Peanut Butter News

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NEW ORLEANS – Stark differences exist between the oil platform fire in the Gulf of Mexico and the blast that led to the massive BP spill. Mostly notably, no one was killed and no crude was gushing into the water, but the distinctions don’t end there.

Even though the Mariner Energy-owned platform that erupted in flames Thursday was just 200 miles west of the site of the spill, everything from the structures to the operations to the safety devices were different.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — Zemco Industries in Buffalo, New York, has recalled approximately 380,000 pounds of deli meat that may be contaminated with bacteria that can cause a potentially fatal disease, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday.

The products were distributed to Wal-Marts nationwide, according to the USDA’s website.

The meats may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, which was discovered in a retail sample collected by inspectors in Georgia. The USDA has received no reports of illnesses associated with the meats.

Upon learning of the voluntary recall, Wal-Mart immediately told its stores to remove the meat from their shelves, the company said in a statement.

Full Story at news.Yahoo.com

COPIAPO, Chile – Rescuers are lowering capsules containing rehydration tablets, glucose and oxygen down a long hole to 33 miners who surprised the world by staying alive while trapped a half-mile underground for 2 1/2 weeks.

Raising hopes further Monday, a second bore hole punched into the chamber where the miners are entombed and a third probe was nearing the spot, Mining Minister Laurence Golborne reported.

The hole that reached the miners Sunday will continue to be used to lower supplies, the second will be for communication and the third will provide ventilation, Golborne said.

Their ordeal, however, is far from over.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — A 20-year-old man waiting in line for a ride at Disney’s California Adventure Park fell 25 to 30 feet Wednesday night, Anaheim police spokesman Sgt. Rick Martinez said Thursday.

The man was in the building housing the queue for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, when he put his leg over the railing and fell, Martinez said.

“The guest was standing in line with friends on a second-floor platform when he climbed over a barrier to the area below and lost his balance and fell approximately 25 feet,” Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown said in a statement.

Full Story at msnbc.msn.com

Hundreds of people have been sickened in a salmonella outbreak linked to eggs in four states and possibly more, health officials said Wednesday as a company dramatically expanded a recall to 380 million eggs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working with state health departments to investigate the illnesses. No deaths have been reported, said Dr. Christopher Braden, a CDC epidemiologist involved in the investigation.

Initially, 228 million eggs, or the equivalent of 19 million dozen-egg cartons, were recalled by the company Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa. But that number was increased to nearly 32 million dozen-egg cartons.

Full Story at msnbc.com

MIAMI — Two new scientific reports Tuesday raised fresh fears about the environmental fallout from the world’s worst offshore oil spill and questioned government assurances that most of the oil from the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico was already gone.

In one of the reports, researchers at the University of Georgia said about three-quarters of the oil from BP’s blown-out Macondo well was still lurking below the surface of the Gulf and may pose a threat to the ecosystem.

Charles Hopkinson, who helped lead the investigation, said up to 79 percent of the 4.1 million barrels of oil that gushed from the broken well and was not captured directly at the wellhead remained in the Gulf.

Full Story at msnbc.com

The company that owned the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April had widespread safety concerns about several of its other rigs in the gulf, and a month before the disaster it commissioned a broad review of the safety culture of the company’s North American operations, according to confidential internal reports.

In response to “a series of serious accidents and near-hits within the global organization,” Transocean, the world’s largest offshore drilling company, commissioned the risk management company Lloyd’s Register to investigate its Houston headquarters and three other gulf rigs besides the Deepwater Horizon to assess its safety culture.

Full Story CNN.com

(CNN) — One hundred days after an oil well operated by BP ruptured in the Gulf of Mexico, and 13 days after crews finished capping the well to contain the gushing crude, the man who is overseeing the federal response is optimistic that steps planned for the coming days will finally, permanently seal the well.

“The relief well, while it is deep, is something that has been done before,” said retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen. “The technologies involved here are not novel, but obviously, the depth is a challenge here. But we are optimistic we will get this done.”

Full Story at msnbc.com

NEW ORLEANS — Ships were getting back in place Sunday at the Gulf of Mexico site of BP’s leaky oil well as crews restarted work on plugging the gusher before another big storm stops work again.

Piping for the main relief well being drilled was being reinstalled and should be ready by late afternoon, National Incident Commander Thad Allen told reporters Sunday.

Full Story at news.CNET.com

Everything from high-tech imaging gear to plastic bags with screens is being tested by a “skunk works” team at BP set up to evaluate cleanup methods in the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil company’s High Interest Technology Team, based in Mobile, Ala., is currently sifting through thousand of proposals to fix the leak or reduce damage to the environment. BP recently began testing some new products, including a machine that removes oil from sand and an oil-water separator made from hardware store components, including plastic bags, mesh from lawn furniture, and plastic pipes.

Full Story at msnbc.com

Why use our money to give bonuses. Get the banks back on their feet first. America is the only place that lets these places have a vacation with our money instead of first fixing the problem. We as citizens can’t do that. They would put us in jail for miss using the money we would get. These people just don’t care as long as their live stile does not change.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s pay czar said Friday that 17 banks receiving taxpayer money from the $700 billion financial bailout made “ill-advised” payments to their executives. But he stopped short of calling them “contrary to the public interest,” language that would have signaled a fight to get it back.

Kenneth Feinberg also said he did not try to recoup $1.6 billion in lavish compensation to top executives at the bailed-out banks because he wanted to protect the banks from possible lawsuits from shareholders trying to recapture the executives’ money.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — Testing continues and scientists are evaluating the results to decide whether to resume collecting oil from BP’s ruptured deepwater well, the company said Monday.

BP’s statement came hours after Thad Allen, the federal government’s oil spill response director, said that testing had revealed a “detected seep a distance from the well.” He ordered the company to quickly notify the government if other leaks were found.

“When seeps are detected, you are directed to marshal resources, quickly investigate, and report findings to the government in no more than four hours,” Allen said in a letter to BP Chief Managing Director Bob Dudley released late Sunday.