On February 1, the Department of Energy unveiled a $28.4 billion budget request for the 2011 fiscal year (which starts in October this year).
Quake Threat Leads Swiss to Close Geothermal Project
A $60 million project to extract renewable energy from the hot bedrock deep beneath Basel, Switzerland, was shut down permanently on Thursday after a government study determined that earthquakes generated by the project were likely to do millions of dollars in damage each year.
And developing this policy is especially critical now - as our country moves forward in developing the clean, renewable energy off our coasts for the 21st century. A policy like this can help the government make sure it's protecting ocean resources while moving forward with such development, making sure it's done right from the start.This list goes on - in fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find an issue affecting our oceans' health where a national oceans policy wouldn't help. And it doesn't stop at the environment - this policy can also help the economy. Our oceans and Great Lakes are economic engines - providing more jobs and more economic output than the entire farm sector (contributing more than $230 billion to the nation's GDP annually).
The Obama Administration is charting the course for healthy oceans, and from what we've seen today they're on the right path. We look forward to helping sail the ship.
Bromwich and other BOEMRE officials told The Associated Press that the waivers of NEPA requirements for oil and gas companies with pre-existing wells do not reverse its previous plan not to waive detailed environmental reviews. Although the oil companies will not be required to complete detailed reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act, they will have to comply with new regulations and policies.
The companies "will not be required to revise a previously submitted Exploration Plan or Development Operations Coordination Document if the worst-case discharge estimated for the project ... is less than the worst-case discharge estimate included by the company in its Oil Spill Response Plan. However, if the worst-case discharge exceeds the Oil Spill Response Plan, further reviews will be conducted," according to the BOEMRE statement released Monday.
The 13 companies are ATP Oil & Gas Corp.; BHP Billiton Petroleum (GOM) Inc.; Chevron USA Inc.; Cobalt International Energy; ENI U.S. Operating Company Inc.; Hess Corp.; Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp.; Marathon Oil Co.; Murphy Exploration & Production Co.-USA; Noble Energy Inc.; Shell Offshore Inc.; Statoil USA E&P Inc.; and Walter Oil & Gas Corp.
Operation
The Japanese part of the IODP program was called Chikyū Hakken (地球発見, Chikyū Hakken?), Japanese for "Earth Discovery". Chikyu is operated by the Center for Deep Earth Research (CDEX), a subdivision of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). JAMSTEC also operates the DSV Shinkai, Earth Simulator supercomputer and other marine scientific research projects. CDEX has responsible for the services to support activities including on-board staffing, data management for core samples and logging; implements engineering site surveys; and conducts engineering developments. CDEX contracts with the Mantle Quest Japan Company for the navigation of the ship.
The Chikyū Hakken program is collaborated with foreign scientists from the United States, a consortium consisting of several European countries, Canada, China and South Korea.
Key innovations include a GPS system and six adjustable computer controlled azimuth thrusters (3.8 meters in diameter) that enable precise positioning to maintain a stable platform during deep water drilling. The maximum drilling water depth for riser drilling is 2,500 meters and can support a drill string up to 10,000 meters long.
History
On November 16, 2007 the project drilled into four of the six sites as planned, reaching 1,400 meters at the site where they plan to drill 6 kilometers. The first stage of four NanTroSEIZE Stages was completed in February 2008. The whole project is envisioned to be completed by 2012 [4]
Magnitude 7.4 EarthQuake Hit Pakistan, India, Iran, Dubai, Qatar, Oman, Muscat
Posted by admin on January 19, 2011
On 28 January 2011 the world’s longest borehole was drilled at the Odoptu field, with a measured total depth of 12,345 metres (40,502 ft) and a horizontal displacement of 11,475 metres (37,648 ft), in 60 days.[2]
Earthquake hits Sea of Okhotsk
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-24 19:21
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BEIJING - An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale hit the Sea of Okhotsk, part of the western Pacific Ocean, at 5:02 p.m. Monday, the China Seismological Network reported.
The epicenter was located at 54.2 degrees north latitude and 154.3 degrees east longitude off shore.
The Sea of Okhotsk sits at the far eastern coast of Russia, with the Kamchatka Peninsula on its east.
Earthquake shakes Russia's Sea of Okhotsk, no casualties reported
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14:53, July 05, 2008
A 6.9-magnitude earthquake jolted the region of the Sea of Okhotsk in southeast Russia on Saturday, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.
The tremor occurred at 06:13 Moscow time (0213 GMT), the Kamchatka office of the geophysics service of the Russian Academy of Sciences said.
According to seismologists, the epicenter was at a depth of about 600 km under the seabed, 400 km west of the Kamchatka territorial center.
