Oil spills

Joe Lafferty, of Iron Lightning, S.D., speaks to a group of Dakota Access Pipeline protesters outside The Radisson Hotel in Bismarck, N.D., on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023 prior to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public meeting on DAPL. (Darren Gibbins/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)

Format of public comment meetings for Dakota Access oil pipeline upsets opponents

Two meetings in Bismarck this week are receiving public comment on the draft environmental review of the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline.

FILE - In this photo taken by 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. (DroneBase via AP, File)

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

The grounded ferry Marco Polo and the tug Max are seen outside Horvik, southern Sweden on Oct. 26, 2023. The Swedish Coast Guard says a ferry boat that ran aground twice off the southeastern coast of Sweden is leaking oil and has suffered “extensive damage.” The Marco Polo ferry, which was running between two Swedish ports on the Baltic Sea, touched ground on Oct. 22. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)

A ferry that ran aground repeatedly off the Swedish coast is leaking oil and is extensively damaged

FILE - Workers monitor an underground oil pipe break up a hill from Refugio State Beach, north of Goleta, Calif., on May 20, 2015. ExxonMobil lost a court bid on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023, to truck millions of gallons of crude oil through central California, a crucial part of its efforts to restart offshore oil wells that were shut in 2015 after the pipeline leak caused the worst coastal spill in 25 years. (AP Photo/Michael A. Mariant, File)

ExxonMobil loses bid to truck millions of gallons of crude oil through central California

FILE - In this October 2016, file photo, construction continues on the Dakota Access Pipeline. Federal officials on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023, released a draft environmental review of the Dakota Access oil pipeline without a recommendation from five options for the future of the line's controversial river crossing in North Dakota, proposals which include an extensive reroute miles upstream. (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP, File)

Feds leave future of Dakota Access pipeline’s controversial river crossing unclear in draft review

Towboat owner pleads guilty to pollution charge in oil spill along West Virginia-Kentucky border

The owner of a towboat that sank and spilled oil into a river along the West Virginia-Kentucky border has pleaded guilty to a federal pollution charge. David K.

Greenpeace releases animated video in campaign against fossil fuel sponsorship of Rugby World Cup

Environmental group Greenpeace has released an animated video showing a massive amount of oil flooding the field for the upcoming opening game of the Rugby World Cup in a campaign against fossil fuel sponsorship of big sporting events.

In this photo provided by International Bird Rescue, staff wash geese found trapped in the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles on Aug. 1, 2023. Los Angeles Animal Services attended the birds first before taking the living geese to the International Bird Rescue, a nonprofit that specializes in rescuing and rehabilitating birds from oil spills. (Kadi Erickson/International Bird Rescue via AP)

Just two of 15 wild geese found trapped in Los Angeles tar pits have survived

After a flock of 15 wild Canada geese mistakenly landed in the Los Angeles Tar Pit’s hot and sticky goo just over two weeks ago, only two are in recovery.

Stricken cargo ship Fremantle Highway, that caught fire while transporting thousands of cars, including nearly 500 electric vehicles, from Germany to Singapore, is towed into the port of Eemshaven, the Netherlands, on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023. The ship that burned for almost a week close to busy North Sea shipping lanes and a world renowned migratory bird habitat will be salvaged at the northern Dutch port. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

A car-carrying ship that burned for a week on the North Sea is towed to a Dutch port for salvaging

A freight ship carrying thousands of cars that burned for a week on the North Sea has been towed to a Dutch port for salvage.

FILE - Photo crews work to contain an oil spill from Bridger Pipeline's broken pipeline near Glendive, Mont., on Jan. 19, 2015, in this aerial view showing both sides of the river. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday, July 31, 2023, 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. (Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette via AP, File)

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

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. The U.S.

The freight ship, the Fremantle Highway, in the North Sea, Sunday July 30, 2023. Salvage crews began towing a burning cargo ship loaded with thousands of new cars to a temporary anchorage off the northern Dutch coast on Sunday after smoke from the stricken vessel eased, authorities said. (Kustwacht Nederland/Coast Guard Netherlands via AP)

Salvage crews begin towing a burning cargo ship to a new location off the Dutch coast as smoke eases

Salvage crews have started towing a burning cargo ship loaded with thousands of new cars to a temporary anchorage location off the northern Dutch coast after smoke from the stricken vessel eased.

Mexico’s state-owned oil company suggests oil washing up on beaches is from natural seepage

The head of Mexico’s state-owned oil company contends oil washing up on the country’s Gulf coast beaches could not have come from a spill of about 1,350 barrels caused by a pipeline leak.

FILE - The 'Safer' tanker is seen on Monday, June 12, 2023, off the coast of Yemen. A senior United Nations official says a salvage team is set to begin siphoning oil out of the decaying tanker moored off the coast of Yemen. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman, File)

UN says operation to siphon oil out of rusting tanker moored off Yemen begins to ‘avoid catastrophe’

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says a salvage team has begun siphoning oil out of a decaying oil tanker moored off the coast of Yemen.

FILE - Technical vessels are seen by the decrepit 'Safer' tanker on Monday, June 12, 2023, off the coast of Yemen. A senior United Nations official says a salvage team is set to begin siphoning oil out of the decaying tanker moored off the coast of Yemen. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman, File)

A salvage team is set to begin siphoning oil out of rusting tanker moored off Yemen, UN says

A senior United Nations official says a salvage team is set to begin siphoning oil out of the decaying tanker moored off the coast of Yemen.

In this grab taken from video, workers stand by a container to collect oil spill waste, in Ogoniland, Nigeria, June 16, 2023. An oil spill at a Shell facility in Nigeria has contaminated farmland and a river. It's upended livelihoods in the fishing and farming communities of part of the Niger Delta, which has long endured environmental pollution caused by the oil industry. (AP Photo)

Oil spill from Shell pipeline fouls farms and a river in a long-polluted part of Nigeria

An oil spill at a Shell facility in Nigeria has contaminated farmland and a river. It’s upended livelihoods in the fishing and farming communities in part of the Niger Delta, which has long endured environmental pollution caused by the oil industry.

Gate operator Hakim Altaf checks the gate on the seawall in Georgetown, Guyana, Thursday, April 13, 2023. The seawall relies on dozens of workers like Altaf, who set alarms night and day to manually open and close sluice gates known as “kokers” that prevent the Atlantic Ocean from flooding Guyana. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Flying drones and chasing data, Indigenous women in Guyana join fight against climate change

A small group of Indigenous women in northern Guyana are flying drones and chasing data to help understand climate change and stop the worst of its impacts.

ExxonMobil appeals ruling by Guyanese court in oil spill insurance coverage

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — American oil giant ExxonMobil said Friday it had appealed a recent Guyanese court ruling requiring it to obtain insurance for “unlimited liability” in the event of a major oil spill off the coast of Guyana.

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. A report for U.S. government regulators released online Monday, May 15, 2023, says design issues and lapses in operations and the oversight of construction for a bend in a pipeline led to the massive oil spill on the Keystone pipeline system in northeastern Kansas. (Zeitview via AP, File)

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

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — 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.

New Mexico regulators grilled over oilfield spills, lack of enforcement

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Environmentalists who had praised the approval of rules adopted by New Mexico nearly two years ago to crack down on oilfield spills have alleged the state isn’t doing enough to enforce the provisions.

FILE - Workers in protective suits clean the contaminated beach in Corona Del Mar after an oil spill in Newport Beach, Calif., Oct. 7, 2021. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is proposing a nearly $3.4 million fine for Amplify Energy Corp over the oil pipeline spill that fouled Southern California beaches.(AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)

$3.4M fine proposed over 2021 California oil pipeline leak

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.

$3.1 million proposed to settle 2017 spill in Gulf of Mexico

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana energy company has reached a tentative $3.1 million settlement with the federal government over a 2017 Gulf of Mexico oil leak.

FILE - This still image from video taken Oct. 4, 2021, and provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows an underwater pipeline that spilled tens of thousands of gallons of oil off the coast of Orange County, Calif. An offshore pipeline involved in a 2021 oil spill that fouled Southern California beaches is being put back in service, the operator said. Amplify Energy Corp. said Monday, April 10, 2023, that it received approval from federal regulatory agencies to restart operations and last weekend began the process of filling the pipeline, which is expected to take about two weeks. (U.S. Coast Guard via AP, File)

Firm restarting oil pipeline involved in California spill

An offshore pipeline involved in a 2021 oil spill that fouled Southern California beaches is being put back in service.

FILE - A large plume of smoke rises from fires on BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip on April 2010. A new National Academy of Science study says that 13 years after a massive BP oil spill fouled the Gulf of Mexico, regulators and industry have reduced some risks in deep water exploration in the gulf but some troublesome safety issues persist. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Oil drilling in Gulf safer, but concerns linger, report says

A new National Academy of Science study says that 13 years after a massive BP oil spill fouled the Gulf of Mexico, regulators and industry have reduced some risks in deep water exploration in the gulf but some troublesome safety issues persist.

Lawmakers fear spill on Keystone system in southern Kansas

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — State lawmakers worried Tuesday that southern Kansas is vulnerable to oil spills from the Keystone pipeline system because earthquakes have become more frequent there, as they questioned an executive for the pipeline’s operator about a massive spill in northeastern Kansas in Dece

Regulators cut pressure on pipeline after Kansas oil spill

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — U.S. government regulators have stopped allowing a large part of the Keystone oil pipeline to operate at higher-than-normal pressures following a massive oil spill in northeastern Kansas in December.

California oil company must pay $65M over oil spills

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) — A defunct company that spilled more than a million gallons of crude oil and wastewater in California must pay more than $65 million in penalties and cleanup costs, federal prosecutors announced Monday.

In this handout photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, a coast guard personnel collects water samples from an oil spill in the waters off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, central Philippines, Thursday March 2, 2023. Oil leaking from Philippine tanker MT Princess Empress that sank off a province southwest of the capital has prompted at least seven coastal towns to temporarily ban fishing and swimming, officials said Thursday. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

Oil leak from sunken Philippine tanker prompts swimming bans

Oil leaking from a Philippine tanker that sank southwest of the capital has prompted at least seven coastal towns to ban fishing and swimming as authorities scramble to contain the spill, officials said Thursday.

FILE - Workers in protective suits clean the contaminated beach in Corona Del Mar after an oil spill in Newport Beach, Calif., Oct. 7, 2021. Shipping companies have agreed to pay nearly $97 million to settle a lawsuit with a pipeline operator over a 2021 oil spill off the coast of Southern California. Amplify Energy, the Houston-based company that operates the pipeline, said Wednesday, March 1, 2023, that companies associated with the M/V Danit and M/V Beijing had agreed to the payments. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)

Shipping companies reach $97M California oil spill agreement

Shipping companies have agreed to pay nearly $97 million to settle a lawsuit with a pipeline operator over a 2021 oil spill off the coast of Southern California.

Firm: Faulty weld, pressure on pipe led to Kansas oil spill

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A faulty weld at a bend in an oil pipeline contributed to a spill that dumped nearly 13,000 bathtubs’ worth of crude oil into a northeastern Kansas creek, the pipeline’s operator said Thursday, estimating the cost of cleaning it up at $480 million.

Companies agree to pay $45M over California oil spill

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Shipping companies have agreed to pay $45 million to thousands of Southern California fishermen, tour companies and property owners who sued after an offshore oil spill sent crude washing ashore, attorneys said Thursday.

File - Georgetown, Guyana is seen over the propeller of a plane headed to Kaieteur Falls, Guyana, March 7, 2016. The former leader of Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency, Vincent Adams, is criticizing the government's plan to use satellites to monitor oil spills in the South American nation’s waters, saying to the Associated Press on Jan. 24, 2023 that the only proper way of minimizing oil spills is to put spill-prevention experts onboard drilling ships and platforms. (AP Photo/Albert Stumm, File)

Guyana: Satellites will spot oil spills, not on-ship experts

The former leader of Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency is criticizing the government’s plan to use satellites to monitor oil spills in the South American nation’s waters.

UN: Cost is new obstacle to oil transfer from Yemen tanker

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The rising cost of purchasing or leasing a vessel that can hold more than 1 million barrels of crude oil now in a rusting old tanker off the coast of war-torn Yemen is the latest obstacle to resolving the grave threat of massive environmental damage from a possible oil spill or

Former Associated Press photographer Jack Smith, left, is seen with fellow photographer Steven Nehl, then of the Oregonian newspaper, during an NCAA college football game in Eugene, Ore., in the early 1990s. Jack Smith, an AP photographer who captured unforgettable shots of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, the Olympics and many other events during his 35-year career with the news organization, passed away on Jan. 4, 2023, at his home in La Mesa, Calif. He was 80. (Greg Wahl-Stephens via AP)