BP hired a top oilfield service company to test the strength of cement linings on the Deepwater Horizon's well, but sent the firm's workers home 11 hours before the rig exploded April 20 without performing a final check that a top cementing company executive called "the only test that can really determine the actual effectiveness" of the well's seal....and worse...
A spokesman for the testing firm, Schlumberger, said BP had a Schlumberger team and equipment for sending acoustic testing lines down the well "on standby" from April 18 to April 20. But BP never asked the Schlumberger crew to perform the acoustic test and sent its members back to Louisiana on a regularly scheduled helicopter flight at 11 a.m., Schlumberger spokesman Stephen T. Harris said.
At a few minutes before 10 p.m., a belch of natural gas shot out of the well, up a riser pipe to the rig above, igniting massive explosions, killing 11 crewmembers and sending millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf. The rig's owner, Transocean, blames failed cement seals, installed by Halliburton, for the disastrous blowout.
BP acknowledged Thursday that the gusher of oil pouring from its damaged Gulf of Mexico well is bigger than estimated to date, as new video showed a cloud of crude billowing around its undersea siphon....and worse.
Company spokesman Mark Proegler said Thursday that the siphon is now drawing about 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) a day up to a ship on the surface. That's as much as government and company officials had estimated the spill was pouring into the Gulf every day for a month. Proegler declined to estimate how much more oil was escaping.
BP America Chairman Lamar McKay said Wednesday the figure used by the oil spill response team had a degree of uncertainty built into it. But figures by independent researchers have run up to many times higher: Steve Wereley, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, told CNN's "American Morning" that the spill could be as big as 20,000 to 100,000 barrels a day.
The first heavy oil from a giant Gulf of Mexico spill sloshed ashore in fragile Louisiana marshlands on Wednesday and part of the mess entered a powerful current that could carry it to Florida and beyond.Even if the oil geyser was stopped right this second, the damage has already been done. I really, really don't think people are still even dimly aware of just how much economic damage the Gulf Coast states are in for. Best case, tens of billions, likely case, multiply that figure by ten, worst case, well...half a trillion or more ain't out of the ballpark...
The developments underscored the gravity of the situation as British energy giant BP Plc raced to capture more crude gushing from a ruptured well a mile beneath the surface. The spill is threatening an ecological and economic disaster along the U.S. Gulf Coast and beyond.
"This wasn't tar balls. This wasn't sheen," Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said after a boat tour to the southernmost point of the Mississippi River estuary. "This is heavy oil in our wetlands."
Between this and the Dow today, it's a good thing I don't have a lot of booze around right now.
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4 comments:
You keep dodging the question I will keep asking every time you bring this up. How much of this is Obama's responsibility as President? How badly will this hurt Democrats in November as a result? The Republicans aren't in charge of oversight anymore. "It's Bush's fault" will not work this time...
Answer the question oh great pundit Zandar since you're so much smarter than everyone else around here!
I'll answer that one, Arcadian. How much of this is the President's fault? An equal share. His oversight agency failed to oversee, if it wasn't downright corrupt. He's firmly established his administration now, so shifting blame to the Bushies doesn't cut it at all.
How badly will this hurt the Donks in November? Individual Donks that can be tied to neglectful or corrupt legislating will take it right on the chin, and rightly so.
Nationally, though? In order for Republicans to capitalize on this shameful episode, they'd need to make a case for tighter regulation, stronger laws, effective industry oversight, environmental protection, suits against the responsible corporate parties, and taxpayer funded cleanup efforts.
If you think they're going to do that with the Tea Party hammering them on the right, you're smoking crack.
The blame may be shared equally, but 100% of the ultimate responsibility falls on this administration.
That was the standard liberals set after 9/11 for man-made acts of destruction, was it not?
Snore. Most... tenuous... false equivalency... evar. Back to troll school with you.
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