1.   The product that helps in the kitchen is the same product that controls certain types of fire and thins down drilling muds.

2.   Drilling mud will be vacuumed out of the well, and fresh water will be injected to flush out remaining mud, he said.

3.   Drilling mud, injected to remove cuttings, leaked into the underground water and emerged in the creek.

4.   One study found that some drilling muds, while not toxic, can cause claw deformities in spiny lobsters.

5.   Research has shown that sediment disturbance and drilling muds can inhibit the growth of seagrasses and corals.

6.   Strickland said the timing was important because of concern that installing the pipe could make it difficult to flush the drilling mud out of underground water passages.

7.   The drilling muds, once used, are pumped back to the rig platform and, in most of the Gulf oil fields, simply dumped over the side.

8.   The Minerals Management Service researchers attributed virtually all the mercury contamination they recorded to drilling muds.

9.   An earlier order had been issued after monitors found that drilling mud had spilled onto the ocean floor and damaged surrounding marine life.