The Daily Glob

Legal Tactics Emerging at Oil Hearings

HOUSTON—For five days last week, federal investigators grilled witnesses to answer key questions about the disastrous explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig: Why did it happen? How can we make sure it never happens again?

But in their questions to witnesses, lawyers for the companies under scrutiny—BP PLC, Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton Co.—focused on testimony that might answer another question: Who will pay?

Ben Casselman and Russsell Gold report for the Wall Street Journal.

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"Panel Member: Blowout Preventer May Hold Key," Harry R. Weber reports for the Associated Press.

BP Assures Governors It Will Restore the Gulf

"The South has been dealt a heavy blow this summer by BP's gusher in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil has stopped flowing, but Gulf states are still dealing with the ongoing economic and environmental damage.

Oil Spill: Search is on for More Oil in Waterways

The discovery of a large pocket of submerged oil at Barrancas Beach near Pensacola Naval Air Station and others like it coincide with the launching of a large, intensive search for submerged oil in the Gulf of Mexico and inland bays.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard are leading the search.

They're using 75 vessels of opportunity in bays and inland waterways and up to three miles into the Gulf, from Louisiana to Apalachicola. Other teams are working in deeper depths farther out in the Gulf.

A submerged oil team came to Pensacola last week to help survey the Barrancas site, Coast Guard Lt. Stephen West said.

Kimberly Blair reports for the Pensacola News-Journal.

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"Experts: Submerged Oil Threatens Organisms," Ryan Dezember reports for the Press-Register.

Seafood Industry Battles Perception Problem Following Gulf Oil Spill

MOBILE, Ala. -- Seafood workers spent time Friday talking to high-ranking government officials and learning how to sniff oil in an effort to battle what they regard as the industry’s biggest challenge 130 days after the Gulf oil spill. 

That would be public confidence, they said, not contaminated fish. 

BP's Life on Frontiers of Energy Industry at Risk

"LONDON — At a celebration of BP's centennial last October, CEO Tony Hayward boasted to guests that the oil company "lives on the frontiers of the energy industry."

But this week, in the first major sign that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill may have caused lasting damage to the company's long-term strategy of embracing projects with high risks, BP was frozen out of a potentially lucrative license to drill for oil off the coast of Greenland.

Temporary Cap Will Be Removed

"NEW ORLEANS — Engineers will soon start the delicate work of detaching the temporary cap that stopped oil from gushing from BP's blown-out Gulf of Mexico well and the hulking device that failed to prevent the leak - all while trying to avoid more damage to the environment.

In Gulf Oil Rig Explosion, Panel Finds No Single Smoking Gun

"HOUSTON — More than four months after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, there appears to be no single smoking gun that implicates one person or company in the disaster. Instead, several missteps and oversights by the crew are being explored by federal investigators as possible triggers of the emergency.

A Poor Appetite for Gulf Seafood

"President Obama served plates of barbecued gulf shrimp to guests at his 49th birthday party Aug. 9. But Kindra Arnesen, who runs a shrimp boat with her husband here in southern Louisiana, isn't nearly ready to eat what comes out of the tepid gray waters.

When news first hit of the massive oil blowout 50 miles southeast of here, Arnesen filled her freezer with shrimp. She has no intention of eating fresh seafood until she stops hearing from her fellow fishermen about blobs of oil on the sea bottom and tiny droplets of dispersed hydrocarbons in the water.

"I'm not going to sell somebody something I wouldn't feed my own kids, and we're not eating it," Arnesen said. "They can eat burgers for awhile." "

Kim Murphy reports for the Los Angeles Times.

Oil Cleanup Both Bonanza and Bust

"The Gulf oil spill is a bonanza for some and a bust for others.

The worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history has spurred something of an economic boom in some communities where cleanup operations are based, an Associated Press analysis has shown.

With Gulf Declared Safe, Turtles Hatch on Alabama Beaches and Head for Water

"Shortly before midnight Wednesday, on a stretch of Fort Morgan shoreline near the Kiva Dunes resort, 73 loggerhead sea turtles emerged from a sandy nest and scurried into the moonlit surf. 

With wildlife officials deeming in the last week that the northern Gulf of Mexico is now safe for sea turtles, the Kiva Dunes turtles became the first batch allowed this year to hatch on Alabama beaches and venture into their native waters.