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Articles on Oil spill

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Sockeye salmon need strong hearts to migrate long distances. An oil spill could hurt their survival. (AP Photo/Gary Stewart, File)

The Kinder Morgan pipeline and Pacific salmon: Red fish, black gold

Pacific salmon are ingrained in the culture and economy of Canada. They are also a key link between ocean and land. But what happens if a pipeline failure contaminates their habitat?
Shell’s drilling rig destined for waters off Alaska met with problems in the Arctic and protesters in Seattle. AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

Trump’s offshore oil drilling push: Five essential reads

The industry has wanted access to offshore oil for decades, but the Arctic remains challenging. Consumers, meanwhile, seem conflicted on expanded offshore drilling.
Overfishing can teach us valuable lessons about ecosystem resilience. Andreas Altenberger/Shutterstock.com

Humans are experimenting with the planet, so let’s make sure we learn along the way

Large-scale natural experiments such as oil spills, tsunamis and climate change are things you wouldn’t want to do on purpose. But that doesn’t mean they’re not scientifically useful experiments too.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has moved to address environmental pollution and improve the livelihoods of the Ogoni people. Akintunde Akinleye/ Reuters

What President Buhari can do to help Ogoniland clean up oil pollution

Oil spills have long plagued the Ogoni people living in the Niger Delta. President Buhari is finally doing something about the pollution. But there are flaws in the government’s approach.
The oil fields in the Niger Delta are regularly sabotaged by people living in communities surrounding the fields. Reuters

How peace can be achieved in the Niger Delta

Nigeria must work together with its people to help keep the peace in the Niger Delta.
Offshore oil is not just a risk to the environment – if the world gets serious about mitigating climate change, these resources risk becoming stranded assets. Green Fire Productions/Flickr

Big oil’s offshore scramble is risky business all round

Big oil companies are moving to exploit new resources such as the Arctic or the Great Australian Bight. But are they worth the risk?
The MV Shen Neng I spills oil onto the Great Barrier Reef in 2010. Large accidents are rare, but there is still very little monitoring of long-term chronic damage from shipping. AAP Image/AMSA

Shipping in the Great Barrier Reef: the miners’ highway

Port traffic near the Great Barrier Reef will more than double by 2025, as coal and other exports grow. While major incidents are rare, the chronic toll on the reef itself still remains largely unknown.
An oil and gas drilling platform offshore from Australia. CSIRO

Buried treasure: finding safer ways to tap into oil and gas from our oceans

If anything good is to come from the devastation caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and Australia’s Montara oil and gas leak the year before, it is that we learn from our mistakes…
Looks like an oil slick, but the similarity ends there. Badagnani

Sharks haven’t turned up in Hawaii for the toffee

Swimmers in Hawaii have been warned out of the water for fear of shark attacks after around 1,400 tonnes of molasses - treacle - leaked from a pipe into the sea while being transferred to a tanker from…
The effects of Deepwater Horizon spill continue after the smoke has cleared. US Coast Guard

The coast is clear, but seabed still contaminated by Gulf spill

The catastrophic explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform allowed five million barrels of oil to gush into the Gulf of Mexico between April and July 2010. Since then, remediation and restoration…
If oil spills in the forest and no one is around to see it, will anyone care? Denis Sinyakov/Greenpeace

Few hear the cries of those fighting to save wild Russia

Lying to either side of the Urals, the Republic of Komi and Khanty-Mansiysk in the north of Russia are among the country’s most oil-rich regions. Scarcely populated, they provide a substantial share of…
Grangemouth refinery: keeping the home fire burning. Andrew MillJigan/PA

After Quebec, what’s the future for Keystone XL?

The runaway train of 73 oil tankers that derailed and exploded in the small town of Lac-Megantic in Quebec, Canada last week left 15 dead, around 50 missing, and shows how dangerous transporting oil can…
Lucky it’s dry: if the Channel Country was in flood, oil could have flowed into Lake Eyre. Flickr/Euclid vanderKroew

Dishing the dirt on Santos’ Queensland oil spill

In May oil spilled from a well in south-west Queensland owned by Australian oil and gas company Santos. In what may be the state’s third largest spill, more than 250,000 litres of oil flowed from the well…

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