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February 7 News: U.S. Halts Drilling on Gulf Wells With Flawed Bolts
First published on ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which was recently named one of Time magazine’s Top 25 blogs of 2010.
Deep-water oil exploration has been disrupted from the Gulf of Mexico to Brazil by the discovery of faulty bolts used in safety equipment, less than three years after the Deepwater Horizon spill, the worst-ever crude spill in U.S. maritime history. [Bloomberg]
Energy explorers such as Chevron Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Transocean Ltd. said they have been directed by U.S. regulators to suspend work aboard rigs that employ General Electric Co. devices connecting drilling tubes to safety gear and the seafloor. The equipment must be retrieved so defective bolts can be replaced, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said in an alert issued on Jan. 29.
Installing new bolts and resuming drilling may take as long as three weeks for each rig, Credit Suisse Group AG said….
The defect was discovered last month after a leak of drilling fluid was linked to bolts that failed because of stress corrosion, according to the Jan. 29 alert….
In the Gulf of Mexico, 24 of the 83 rigs actively drilling wells at the time of the alert carried connectors that may have flawed bolts, the agency said. Of those, six rigs have so far been cleared to return to drilling operations.
On Wednesday, House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans rebuffed Democrats’ bid to require the high-profile panel to hold hearings on links between climate change, extreme weather and threats to coastal areas. [The Hill]
According to a new World Economic Forum report, additional climate-related public funding of approximately $34 billion could mobilize private capital in the range of US$ 570 billion — most of what’s needed to stabilize global temperatures at an acceptable level. [WEF]
A new bill in Arizona would prohibit any local government in the state from implementing any “creed, doctrine, principles or any tenet” of Agenda 21. [Grist]
A powerful storm is slated to plaster southern New England with blizzard conditions, hurricane-force winds, and coastal flooding, beginning on Friday and lasting through at least Saturday. [Climate Central]
Rooftop solar continues to have a dramatic impact on the energy market in South Australia. [Clean Technia]
Projections of how much tropical rainforest like the Amazon we’re likely to lose during the 21st century could be too high, according to a new study just published in Nature. [Carbon Brief]
Climate change is threatening the survival of a number of Asian bird species, including those in India, a new study warns. [Times of India]
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2013-02-07 08:46:05
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