August 28, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

August 26, KMGH 7 Denver – A small explosion at a chemical plant just outside Commerce City, Colorado, forced a temporary evacuation Tuesday afternoon, but there were no injuries. The area around the site of the plant was originally evacuated and 104th Avenue was closed, but the road has reopened and evacuations were lifted. No further evacuations were ordered. Source: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/17303175/detail.html

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August 28, 2008 by Tim McDowell.

U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas producers were closely watching Tropical Storm Gustav on Wednesday morning while making plans to evacuate workers from offshore platforms. U.S. crude oil CLV8 was up more than $3, trading above $119 per barrel, on fears about Gustav’s impact on Gulf production, which provides 25 percent of U.S. oil output and 15 percent of the nation’s natural gas production. “More and more of the tracks are all in agreement. Somewhere between Houston and New Orleans we’re going to have a problem. That’s the heart of the platforms. And they’re still saying Category 3 or higher,” said an advisor at Commercial Brokerage Corp. on Wednesday. U.S. forecasters said the storm was expected to strengthen to a major hurricane when it entered the Gulf of Mexico by Sunday with winds greater than 111 miles per hour. On Wednesday, a Petrobras PET4.SA spokesman said the company was nearing a decision on evacuations. “Depending on the way it takes, tomorrow they are going to make a decision whether to evacuate the platforms, either Friday or Saturday,” he said on Wednesday. Shell Oil said on Tuesday it could decide as early as Wednesday to evacuate nonessential workers from its platforms. Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSN2744306120080827

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