Brazil’s ‘subsalt’ drilling raises safety questions

February 2012

Brazil

Brazil’s ‘subsalt’ drilling raises safety questions

In late January, Brazil experienced its second offshore oil spill in three months. The spill, though small, was the first to occur in the so-called ......

Argentina

Clashes in Argentine Andes over open-pit mining

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Dominican Republic

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Lake Enriquillo, the largest lake in the Caribbean, was shrinking so rapidly in the early 2000s that many feared it would disappear entirely. But less ......

Peru

Peru acts on pair of mining controversies

Moving to resolve two mining controversies, the Peruvian government hired three experts to review an international consortium’s plans for a mine in the country’s northern ......

Paraguay (Free Read)

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Around the Region

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Q&A

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Brazil’s ‘subsalt’ drilling raises safety questions

Brazil

In late January, Brazil experienced its second offshore oil spill in three months. The spill, though small, was the first to occur in the so-called “subsalt” offshore drilling fields that Petrobras, the state oil company, is counting on to help it become a major global oil exporter this decade. Environmentalists fault the government for lacking special, extra-rigorous safeguards for subsalt fields, which lie 200 to 300 kilometers (125 to 185 miles) off the coast beneath 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) of water. Subsalt projects involve drilling unprecedented distances below the seabed—typically about 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) through rock, sand and a two-kilometer (1.2-mile) band of salt. Estimated to hold at least 50 billion barrels of oil, Brazil’s subsalt fields currently account... [Log in to read more]

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February 2012

Brazil

Brazil’s ‘subsalt’ drilling raises safety questions

In late January, Brazil experienced its second offshore oil spill in three months. The spill, though small, was the first to occur in the so-called ......

Argentina

Clashes in Argentine Andes over open-pit mining

Images of riot police clashing with protestors have been largely absent from Argentine television screens and front pages since the country’s severe economic downturn and ......

Dominican Republic

Dominican lake shows surprising expansion

Lake Enriquillo, the largest lake in the Caribbean, was shrinking so rapidly in the early 2000s that many feared it would disappear entirely. But less ......

Peru

Peru acts on pair of mining controversies

Moving to resolve two mining controversies, the Peruvian government hired three experts to review an international consortium’s plans for a mine in the country’s northern ......

Paraguay (Free Read)

Surge of land-clearing in Paraguay’s Chaco

Deforestation in Paraguay’s portion of the Gran Chaco jumped 23% last year, according to Guyra Paraguay, a leading Paraguayan environmental organization. The estimate, based on an ......

Around the Region

Ngöbe-Buglé protest Panama hydropower and mining plans

The northern segment of the Inter-American Highway in Panama was closed for eight days this month when over 5,000 members of the Ngöbe-Buglé indigenous group ......

Centerpiece

Honduran project returning macaws to wild

Fifteen hundred years ago, when the Mayan capital of Copán stood at its political apex, the surrounding jungle of what is today western Honduras brimmed ......

Q&A

Lalonde on what to expect—and what not to—at Rio+20

Brice Lalonde of France is one of two executive coordinators of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development being held in Rio de Janeiro June ......