Environment News

MARSHALL, Mich. - Officials say they've located the pipeline break that caused hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil to spew into a major river in southern Michigan. Full Story »

NEW ORLEANS - On shore, BP, Halliburton and Transocean are engaging in a billion-dollar blame game over the blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. At sea, they're depending on each other to finally plug up the environmental disaster. Full Story »

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO - The helicopter passes over the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico — with surprisingly little oil visible on its surface — when out of the sea rises a skyscraper-like structure nearly 350 feet above the waves. The $600 million rig, nearly 100 miles off Louisiana's coast, has a hull larger than a football field and can drill more than 5 miles beneath the ocean floor. Full Story »

DETROIT (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional committee will probe the spill of more than 800,000 gallons (3 million liters) of oil from an Enbridge Inc pipeline in southern Michigan this week, a Michigan congressman said on Saturday. Full Story »

BERKELEY, Calif. - BP's catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is fueling opposition to the University of California, Berkeley's research partnership with the British company, with activists and professors on the famously liberal campus calling for a severing of ties. Full Story »

QUITO (AFP) - Ecuador said Saturday it had reached a deal with the United Nations Development Program under which donor countries will compensate Quito for leaving oil reserves in a national park untouched. Full Story »

BILOXI, Mississippi (Reuters) - BP said on Friday it could seal its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well by next week as the House of Representatives voted to toughen regulation of offshore energy drilling. Full Story »

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) - Engineers Saturday readied a plan to permanently seal a damaged Gulf of Mexico well, despite delays to the process caused by debris left behind by a recent tropical storm. Full Story »

WASHINGTON - The House has approved a bill to boost safety standards for offshore drilling and remove a liability cap for oil spills, but a partisan fight in the Senate will likely delay action on a response to the Gulf oil spill until Congress returns from its summer recess. Full Story »

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - An environmental group that wants to block construction of a $3 billion gas pipeline from Wyoming to Oregon filed a lawsuit Friday, saying the pipeline will cut across pristine land and harm endangered fish. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Friday approved the toughest reforms ever to offshore energy drilling practices, as Democrats narrowly pushed through an election-year response to BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Friday voted to end the federal moratorium on deepwater drilling for oil companies that meet new federal safety requirements. Full Story »

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Two companies leading the U.S. nuclear power revival may curb spending on the next generation of reactors due to delays in federal loan support, officials said. Full Story »

MIAMI (Reuters) - South Florida, the Florida Keys and the East Coast will likely be spared from any contamination from the ruptured BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. government scientists said on Friday. Full Story »

NEW ORLEANS - BP gas station owners across the country are divided over whether the oil giant stained by its handling of the Gulf spill should rebrand U.S. outlets as Amoco or another name as part of efforts to repair the company's badly damaged reputation. Full Story »

WASHINGTON — Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, President Barack Obama's point man on long-term restoration of the Gulf Coast after the BP oil spill, heads back to the Gulf next week for town hall meetings in all five states — two a day in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana and one in Texas. Full Story »

WASHINGTON — As the Gulf of Mexico focuses on cleaning up the mess left by the BP oil spill, the question facing the nation's capital is: Will Washington clean up its act, too? Full Story »

RIO DE JANEIRO - The United Nations has added Florida's Everglades National Park and rain forests in Madagascar to its list of World Heritage sites in danger. Full Story »