Gulf of Mexico

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Skimmers Work to Collect 1M Gallons of Oil in Gulf

Crews try to find source of pipeline leak off Louisiana

(Newser) - A leak from an underwater pipeline released more than 1 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico before the flow was shut off, the Coast Guard estimated. The leak was spotted Thursday, about 19 miles offshore of the Mississippi River Delta southeast of New Orleans, Reuters reports. Main...

Complex Operation Returns Sea Turtle From Wales to US

Gulf Stream carried rare Kemp's ridley sea turtle across the Atlantic in 2021

(Newser) - After all Tally has been through in the past couple of years, the VIP treatment she's receiving now seems only fair. The rare Kemp's ridley sea turtle washed up on Talacre Beach in north Wales in November 2021 after being carried over from Texas by the Gulf Stream....

Estimate to Plug Abandoned Wells in Gulf of Mexico: $30B

Infrastructure law has partial funding, but companies could be on the hook

(Newser) - More than 14,000 old, disconnected wells are still sitting in the Gulf of Mexico, a legacy of 85 years of oil and gas drilling. They're not just an eyesore: The wells, which now outnumber working wells, could leak oil and other pollutants into the water that might then...

Woman, Child Killed When Plane Crashes in Gulf of Mexico

Police are searching for 3rd person believed to have been on private plane

(Newser) - A private airplane crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast Saturday night, with two people, including a child, confirmed dead as authorities searched for a third person believed to have been on the flight, police said. Authorities in Venice, Florida, initiated a search Sunday after 10am following...

Cruise Survivor Can't Say How He Fell Into the Gulf

Survivor kept treading water because he didn't accept it was the end of the line

(Newser) - James Michael Grimes remembers having drinks at a bar on the Carnival Valor with his sister the night before Thanksgiving. The next thing he knew, he was treading water in the Gulf of Mexico after regaining consciousness, with no memory of how he got there, CNN reports. "I came...

Cruise Passenger Found in Gulf Was Seconds From Death

'The survivor had about 30 seconds to a minute left'

(Newser) - One of the US Coast Guard officers who helped rescue the Carnival cruise ship passenger who went overboard last Wednesday night says the 28-year-old was moments from death when he was pulled from the water. Richard Hoefle tells CBS News he estimates "the survivor had about 30 seconds to...

Only Whaler Known to Go Down in Gulf Found 190 Years Later

Find sheds light on 'how people of color succeeded as captains and crew members'

(Newser) - Roughly 15 years before Herman Melville introduced the world to Moby Dick, a whaling ship from Massachusetts sank near the mouth of the Mississippi River. Nearly 190 years later, experts say, it’s still the only whaler known to have gone down in the Gulf of Mexico, where the threat...

For US Gulf Coast, a Dire Warning
For US Gulf Coast,
a Dire Warning
Mar 3, 2022 1:34 PM CST

For US Gulf Coast, a Dire Warning

UN report forecasts severe climate trouble in the coming years

(Newser) - Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rain on parts of the Texas coast in 2017. Then in 2020, ferocious winds from Hurricane Laura destroyed homes across coastal Louisiana. Hurricane Ida hit in 2021, leaving the entire city of New Orleans without power for days. Such extreme weather is...

Judge Hands Green Advocates Big Win on Offshore Drilling

Scraps White House plan to sell oil and gas leases in Gulf of Mexico

(Newser) - A federal court has rejected a plan to lease millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico for offshore oil drilling, saying the Biden administration did not adequately take into account the lease sale's effect on planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, per the AP . The decision Thursday by US District...

The Oil Started Spilling in 2004. The Feds Finally Studied It

And now Taylor Energy is paying $43M

(Newser) - Update: Taylor Energy will pay $43 million in civil penalties and damages over the longest-running oil spill in US history. The Department of Justice on Wednesday announced the settlement with the Louisiana-based company, which ceased production in 2008, the New York Times reports. Oil and gas has been seeping into...

Divers ID Source of 'Miles-Long' Oil Slick in Gulf

No one knows yet, though, who the broken pipeline belongs to

(Newser) - Divers at the site of an ongoing oil spill that appeared in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ida have identified the apparent source as a 1-foot-diameter pipeline displaced from a trench on the ocean floor and broken open. Talos Energy, the Houston-based company currently paying for the cleanup, said...

In Ida's Wake, 100 Say They're Stranded Aboard Ship

Crew endured 80-foot waves as hurricane passed by

(Newser) - More than 100 men on a drill ship in the Gulf of Mexico say they endured 80-foot waves as Hurricane Ida passed by and are now stranded, with no clue when they'll be rescued. The crew aboard Noble Corporation's Globetrotter II drill ship, about 100 miles off Louisiana,...

'Portal to Hell' Emerges in Gulf of Mexico

Blaze caused by Mexican state oil company's gas leak is now out, but not before internet frenzy

(Newser) - If you happened to see "Sauron's eye " or "Cthulhu" trending Friday evening, it wasn't because some fictional entity was making headlines. It was something even more real and disturbing— a fire in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, caused by a leak from an...

SpaceX Crew Makes Safe, Rare Splashdown

4 astronauts are back after record-setting stay at International Space Station

(Newser) - A four-member SpaceX crew returning from the International Space Station made a piloted landing in the Gulf of Mexico early Sunday, the first such nighttime landing in almost 54 years. After the gentle water landing just before 3am, aided by four parachutes, the Resilience capsule was lifted onto a recovery...

Search Ends With 8 Still Missing From Capsized Boat

Investigation into Seacor Power tragedy could take up to 2 years

(Newser) - The search for survivors from a capsized lift boat in the Gulf of Mexico has closed and attention now turns to comforting the loved ones of the five known dead and eight missing, a grim hunt for bodies and a painstaking investigation that could take up to two years. Seven...

Marco Is a Hurricane, and It's Not Alone

Tropical Storm Laura is also headed for the US coast

(Newser) - Marco became a hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico Sunday on a path toward the Louisiana coast. Tropical Storm Laura battered the Dominican Republic and Haiti and headed to the same part of the US coast, also as a potential hurricane, the AP reports. It would be the first time...

SpaceX Capsule Returns Home
SpaceX Capsule Hits Water
Aug 2, 2020 1:40 PM CDT

SpaceX Capsule Hits Water

NASA astronauts make first aquatic landing since 1975

(Newser) - Two NASA astronauts returned to Earth on Sunday in a dramatic, retro-style splashdown, their capsule parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico to close out an unprecedented test flight by Elon Musk's SpaceX company, the AP reports. It was the first splashdown by US astronauts in 45 years, with the...

Bad News for Huckabee on His Private Beach

Emergency motion denied, and judge signals lawsuit won't fare much better

(Newser) - Mike Huckabee still can't go to the beach. The former Arkansas governor and other owners of beachfront property near Pensacola, Florida, sued for access to their private beaches , but on Monday, a federal judge denied their emergency motion, NBC News reports. It would have exempted the plaintiffs from the...

Gulf Oil Spill Was Bigger, Badder Than We Thought
Gulf Oil Spill Was
Bigger, Badder
Than We Thought
NEW STUDY
Feb 13, 2020 11:44 AM CST

Gulf Oil Spill Was Bigger, Badder Than We Thought

Satellite imagery couldn't detect toxic oil beneath ocean surface: researchers

(Newser) - The Deepwater Horizon spill was worse than thought, thanks to "invisible and toxic oil," say researchers. Ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Gulf of Mexico disaster, a study out of the University of Miami suggests the spread of the spill was 30% larger than satellite data indicated,...

Scientists Can't Predict Barry's Lasting Damage

Region faces rare confluence of events

(Newser) - Hurricane Barry could affect the environment of the Gulf coast and Lower Mississippi Valley in numerous ways, from accelerating runoff of farmland nutrients to toppling trees and damaging wildlife habitat and fisheries, scientists say. But the extent of the damage—and whether it will be at least partially offset by...

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