BP Gulf Well "Secured," Awaiting Final Kill: U.S. (Reuters)

BP's ruptured Gulf oil well is secure with no threat of spewing crude again, the top U.S. official overseeing the spill response said on Saturday.

Oil Dispersant Effects Remain a Mystery (Los Angeles Times)

Despite more than half a century of dispersant use in oil spill cleanups, scientists say they still don't know whether dispersants truly enable bacteria to digest spilled oil more quickly or whether dispersed oil is safe for marine life.

Interior Chief Salazar Voices Doubt on Arctic Drilling (Reuters)

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Friday he cannot predict whether Royal Dutch Shell, which has invested $3.5 billion in an offshore Arctic oil program, will be allowed to drill the five wells it plans next year in Alaska's Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.

Coal a 'Driving Factor' in U.S. Senate Race (Lexington Herald-Leader)

Coal policies, such as controversial "cap and trade" schemes, are a key issue in the contest between Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Jack Conway in the Kentucky U.S. Senate race.

U.S. Affirms 17% Climate Target (Bloomberg)

The U.S. failure to pass cap-and-trade legislation won't change its target for 2020 to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by roughly 17 percent, climate negotiator Todd Stern said.

EU Climate Chief Calls for New Carbon Mechanisms (Reuters)

Connie Hedegaard, Europe's climate chief called on Friday for a major reform of the UN's carbon crediting mechanism, including more money for the poorest countries as well as a number of new pilot projects.

Imagine an oil tanker plowing through the ocean, hauling valuable cargo from resource-rich nations of the world to the countries that need it: but instead of oil, the tanker holds millions of gallons of fresh water.

It’s not a vision from some futuristic film or doomsday novel, but the present-day intention of companies trying to launch the bulk water export business. The idea has been around since the 1990’s, yet no one has succeeded in making it a practical reality.

But last July, the US company S2C Global Systems, Inc. became the latest bulk water wanna-be by announcing it would begin shipping water from Alaska to India within the next six to eight months. Using large class vessels that can hold 50 million gallons at a time, S2C plans to sell the water for both manufacturing and drinking purposes to countries around the Arabian Sea.

"I think it's a dream," said Peter Gleick, a scientist and international water expert, in an interview with SolveClimate News. Gleick is President of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security. "I don't think bulk water transfers of any significant volume are ever going to happen, because the cost of moving water, especially across the ocean, is so high."

Mariner Platform Blast May Extend Deep-Water Drilling Ban (Bloomberg)

The explosion aboard a Mariner Energy Inc. oil platform shows Pres. Obama should maintain the drilling ban imposed after the BP Plc blowout in April, lawmakers and environmentalists said.

BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Costs Hit $8 Billion (Reuters)

BP said on Friday the cost of dealing with its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had risen to $8 billion and that it was two weeks away from sealing the well for good.

Legal Challenge to Drilling Ban Scores Court Victory (Business Green)

The U.S. ban on deepwater oil and gas drilling could be overturned for a second time after a federal judge yesterday rejected the Obama administration's request to dismiss an oil industry lawsuit challenging the six-month moratorium.

Billionaire Koch Brothers Back Suspension of California Climate Law (Los Angeles Times)

A company owned by oil billionaires Charles and David Koch has contributed $1 million to Proposition 23, a November ballot initiative to suspend California’s groundbreaking 2006 global-warming law.

Sierra Club Sues East Texas Coal-Fired Power Plant (AP)

The Sierra Club has filed a federal lawsuit against the owner of an east Texas coal-fired power plant.

EPA to Issue More Rules in Climate Fight (Reuters)

The EPA will roll out more regulations on greenhouse gases and other pollution to help fight climate change, but they will not be as strong as action by Congress, a senior administration official said.

California lawmakers passed a bill late last month that its backers say offers the triple benefit of job creation, electrical grid stability and greenhouse gas reduction.

The bill, AB 2514, is designed to kick start a statewide process of grappling with energy storage, emerging technologies crucial to the expansion of renewable energy generation required by California law.  Though the bill was watered down as it moved through the legislative process, energy storage developers are still expecting it to deliver the incentives and certainty they need to grow and flourish. 

In its original version, the bill set specific energy storage procurement targets for utilities, as well as timelines. The amended version approved by state lawmakers did not say how much, if any, storage capacity utilities would be required to have. Instead, it would require the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to assess whether to require the state’s utilities to adopt energy storage systems.

If the agency determines that such storage systems are viable and cost-effective, it would then be tasked with setting targets and timelines for utilities to procure them.

Still, David Nemtzow, chief policy officer for Colorado-based energy storage company Ice Energy told SolveClimate News that the bill is “the most far reaching storage legislation so far in the U.S. It will change the way utilities think about storage.”

Government scientists have found that private water walls in Pavillion, Wyo. are polluted with toxic chemicals used in the controversial gas drilling technique of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — and residents have been told not to drink from them.

The findings offer the latest evidence that the fast-spreading gas-extraction method could be endangering public health.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found methane from natural gas in seven of 19 wells that were tested in January of this year. Eleven had 2-butoexythanol phosphate, a common solvent in fracking fluids that experts say can cause kidney failure, toxicity to the spleen, liver cancer and fertility problems.

They also found traces of benzene, a cancer-causer, and other chemicals that come from crude in 17 of the wells, with "high levels" detected in groundwater that is connected to the drinking water aquifer.

Developed Nations Arrange $10 Billion Financing in 2010 for Climate Fight (Bloomberg)

Developed nations have identified sources for $10 billion in "fast track" climate financing for poorer nations this year and almost $30 billion through 2012, the UN’s chief climate negotiator said.

Greenpeace Activists Arrested After Abandoning Occupation of Arctic Oil Rig (Guardian)

Four Greenpeace activists who halted drilling by a British-owned oil exploration rig off Greenland have been arrested after they abandoned their occupation because of severe weather.

Judge Says Drilling Lease Lawsuit Too Late (AP)

A U.S. federal judge ruled Wednesday that a lawsuit brought by energy producers challenging the cancellation of 77 oil and gas drilling leases was filed too late.

BP to Remove Equipment at Gulf Well by Sunday (Reuters)

BP expects to remove a failed blowout preventer atop its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well by Saturday or Sunday and later plug the leak for good, the top U.S. official overseeing the spill response said on Wednesday.

BP Spent $94M on Ads During Spill (Politico)

BP spent $93.4 million on advertising over four months as oil from its well gushed into the Gulf, according to data provided to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

NOAA Reopens More than 4,000 Square Miles of Closed Gulf Fishing Area (NOAA)

NOAA has reopened 4,281 square miles of Gulf waters off western Louisiana to commercial and recreational fishing.

by Alyson Kenward, Climate Central

When geoscientist Torbjörn Törnqvist decided to relocate his research group from the University of Illinois to Tulane University in New Orleans, he knew full well there might be some bumps along the way. In addition to setting up a new lab and learning the ropes at a new university, he was leaving a city he had called home for six years.

But while he was prepared for these setbacks when he moved in the summer of 2005, he didn’t anticipate that his welcoming committee would include Hurricane Katrina – one of the worst hurricanes the United States has ever experienced.

Törnqvist took up refuge from the storm with a friend in Texas, but when, six weeks later, he made his way back to “The Big Easy,” he discovered that his new Earth and Environmental Sciences department was not the same one he had signed on to join just a few months earlier.

“There were a lot of changes,” he recalls. “We ended up losing half of our faculty members.”

GULFPORT, MS. -- Mike Hirshfield, the chief scientist aboard the ship Oceana Latitude, is a lean, white-bearded man with keen brown eyes. Currently, those eyes are trained on the Gulf of Mexico as he and a crew of 12 scientists conduct independent research on the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

“We’ve never had a circumstance where so much oil has come up from so deep,” he said during the launching party for the boat’s research mission to the gulf. “Nobody knows what we are going to find.”

During their mission, the Oceana crew is sampling and mapping subsurface oil, as well as using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to explore seafloor habitat areas as much as 3,200 feet below the surface that may have been harmed by underwater oil.

The Oceana crew isn’t the only one conducting independent research into the effects of the spill. Myriad academics, environmentalists and grassroots activists have been collecting data from water samples to video footage. And the environmental organization Greenpeace also has sent their 165-foot-long icebreaker, the Arctic Sunrise, on a three-month expedition to the area.

“Nobody is going to find it all out,” Hirshfield said. “All of us are trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle, and we’re happy to contribute any piece we can.”

Many, from activists to fishermen, welcome independent research and are openly skeptical of official reports from both BP and the government.

Court Ruling Gives Cape Wind Project Green Light to Build (Boston Globe)

A divided Supreme Judicial Court ruled yesterday that a state board had the power to sidestep community opposition to grant the controversial Cape Wind energy project local and state permits it needs to start construction off Cape Cod.

Reid Puts Renewables Mandate in Play (The Hill)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday a nationwide renewable electricity standard is "absolutely" in the mix as he tries to salvage energy legislation this year — possibly in a lame-duck session.

Murkowski Concedes Alaska Primary Race (AP)

Sen. Lisa Murkowski was booted from office in the Republican primary Tuesday by a little-known conservative lawyer in arguably the biggest political upset of the year.

Clean-Coal Group Backs New Carbon Capture And Storage Project (Dow Jones)

A group of coal and power companies said Tuesday that it has decided to stick with the government-backed FutureGen project to cut emissions from a coal-fired plant despite a significant change in plan.

Environmental Groups Want In On Texas-EPA Lawsuit (Sustainable Business)

Two environmental groups, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Environmental Integrity Project, are lending legal support to the U.S. EPA in its lawsuit with the State of Texas.

Drilling Agency Imposes Conflict-of-Interest Rules (AP)

The agency that oversees offshore drilling is imposing a first-ever ethics policy that bars inspectors from dealing with a company that employs a family member or personal friend.

by Severin Carrell, Guardian

The prime minister of Greenland has accused Greenpeace of threatening the safety of oil workers and the environment after four activists forced a controversial deep-sea exploration rig in the Arctic to shut down today.

Just before dawn, the four campaigners used three high-speed inflatable boats to evade the Danish navy before clambering on to the British-owned rig and slinging mountaineering-type platforms beneath it about 15 metres above the sea. The raid forced the Edinburgh-based oil exploration firm Cairn Energy to suspend drilling, escalating tensions between the Greenlandic government and Greenpeace.

Kuupik Kleist, the government's socialist prime minister, denounced the campaigners' actions, claiming they were damaging the economy of the country, now largely independent from Denmark, and ignoring the strict environmental and safety regulations Greenland had imposed on oil companies.