www.washingtontimes.com stories: Environment

Bluegrass pioneer Earl Scruggs dies at age 88

Chris Talbott — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:20:34 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — It may be impossible to overstate the importance of bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs to American music. A pioneering banjo player who helped create modern country music, his sound is instantly recognizable and as intrinsically wrapped in the tapestry of the genre as Johnny Cash's baritone or ...

Science panel: Get ready for extreme weather

Seth Borenstein — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:30:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Top international climate scientists and disaster experts meeting in Africa had a sharp message Friday for the world's political leaders: Get ready for more dangerous and "unprecedented extreme weather" caused by global warming.

Making preparations, they say, will save lives and money.

These experts fear that ...

Redesigned Rock Hall opens exhibit on The Beatles

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:23:07 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland has opened the world's most comprehensive collection of items from The Beatles as part of the first redesign in the facility's 15-year history.

The exhibit announced Wednesday features nearly 70 items, including several that are being ...

Network for conservative entertainment launches

David Bauder — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:13:15 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Kelsey Grammer is an investor and public face supporting a new network that launched Wednesday with entertainment designed to appeal to political conservatives.

RightNetwork, whose first series, "Running," follows the fortunes of some Tea Party-backed candidates for public office, is also trying a new model to ...

White House confident latest BP effort will work

ASSOCIATED PRESS — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 13:39:53 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A senior adviser to President Obama on Sunday said the administration is confident that BP's latest effort to contain the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will work.

At the same time, Obama adviser David Axelrod acknowledged that BP's engineers are in "uncharted waters" when it comes ...

Lieberman: Votes still short for climate bill

ASSOCIATED PRESS — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 16:53:03 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Senate sponsor of a climate and energy bill said Sunday that supporters are still short of the 60 votes they need to advance the legislation.

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, Connecticut independent, said about 50 senators support the bill while 30 others oppose it. That leaves 20 ...

Cap collects more and more oil, Coast Guard says

Melissa Nelson — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:33:18 GMT

PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- The geyser of oil spewing from floor of the Gulf of Mexico is tapering off more day by day with the help of a wellhead cap, but there's no quick fix for containing much of the crude that has already escaped and is spreading across ...

Containment cap offers hope even as oil spews on

Holbrook Mohr and John Flesher — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 14:31:49 GMT

ON BARATARIA BAY, La. (AP) -- A device sucking some of the oil from a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico offered optimism Sunday for a region that has seen its wildlife coated in a lethal oil muck, its fishermen idled and its beaches tarnished by the nation's worst ...

Obama's oil-spill point man says Gulf held hostage

ASSOCIATED PRESS — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:51:55 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government's point man on the Gulf oil spill said Sunday there is some progress in containing the leaking well, but Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen says he doesn't think anyone should be pleased as long as there is oil in the water.

Adm. Allen told CNN's ...

Obama pledges changes to avert future spills

ASSOCIATED PRESS — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:08:47 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Obama on Tuesday said an independent commission investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill will thoroughly examine the disaster and its causes to ensure that the nation never faces such a catastrophe again.

Mr. Obama spoke in the Rose Garden after the group's first meeting and ...

BP: 'Oil is going to flow for a while'

David Eldridge — Sun, 30 May 2010 16:42:46 GMT

After the latest failure to stem the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, BP and Obama administration officials took to the Sunday talk shows to outline the next step: another attempt to place a containment dome over the gushing well.

BP Managing Director Robert Dudley, on CNN's "State of ...

BP exec says oil company learned from failures

ASSOCIATED PRESS — Sun, 30 May 2010 12:52:12 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A BP executive said Sunday that BP will learn from its failed attempts to stop the Gulf oil spill and apply those lessons to its next try.

BP Managing Director Robert Dudley said unmanned submarines working a mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico will ...

White House adviser: Less-toxic dispersant not available

ASSOCIATED PRESS — Tue, 25 May 2010 13:06:45 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- BP is complying with the government's request to use less of a toxic dispersant in fighting the Gulf oil spill, but alternative dispersants aren't so readily available, the White House's energy adviser said Tuesday.

In a letter to BP last week, the Environmental Protection Agency gave the ...

White House defends response to spill

Kara Rowland — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:29:50 GMT

The Obama administration was on the defense Monday over its handling of the massive oil spill off the coast of Louisiana, saying the federal government is doing all it can despite a new opinion poll showing a majority of Americans don't approve of President Obama's handling of the crisis.

...

BP exec acknowledges public frustration over spill

Greg Bluestein and Matthew Brown — Mon, 24 May 2010 19:23:52 GMT

BARATARIA BAY, La. (AP) -- The BP executive in charge of fighting the Gulf of Mexico oil spill said Monday his company knows people are frustrated by its failure to plug the well that has been gushing for more than a month and is now spreading damage through Louisiana's wetlands.

...

BP exec notes public frustration over spill

Mon, 24 May 2010 19:19:39 GMT

BARATARIA BAY, La. — The BP executive in charge of fighting the Gulf of Mexico oil spill said Monday his company knows people are frustrated by its failure to plug the well that has been gushing for more than a month and is now spreading damage through Louisiana's wetlands. ...

BP: Mile-long tube collecting less oil

Greg Bluestein — Sun, 23 May 2010 18:20:19 GMT

COVINGTON, La. (AP) -- Three top Obama administration officials are returning to the Gulf Coast to monitor the massive oil spill that seems to have no end in sight, as BP PLC officials said Sunday that one of their efforts to slow the leak wasn't working as effectively as before.

...

Marsh oil spill cleanup could be impossible

Matthew Brown — Sun, 23 May 2010 05:03:09 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The gooey oil washing into the maze of marshes along the Gulf Coast could prove impossible to remove, leaving a toxic stew lethal to fish and wildlife, government officials and independent scientists said.

Officials are considering some drastic and risky solutions: They could set the ...

Oil spill closes 19% of Gulf fishing area

Tue, 18 May 2010 16:13:26 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Federal officials said Tuesday they're expanding the area of the Gulf of Mexico where fishing is shut down because of a massive oil spill.

The federal government already had shut down fishing from the Mississippi River to the Florida Panhandle soon after an ...

Firms pass blame in Gulf oil spill

Tue, 11 May 2010 15:06:14 GMT

UPDATED:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- BP PLC told Congress on Tuesday its massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill was caused by the failure of a key safety device made by another company.

In turn, that company says that BP was in charge and that a ...