RISK-DISASTER-AND-INSURANCE

This is by far one of the best presentations of the technology of oilwell blowout control. The first chapters present the classic subjects such as the Driller's method and the Weight and Wait method. Later chapters cover more of the current techniques for well control. Each chapter is strucutred to first go through the steps of a method and immediately following with a detail discussion of each step and the consequences of errors in actions and assumptions. All the required calculation methods are provided and presented in refreshing clarity. The last chapter of the book provides a really interesting history of the Kuwait well control efforts. The entire contents of the book assume the reader does have some knowledge of the nomenclature of the BOP stack and the control system. However, the terminology is not overwhelming. The best chapter in the book is the case study toward the end of the book. The author puts everything together that is covered in the previous chapters to resonate ideas and concepts. The one thing that will probably make this a classic is the "turn of events" in this chapter. It reads just like a mystery novel and this writer will not spoil the ending.

As with his 1994 book, Advanced Blowout and Well Control, Grace offers a book that presents tested practices and procedures for well control, all based on solid engineering principles and his own more than 25 years of hands-on field experience. Specific situations are reviewed along with detailed procedures to analyze alternatives and tackle problems. The use of fluid dynamics in well control, which the author pioneered, is given careful treatment, along with many other topics such as relief well operations, underground blowouts, slim hole drilling problems, and special services such as fire fighting, capping, and snubbing. In addition, case histories are presented, analyzed, and discussed. Provides new techniques for blowout containment, never before published, first used in the Gulf War. Provides the most up-to-date techniques and tools for blowout and well control. New case histories include the Kuwait fires that were set by Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War.

This book, based on the SINTEF Offshore Blowout Database, thoroughly examines U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Norwegian and UK North Sea blowouts that occurred from 1980 to 1994. This book reveals the operations that were in progress at the onset of the blowouts and helps you learn from the mistakes of others.

BOEMRE Director Michael R. Bromwich speaks about drilling safety during his opening remarks recently at the Forum on Offshore Drilling in Santa Barbara, California. Director Bromwich is hosting eight forums in the Gulf Coast states, California and Alaska, to collect information and input from experts in the fields of deepwater drilling safety reforms, well containment, and oil spill response. Members of the public who wish to comment on the same topic areas may list their thoughts online.

The central goal of this book is to provide a state of the art overview of the literature with respect to the economic analysis of tort law. It sure meets the challenge, offering with great expertise a comprehensive presentation of tort law in both economic and comparative perspectives. The clarity of the text, unusual in the law and economics literature, makes the book accessible to a broad readership of economists with a limited legal background and lawyers with limited economic skills.' Olivier Moreteau, Louisiana State University, US 'Tort Law and Economics, ed. Michael Faure, provides a highly useful economic overview of the most important topics of tort law. The authors clearly show the main developments of the discussion, examining the results of recent studies and stating their own opinions. Detailed bibliographies are included. The volume has to be warmly recommended to friends and foes of economic analysis who are provided with a comprehensive update in this field while also indicating areas which critics have to focus on.' Helmut Koziol, European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law, Austria This volume provides a state-of-the-art overview of the literature on the economic analysis of tort law. In sixteen chapters, the specialist authors guide the reader through the often vast literature in each domain providing a balanced and comprehensive summary. Particular attention is paid to the evolution of the field, further refinements to economic models and relevant conclusions and lessons for the policymaker. Tort Law and Economics is part of the Encyclopedia of Law and Economics, and enables readers, some not familiar with law and economics, to obtain an insight in the relevant economic literature concerning tort law and economics. This book will be of interest to lawyers and economists, practitioners and academics interested in accident law, tort law, insurance and regulation. It will also appeal to students in economic analysis of law and policymakers working on

Industry affects society and the natural environment. It does so through several channels, such as by creating jobs, producing useful goods, supporting community activities, helping solve societal issues, ensuring the environmental sustainability of its activities, etc. In order to make this impact as virtuous as possible, many companies have in place a corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy and programme. The European Commission defines CSR as: "A concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis."

Resources for the Future, 1990

The technological advances of contemporary society have outpaced our moral understanding of the problems that they create. How will we deal with profound ecological changes, human cloning, hybrid people, and eroding cyberprivacy, just to name a few issues? In this book, Lorenzo Magnani argues that existing moral constructs often can not be applied to new technology. He proposes an entirely new ethical approach, one that blends epistemology with cognitive science.

672. Steven Shavell, The Corrective Tax versus Liability As Solutions to the Problem of Harmful Externalities, 7/10. Abstract: Although the corrective tax has long been viewed by economists as a theoretically desirable remedy for the problem of harmful externalities, its actual use has been limited, mainly to the domain of pollution. Liability, in contrast, has great importance in controlling harmful externalities. I compare the tax and liability here in theory and suggest that the conclusions help to explain the observed predominance of liability over taxation, except in the area of pollution. The following factors are emphasized in the analysis: inefficiency of incentives under taxes when, as would be typical, it would be impractical for the state to incorporate into taxes all of the variables that significantly affect expected harm; efficiency of incentives under strict liability, which requires only that actual harms be measured; efficiency of incentives to exercise precautions under the negligence rule; administrative cost advantages of liability deriving from its being applied only when harm occurs; and dilution of incentives under liability when suit would be unlikely or injurers would not be able to pay fully for harms caused.

Gender and PlanningEdited by Susan S. Fainstein and Lisa J. ServonRutgers University Press, 2005 Increasingly, experts recognize that gender has affected urban planning and the design of the spaces where we live and work. Too often, urban and suburban spaces support stereotypically male activities and planning methodologies reflect a male-dominated society. To document and analyze the connection between gender and planning, the editors of this volume have assembled an interdisciplinary collection of influential essays by leading scholars. Contributors point to the ubiquitous single-family home, which prevents women from sharing tasks or pooling services. Similarly, they argue that public transportation routes are usually designed for the (male) worker's commute from home to the central city, and do not help the suburban dweller running errands. In addition to these practical considerations, many contributors offer theoretical perspectives on issues such as planning discourse and the construction of concepts of rationality. While the essays call for an awareness of gender in matters of planning, they do not over-simplify the issue by moving toward a single feminist solution. Contributors realize that not all women gravitate toward communal opportunities, that many women now share the supposedly male commute, and that considerations of race and class need to influence planning as well. Among various recommendations, contributors urge urban planners to provide opportunities that facilitate women's needs, such as childcare on the way to work and jobs that are decentralized so that women can be close to their children. Bringing together the most important writings of the last twenty-five years, this book is essential reading for students and scholars of planning theory as well as anyone concerned with gender and diversity. Contributors: Susan S. Fainstein, Ann Forsyth, Dolores Hayden, Sikivu Hutchinson, Ann R. Markusen, Doreen Massey, Linda McDowell, Martha C. Nuss

"Transparency is not only in the public interest, it is part of the scientific process. We want to make sure that independent scientists, engineers and other experts have every opportunity to review this information and make their own conclusions." -Secretary Chu As part of the Obama Administration's ongoing commitment to transparency surrounding the response to the BP oil spill, the Department of Energy is providing online access to schematics, pressure tests, diagnostic results and other data about the malfunctioning blowout preventer. Secretary Chu insisted on making the data widely available to ensure the public is as informed as possible, and to ensure that outside experts making recommendations have access to the same information that BP and the government have. This site is updated regularly with new data and additional documentation. Latest Information July 9th Combined Total Amount of Oil and Gas Recovered Daily from the Top Hat and Choke Line oil recovery systems. (.xls) (.ods) Visual Breakout of the Cummulative Barrels of Oil Recovered by the LMRP Cap and Q4000. Oil and Gas Flow Data from the Top Hat and from the Choke Line (.xls) (.ods) July 1st Key Events Timeline (.ppt) - This document lists key events beginning with the April 20 fire on the Deepwater Horizon through June 30th. Data Summary from Deepwater Horizon The following documents are a collection of data from operations to control flow from the Deepwater Horizon well. All information was provided directly by BP. The file names have been preserved in order to maintain a traceable record of where each file came from in the BP tracking system and whenever possible, we have worked to ensure that the contents are data readable. Description of System This page gives a general overview of the well, the blow out preventer, the lower marine reservoir package and the riser configuration as best known after the April 20 fire on the Deepwater Horizon. Well Configuration (.pdf)- showing the dept

Gulf Coast Oil Spill Update U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu listens to analysis of oil spill response efforts during his recent trip to Houston, TX. As part of the Obama Administration's ongoing commitment to transparency surrounding the response to the BP oil spill, the Department of Energy is providing online access to schematics, pressure tests, diagnostic results and other data about the malfunctioning blowout preventer. The information is posted at energy.gov/oilspilldata, which will be updated with additional data soon. For the latest information on this effort, visit our Gulf Coast Oil Spill Resource Center.

Edward Paice's Wrath of God: Lisbon 1755 I read this book very quickly, while away on half term last week. It is a brilliantly researched and well-written account of a world-changing tragedy - and there is no small, grim irony that this is the week in which the Porguguese island of Madeira has suffered more natural disaster. That Lisbon 1755 was a terrible moment (earthquake followed by rampant fires followed by tsunami) is not in doubt and simply as a human story, it is entirely deserving of study. Indeed, it was such a huge event that the impact was felt 100s of miles away, and the sea was affected on the other side of the Atlantic (in the Caribbean). It thus qualified as one of only two 'teletsunami' (a tsunami that has travelled over 1000km) ever recorded in the Caribbean. But its wider importance cannot be underestimated either, because of the philosophical and moral repercussions it had on European thought. As Paice describes Voltaire's brilliant deconstruction of prevailing ideas: In Voltaire's deft hands the Lisbon earthquake became the vehicle for an assault on optimism and the orthodox view of divine Providence which would change the way people thought for ever; and it in turn it arguably became the last disaster in which God held centre stage. (p195) The reasons are many - but if a city could ever have claimed to have been 'Christian' Lisbon was one that would have tried (although many Protestants at the time including the likes of Wesley and Whitefield would have disputed it). It's Catholicism was very strong - perhaps 1/6th of the population were so called 'religioso' - but its forms were (even by many european Catholics' admissions) rampantly corrupt and hypocritical. Worse, though, was that the first big quake struck at 10am on Saturday 1st November 1755 - which was at precisely the moment that many of Lisbon's citizens would have been in church. For 1st November is also All Saints' Day, and this was a huge fea

A Ira de Deus (Edward Paice) - Terremoto em Lisboa em 1755 Publicado em 08/07/2010 por saracura2

Environmental liability for contaminated land - towards a European consensus Margaret Hollins and Susan Percy School of Urban Development and Policy, South Bank University, Wandsworth Road, London SW8 2JZ, U.K. Available online 23 June 1998. Abstract Land contamination1 has often been accepted as an inevitable consequence of industrialisation (Williams, R., 1995, Paper presented to the 9th AESOP Congress), however, when land is contaminated this affects the market value of the site and presents problems in terms of the extent of civil liability for environmental damage and clean up. Different countries have different approaches to dealing with contaminated land, with no consensus approach across Europe. There is now increasing pressure being brought to bear on European member states to treat contamination with some degree of uniformity. This paper explores a number of differences in contaminated land policy together with the legal and policy developments at national and European levels and concludes that a European consensus on land contamination is very problematic but nevertheless important for long term land development across Europe. Author Keywords: contaminated land; liability; environment; Europe