009 – The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals orders Exxon to pay $470 million in interest on the $507.5 million award.

    BP Gulf Oil Spill
    April 20, 2010 – An explosion occurs aboard BP-contracted Transocean Ltd Deepwater Horizon oil rig stationed in the Gulf of Mexico. Of the 126 workers aboard the oil rig, 11 are killed.

    April 22, 2010 – The Deepwater Horizon oil rig sinks. An oil slick appears in the water. It is not known if the leak is from the rig or from the underwater well to which it was connected.

    April 24, 2010 – The US Coast Guard reports that the underwater well is leaking an estimated 42,000 gallons of oil a day.

    April 28, 2010 – The Coast Guard increases its spill estimate to 210,000 gallons of oil a day.

    May 2, 2010 – President Barack Obama tours oil spill affected areas and surveys efforts to contain the spill.

    May 4, 2010 – The edges of the oil slick reach the Louisiana shore.

    May 26, 2010 – BP starts a procedure known as “top kill,” which attempts to pump enough mud down into the well to eliminate the upward pressure from the oil and clear the way for a cement cap to be put into place. The attempt fails.

    June 16, 2010 – BP agrees to create a $20 billion fund to help victims affected by the oil spill.

    July 5, 2010 – Authorities report that tar balls linked to the oil spill have reached the shores of Texas.

    July 10, 2010 – BP removes an old containment cap from the well so a new one can be installed. While the cap is removed, oil flows freely. The new cap is finished being installed on July 12.

    July 15, 2010 – According to BP, oil has stopped flowing into the Gulf.

    August 3, 2010 – BP begins the operation “static kill” to permanently seal the oil well.

    August 5, 2010 – BP finishes the “static kill” procedure. Retired Adm. Thad Allen says this will “virtually assure us there’s no chance of oil leaking into the environment.”

    January 11, 2011 – The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling releases their full report stating that the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig launched the worst oil spill in US history, 168 million gallons (or about 4 million barrels).

    September 14, 2011 – The final federal report is issued on the Gulf oil spill. It names BP, Transocean and Halliburton as sharing responsibility for the deadly explosion that resulted in the April 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

    January 26, 2012 – A federal judge in New Orleans rules that Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig, is not liable for compensatory damages sought by third parties.

    January 31, 2012 – A federal judge in New Orleans rules that Halliburton is not liable for some of the compensatory damages sought by third parties.

    March 2, 2012 – BP announces it has reached a settlement with attorneys representing thousands of businesses and individuals affected by the 2010 oil spill.

    April 18, 2012 – Court documents are filed revealing the March 2, 2010 settlement BP reached with attorneys representing thousands of businesses and individuals affected by the oil spill. A federal judge must give preliminary approval of the pact, which BP estimates will total about $7.8 billion.

    April 24, 2012 – The first criminal charges are filed in connection with the oil spill. Kurt Mix, a former engineer for BP, is charged with destroying 200-plus text messages about the oil spill, including one concluding that the undersea gusher was far worse than reported at the time.

    November 15, 2012 – Attorney General Eric Holder announces that BP will plead guilty to manslaughter charges related to the rig explosion and will pay $4.5 billion in government penalties. Separate from the corporate manslaughter charges, a federal grand jury returns an indictment charging the two highest-ranking BP supervisors on board the Deepwater Horizon on the day of the explosion with 23 criminal counts.

    November 28, 2012 – The US government issues a temporary ban barring BP from bidding on new federal contracts. The ban is lifted on March 13, 2014.

    December 21, 2012 – US District Judge Carl Barbier signs off on the settlement between BP and businesses and individuals affected by the oil spill.

    January 3, 2013 – The Justice Department announces that Transocean Deepwater Inc. has agreed to plead guilty to a violation of the Clean Water Act and pay $1.4 billion in fines.

    February 25, 2013 – The trial to determine how much BP owes in civil damages under the Clean Water Act begins. The first phase of the trial will focus on the cause of the blowout.

    September 19, 2013 – In federal court in New Orleans, Halliburton pleads guilty to destroying test results that investigators had sought as evidence. The company is given the maximum fine of $200,000 on the charge.

    September 30, 2013 – The second phase of the civil trial over the oil spill begins. This part focuses on how much oil was spilled and if BP was negligent because of its lack of preparedness.

    December 18, 2013 – Kurt Mix, a former engineer for BP, is acquitted on one of two charges of obstruction of justice for deleting text messages about the oil spill.

    September 4, 2014 – A federal judge in Louisiana finds that BP was “grossly negligent” in the run-up to the 2010 disaster, which could quadruple the penalties it would have to pay under the Clean Water Act to more than $18 billion. Judge Carl Barbier of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana also apportions blame for the spill, with “reckless” BP getting two thirds of it. He says the other two main defendants in the more than 3,000 lawsuits filed in the spill’s wake, Transocean and Halliburton, were found to be “negligent.”

    January 15, 2015 – After weighing multiple estimates, the court determines that 4.0 million barrels of oil were released from the reservoir. 810,000 barrels of oil were collected without contacting “ambient sea water” during the spill response, making BP responsible for a maximum of 3.19 million barrels.

    January 20-February 2, 2015 – The final phase of the trial to determine BP’s fines takes place. The ruling is expected in a few months.

    July 2, 2015 – An $18.7 billion settlement is announced between BP and five Gulf states.

    September 28, 2015 – In a Louisiana federal court, the city of Mobile, Alabama, files an amended complaint for punitive damages against Transocean Ltd., Triton Asset Leasing, and Halliburton Energy Services, Inc., stating that “Mobile, its government, businesses, residents, properties, eco-systems and tourists/tourism have suffered and continue to suffer injury, damage and/or losses as a result of the oil spill disaster.” As of April 20, 2015, Mobile estimated the losses had exceeded $31,240,000.

    October 5, 2015 – BP agrees to pay more than $20 billion to settle claims related to the spill. It is the largest settlement with a single entity in the history of the Justice Department.

    November 6, 2015 – The remaining obstruction of justice charge against Kurt Mix is dismissed as he agrees to plead guilty to the lesser charge of “intentionally causing damage without authorization to a protected computer,” relating to deletion of a text message, a misdemeanor. He receives six months’ probation and must complete 60 hours of community service.

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  • Shell will sell big piece of its Nigeria oil business, but activists want pollution cleaned up first

    Shell will sell big piece of its Nigeria oil business, but activists want pollution cleaned up first

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    ABUJA, Nigeria — Shell said Tuesday it agreed to sell its onshore business in Nigeria’s Niger Delta to a consortium of companies in a deal worth $2.4 billion, the latest move by the energy company to limit its exposure in the West African nation amid long-running complaints of environmental pollution caused by the oil industry.

    Shell called it a way to streamline its business in a country it has operated in for decades, facing pushback about oil spills that have fouled rivers and farms and exacerbated tensions in a region that has faced years of militant violence.

    “This agreement marks an important milestone for Shell in Nigeria, aligning with our previously announced intent to exit onshore oil production in the Niger Delta,” Zoe Yujnovich, Shell’s integrated gas and upstream director, said in a statement. This will help in “simplifying our portfolio and focusing future disciplined investment in Nigeria on our deepwater and integrated gas position.”

    The buying consortium is Renaissance, which consists of ND Western, Aradel Energy, First E&P, Waltersmith and Petrolin, Shell said. After an initial payment of $1.3 billion, the London-based energy giant said it would receive an additional $1.1 billion.

    The assets that Shell is selling are largely owned by the Nigerian government’s national oil company NNPC, which holds a 55% stake. To finalize the agreement, the government must give its approval. Shell operates the assets and owns a 30% stake, with the remaining share held by France’s TotalEnergies at 10% and Italy’s Eni at 5%.

    The assets include 15 onshore mining leases and three shallow-water operations, the company said.

    Activists in the Niger Delta, where Shell has faced decadeslong local criticism to its oil exploration, plan to ask the government to withhold its approval if the company does not address its environmental damage.

    “It would be a matter of very grave concern if the obvious legacy issues, especially the environmental and decommissioning issues, are not adequately and transparently addressed before and by any eventual divestment,” said Ledum Mitee, a veteran environmental activist and former president of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People.

    Nigeria heavily depends on the Niger Delta’s petroleum resources for its earnings. However, pollution from oil and natural gas production has prevented residents from accessing clean water, hurt farming and fishing, and heightened tensions.

    Militants have exploited the situation, and at one time almost halted the oil industry with attacks on facilities and kidnappings of foreign citizens for ransom before a government amnesty package.

    Despite joint military operations and a government benefits program for former militants that accompanied the amnesty deal, the Niger Delta remains volatile. The oil industry faces risks of violence, including pipeline vandalism by oil thieves, whom companies often blame for oil spills.

    Fyneface Dumnamene, director of the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, urged the Nigerian government to require Shell and the new buyers to provide a plan for addressing environmental damage and compensating communities before granting approvals.

    Shell told AP in a statement that the sale has been designed to preserve the company’s role to “conduct any remediation as operator of the joint venture where spills may have occurred in the past from the joint venture’s operations.”

    If the transaction is approved, Shell will still have at least three subsidiary operations in Nigeria, namely, its Gulf of Guinea deep-water operations, an industrial gas business and solar power for industrial activities.

    All are separately incorporated subsidiaries and outside the scope of the transaction with Renaissance, Shell said.

    ___

    Follow AP’s Africa coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/africa

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  • US officials want ships to anchor farther from California undersea pipelines, citing 2021 oil spill

    US officials want ships to anchor farther from California undersea pipelines, citing 2021 oil spill

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    HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Federal officials on Tuesday recommended increasing the distance from undersea pipelines that vessels are allowed to anchor in Southern California, citing a 2021 oil spill they said was caused by ships whose anchors were dragged across a pipeline after a storm.

    The leak occurred in a ruptured pipeline owned by Houston-based Amplify Energy. National Transportation Safety Board officials concluded damage to the pipeline had been caused months earlier when a cold front brought high winds and seas to the Southern California coast, causing two container vessels that were anchored offshore to drag their anchors across the area where the pipeline was located.

    The October 2021 spill of 25,000 gallons (94,600 liters) sent blobs of crude washing ashore in Huntington Beach and nearby communities, shuttered beaches and fisheries, coated birds with oil and threatened area wetlands.

    The Beijing and MSC Danit — each measuring more than 1,100 feet (335 meters) long — had displaced and damaged the pipeline in January 2021, while a strike from the Danit’s anchor caused the eventual crude release, officials said.

    The NTSB concluded that the pipeline rupture was likely caused by the proximity of anchored shipping vessels. The agency’s board members recommended that authorities increase the safety margin between ships anchored on their way to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and undersea pipelines in the area.

    They also urged vessel traffic services across the country to provide audible and visual alarms to those tasked with keeping watch when anchored vessels near pipelines. Procedures are also needed to notify pipeline operators when a potential incursion occurs, they said.

    The recommendations as well as several others followed a nearly four-hour hearing on the spill, one of the largest in Southern California in recent years.

    Andrew Ehlers, the NTSB’s lead investigator, said the pipeline that ferried crude from offshore platforms to the coast was located at a distance of about 1,500 feet (457 meters) from vessel anchorages in the area.

    Amplify, which pleaded guilty to a federal charge of negligently discharging crude after the spill, said the pipeline strike was not reported to the company or to U.S. authorities. “Had either international shipping company notified us of this anchor drag event, this event would not have occurred,” the company said in a statement.

    A spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles referred questions about anchorages to the Marine Exchange of Southern California, a non-profit that monitors port traffic and operations in Los Angeles and Long Beach and other locations.

    Messages seeking comment were left for the exchange and the U.S. Coast Guard, which jointly manage vessel traffic in the two ports. A message was also left for the Port of Long Beach.

    Since the spill, Amplify agreed to install new leak-detection technology and also reached a civil settlement with local residents and businesses that provide surf lessons and leisure cruises in Huntington Beach — a city of nearly 200,000 people known as “Surf City USA” — which claimed to have been adversely affected by the spill.

    Meanwhile, Amplify and local businesses sued shipping companies associated with the Beijing and Danit. Those suits were settled earlier this year.

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  • Cleanup is done on a big Kansas oil spill on the Keystone system, the company and EPA say

    Cleanup is done on a big Kansas oil spill on the Keystone system, the company and EPA say

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    The operator of the Keystone pipeline system and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency say that the company has finished cleaning up a massive December 2022 oil spill in northeast Kansas

    ByJOHN HANNA Associated Press

    November 1, 2023, 11:34 AM

    FILE – In this photo taken with a drone, cleanup continues in the area where the ruptured Keystone pipeline dumped oil into a creek in Washington County, Kan., Dec. 9, 2022. TC Energy, the operator of the Keystone pipline system, has finished cleaning up a massive December 2022 oil spill, and the creek affected by it is flowing naturally again, the company and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023. (Zeitview via AP, File)

    The Associated Press

    TOPEKA, Kan. — The operator of the Keystone pipeline system has finished cleaning up a massive December 2022 oil spill, and the creek affected by it is flowing naturally again, the company and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency say.

    Pipeline operator TC Energy promised to continue monitoring the site along Mill Creek in Washington County, about 150 miles (241 kilometers) northwest of Kansas City. The Canada-based company and the EPA’s regional office announced Tuesday that berms that had diverted the creek around the spill site had been removed.

    The EPA said Kansas’ environmental agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also will continue to inspect the area for the next five years or “until it is determined that monitoring is no longer needed.”

    The spill dumped nearly 13,000 barrels of crude oil — each one enough to fill a standard household bathtub — into the creek as it ran through a rural pasture. The oil was recovered by mid-May, the company has said.

    The company said that it has started “demobilization” at the site and, “expect to complete these activities by year end.” The pipeline carries oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast.

    The company reported in February that a faulty weld in a a pipe bend caused a crack that grew over time under stress. An engineering consultant firm’s report for U.S. pipeline regulators that became public in May cited pipeline design issues, lapses by its operators and problems caused during pipeline construction as factors in the spill.

    The consultants’ report said the bend had been “overstressed” since its installation in December 2010, likely because construction activity itself altered the land around the pipe. It was the largest onshore spill in nearly nine years.

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  • Stock market today: Asian shares sink as investors brace for Israeli invasion of Gaza

    Stock market today: Asian shares sink as investors brace for Israeli invasion of Gaza

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    NEW YORK — Shares fell in Asia as investors braced Monday for an expected invasion by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

    U.S. futures edged higher while oil prices were little changed.

    Israeli forces, supported by a growing deployment of U.S. warships in the region and the call-up of some 360,000 reservists, have positioned themselves along Gaza’s border and drilled for what Israel said would be a broad campaign to dismantle the militant group.

    More than a million people have fled their homes in the besieged enclave in the past week, ahead of the expected invasion meant to eliminate Hamas’ leadership after its deadly Oct. 7 attack.

    “Who can blame markets for being jittery,” RaboResearch Global Economics and Markets said in a commentary. “The world now holds its breath as Israel prepares for a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza, with only unseasonal torrential rain delaying the seemingly inevitable.”

    The conflict has jolted oil markets, adding to uncertainties already hanging over the global economic outlook. The Gaza region is not a major producer of oil, but the fear is that the violence could spill into the politics around the crude market and eventually lead to disruptions in the flow of petroleum, with broad ramifications for many industries.

    On Friday, the price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil jumped $4.78 to settle at $87.69. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed $4.89 to $90.89 per barrel. Early Monday, U.S. crude oil was unchanged while Brent was up 3 cents at $90.92 a barrel.

    In Asian share trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 sank 1.9% to 31,695.15 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.5% to 17,728.35. South Korea’s Kospi declined 1% to 2,431.28.

    The Shanghai Composite index was 0.4% lower, at 3,075.38, while Bangkok’s SET skidded 2.1%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.4% at 7,030.10.

    On Friday, U.S. stocks mostly fell as they were buffeted by competing waves of optimism and fear.

    The S&P 500 slipped 0.5% to 4,327.78 and the Nasdaq composite fell 1.2% to 13,407.23. The Dow industrials edged up 0.1% to 33,670.29.

    Oil prices leaped, and Treasury yields fell after Israel’s military ordered the evacuation of northern Gaza ahead of a possible ground invasion, according to the United Nations, which warned of potentially “devastating humanitarian consequences.”

    But several U.S. banking giants at the same time said their profits during the summer were better than feared, which offered hope on Wall Street for an earning reporting season that may deliver the first growth for big companies in a year.

    Worries about the war pulled Treasury yields lower, which often happens when investors head for safer investments during times of stress. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.63% from 4.70% late Thursday.

    Yields also eased after another official at the Federal Reserve said the central bank may be done hiking its main interest rate following a blistering campaign that began early last year.

    Helping to support Wall Street were JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, which reported stronger profit for the summer quarter than analysts expected.

    JPMorgan Chase rose 1.5% after its profit for the third quarter climbed 35% from a year earlier. It benefited from a rise in interest rates, but its CEO Jamie Dimon also warned that “this may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades.”

    Wells Fargo rose 3.1% after it likewise topped analysts’ expectations for profit during the summer quarter.

    UnitedHealth Group beat Wall Street’s profit expectations, and its stock climbed 2.6%.

    Dollar General jumped to the biggest gain in the S&P 500, up 9.2%, after it said Todd Vasos will be returning as CEO.

    In currency dealings early Monday, the U.S. dollar fell to 149.39 Japanese yen from 149.55 yen. The euro rose to $1.0529 from $1.0515.

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  • Maui officials and scientists warn that after the flames flicker out, toxic particles will remain

    Maui officials and scientists warn that after the flames flicker out, toxic particles will remain

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    LAHAINA, Hawaii — When flames swept through western Maui, engulfing the town of Lahaina, residents saw toxic fumes spewing into the air as burning homes, pipes and cars combusted, transforming rubber, metal and plastic into poisonous, particulate matter-filled smoke.

    Retired mailman and Vietnam veteran Thomas Leonard heard a boom as a propane tank at a nearby home exploded, leaving a cloud that looked like “a gigantic mushroom” in its wake.

    Thirty-seven year old Mike Cicchino, who grew up on Maui, said he could tell how close the flames were based on how far away cars sounded as their gas tanks erupted. He and his family sought refuge in the ocean across a knee-high sea wall and as he helped others onto the rocks, his rib cage ached, his eyes were nearly swollen shut and he vomited.

    “It was like a war,” Cicchino said.

    About 46,000 residents and visitors have flown out of West Maui since the devastation became clear last week, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Officials are now mourning the deaths of more than 90 people and preparing the island, particularly Lahaina, for a long recovery.

    In addition to lives lost, property damaged and a culture forever transformed, authorities are worried about returning to some parts of the island where toxic byproducts of the fire likely remain.

    Residents of some parts of the island have begun returning home, finding melted cars, flattened homes and burnt elevator shafts rising from ashy lots where apartment buildings once stood. But even in places where the destruction has begun to subside, officials are warning residents that it remains too dangerous to return and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials are surveying the area for additional hazards.

    “It is not safe. It is a hazardous area and that’s why experts are here,” Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said in a news conference Saturday. “We’re not doing anybody any favors by letting them back in there quickly, just so they can get sick.”

    Hawaii’s state toxicologist Diana Felton told Hawaii Public Radio that it could take weeks or months to clean up the pollutants.

    Officials like Bissen and Felton have taken their cue from scientists who warn that fires — even once extinguished in a particular neighborhood or area — can leave lasting health hazards, including in the air and drinking water.

    Such lasting effects could prolong recovery, compound residents’ agony and complicate the return of the island’s tourism-driven economy.

    Maui water officials warned Lahaina and Kula residents not to drink running water, which may be contaminated even after boiling, and to only take short, lukewarm showers in well-ventilated rooms to avoid possible chemical vapor exposure.

    Though others have returned, some residents, like JP Mayoga, are electing to stay away. Mayoga said on Sunday that he, his wife and two daughters planned to stay at the hotel where he works north of Lahaina because they worry toxic debris now covering Lahaina might negatively impact members of the family with sensitive health.

    “It’s safer than it is at home right now,” he said of the hotel.

    Unlike factory pollution or forest fires where scientists have a strong grasp about the kind of toxins emitted, fires like the one in Maui can leave a less unpredictable trail of destruction in their wake. As towns like Lahaina burn, propane tanks explode, pipes melt and oil spills.

    “When you burn people’s belongings, vehicles and boats, we don’t necessarily have a good understanding of what those chemicals are,” said Professor Andrew Whelton, the director of Purdue University’s Center for Plumbing Safety. “When much of that infrastructure burns, it’s transformed into other materials that are never meant for human contact.”

    Whelton said airborne pollutants from smoke often fall to the ground and can require removal by emergency response teams to ensure they aren’t kicked up and inhaled as people return to the burn areas. Melted pipes can compromise the water supply, a concern reflected in the unsafe water alert issued Friday for upper Kula and Lahaina.

    Though these concerns may be less apparent than charred trees and homes, the invisible hazards can often extend beyond burned areas to wherever smoke plumes have traveled.

    “If you go back into some zones even where maybe all the fires have been put out, you can then be really exposed. If there’s dust and debris kicked up, you can get it in your eyes, on your hands or you can inhale it,” Whelton added, imploring people to wear protective gear, cover their arms and legs and follow evacuation orders.

    __

    AP writer Matt Sedensky contributed. Metz reported from Salt Lake City.

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  • Pipeline operators to pay $12.5M after spills in Montana, North Dakota

    Pipeline operators to pay $12.5M after spills in Montana, North Dakota

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    Two pipeline operators have agreed to pay a $12.5 million civil penalty related to crude oil spills in 2015 in Montana and in 2016 in North Dakota

    ByJACK DURA Associated Press

    BISMARCK, N.D. — Two pipeline operators have agreed to pay a $12.5 million civil penalty related to crude oil spills in Montana and North Dakota.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced the settlement in a 2022 federal court lawsuit. Belle Fourche Pipeline Company and Bridger Pipeline LLC will pay the $12.5 million to resolve the claims made under the Clean Water Act and Pipeline Safety Laws, EPA said. The affiliated companies own and operate oil pipelines in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming.

    In 2015, Bridger’s Poplar Pipeline broke and spilled more than 50,000 gallons (about 190,000 liters) of crude into the Yellowstone River near Glendive, Montana. Bridger has completed cleanup of the site, and in 2021 settled a lawsuit with federal and Montana authorities for $2 million.

    In 2016, Belle Fourche’s Bicentennial Pipeline in Billings County, North Dakota, broke due to a landslide and spilled over 600,000 gallons (about 2.3 million liters) of oil, impacting an unnamed tributary, Ash Coulee Creek and the Little Missouri River. Belle Fourche’s cleanup is ongoing with oversight from North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality, according to EPA.

    Belle Fourche also will pay the state’s past response costs, totaling over $98,000, according to court documents filed Monday.

    “Oil pipeline spills can cause enormous and long-lasting damage to the environment,” Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator Larry Starfield of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance said in a statement. “This settlement holds Belle Fourche and Bridger Pipeline accountable for their significant oil spills and requires them to take meaningful measures to prevent future spills from their oil pipelines.”

    The operators also are required to implement specified compliance measures, in addition to the civil penalty.

    Belle Fourche and Bridger are owned by Wyoming-based True Companies, whose spokesman, when reached by email, did not have an immediate comment on the agreement.

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  • Cleanup begins after asphalt binder spill into Montana’s Yellowstone River after train derailment

    Cleanup begins after asphalt binder spill into Montana’s Yellowstone River after train derailment

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    HELENA, Mont. — Globs of asphalt binder that spilled into Montana’s Yellowstone River during a bridge collapse and train derailment could be seen on islands and riverbanks downstream from Yellowstone National Park a week after the spill occurred, witnesses report.

    Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency said cleanup efforts began on Sunday, with workers cooling the gooey material with river water, rolling it up and putting the globs into garbage bags. It will probably be recycled, said Paul Peronard with the EPA.

    Alexis Bonogofsky, whose family’s ranch was impacted by an oil spill on the Yellowstone River near Billings in 2011, took pictures Saturday of the refined petroleum product covering rocks and sandbars. She also snapped an image of a bird that had died in the black substance.

    “This killdeer walked across the asphalt, which had heated up in the sun, and it got stuck and died with its head buried in the asphalt,” Bonogofsky wrote in the caption of an image she posted on social media. “You could tell where it had tried to pull itself out.”

    A bridge over the river collapsed as a train crossed it early on June 24 near the town of Columbus and 10 cars fell into the water, spilling liquid asphalt and molten sulfur, officials said. Both materials were expected to cool and harden when exposed to the cold water, and officials said there was no threat to the public or downstream water supplies, officials said.

    However, the asphalt binder behaved differently.

    “This stuff is not sinking in this water,” Peronard said Sunday. “It adheres really well to rock, and we can roll it up like taffy on the sand.”

    Bonogofsky, in another of her photos, captured a sheen on the water. She said the spilled material heated up with warmer temperatures and “you can smell it.”

    The Montana Department of Environmental Quality, the EPA and Montana Rail Link — the entities managing the cleanup — said more asphalt product was released Friday as a rail car was being removed from the river.

    “Initial assessments indicate the release was minimal based on the amount of material believed to still be remaining in the impacted car,” the statement said.

    Professor Kayhan Ostovar with the Yellowstone River Research Center at Rocky Mountain College also took pictures Friday of the petroleum product that had washed onto the riverbank about 6 miles (10 kilometers) downstream from the spill.

    Ostevar’s team has been conducting turtle surveys below the derailment and is sharing the GPS locations of sensitive sites that are near areas where the asphalt binder has come to rest.

    Turtles are particularly vulnerable to this type of spill, Ostovar said, because they are leaving the water right now to seek out nesting sites on gravel bars and basking in the sun.

    The center was created after the 2011 ExxonMobil pipeline breach to gather better baseline information on species of concern that live in and around the Yellowstone River.

    Statements from the agencies and the railroad over the past week have asked people to report the sighting of asphalt materials on the riverbank via email to rpderailment@mtrail.com, and have listed a phone number — 888-275-6926 — for the Oiled Wildlife Care Network to report animals with oil on them.

    No reports from the public had been received, Peronard said.

    Bonogofsky argued it shouldn’t have taken more than a week to develop a cleanup plan, especially since it’s known what materials the trains haul through Montana, as well as the damage the 2011 oil pipeline spill caused.

    “We should have plans in place for this and we should have learned our lesson in 2011,” she said, arguing that work to clean up the asphalt binder could have happened at the same time they were removing rail cars from the water.

    The last of the rail cars was expected to be removed from the water on Sunday, Peronard said, while agricultural users were notified that they could resume using river water for irrigation. Their irrigation canals had been shut down as a precaution.

    Cleaning up spills of petroleum products is “somewhat of a losing game,” Peronard said. “We are never going to recover all of the oil here … and there’s likely to be impacts when we are done. That is unavoidable.”

    As far as the cleanup delay, he said the response to any accident starts with protecting human lives, controlling the source of the spill and then protecting the environment. He said the agency also had to make sure its cleanup plan did not cause more harm than good for bird and turtle nests in the area.

    Cleanup crews also have to stay at least a half mile away from eagles nesting in the area, Peronard said.

    The spilled asphalt material is not water soluble, he said.

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  • Judge gives Enbridge 3 years to close oil pipeline on tribal land in Wisconsin

    Judge gives Enbridge 3 years to close oil pipeline on tribal land in Wisconsin

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    MADISON, Wis. — A federal judge has given Enbridge three years to shut down parts of an oil pipeline that crosses reservation land and ordered the energy company to pay a Native American tribe more than $5 million for trespassing.

    Friday’s order from U.S. District Judge William Conley came after members of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa told him during a hearing in Madison that the Enbrige Line 5 pipeline is at immediate risk of being exposed by erosion and rupturing on their land.

    The tribe argued that an emergency exists because large sections of nearby riverbank have washed away this year, leaving less than 15 feet (4.6 meters) of land between Line 5 and the Bad River as it meanders on the reservation.

    Experts and environmental advocates have warned in court that exposed pipelines would be weakened and could rupture at any time, causing massive oil spills.

    The judge’s order said a rupture on tribal land “would unquestionably be a public nuisance” but denied that the threat is imminent, and said a shutdown would likely “spark at least temporary shortages and increased prices for refined gas, propane and butane in the Upper Midwest and Eastern Canada, creating hardships, specially for the poor and other economically challenged households.”

    “Nevertheless, given the environmental risks, the court will order Enbridge to adopt a more conservative shutdown and purge plan,” Conley wrote.

    His order gives Enbridge three years to “cease operation of Line 5 on any parcel within the Band’s tribal territory on which defendants lack a valid right of way and to arrange reasonable remediation at those sites.”

    Conley also ordered Enbridge to pay more than $5.15 million for trespassing, and to keep paying the tribe a portion of its profits for as long as the pipeline continues operating on tribal land.

    Enbridge said Saturday that it plans to appeal and “remains open to an amicable resolution with the Bad River Band.” The statement says it disagrees that Enbridge is trespassing and with the judge’s order that Line 5 must stop operating on reservation land within three years.

    Enbridge said the long-term solution to the dispute will be a 41-mile (66-kilometer) reroute of the pipeline, but “the project hinges on timely government permit approvals to allow construction to be completed within the next three years.”

    Line 5 transports up to 23 million gallons (about 87 million liters) of oil and liquid natural gas each day, stretching 645 miles (1,038 kilometers) from the city of Superior, Wisconsin through northern Wisconsin and Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario.

    The Bad River tribe sued Enbridge in 2019 to force the company to remove the roughly 12-mile (19-kilometer) section crossing its reservation, saying the 70-year-old pipeline is dangerous and that land agreements allowing Enbridge to operate on the reservation expired in 2013.

    Conley sided with the tribe in September, saying that Enbridge was trespassing and must compensate the tribe for illegally using its land.

    In November, Conley told Enbridge and tribal leaders to create an emergency shutoff plan given the significant risk of “catastrophic” damage to the reservation and its water supply.

    The tribe’s office in Odanah, Wisconsin, was closed Saturday and a telephone message seeking comment on the order was not immediately returned.

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  • Judge gives Enbridge 3 years to close oil pipeline on tribal land in Wisconsin

    Judge gives Enbridge 3 years to close oil pipeline on tribal land in Wisconsin

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    MADISON, Wis. — A federal judge has given Enbridge three years to shut down parts of an oil pipeline that crosses reservation land and ordered the energy company to pay a Native American tribe more than $5 million for trespassing.

    Friday’s order from U.S. District Judge William Conley came after members of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa told him during a hearing in Madison that the Enbrige Line 5 pipeline is at immediate risk of being exposed by erosion and rupturing on their land.

    The tribe argued that an emergency exists because large sections of nearby riverbank have washed away this year, leaving less than 15 feet (4.6 meters) of land between Line 5 and the Bad River as it meanders on the reservation.

    Experts and environmental advocates have warned in court that exposed pipelines would be weakened and could rupture at any time, causing massive oil spills.

    The judge’s order said a rupture on tribal land “would unquestionably be a public nuisance” but denied that the threat is imminent, and said a shutdown would likely “spark at least temporary shortages and increased prices for refined gas, propane and butane in the Upper Midwest and Eastern Canada, creating hardships, specially for the poor and other economically challenged households.”

    “Nevertheless, given the environmental risks, the court will order Enbridge to adopt a more conservative shutdown and purge plan,” Conley wrote.

    His order gives Enbridge three years to “cease operation of Line 5 on any parcel within the Band’s tribal territory on which defendants lack a valid right of way and to arrange reasonable remediation at those sites.”

    Conley also ordered Enbridge to pay more than $5.15 million for trespassing, and to keep paying the tribe a portion of its profits for as long as the pipeline continues operating on tribal land.

    Enbridge said Saturday that it plans to appeal and “remains open to an amicable resolution with the Bad River Band.” The statement says it disagrees that Enbridge is trespassing and with the judge’s order that Line 5 must stop operating on reservation land within three years.

    Enbridge said the long-term solution to the dispute will be a 41-mile (66-kilometer) reroute of the pipeline, but “the project hinges on timely government permit approvals to allow construction to be completed within the next three years.”

    Line 5 transports up to 23 million gallons (about 87 million liters) of oil and liquid natural gas each day, stretching 645 miles (1,038 kilometers) from the city of Superior, Wisconsin through northern Wisconsin and Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario.

    The Bad River tribe sued Enbridge in 2019 to force the company to remove the roughly 12-mile (19-kilometer) section crossing its reservation, saying the 70-year-old pipeline is dangerous and that land agreements allowing Enbridge to operate on the reservation expired in 2013.

    Conley sided with the tribe in September, saying that Enbridge was trespassing and must compensate the tribe for illegally using its land.

    In November, Conley told Enbridge and tribal leaders to create an emergency shutoff plan given the significant risk of “catastrophic” damage to the reservation and its water supply.

    The tribe’s office in Odanah, Wisconsin, was closed Saturday and a telephone message seeking comment on the order was not immediately returned.

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  • Consultants: Design issues, operations lapses led to big Kansas oil spill

    Consultants: Design issues, operations lapses led to big Kansas oil spill

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    TOPEKA, Kan. — Pipeline design issues, lapses by its operators and problems caused during its construction led to a massive oil spill on the Keystone pipeline system in northeastern Kansas, according to a report for U.S. government regulators.

    An engineering consulting firm said in the report that the bend in the Keystone system where the December 2022 spill occurred had been “overstressed” since its installation in December 2010 — likely because construction activity itself altered the land around the pipe. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration posted a redacted copy of the report online Monday, about three weeks after it was completed by RSI Pipeline Solutions, based in the Columbus, Ohio, area.

    The report raised questions about Canada-based TC Energy’s oversight of the manufacturing of its pipeline, saying the report’s authors could find no record of a pre-installation inspection of the welds on the pipeline bend in Washington County, Kansas. The report concluded that TC Energy underestimated the risks associated with the bend going from its round shape when installed to a more-restricted oval shape within two years and didn’t replace the bend after excavating it in 2013.

    The company said in February that a faulty weld in the bend caused a crack that grew over time under stress. The spill dumped nearly 13,000 barrels of crude oil — each one enough to fill a standard household bathtub — into a creek running through a rural pasture about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Kansas City. It was the largest onshore spill in nearly nine years.

    “When you have a pipeline that is spilling and having as many problems as Keystone One, it is clearly a red flag that there are bigger issues going on,” said Jane Kleeb, who founded the Bold Nebraska environmental and landowner rights group that helped fight off TC Energy’s plan to build a second pipeline, the Keystone XL.

    The U.S. Department of Transportation has documented 22 leaks along the Keystone pipeline since it was built in 2010. The one in Washington County was by far the largest.

    “At what point, does the federal government … step in and say this has reached a point where we need to shut the full line down to do a full review of the pipeline?” Kleeb said.

    The 2,700-mile (4,345-kilometer) Keystone system carries heavy crude oil extracted in western Canada to the Gulf Coast and to central Illinois. Concerns that spills could pollute waterways ultimately scuttled TC Energy’s plans to build the Keystone XL across 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) of Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.

    In Kansas, no one was evacuated because of the December spill. State and U.S. government officials have said it didn’t affect two rivers and a lake downstream from the creek.

    In response to a request Tuesday for comment, TC Energy pointed to a statement it issued when the report was finished in April but not public. In it, Richard Prior, president of TC Energy’s Liquids Pipeline operations, said the company was confident in the pipeline’s reliability.

    TC Energy has said the cleanup will cost the company $480 million, and it announced last week that it had finished recovering oil from the creek.

    Prior said last month: “We are unwavering in our commitment to fully remediate the site.”

    But Bill Caram, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust watchdog group, said that with the history of problems along the Keystone pipeline, the public has plenty of reasons to doubt its safety.

    “I would certainly like to see PHMSA come up with a plan to work with TC Energy to develop a plan so that the public can be ensured that TC Energy will be able to operate this pipeline safely going forward. I don’t think the public has that kind of trust in this pipeline right now,” Caram said.

    Richard Kuprewicz, who has five decades of experience in the pipeline industry and consults with governments about them, said problems like this flawed weld need to be found during construction but TC Energy clearly missed it amid the pressure to get the multibillion-dollar project built quickly.

    “It looks like the quality control got out of hand at least in this segment. I can’t say for the whole line,” said Kuprewicz, who is president of Washington-based Accufacts Inc.

    The consultants’ report said the pipeline rupture and oil spill occurred only days after TC Energy began testing for increasing the pressure in the Keystone system, though the Kansas section was operating about 16% below the top pressure allowed by U.S. government regulators. At the same time, the company was running a device through the pipeline to look for potential leaks.

    Pipeline valves were left open so that the leak-testing tool could pass through the pipeline, the report said, and that could have contributed to the size of the spill.

    The report said a March 2021 engineering assessment of Keystone’s pipeline from southern Nebraska to northern Oklahoma showed five bends, including Washington County’s, had the same oval “deformation.”

    The report noted that the industry generally does not see so-called “ovalities” as a threat, so the “obvious” focus in Washington County in 2012 and 2013 when that abnormality was found there was ensuring that a leak-detecting tool still could pass through the bend.

    “Yet this focus may have caused the Pipe Integrity team and senior management to overlook a potential concern of added stress on the elbow and its possible impact on future integrity,” the report said.

    The report added that 108 other pipe fittings manufactured for the Keystone system in 2010 could have “imperfections” similar to those in the Washington County bend. All of them were replacements for other fittings found to be deficient.

    Because other bends made on the same day had weld flaws that were repaired, the report found it “plausible” that the Washington County bend also had flaws “repaired but not recorded.”

    The lack of an inspection report means that, at a minimum, record-keeping procedures were not followed and, at worst, the report said, “The weld inspections were never performed.”

    ___

    Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska.

    ___

    Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna

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  • $3.4M fine proposed over 2021 California oil pipeline leak

    $3.4M fine proposed over 2021 California oil pipeline leak

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    A federal agency is proposing a nearly $3.4 million fine for an energy company over a 2021 oil pipeline spill that fouled Southern California beaches

    LOS ANGELES — An energy company should be fined nearly $3.4 million for safety violations involving a 2021 oil pipeline spill that fouled Southern California beaches, a federal regulator said.

    Amplify Energy Corp. ignored 83 alarms indicating the offshore pipeline had leaked and failed to notify federal authorities or shut down the pipeline to San Pedro Bay until 17 hours after the first alarms, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in a letter proposing the fine that was sent April 6 to the company’s president.

    An email to the Houston-based firm seeking comment wasn’t immediately returned Tuesday.

    The pipeline carries oil to shore from platforms in San Pedro Bay, near the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors.

    The October 2021 spill of 25,000 gallons (94,600 liters) of crude oil created a miles-wide sheen in the ocean and sent blobs of crude ashore, primarily affecting the cities of Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. It further shuttered beaches for a week and fisheries for more than a month, oiled birds and threatened area wetlands.

    Amplify Energy said the spill was linked to damage from two ships it accused of dragging anchors and striking the pipeline during a January 2021 storm. It reached an $85 million settlement with the vessel companies.

    Southern California fishermen, tourism companies and property owners sued Amplify and the shipping vessels seeking compensation for their losses. Amplify agreed to pay $50 million and the vessel companies agreed to pay $45 million to settle those lawsuits.

    Amplify also reached a plea deal with federal authorities for negligently discharging crude.

    The company announced last month that it received approval from federal regulatory agencies to restart the pipeline.

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  • Russia’s shadowy energy trade is raising fears of a devastating oil spill | CNN Business

    Russia’s shadowy energy trade is raising fears of a devastating oil spill | CNN Business

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    The waters of the Bay of Lakonikos, on the south-eastern side of Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula, are a bright turquoise color. Its shores are an important nesting site for sea turtles.

    Yet it’s not just a place of natural beauty. The area has become a key hub for tankers carrying Russian energy exports.

    As crude and refined petroleum products that would usually go to the European Union are rerouted to Asia — with most seaborne oil imports banned by the bloc in response to Moscow’s assault on Ukraine — cargoes are being transferred here onto larger vessels to make the long trip.

    Ship-to-ship transfers of Russian crude have mushroomed in recent months, reaching a record high during the first three months of the year, according to data from S&P Global, a research firm. Near Greece, more than 3.5 million barrels of Russian gasoil, a refined product used in heating and transport systems, were transferred between ships in March. That’s more than seven times the volume tallied by S&P Global for that month in 2022.

    The transfers highlight the dramatic transformation of the global oil market since President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly 14 months ago. As China, India and Turkey fill the void left by Europe, once the top buyer of Russian oil and oil products, trips have lengthened, requiring more ships — and S&P Global data indicates mid-journey handoffs have become more common.

    “We’ve seen a big increase in ship transfers in the Mediterranean,” said Matthew Wright, senior freight analyst at Kpler, a data group. “Smaller vessels come in from Russian ports, they transfer the cargoes onto larger vessels, and then those larger vessels will head off to Asia.”

    Many of these ships are part of what’s become known as the “gray fleet.” Industry insiders like Wright use this term to refer to vessels that started carrying Russian oil in the past year. For many, little is known about their owners, which may be a shell company.

    The “gray fleet” isn’t necessarily doing anything underhanded. But Western observers like Wright say the emergence of this network, where ownership is often masked, has reduced transparency in the oil market, making it harder for regulators to keep watch.

    Australia, Canada and United States recently said in a submission to the International Maritime Organization that more ships were illegally turning off their transponders, or “going dark,” before transferring oil in international waters. Switching off transponders, which transmit location data, can be a way of dodging sanctions, they said.

    Fred Kenney, the IMO’s director of legal and external affairs, told CNN that alarm about this practice had grown over the past year. Collisions are more likely in such cases, raising the odds of a devastating oil spill.

    It’s also harder to tell whether the vessels with murky ownership comply with the strict rules governing oil transfers at sea, according to Kenney.

    “There is a significant level of concern that the regulatory regime that ensures safe and secure shipping on clean oceans is being undermined,” he said.

    Russia’s oil export volumes have rebounded to levels last seen before it invaded Ukraine, according to the International Energy Agency, although the country is still grappling with a sharp drop in revenue from these exports. Group of Seven nations have imposed a cap on the price of Russian oil and oil products, and a smaller pool of buyers can also negotiate greater discounts.

    China’s imports of Russian oil in the first quarter of the year rose 38% compared with a year prior, according to Kpler data. India’s have skyrocketed almost tenfold.

    As trade of Russian oil has become more complex, many Western shippers have pulled back. New, more opaque players have stepped in, contributing to the formation of the “gray fleet.”

    According to VesselsValue, a UK-based market intelligence firm, sales of oil tankers to newly formed companies or undisclosed buyers account for roughly 33% of tanker deals so far this year. Sales to unknown buyers accounted for just 10% of the total in 2022 and 4% in 2021.

    Using satellite images from space technology firm Maxar, CNN was able to home in on pairs of oil tankers dotting the Bay of Lakonikos. Together with Kpler, CNN has worked out the details of one of the transfers.

    According to data from the two ships’ transponders, the smaller tanker docked in St. Petersburg, Russia, where it picked up a cargo of fuel oil in late February. CNN then tracked it around Western Europe to the Mediterranean Sea. At that point, it unloaded its cargo onto the larger ship that had arrived from the direction of the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in Russia. Kpler considers this vessel to be part of the “gray fleet.”

    From there, the larger tanker continued through the Suez Canal, the primary sea route from Europe to Asia.

    As transactions such as these become more common, experts are growing increasingly worried about the risks.

    While transferring oil from one ship to another is not unusual, Kenney of the IMO said “gray fleet” ships — more difficult to monitor if it’s not clear who owns them — might not be following best practices.

    “There [are] myriad things that can go wrong in a ship-to-ship transfer, which is why there is a comprehensive set of industry rules that govern these transfers,” he said, noting the potential for a spill.

    Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom have pointed out that there is a higher risk of accidental collisions between ships if transponders are turned off. Kpler documented multiple instances of this practice, which is almost always illegal, in 2022.

    “When we see ships, or we get reports of ships turning off their transponders, it’s concerning to us,” Kenney said.

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  • CSX freight train derails after striking rockslide in West Virginia, injuring 3 and spilling diesel into river | CNN

    CSX freight train derails after striking rockslide in West Virginia, injuring 3 and spilling diesel into river | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A CSX freight train derailed Wednesday morning after striking a rockslide in a remote area of West Virginia, injuring three crew members and spilling diesel fuel into a nearby river, according to a company press release.

    The three crew members were in the locomotive, which caught fire after the derailment, and are being treated for non-life threatening injuries, CSX said. Two were airlifted and the third was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, a Summers County Office of Emergency Management dispatcher told CNN.

    Diesel fuel and oil spilled into the New River, and containment measures will be deployed, CSX said. The company also noted that the coal train was empty and was not transporting hazardous materials. CSX spokesperson Sheriee Bowman told CNN that 22 empty rail cars derailed.

    “The incident posed no danger to the public,” the CSX release said.

    The Federal Rail Administration says it’s actively monitoring the derailment and said that the fire has been extinguished. The administration said the derailment occurred on an Amtrak route, so residual delays may be expected.

    At least one locomotive and one fuel tank went into the New River, the West Virginia Emergency Management Division said. The division said the derailment occurred in a remote area south of Sandstone inside the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, which in 2021 became America’s 63rd national park.

    The derailment comes about a month after a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed and caught fire near East Palestine, Ohio, releasing potentially dangerous chemicals into the air and water. The incident has spurred bipartisan political efforts to prevent future incidents.

    CSX owns 12 feet from the middle of the train track to either side and is responsible for cleanup, the division said, adding praise for the early efforts of the company and first responders.

    “I’d like to commend the response agencies and CSX for their quick and efficient response,” said Summers County Emergency Manager Steve Lipscomb. “All the agencies worked as a team to provide prompt medical aid and transportation to the injured.”

    No roads are closed and there have been no evacuations of nearby homes, the division said.

    Chief Deputy Tim Adkins of the Summers County Sheriff’s Department said they received a call around 5 a.m. Wednesday about the derailment at a “pretty remote stretch of railway.” There was “extensive damage” to the train but no damage to outside property and no roads were blocked, he said.

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