Destroyed

A fire in February that killed one person and destroyed a city block in Kansas City, MO, was caused by the “accidental ignition of natural gas vapors that accumulated” inside a restaurant, according to a report by the Kansas City Fire Department. Pilot lights had been left on at JJ’s restaurant despite warnings from crews investigating a nearby gas line rupture, and the fire began in the kitchen with “heat from an open flame or smoking materials” listed as the heat source (see Daily GPI, Feb. 22). However, the report did not assign blame as to what caused the Missouri Gas Energy pipeline to explode. The report was compiled by the city, the city fire department, the police department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The Missouri Public Service Commission and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration are conducting separate investigations.

An investigation continued Thursday in the natural gas explosion that destroyed most of a city block in a shopping district Tuesday night in Kansas City, MO. A snow storm that blanketed the region Wednesday night had slowed progress, officials said.

A trial to determine various parties’ liability for BP plc’s Macondo well blowout in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, which destroyed Transocean Ltd.’s Deepwater Horizon rig and killed 11 men, has been delayed until Feb. 25 from Jan. 14 in New Orleans. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier cited tourist events — the NFL Super Bowl and the Mardi Gras festival — that would keep New Orleans’ hotels booked. However, Barbier declined to delay a Nov. 8 hearing on a settlement BP reached with the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee, which is composed of private parties (see Daily GPI, March 6). The tentative settlement for $7.8 billion would resolve a “substantial majority of legitimate economic loss and medical claims,” BP said.

Transocean Ltd., which owned the Deepwater Horizon rig that was destroyed when the Macondo well exploded last year in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), last week directed most of the blame for the tragedy to BP plc, which operated the well and was leasing the rig.

Transocean Ltd., which owned the Deepwater Horizon rig that was destroyed when the Macondo well exploded last year in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), on Wednesday directed the majority of the tragedy to BP plc, which operated the well and was leasing the rig.

As Japan struggled to prevent a catastrophic release of radiation from nuclear facilities destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami, Russia, Qatar and Indonesia all said they were willing and able to step in with supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to take up the slack for lost power generating capacity.

The Sept. 9 San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline blast that killed eight people and destroyed 37 homes in a quiet suburban San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood shouldn’t have happened and should not be repeated anywhere in the future, a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) executive told NGI.

A study that contended that Spain’s government-subsidized green jobs program has destroyed 2.2 jobs for every new green job created and offered “a note of caution” to U.S. policymakers was based on non traditional research methodologies, lacked supporting statistics and ignored policy differences between the two countries, according to a white paper issued by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

A study that contended that Spain’s government-subsidized green jobs program has destroyed 2.2 jobs for every new green job created and offered “a note of caution” to U.S. policymakers was based on non traditional research methodologies, lacked supporting statistics and ignored policy differences between the two countries, according to a white paper issued by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).