Monday, May 24, 2010

Will BP Get Away With Causing The Deaths of 11 Workers & Creating The Worst Oil Spill In US History

To begin we can start with BP officials being questioned at Congressional Hearings on the issue of BPs ability to handle a massive spill. The BP official just makes excuses and doesn't really answer the questions or the facts presented to him. When in doubt use technical jargon and treat the members of Congress as being ignorant and slow witted-that is talk down to them.

BP officially assured the US government that they should be permitted to go ahead with exploratory wells in the Gulf of Mexico because they already had the expertise and the equipment to respond to a worst case scenario of 250,000 barrels leaking out of an underwater well . And yet BP has been unable to deal with a leak of only 5,000 barrels of oil daily. So they lied to the government and the appropriate agencies to get licenses to drill these wells.

Congressional Hearing on BP Oil Spill - Markey Q&A




Long Winded BS from BP's Shill Bob Dudley, Managing Director for BP interviewed by cowed Anderson Cooper at CNN.

BP insists the volume of oil and gas leaking at the Deepwater Horizon site is according to them approx. 5, 000 barrels of oil and gas.
Yet independent experts put the volume of the leak at 50,000 to 95,000 barrels daily.
BP and other irresponsible corporations never let facts get in the way of creating good PR.

Note he claims no one can tell how much oil is leaking out and that it doesn't matter in regards to stopping the leak or to the clean up- Utter nonsense experts have said.
As for the cause of the so called "accident" there is a great deal we already know which Mr Dudley do right refuses to acknowledge
He also doesn't mention that BP has had a history of ignoring safety regulations and then after a disaster basically gets away with their acts of criminal negligence. They get a slap on the wrist and a fine that given the wealth of the company it is a mere pittance.
The thing of it is is that too many members of the public, the media and government appear to be in awe of these corporations and their CEOs. Even if a corporation lies steals cheats shows no regard for its employees or the general public and the environment those in awe of these characters these Robber Barons are all too willing to defend them. Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove et al have in fact over the past 33 days shown more sympathy for BP than for the 11 dead workers or the possible contamination of the Gulf of Mexico.
People like these CEOs who are greedy and ruthless are held up as Paragon's of Christian virtues by the GOP & the Tea Party Gang.
To even question these CEO's truthfulness and their motives we are told is tantamount to BLASPHEMY. So was this the lesson that Jesus the Nazarene taught his disciples and followers???

BP Oil Executive - CNN Interview part 1 of 2



OK Anderson Cooper wants to keep them honest check out the oped in the New York Times that Anderson refers to-

In this oped piece in the New York Times May 21st signed by four engineering experts accuse BP of avoiding having any independent experts examine the leak because it would prove their estimate of 5,000 barrels of oil leaking out of the well is a baseless estimate. BP wants to stick to this low estimate for Public Relations reasons and to hide from the government or public how bad the leak is and that it will lead to extensive environmental damage and will have an impact on the fishing and tourism industry . BP wants to low ball the impact to further reduce their liability and costs . This is a deliberate cover-up as this oped piece piece shows.

BP has argued that it is almost impossibe to measure the volume of oil leaking into the ocean from its blown well
But this we are told is not true.
Secondly BP argues that their main concern is stopping the leak and that knowing the volume of the leak has nothing to do with stopping it.
This is also not true.

The Measure of a Disaster By IAN R. MacDONALD, JOHN AMOS, TIMOTHY CRONE and STEVE WERELEY at New York Times
Published: May 21, 2010


ON Thursday, BP was finally forced to acknowledge that far more oil is escaping from its damaged well into the Gulf of Mexico than the oft-repeated estimate of 5,000 barrels per day. Nonetheless, the company still insists that an accurate measurement of the spill rate is neither necessary, as it would do nothing to alter their response efforts, nor is it possible with existing science.

It is our view that accurate, continuously updated measurements are not only possible, but absolutely essential if we are to respond effectively to this and future disasters. That is why we are conducting satellite image analysis and image-based fluid-flow analysis to provide an independent assessment of the oil spill.

...Without knowing the flow’s true magnitude, how can anyone judge the success of any approach? Without determining how much oil is beneath the ocean’s surface and how much is floating toward land, how can we best direct response efforts

....our preliminary estimates indicate that the discharge is at least 40,000 barrels per day and could be as much as 100,000 barrels. Certainly, our assessments suggest that BP’s stated worst-case estimate of 60,000 barrels has been occurring all along. What matters most is that we take the steps to find out if it has.



Oil Spill Sparks Call for Aggressive Gov't Role: Scientist Discourages Administration from Letting BP Continue to Lead Cleanup Effort in Gulf by Bill Plante at CBS News ,May 22, 2010


Watch CBS News Videos Online

and CBS news coverage of the Spill May 23

No End in Sight for Oil Spill

It has been 33 days and counting after oil started to leak into the Gulf of Mexico and there appears to be no end in sight. Seth Doane reports



Watch CBS News Videos Online

CBS NEWS:Oil Spill: One Month Later

May 20, 2010



Watch CBS News Videos Online


Watchdog groups file FOIA requests to learn true extent of oil spill By Muriel Kane
Thursday, Via The Raw Story May 20th, 2010


Former EPA investigator charges, "What the government has done over the past several years is taught BP that it can do whatever it wants and will not be held accountable"

As the current Gulf oil spill crisis intensifies, previous incidents involving BP have begun coming under renewed scrutiny, intensifying suspicions that the company may be concealing the true extent of the spill.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Greenpeace have now filed four Freedom of Information Act requests seeking documents and video feeds.

"It is impossible to understand why the government hasn’t already made the video feed and other records documenting the impact of the spill public," explained CREW executive director Melanie Sloan. "Americans have the right to any information that would allow an accurate assessment of the true dangers this oil spill has created."

The requests were sent out late on Wednesday to the Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

also see:

5 Reasons You Won’t See the Worst of the Gulf Oil Spill by Brian Merchant via AlterNet.org May 22, 2010 Cross-posted from Treehugger.


also see: Op-ed at New York Times More Than Just an Oil Spill By BOB HERBERT, May 21, 2010


Cleaning oil-soaked wetlands may be impossible


via The Daily Record May 22, 2010


Gulf oil spill: Remembering Deepwater Horizon's dead By Anna M. Tinsley | Fort Worth Star-Telegram via McClatchy Newspapers , May 21, 2010

BP not named to task force that will figure Gulf oil spill's size via McClatchy newspapers,May 21, 2010

Gulf Coast Community to BP: Never Again! by Dan Bacher via Alternet.org, may 20, 2010


Gulf Oil Is in the Loop Current, Experts Say :Satellite pictures show oil snared by an eddy. by Christine Dell'Amore National Geographic News, May 18, 2010

EPA Officials Weighing Sanctions Against BP’s U.S. Operations by Abrahm Lustgarten at propublica via CommonDreams , May 21, 2010



and so it goes,
GORD.

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