Tag: Deepwater Horizon

Next Big Oil Spill Disaster Set for the Arctic

Shell Oil is on its way right now to a location less than 15 miles from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. “Shell has proposed drilling up to four shallow water exploration wells in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea this summer, beginning on July 1,” Subsea World News reported last month.

The potential harm from a BP-scale spill is almost beyond comprehension,” David Yarnold, president of the National Audubon Society wrote at the Huffington Post.

If there is a spot on Earth as sacred or as critical to the future of our wild birds as the Gulf of Mexico, it is probably the unspoiled Arctic. Here, hundreds of bird species arrive every spring from all four North American flyways — the superhighways in the sky that birds use to travel up and down the Americas. Here, they mate, lay eggs and raise their young. Here also, many of America’s remaining polar bears make their winter dens along the coasts.

Siri wrote earlier today on Daily Kos on how the BP-spill in 2010 has caused unprecedented mutations and deformities in ocean life in Gulf of Mexico. Today, I’ll look at how our government and Big Oil are setting the stage in the Arctic for the sequel to Deepwater Horizon disaster. The script is already written and the leading actors are already on their way to the set.  

Deepwater Horizon: Final Report (Released 01/11/2011)

A Press conference was held at the National Press Club on 11 January 2011 at 10AM and lasted a little over an hour with statements at the beginning and refreshingly, considering what we usually get in our so called political discourse and from the journalism profession, intelligent questions and answers following.

“Even Jesus couldn’t save their souls”

BP and the Feds have fooled America and the entire world into thinking the BP Gulf Oil Spill is over, that the beaches are clean and that the seafood is safe, and everything is OK.

Titled “The Gulf Oil Spill isn’t over!” here’s a little bit of mournful Louisiana blues to tell the real story.



Uploaded to YouTube Oct. 02, 2010 by:

Holt Webb – writer/photographer & publisher of

The Vanishing America Project

http://vanishingamerica.net

a multi-year journey I’ve undertaken to use my skill as a photographer and a writer to promote conservation and raise awareness about what we are losing – our culture, our wildlife, and our landscape – in hopes that some of it will still be around for future generations to enjoy.

Hat tip to Alexander Higgins who for months on his blog has been collecting every bit of news you can imagine about the BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil catastrophe.

BP and CEOs Fight the Laws



Kendrick Meek; Blast BP and Corporate Irresponsibility

copyright © 2010 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org

Whispers whirled around the White House, on The Hill, within the Department of Justice, and finally filtered down to the streets.  In truth, talk could be heard on the avenues, where average Americans roam, long before declarations came from above.   Should BP CEO Tony Hayward Go to Prison?  The public wonders.  What would the Obama Administration do.  Countless clamored; with full knowledge that President Bush’s DOJ Killed a Criminal Probe Into BP.  It was believed that the potential indictments threatened the most senior officials.  More recently, words of warrants have become a distinct possibility.  Criminal charges are being considered against BP in regards to the Gulf oil rig tragedy.

On Avoiding Blame, Part One, Or, Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Drill No Evil.

I am one of those people who will actually watch those boring, boring, hearings on C-SPAN that most of us flip right on past while watching TV, and this past week I’ve been watching one of the longer events the channel broadcasts…but it’s been far from boring.

The Coast Guard and what used to be the MMS were in Houston looking into what caused the Gulf oil spill and they’re taking testimony from representatives of the involved parties…and let me tell you, this is more than just an accident inquiry-it’s also a warm-up for the lawsuits that are surely going to follow.

We’ve had dozens of trial attorneys basically conducting a deposition process, witnesses who can teach a master course in “plausible unawareability”©, BP employees who have taken the Fifth and refused to testify at all, and, overseeing the entire process, a retired Federal District Court Judge and a Coast Guard Captain who might very well be on the way to trading his eagles for stars one day soon.

Do you really believe all those “we’ll make it right” BP commercials?

If you watch this hearing, that impression may well change.

BP Gone Fishin’- Drops Giant Pipe Into Seafloor, Manages to Miss Wellhead- Yay Team!

This video courtesy of the BP live webcam addicts at the Oil Drum.  http://www.theoildrum.com/node…

When we last left our ongoing story of why The Brightest Minds in Govt. Science were giving BP permission to keep  ****ing around playing with their broken oil well, instead of completing the Bottom Kill cementing, BP was observed to be moving Giant Tools towards the Macondo 252 Deepwater Horizon oil well again, then Adm. Allen had to give out matching narrative after a few news cycles as to what the fooking h*ll they were really doing.

We’ll do the bottom kill when we’re ready, Harry.  – Adm. Thad “Patton” Allen  

They wanted to look inside the old BOP, and go fishing and pull the old drill pipe out of the well bore. Bottom kill, schmottom kill, the Lawyers need evidence to sue each other for the next 2 decades.

So far, they took the very top lid off the new BOP and Stacking Ram they mounted on the old one,  and peered inside, and noticed that the brand new BOP and 3 blade Stacking Ram had 1 Shear Ram that was stuck in a half open, half shut position so they couldn’t get down and look into the other parts.

Yes, their brand new BOP toy wasn’t working already.

Okay.  No problemo.  Just spend a week trying to jimmy the the thing open again.  

BP Friday: Did You Remember to Flush Before Glossing ?

Because the Original is always so much better than anything I could ever hope to make up:

The Further Adventures of Macondo 252, Oil Well of Doom

Hit the theme music:

If I had to do the same again, I would, my friend, Fernando !  

Remember this, back in June on the 23rd ?

BP oil spill,riser pipe,BOP stubb,drill ship,Discover Enterprise,Discoverer Enterprise Gas Flare,Methane Gas Flair

Uncapped BP Well before installation of new blow out protector assembly.

And then in July, they finally got a new spool, cap n stack and a spankin’ new Blow Out Protector on the thing to cap the well and shut it off almost 3 months after it blew ?  And everybody went Halleleujah ?

BP Bottom Kill Stalled Out During Shrimp Cocktail Party Season

You are so going to love this.  Another in the series, Macondo, Oil Well of Doom.

I have wrestled an image from the balko puter onto photomucket.  Look what I found on the BP webcams this evening.

BP oil spill,bop tool

What the bleep is this on Rov Enterprise 2 cam  Tues evening Aug 17th ?

Check the official BP twitter feed.  http://twitter.com/BP_America    

As part of a #BP tourism grant, Gulf resort giving free night’s stay and $250 gift card: http://bit.ly/bV9XKC

about 4 hours ago via HootSuite

Retweeted by 5 people

BP_America

http://twitter.com/BP_America/…

That’s not a Motel 6.  WTF.    

Friday:Couldn’t Even Wait for the Cement to Cure

This week in Trickle Down Oilonomics:

First, remember this ?

Riser Pipe Cut,BP oil spill,BOP plume   Screen shot from June 1, 2010 of ROVs cutting the old riser pipe off the old top of the BOP, showing the underwater plume.

Two months later:

Tues,  Aug 3, 2010,  BP pumped drilling mud into the capped Macondo 252 Deepwater Horizon well from the top.

http://www.bp.com/genericartic…

BP announces Static pressure stabilization from  Mud Pump into well a success on Wed Aug 4th.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/n…

Federal Government and NOAA’s Lubchenco & team of expert scientists announce rest of oil in Gulf of Mexico is naturally biodegrading. Oil is disappeared !    As of Wed, Aug 4th.  https://www.docudharma.com/diar…

BP oil spill,pie chart,Oil budget calculator tool,oil all gone pie chart by NOAA

From Plume to Pie Chart, 6/1/2010 to 8/4/2010.  In Amerika, Oil Spill Cleans You !  

Except that 650 miles of shoreline in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida remained oiled, and 57,539 square miles, or 24% of the Gulf of Mexico, is closed to fishing, per their own press release.  http://ht.ly/2loZg

BPravda Today

BPravda Today

Macno Nc4e3aet !

BP oil spill,pie chart,Oil budget calculator tool,oil all gone pie chart by NOAA

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Because the original documents are always so much better than anything I could hope to make up:

http://ht.ly/2kWkj


August 4, 2010, Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Response, Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center

Federal Science Report Details Fate of Oil from BP Spill

WASHINGTON – The vast majority of the oil from the BP oil spill has either evaporated or been burned, skimmed, recovered from the wellhead or dispersed using chemicals –  much of which is in the process of being degraded. Much of this is the direct result of the federal response efforts.

A third (33 percent) of the total amount of oil released in the Deepwater Horizon/BP spill was captured or mitigated by the Unified Command recovery operations, including burning, skimming, chemical dispersion and direct recovery from the wellhead, according to a federal science report released today.

An additional 25 percent of the total oil naturally evaporated or dissolved, and 16 percent was dispersed naturally into microscopic droplets.  The residual amount, just over one quarter (26 percent), is either on or just below the surface as residue and weathered tarballs, has washed ashore or been collected from the shore, or is buried in sand and sediments.  Dispersed and residual oil remain in the system until they degrade through a number of natural processes.  Early indications are that the oil is degrading quickly.

These estimates were derived by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of the Interior (DOI), who jointly developed what’s known as an Oil Budget Calculator, to provide measurements and best estimates of what happened to the spilled oil.   The calculator is based on 4.9 million barrels of oil released into the Gulf, the government’s Flow Rate Technical Group estimate from Monday. More than 25 of the best government and independent scientists contributed to or reviewed the calculator and its calculation methods.

“Teams of scientists and experts have been carefully tracking the oil since day one of this spill, and based on the data from those efforts and their collective expertise, they have been able to provide these useful and educated estimates about the fate of the oil,” says Jane Lubchenco, under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.  “Less oil on the surface does not mean that there isn’t oil still in the water column or that our beaches and marshes aren’t still at risk.  Knowing generally what happened to the oil helps us better understand areas of risk and likely impacts.”

The estimates do not make conclusions about the long-term impacts of oil on the Gulf.  Fully understanding the damages and impacts of the spill on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem is something that will take time and continued monitoring and research.

Dispersion increases the likelihood that the oil will be biodegraded, both in the water column and at the surface.  While there is more analysis to be done to quantify the rate of biodegradation in the Gulf, early observations and preliminary research results from a number of scientists show that the oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill is biodegrading quickly.  Scientists from NOAA, EPA, DOE, and academic scientists are working to calculate more precise estimates of this rate.

It is well known that bacteria that break down the dispersed and weathered surface oil are abundant in the Gulf of Mexico in large part because of the warm water, the favorable nutrient and oxygen levels, and the fact that oil enters the Gulf of Mexico through natural seeps regularly.

Residual oil is also degraded and weathered by a number of physical and biological processes.  Microbes consume the oil, and wave action, sun, currents and continued evaporation and dissolution continue to break down the residual oil in the water and on shorelines.

The oil budget calculations are based on direct measurements wherever possible and the best available scientific estimates where measurements were not possible.  The numbers for direct recovery and burns were measured directly and reported in daily operational reports.  The skimming numbers were also based on daily reported estimates.  The rest of the numbers were based on previous scientific analyses, best available information and a broad range of scientific expertise.  These estimates will continue to be refined as additional information becomes available.

BP oil spill,texas coast,achalafalay bay

7/9/2010 Gulf of Mexico  6 days before the leaking well was capped. photo NASA

67% of this is going to go away all by itself, naturally, according to the finest scientific minds available. Image from NOAA and the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center.

Senate Performs Successful Top Kill For BP

This is going to be a mish mash of various links relevant to today’s oil spill news, Tues Aug 3, 2010.  I took one look at the amusing picture of the moonshine still on the open thread and saw instead the Blow Out Protector on the Macondo Oil Well of Doom.

I was trying not to laugh my arse off about a certain fp diary at a certain blog yesterday which was a repeat of a certain breathless Washington Post article announcing that The Oil Spill Was Really BIGGER than they all thought according to the “new” government figures.

Which was as big as the government knew all along, from April 23, 3 days after the blowout, when they were doing estimates based on BP’s internal documents that weren’t released yet, and then the government and BP have colluded since then to lie their a$$es off about.   NOAA released a chart of the potential leak impact on the coast line back in April with the higher number.

3 months minus 5 days times 50,000 to 60,000 barrels a day.  Duh.  As if BP Tony hadn’t mentioned 60,000 a day back in June in front of Congress, either.

Yes, they really do think we are THAT stupid.

BP to offer claimants a One-time Payment

I think “Breaking” is the correct adjacent …

BP offers one-off payouts to stem Gulf oil spill lawsuits

Lump-sum compensation offered in return for waiving the right to sue,

but uncertainty remains for those indirectly affected


Tim Webb, guardian.co.uk — August 1, 2010

BP will begin its legal offensive this month to cap its liabilities from the Gulf of Mexico disaster by offering those affected one-off compensation payouts in return for them waiving the right to sue.

[…]

The fund does not cap BP’s liabilities at $20bn. But privately the company believes that it will not have to pay out anywhere near this sum. BP has hired a battery of lawyers to protect itself, and so far it has paid out $261m in claims.

[…]

According to BP, 1.8m gallons of dispersant have been pumped into the Gulf. Scientists say that the resulting high toxicity levels could harm marine life for years to come.

Hmmm … Seems BP is a bit worried about the long-term effects of that 1.8 Millions of gallons of Corexit, they used — to help make that spill problem disappear?

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