Two of the main companies involved in the disastrous 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill were more focused on personal injury risks than the potential for a major accident, a federal agency said in a report released Tuesday.
The federal government Thursday announced plans to sell off oil and gas leases on 38 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico seafloor in a new domestic energy push by the Obama administration.
U.S. Interior Department announces it is banning the importation of four snake species. CNN's John Zarrella reports.
The United States is banning the importation of four species of snakes and their eggs, the Interior Department announced Tuesday.
A controversial quote inscribed in the granite of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall will be corrected, an official at the Interior Department confirmed to CNN.
The Obama administration proposed more oil drilling in Arctic waters Tuesday, planning two new leases in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas off Alaska's north coast.
The oil industry isn't drilling on leases for millions of acres of land that could be producing energy.
The Obama administration said Thursday that milk will no longer be classified as an oil, part of an effort to overhaul federal regulations that don't make any sense.
The Senate rejected a Republican measure Wednesday to expand offshore oil and gas drilling in U.S. coastal waters, signaling a continued partisan stalemate over energy policy and, more specifically, how to respond to rising gas prices.
CNN's Rob Marciano reports on efforts to track, study, and rehab Gulf wildlife one year after the massive oil spill.
The oil spill at BP's Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico was caused by a piece of drill pipe trapped in the platform's blowout preventer, which kept the device from working properly to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf, according to a report issued Wednesday.
Seven years after the federal government fired her as chief of the U.S. Park Police, Teresa Chambers is set to resume the role on January 31, the Department of the Interior announced Friday.
Interior Department officials announced an extensive restructuring of the agencies that oversee offshore oil drilling Wednesday, pledging "fundamental change" for a system widely criticized after the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
If the government does not take drastic steps, another deepwater oil spill like the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico could devastate the coastal areas of the United States, an oversight commission warned Tuesday in a long-awaited report to the president.
Drilling activity in the Gulf of Mexico will remain light in the years ahead, despite the fact that the ban on drilling there has been lifted, according to a survey of oil executives released Tuesday.
President Obama lifted his moratorium on deepwater oil drilling nearly a month ago, but the government still hasn't issued any new permits in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Obama administration didn't violate federal law when it incorrectly asserted that its plans for a six-month halt to offshore oil drilling had been "peer reviewed" by experts, an independent watchdog agency reported Wednesday.
The deepwater drilling moratorium is over. Secretary of the Interior Kenneth Salazar announced today that the ban on leases for new drilling operations, first issued on May 28, is ending over a month before the November 30 deadline. He and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management director Michael Bromwich announced the end of the moratorium today on a 1:00 pm media conference call. "We are open for business," Salazar said.
On Monday, the Obama administration issued a policy mandating that employees of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management -- one of the three agencies spawned from the MMS -- disclose personal relationships with employees of companies that they regulate. When BOEM workers identify a conflict of interest, they are supposed to opt out of regulating in that situation. Industry workers and regulators in the Gulf often have the same social circles and live in the same communities. It's going to be tough for the government to watch them closely.
Yesterday, Democrats in the Senate rejected taking up a new oil spill response bill because of a dispute over who foots the costs of future spill cleanups and more importantly, how much those parties -- largely oil and exploration companies -- will pay. The Senate is voting on the bill, vaguely titled "a bill to promote clean energy jobs and oil accountability, and for other purposes" in response to BP's spill in the Gulf at the Macondo well.
Three miles into the Beaufort Sea from the North Slope of Alaska sits a 32-acre, man-made gravel island with a gigantic blue drilling rig atop it.
BP has put off crucial "integrity tests" on the new stacking cap on its ruptured Gulf oil well so it can review testing procedures, a review expected to take place through the night and into Wednesday.
Whether you call it a moratorium or a suspension, the government's new halt on deepwater oil drilling will cause economic harm, according to industry advocates and Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.
The federal government announced Monday it is issuing a new order to suspend deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of California until as late as November 30.
National Incident Commander Thad Allen explains BP's latest efforts to cap the oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.
Several streets in Washington were closed Wednesday morning as authorities investigated a report of a suspicious package, officials said. A police spokesperson later said no hazardous material was detected.
The offshore drilling ban imposed after the BP disaster is only supposed to hit operations in deep water -- 500 feet or more.
The federal agency responsible for overseeing the oil industry has been renamed amid a massive reform effort following the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the Department of the Interior announced Monday.
The Department of the Interior on Friday ordered oil and gas companies to submit information addressing the possibility of a well blowout and detailing the steps they are taking to prevent a blowout whenever they file for a drilling permit, exploration plan, or development plan.
The House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources questioned high-ranking officials from government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and private companies Thursday about how to best divide up the troubled Minerals and Management Service, the government agency that oversees offshore drilling, which has come under greater scrutiny since the Deepwater Horizon incident on April 20.
Could another deep water- or even shallow water- oil drilling disaster be looming ahead? Experts warn it certainly could happen again.
CNN Photographer Rich Brooks reports with CNN's Kyra Phillips from a U.S. Coast Guard craft over the Gulf of Mexico.
Could another deep water -- or even shallow water -- oil drilling disaster be looming ahead? Experts warn it certainly could happen again.
Oil rig blowout preventers fail to provide adequate defense against disaster. CNN's Allan Chernoff reports.
A history of slipshod inspections is at least partly to blame for the disaster that destroyed the drill rig Deepwater Horizon and unleashed the worst oil spill in U.S. history, a former Interior Department official says.
A former auditor says BP inspections were lacking. Watch more on Campbell Brown at 8 p.m. ET.
The Obama administration announced new rules on offshore drilling Tuesday, a move that the industry hopes will secure new permits for drilling operations and the thousands of jobs that depend on them.
An acting director was settling into the top job Saturday at the troubled Minerals Management Service, which is involved in federal oversight of offshore oil drilling.
Minerals Management Service Director Elizabeth Birnbaum resigned Thursday as head of the Interior Department's scandal-plagued Minerals Management Service, the department's chief said. Two sources told CNN that Birnbaum had been fired.
Minerals Management Service Director Elizabeth Birnbaum has been fired, according to two CNN sources.
Here are the latest developments Wednesday involving the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar reiterated Wednesday that the U.S. government is doing all it can to put an end to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and to enforce ethics requirements in the federal agency responsible for inspecting oil wells.
Federal inspectors overseeing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico accepted meals and tickets to sporting events from companies they monitored, the Interior Department's inspector general concluded in a report released Wednesday.
Despite the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the government is under pressure to issue new permits for offshore drilling as early as next week.
The head of offshore drilling at an Interior Department agency criticized after the Gulf Coast oil spill is retiring a month earlier than planned, an administration official told CNN on Monday.
After a week grilling oil executives over what caused the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, lawmakers are setting their sights on government regulators next week.
The Obama administration, eager to show it is responding to the Gulf Coast oil spill, will announce plans Tuesday to split up an Interior Department agency that oversees offshore drilling, White House officials confirmed.
Critics blast BP for not releasing video showing the extent of the Gulf Coast oil spill. CNN's Ed Lavandera reports.
The Obama administration, eager to show it is responding to the Gulf Coast oil spill, will announce plans Tuesday to split up an Interior Department agency that oversees offshore drilling, White House officials confirmed.
In March 2008, BP and dozens of energy companies were behind a series of record-breaking bids for two sets of new oil and gas leases in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Thousands of American Indians would receive as much as $1,000 each if they accept a proposed $1.4 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit over government mismanagement of tribal lands.
The crown of the Statue of Liberty will re-open to tourists on July 4, the Interior Department said Friday.
Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked President Obama's choice to be the number two official at the Department of the Interior.
President Obama on Tuesday overturned a last-minute Bush administration regulation that many environmentalists claim weakened the Endangered Species Act.
Obama's choice for the Interior Department isn't all green say some, CNN's Jessica Yellin reports.
Remember "drill, baby drill"? In its last weeks in office, the Bush administration is starting to make it happen by quietly starting the process of exploration and drilling off the coast of Virginia.
Animals and plants in danger of becoming extinct could lose the protection of government experts who make sure that dams, highways and other projects don't pose a threat, under regulations the Bush administration is set to put in place before President-elect Obama can reverse them.
Bobby Maxwell kept a close eye on the oil industry for more than 20 years as a government auditor. But he said the federal agency he worked for is now a "cult of corruption" -- a claim backed up by a recent government report.
Is a U.S. agency overseeing oil royalties harboring a culture of sex, drugs and pricey gifts? CNN's Dan Simon reports.
The sex and drugs scandal revealed earlier this week at the Interior Department may be just the start.
U.S. government employees received improper gifts from energy industry representatives, and engaged with them in illegal drug use and inappropriate sexual relations, according to a report issued Wednesday.
CNN's Zain Verjee reports on Libya's efforts to sell oil to the United States now that tensions are easing.
President Bush may want to end the ban on offshore drilling, but you wouldn't know it from his administration's failure to obey a key directive in the 2005 Energy Act.
I'm at the Blue Ridge Arsenal in Chantilly, Virginia, the biggest gun store in northern Virginia. I'm looking at a holster on the hip of Arsenal's John Summer in which a black .22-caliber pistol sits snugly.
(WASHINGTON) -- The Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species Wednesday, saying it must be protected because of the decline in Arctic sea ice from global warming.Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne cited dramatic declines in sea ice over the last three decades and projections of continued losses. These declines, he told a news conference, mean the polar bear is a species likely to be in danger of extinction in the near future.Kempthorne also said, though, that it would be "inappropriate" to use the protection of the bear to reduce greenhouse gases, or to broadly address climate change.Reflecting views recently expressed by President Bush, Kempthorne said the Endangered Species Act was "never meant to regulate global climate change."He said the decision to list the bear includes administrative actions aimed at limiting the impact of the decision on energy development and other climate related activities."This listing will not stop global climate change or prevent any sea ice from melt
U.S. Fish and Wildlife must decide on the polar bear this month. But does the species really need protection?
A bill approved Thursday by the House Natural Resources Committee would set aside up to $1 billion to pay for fighting major wildfires
The government plans to delay its decision to put the polar bear on the endangered list until after it leases 30 million acres near Alaska for oil and gas drilling. What gives?
"Over there, I see something!" someone yelled. On a lakeshore a few hundred yards away, across a thin sheet of ice, a yellowish blob lay in contrast to the new white snow. Glenn Hopfner, our driver, steered closer, and everyone reached for their binoculars and cameras.
Polar bears may be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act because of a loss of habitat that jeopardizes their survival, the Interior secretary said Wednesday.
The U.S. Interior Department abandoned claims that the oil giant Chevron underpaid the government for natural gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico, which could pave the way for other energy firms from paying royalties to the government, according to a report published Tuesday.
Four government auditors who monitor leases for oil and gas on federal property charge the Interior Department suppressed their efforts to recover millions of dollars from companies they said cheated the government, according to a published report.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved a controversial bill Thursday that opens up vast stretches of the U.S. coast to oil and gas drilling, paving the way for a reversal of a 25-year ban on energy exploration off a majority of the country's shoreline.
U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton resigned Friday. She will leave her post at the end of March, the Department of the Interior said.
The federal government has cut back audits of energy companies that pay billions of dollars for leases to produce oil and gas on federal property, according to a published report.
Despite record profits, the oil industry is set to skip out on $7 billion in royalty payments it would normally pay for drilling on government land thanks to a '90s era law designed to promote domestic production, according to a report published Tuesday.
The head of a Louisiana state agency given responsibility for coordinating the evacuation of at-risk populations during emergencies has told Senate investigators that no evacuation plans were in place before Hurricane Katrina struck in August.
Federal emergency officials failed to accept offers of possibly life-saving aid from the Department of Interior immediately after Hurricane Katrina, according to documents obtained by CNN.
Is the strutting sage grouse, iconic bird of the Western steppe, an endangered species? No doubt about it, say environmentalists, who petitioned for federal protection for the "cock of the prairie," as Lewis and Clark fondly dubbed it.
One day after she was fired, former U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers accused the Bush administration Saturday of silencing dissenting views in the rank and file.
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