Detroit’s bankruptcy recovery plan gets U.S. court hearing
Detroit's bankruptcy-recovery plans leads news roundup that includes failing-marriage defense, billion-dollar Gulf of Mexico settlement and amicus-brief '"facts."
Judge hears claims BP lied to feds about oil spill
NEW ORLEANS — BP lied to the U.S. government and withheld information about the amount of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico after its well blew out in 2010, attorneys told a judge Monday. But lawyers for the London-based oil giant denied those accusations and said there was no way to prepare for such […]
Ex-Halliburton manager charged in Gulf spill probe
NEW ORLEANS — A former Halliburton employee was charged Thursday with destroying evidence following BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Anthony Badalamenti, who had been the cementing technology director for Halliburton Energy Services Inc., was charged in federal court Thursday with instructing two other employees to delete data during a post-spill review […]
BP urges court to toss judge’s settlement approval
NEW ORLEANS — BP is trying to persuade a federal appeals court that it should throw out a judge’s approval of the company’s multibillion-dollar settlement with Gulf Coast residents and businesses. Last year, BP PLC joined plaintiffs’ attorneys in urging U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier to give the deal his final approval. On Friday, however, […]
Judge asked to dismiss ex-BP engineer’s indictment
NEW ORLEANS — A former BP engineer claims newly disclosed transcripts show “serious, recurring defects” in the grand jury proceedings that led to his indictment on charges he deleted text messages and voicemails about the company’s response to its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Kurt Mix’s attorneys asked a federal judge on […]
1st witness testifies in Gulf oil spill trial
NEW ORLEANS — BP failed to implement a new safety plan on the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon drilling rig even though the company realized a blowout in the Gulf of Mexico was its greatest danger, an expert witness for people and businesses suing the company testified Tuesday. University of California-Berkeley engineering professor Robert Bea was the […]
Trial opens for suit against Kevin Costner over BP deal
NEW ORLEANS — Jury selection has begun in a legal fight between two Hollywood stars over investments in a device used to try to clean up BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In his lawsuit, actor Stephen Baldwin claims Kevin Costner and a business partner duped Baldwin and a friend out of […]
Feds make 1st arrest in BP oil spill case
NEW ORLEANS — A BP engineer intentionally deleted more than 300 text messages that said the company’s efforts to control the Gulf of Mexico oil spill were failing, and that the amount of oil leaking was far more than what the company reported, the Justice Department said Tuesday. In the first criminal charges related to […]
BP settles with maker of failed blowout preventer
NEW ORLEANS — Cameron International, the maker of the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer that failed to stop last year’s massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, has agreed to pay $250 million to BP under a legal settlement, BP said Friday. BP said it was “in their mutual best interests, and the agreement is […]
Obama to expand drilling off Alaska, in Gulf
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will cautiously open up more areas in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska’s coast to oil and gas drilling. The drilling plans are much narrower in scope than what the administration had said it would consider prior to the Gulf oil spill and what Republicans say is needed to […]
Virginia senators back bill to expand offshore drilling
RICHMOND, Va. — Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb introduced legislation Wednesday to open waters off Virginia to gas and oil exploration in 2012 and to redraw maps to encompass more territory for drilling and bring in more revenue. Virginia had been banking on a lease sale of offshore tracts by 2012, but planned East […]
Chesapeake Bay Foundation applauds Obama drilling decision
ANNAPOLIS — The Chesapeake Bay Foundation says President Barack Obama made the right decision in not pursuing offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico or along the East Coast. The foundation says an oil spill could devastate the Chesapeake Bay’s crab industry, and offshore drilling poses unjustifiable risks to the bay, the region’s tourism […]