Oil Spill Update: Day 83

BP says that a new 40-foot stack of valves may be the key to shutting off the leaking well for good. The company is set to test the pressure in the well today that will determine whether the valve stack will shut off the oil or compound the problem. Basically one of two things could happen, either the valve works and the leak gets plugged for good, or the valve increases the pressure inside the well causing it to explode and gush from another point.

BP claims that they have new equipment to measure the pressure that wasn’t available last month. Either way the company’s last “Hail Mary,” the relief wells, should be in place soon to stop the worst spill in U.S. history.

Source: Businessweek

Offshore Drilling Ban

Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior Department, has released his decision memorandum to suspend certain offshore drilling and permitting activities in the Outer Continental Shelf until November 30, 2010. It applies to wells using subsea blowout preventers or surface blowout preventers on a floating platform in the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific. The goal is to improve safety and find out what caused the Deepwater Horizon to explode; to improve measures to contain and prevent blowouts; and time for the operators to submit proof that they have the capacity and ability to respond to oil spills immediately. November 30 also marks the end of hurricane season in the Atlantic.

Source: Secretary of the Interior

Pre-Tiger Summit in Bali

Thirteen countries where tigers still roam free are meeting in Bali this week to discuss a global plan to save the tigers. Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam are striving for a unified voice for the Tiger Summit in Russia in September. Tiger populations in the wild have reduced to about 3,200 from more than 100,000.

What’s happening to the tigers?

Habitat destruction, loss of food source, poaching, disease, and “retaliatory killing” are all contributing to the worldwide loss of the big cats. Retaliatory killing is when tigers come into repeated aggressive contact with villagers living in areas near tiger habitats that are shot for “repeated offenses.” Out of the original 9 species only 6 remain: Sumatran, Bengal, Amur, Indochinese, South China, and Malayan.

Source: WWF