This evening StateImpact Texas received a response from BP about reported leaks of sulfur dioxide and methyl mercaptan at their refinery in Texas City, Texas. The BP Texas City refinery is the third largest refinery in the US, according to the company, and refines three percent of the country’s gasoline. Here is the full statement: “BP […]

Earlier this week there were reports of a leak at the BP refinery in Texas City, Texas, just outside of Galveston. Sulfur dioxide (a pollutant regulated by the EPA and linked to respiratory issues) reportedly escaped the plant. A caller reported the sulfur dioxide leak Monday to the National Response Center, the federal division for reporting oil and […]

As Texas decides how it will spend millions of dollars from a multi-state agreement with BP following the Deepwater Horizon spill, the Texas General Land Office (GLO) is proposing a fee on projects that restore damaged coastal areas. Some of the non-profit environmental and wildlife groups involved in the projects are not happy. Nine groups […]

Just after midnight on March 24, 1989 the Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. 11 million gallons of oil spilled into the water, which soon made its way to shore. It took three years to clean up. It was the worst oil spill in history. That was until two […]

How well wranglers from Texas are busy fighting blowouts during a drilling surge in Pennsylvania.

Just what happened that led to the delay of the Keystone XL pipeline? Views are mixed, not surprisingly, but as Toronto’s Globe and Mail reports, a real sticking point, in addition to those of ideology or politics, was simply geography. The route of the proposed pipeline would have gone from Canada right through the “boiling sands” […]

A little before 10 o’clock on the night of April 20th, 2010 multiple explosions blew apart the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. Eleven crew members died, 17 more were injured while nearly 100 others narrowly escaped. In the five years since, the drilling industry says it has dramatically changed how it does business to make it […]

Ever since an explosion at BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore rig in 2010 released about five million of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, researchers have been trying to figure out where much of the oil ended up. A new study is offering some answers. By tracing chemicals in undersea sediment, scientists have found […]

Do Hydrogen Cyanide Leaks Show Weakness of Current Regs? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will set up its microphones for an all day hearing Tuesday in Galena Park, a community on Houston’s east side in the heart of the enormous Houston Ship Channel refinery complex. It’s the second of two such hearings with the […]

A proposed rate increase will hike up water bills for folks in San Antonio; one man is trying to use mini solar power units to help those still without power after Hurricane Sandy; and eight environmental rules to watch out for after the election, all in your morning Meter Reading: If At First You Don’t […]