Disasters

"The Obama administration will release a new rule as soon as Monday that aims to prevent offshore drilling disasters like the major Gulf of Mexico oil spill five years ago."

"The Atlantic Ocean will see a 'well below average' number of hurricanes this season due to cooler Caribbean waters and a strong El Nino effect, forecasters with Colorado State University predicted on Thursday."

"Pacific Gas & Electric Corp must pay a record $1.6 billion in penalties stemming from a natural gas pipeline explosion in 2010 that killed eight people near San Francisco, California's chief utility regulator ordered on Thursday."

"Despite a surge in oil tank car blasts, Obama stops short of strict regulatory action demanded by trackside residents".

"NOAA has slashed by more than two-thirds the budget for a National Weather Service program that has led to groundbreaking improvements in hurricane forecasts and that is on the brink of more.  James Franklin, a manager at the National Hurricane Center, made this revelation in a presentation at the National Hurricane Conference in Austin, Texas last week."

"The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that new oil tank train cars should come with much stronger ability to withstand high heat and pressure from a crash or a blast."

"Anniversary of Exxon spill in Arkansas puts spotlight back on 48,400 miles of pipelines made with flawed technique phased out 40 years ago."

"Huge fireballs illuminated the early dawn skies of the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday as an explosion and fire killed four people and injured as many as 16 others on a large oil platform in the southeastern Bay of Campeche, Mexican officials said."

"Oil giant says area is making a rapid recovery but evidence mounts that wildlife is still struggling to rebound, five years after Deepwater Horizon spill".

"The surge that's scheduled to hit the American coastline Wednesday isn't coming from a hurricane, but it could still leave a feeling of helplessness in its wake. Flood insurance rates are set to skyrocket when a new bill goes into effect on April 1."