"Japanese police have launched a probe after nets on holding pens for dolphins in the coastal town of Taiji were cut during an annual hunt, possibly by foreign activists, a press report said Wednesday."
"The Obama administration was set to release its latest set of requirements for offshore oil drillers by Thursday as the government moves toward lifting its contested ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico."
"After an eighth victim dies from the Sept. 9 San Bruno, Calif., explosion, senators introduce another bill that would require remote and automatic shut-off capability. The industry urges regulatory caution."
"A large portion of fines that BP Plc may pay for its role in the worst oil spill in U.S. history should go toward fixing the damage caused to Gulf Coast states, a federal official said on Tuesday."
Travel writers -- paid by BP -- are visiting Florida's beaches in a white stretch limo and getting the word out that the oil is gone and beaches are open for tourism.
A National Research Council report says one of the most significant problems is a continuing lack of communication between federal tsunami warning system officials; local officials and emergency managers; the media; and the public.
"The two chairmen of the president's Oil Spill Commission, which is conducting an inquiry into the April 20 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, expressed skepticism Monday about claims from BP and government officials that initial underestimation of the flow rate of the Macondo well had no impact on the response to the spill."
"A Gallup survey released Tuesday of almost 2,600 coastal residents showed that depression cases are up more than 25 percent since an explosion killed 11 people and unleashed a gusher of crude into the Gulf in April that ruined many livelihoods."
"Engineering experts probing the Gulf of Mexico oil spill exposed holes in BP's internal investigation as the company was questioned Sunday for the first time in public about its findings."
For years, mine safety experts urged the Mine Safety and Health Administration to require coal-dust monitors in mines. Mining companies and MSHA resisted. Now Massey Energy Co. is using the lack of such monitors as an argument to deny charges that it did not do enough to control the buildup of explosive coal dust at its Upper Big Branch Mine, where 29 workers died in a massive blast on April 5.
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