It’s open season for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico
A five-month moratorium on deep-sea drilling was imposed after the 201 0 BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, but those days are long gone. Now a record-breaking number of rigs are coming to the Gulf to tap gas and oil beneath the sea floor. More than 60 rigs are expected to be operating in waters deeper than 1 ,000 feet by the end of 201 5, up from 36 today, Bloomberg reports: "Demand is driven in part by exploration successes in the lower tertiary, a geologic layer about 20,000 feet below the sea floor containing giant crude deposits that producers are only now figuring out how to tap. Companies such as Chevron Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. must do more drilling to turn large discoveries into producing wells — as many as 20 wells for each find." “The Gulf had more than its fair share of discoveries,” Chris Beckett, chief executive officer at Pacific Drilling SA, said in an interview. “Right now, the Gulf is the fastest growing deepwater region in the world.” Source
South Korea to restart whale hunting
August 6th, South Korean officials announced plans to resume whaling for scientific research during a meeting in Panama City. Like Japan, South Korea found a loophole in an international moratorium on commercial whaling by claiming they do it for scientific purposes. South Korea has also said whaling is part of their cultural heritage. South Korea has said an increase in the whale population is depleting fishing stocks, but the World Wildlife Fund said that claim has no scientific basis. Source
Costa Rica will close all its zoos in 201 4
The Costa Rican government has announced plans to close its zoos, freeing creatures from their long captivity. “We are getting rid of the cages and reinforcing the idea of interacting with biodiversity in botanical parks in a natural way,” said Environment Minister René Castro. “We don't want animals in captivity or enclosed
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Humpback whale - MindsEye_PJ