Using a BROKEN BLOWOUT PREVENTER and the underwater nightmare: ‘What BP does not want you to see.’

Philippe Cousteau:"...it’s not a question of if the oceans can take any more. The ocean can’t take any more. They couldn’t take any more fifty years ago. The question is, when are we going to stop?" GO.READ

SINCE I WILL BE UPDATING THIS STORY PERIODICALLY, 

I WILL SIMPLY ADD TO THIS POST.  

OLDER WILL BE LOWER - NEWER CLOSER TO THE TOP.

• 6/5 - IT'S THE CHENEY WAY: As Congress investigated its role in the doomed Deep Horizon oil rig, Halliburton donated $17,000 to candidates running for federal office, giving money to several lawmakers on committees that have launched inquiries into the massive spill.

• 6/1/10 - Today's news about the company that knowingly used a broken blowout preventer: 
  

  Nationalise British Petroleum & take over the repairs and cleanup?  Yes indeed - it's in the law!

  Obama vows to hold oil spill culprits accountable for all ‘death and destruction’

  Obama advisor: BP has ‘financial interest’ in downplaying spill size

  BP hires Cheney spokeswoman to lead PR effort 

  The Corporate Stranglehold: How BP Will Make out Like Bandits from Its Massive, Still Gushing Oil Disaster

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• Will we listen to science?  Now, or shall we quietly follow the wingnuts into hell...
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• In 2006, Scott West led an investigation of BP following a major oil pipeline leak in Alaska’s North Slope that spilled 250,000 gallons of oil on the Alaskan tundra. Before West finished his investigation, the Bush Justice Department reached a settlement with BP, and the oil company agreed to pay $20 million. At the same time, BP managed to avoid prosecution for the Texas City refinery explosion that killed fifteen workers LINK TO STORY

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• Chevron Canada Ltd. is going ahead with plans this week to drill one of the deepest offshore oil wells in the world off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

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• Did BP really even DO the "TOP KILL" scenario at all??

        More on top kill vs. did not do HERE

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• BP is now fighting the Environmental Protection Agency’s demands to change its use of toxic dispersants, after over 700,000 gallons have been used on the hundred-million-gallon Deepwater Horizon oil blowout. The dispersants have created an invisible toxic cloud of unknown size below the surface, as the federal government lets BP block attempts to monitor the gusher, study the undersea plumes, or learn about the dispersants being used. On Monday, Good Morning America correspondent Sam Champion and Philippe Cousteau Jr., the chief ocean correspondent for Planet Green and grandson of Jacques Cousteau, explored the toxic plumes of dispersed oil floating beneath the waves in the Gulf of Mexico:

This, critics say, is what BP does not want you to see: oil and chemical dispersants swirling together into a toxic soup, forming large plumes under the surface of the water as deep as twenty-five feet, perhaps deeper.

The small droplets of dispersed oil are “capable of passing right into the flesh of fish and birds.” “It’s absolutely disgusting,” Cousteau described. “I think this has got to be one of the most horrible things I’ve ever seen underwater.” Watch it:

LINK to story and comments at Think Progress dot org

FROM NRDC'S ON EARTH BLOG ; EPA Officials Weigh Sanctions Against BP’s U.S. Operations

By Abrahm Lustgarten
Officials at the Environmental Protection Agency are considering whether to bar BP from receiving government contracts, a move that would ultimately cost the company billions in revenue and could end its drilling in federally controlled oil fields.
Over the past 10 years, BP has paid tens of millions of dollars in fines and been implicated in four separate instances of criminal misconduct that could have prompted this far more serious action. Until now, the company's executives and their lawyers have fended off such a penalty by promising that BP would change its ways.
That strategy may no longer work.
Days ago, in an unannounced move, the EPA suspended negotiations with the petroleum giant over whether it would be barred from federal contracts because of the environmental crimes it committed before the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Officials said they are putting the talks on hold until they learn more about the British company's responsibility for the plume of oil that is spreading across the Gulf.
The EPA said in a statement that, according to its regulations, it can consider banning BP from future contracts after weighing "the frequency and pattern of the incidents, corporate attitude both before and after the incidents, changes in policies, procedures, and practices."
GO.READ 

• More on BP's accident history HERE

BP TELLS EPA TO GO F*CK ITSELF:

FOR OIL CORPORATION OUT OF SIGHT IS OUT OF MIND WHILE KILLING WORLD OCEANS:
After initially approving a chemical oil dispersant called Corexit, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency retracted it's allowance and ordered British Petroleum to stop dumping the mysterious chemical substance by Sunday.
However, the oil giant has ignored the government's deadline and was continuing to dump large volumes of Corexit into the Gulf on Monday, according to The New York Times, apparently to keep the massive sea floor oil plumes from surfacing and possibly washing ashore.
LINK TO STORY

Stunning Statistic of the Week:

• Number of lobbyists representing opponents of strong derivatives reform in the congressional debate over financial reform: 903.
• Number of lobbyists representing pro-consumer reforms during the same time period, since the beginning of 2009: 79. 

America, the greatest country in the world?  Certainly one of the crookedest...

BANKS TOO BIG TO FAIL? OIL COMPANIES (BP) TOO BIG TO PROSECUTE? WHAT HAPPENED WHILE WE WERE ASLEEP?

How Bush's Department of "Justice" Killed a Criminal Probe Into BP That Threatened to Net Top Officials

 "...we would have had a clear understanding of who knew what and when and then we would be able to make appropriate charging decisions. But because the investigation was shut down that was the end of it."

 Where the HELL is President Obama's Department of Justice?  Studying?  Analyzing? Prosecuting?

Mr. Obama, we are through fucking around with these people.  If YOU want to fuck around and dick around and kiss these corporate criminals' asses, THAT is up to you.  WE hired you to LEAD, and desperately need you to LEAD NOW.  There is no TIME to wait for Congress, or to wait for a lot of "studies" or "analyses".  

It just so happens that WE LOVE OUR PLANET, and we REALISE THE PERIL.  

Mr. Obama - GET OFF YOUR ASS, SHOW SOME PASSION, AND GET AFTER THIS NOW. 

Mr. President, There ARE American Corporations That Are Committed to Clean Energy.  Perhaps One of Your "Advisors" Could Have a Look?

BP CHOSE MORE TOXIC, LESS EFFECTIVE OIL DISPERSANT -- GUESS WHY ...

"...Corexit and manufactured by Nalco Co., a company that was once part of Exxon Mobil Corp. and whose current leadership includes executives at both BP and Exxon. And another 805,000 gallons of Corexit are on order, the company said, with the possibility that hundreds of thousands of more gallons may be needed if the well continues spewing oil for weeks or months.

But according to EPA data, Corexit ranks far above dispersants made by competitors in toxicity and far below them in effectiveness in handling southern Louisiana crude.
Of 18 dispersants whose use EPA has approved, 12 were found to be more effective on southern Louisiana crude than Corexit, EPA data show. Two of the 12 were found to be 100 percent effective on Gulf of Mexico crude, while the two Corexit products rated 56 percent and 63 percent effective, respectively. The toxicity of the 12 was shown to be either comparable to the Corexit line or, in some cases, 10 or 20 times less, according to EPA."
GO.READ


UPDATE
Climate Progress’ Joe Romm notes that as toxic as Corexit is, dispersed oil is more toxic.

Out of Sight: BP’s dispersants are toxic — but not as toxic as dispersed oil

Plus the threat the disaster poses to America's primary coral reef

Chemically dispersing oil spills “solves the political problem of visible oil but not the environmental problem,” Robert Brulle, a 20-year Coast Guard veteran and an affiliate professor of public health at Drexel University, told me. These dispersants “do not actually reduce the total amount of oil entering the environment,” as a 2005 National Academy of Sciences report on the subject put it.
In short: out of sight, out of mind. But not out of the body of marine life.
Dispersants decrease the amount of oil that directly reaches the shores or the creatures that live on the shores or sea surface. But they increase the exposure to oil by creatures that live in the water or on the sea floor — like, say, shrimp or oysters.
GO.READ

EVERYTHING BP owns or runs needs to be SHUT DOWN and inspected -

EVERYTHING.  It is clear that they are liars, incompetent and run a criminal enterprise endangering everyone and every thing in the vicinity of anything they do.  Their offshore oil rigs are especially suspect after seeing the interview on 60 minutes with the head electronics tech from the burned up oil rig.  British Petroleum's oil pumping stations, wells, refineries, tank trucks and gas stations WORLDWIDE need to be SHUT DOWN for inspection of the paper work and compliance with ALL applicable laws and regulations.

Letting scumbags like this slide might be a good thing to do if you name is Cheeney or Boosh, but for residents of this garden planet it is wrong thing to do.  

When handling or producing toxic substances, there are rules and regulations, and I don't give a fuck WHO you are, you WILL comply. 

Deepwater Horizon Explosion Survivor Interview

Many many pages of interesting (to me) professional chatter about plausible scenarios from oil well guys HERE 

For your amusement: If BP were a human being …
What if BP were a person, not a corporation? This person would have been married several times (thanks to corporate mergers) and would have several aliases. The person would be considered "a career criminal, a pathological liar and an international serial killer with a rap sheet several times the size of the Chicago Yellow Pages." Oh, the person also would be a flight risk.

THE TRANSITION DECADE | The T10 vision: a 10 year social and structural transition that enables the restoration of a safe climate

THE TRANSITION DECADE | The T10 vision: a 10 year social and structural transition that enables the restoration of a safe climate

Send a message to your senators today, calling on them to pass a real climate deal -- one that protects people and the planet, not polluters.

This morning, Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) unveiled a draft of their long-awaited cap-and-trade bill, the "American Power Act."
Unfortunately, it's as bad as we feared. Summaries of the proposal released this morning indicate they would eliminate critical tools needed to stabilize climate chaos while handing out billions in giveaways to some of the worst industrial polluters in the country.
Send a message to your senators today, calling on them to pass a real climate deal -- one that protects people and the planet, not polluters.
The Kerry-Lieberman bill rolls back important protections in the Clean Air Act, the strongest tool we have at the federal level to reduce global warming pollution and undermines states' ability to reduce their carbon footprints with innovative solutions.
Adding insult to injury, the bill would also allow expanded offshore drilling, even though millions of gallons of oil continue to spew into the Gulf of Mexico, damaging the vulnerable ecosystems of the Gulf and the economies that rely on them. With the likes of oil behemoth BP (whose negligence precipitated the catastrophic spill) and other polluters backing the bill, it's clear who stands to benefit.
We need your help. Tell your senators today that we need a climate bill that contains true clean energy solutions.
We can soon be on the road towards a 100 percent clean energy future. Unfortunately, the Kerry-Lieberman bill would send us in the wrong direction.
Senator Kerry is defending his bill by saying that while it's not perfect, he thinks it's the best the Senate can do. We think a better strategy would be for the Obama administration to implement existing Clean Air Act protections, while senators work on building support for a stronger bill -- one that doesn't shower billions on polluters.
We need a bill that maintains all existing Clean Air Act protections, invests in clean energy, rather than providing more polluter handouts, and has the integrity to deliver rapid cuts in climate-disrupting emissions.
Let's mobilize to demand a real climate bill. Send a message to your senators today.

Erich Pica

President, Friends of the Earth

 

John Kerry didn't say shit when the Republicans were sliming his militery record and Joe Lieberman is one of the worst weasels in history.  NEITHER OF THESE DICKHEADS IS WORTH LISTENING TO ON MUCH OF ANYTHING.

SkyTruth: "We estimate the spill rate is closer to 1.1 million gallons (26,500 barrels) per day, based on the size of the slick on satellite images and Coast Guard maps, and thickness estimates derived from visual descriptions of the slick. That puts us at a total spill of 21 million gallons so far."

• Feds let BP avoid filing blowout plan for Gulf rig (AP)
  Petrochemical giant BP didn't file a plan to specifically handle a major oil spill from an uncontrolled blowout at its Deepwater Horizon project because the federal agency that regulates offshore rigs changed its rules two years ago to exempt certain projects in the central Gulf region, according to an Associated Press review of official records.

• FOR A STARTLING EXAMPLE OF HOW BIG THIS SPILL REALLY IS, CLICK HERE TO PLAY WITH A VERY EXCELLENT GOOGLE EARTH OVERLAY GIZMO.  SEE HOW THE SPILL LOOKS OVER YOUR CITY.

• This oil "spill" in the Gulf of Mexico is MUCH bigger and more dangerous than anyone is letting you know.  

Quote from SkyTruth  -

"Sunday, May 9, 2010

BP / Gulf Oil Spill - How Big Is It?

Quite a lot bigger than the estimate being uncritically quoted throughout the media of 210,000 gallons (5,000 barrels) per day. That was the last "official" estimate made by NOAA and accepted by the Coast Guard back on April 29 (see timeline below). Before that, the Coast Guard estimates ranged from 336,000 gallons (8,000 barrels) per day, to zero, to 42,000 gallons (1,000 barrels) per day. None of these estimates has been publicly explained or substantiated. And on May 1, the Coast Guard and NOAA stopped trying to estimate the spill rate, with Admiral Thad Allen saying, "Any exact estimate is probably impossible at this time."

But the media continues to report that oil is leaking into the Gulf at 5,000 barrels per day. At SkyTruth we estimate the spill rate is closer to 1.1 million gallons (26,500 barrels) per day, based on the size of the slick on satellite images and Coast Guard maps, and thickness estimates derived from visual descriptions of the slick. That puts us at a total spill of 21 million gallons so far.

Considering that there are deepwater oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico capable of producing >1.26 million gallons (30,000 barrels) of oil per day under controlled flow rates; and that the oil slick continues to grow in size even though it's been under attack 24/7 by skimmer vessels, burning, chemical dispersants, and natural processes; our estimate seems quite conservative.

Why is it important to get this number right? This is about more than just liability, or PR. You can bet that our future response capacity is going to be overhauled and retooled based on this spill. If we low-ball the spill amount and rate, we run the risk of designing an inadequate new spill-response system that is doomed to fail the next time something this big occurs.

Here's the timeline of spill estimates:

• 4/22 - Deepwater Horizon rig sinks; Coast Guard estimates "up to" 8,000 barrels per day (bpd) is leaking - source
• 4/23 - Coast Guard reports no leaking at all from the damaged well - source
• 4/24 - Coast Guard reports well is leaking, estimates 1,000 bpd - source
• 4/25 - BP repeats 1,000 bpd estimate - source
• 4/27 - 1,000 bpd still the official Coast Guard and BP estimate - source
• 4/27 - SkyTruth and Dr. Ian MacDonald publish first estimate that spill rate is 20,000 bpd - source
• 4/28 - NOAA weighs in and raises the official estimate to 5,000 bpd based on aerial surveys "and other factors"; BP disputes this higher estimate - source
• 4/29 - Coast Guard and NOAA repeat their estimate of 5,000 bpd - source
• 4/29 - BP's Chief Operating Officer admits new estimate of 5,000 bpd may be correct; "He said there was no way to measure the flow at the seabed and estimates have to come from how much oil makes it to the surface" - source
• 5/1 - SkyTruth and Dr. Ian MacDonald publish revised estimate of at least 26,500 bpd - source
• 5/1 - Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen "acknowledged there was no way really to know the extent of the leak" - source - and stated that "Any exact estimate is probably impossible at this time" - source
• 5/1 - Coast Guard and NOAA cease estimating the rate of the spill."

Take Action at Oil Change Now:

President Obama and the Senate:  

Oppose offshore drilling, and end our oil addiction

Less than one month after President Obama threw out a decades-old ban on offshore drilling, we are witnessing one of the worst spills in US history unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico. At least 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) a day are spewing into the Gulf, and this could go on for months. Tell President Obama to return to his opposition to offshore drilling. Tell the President and your Senators that you oppose any expansion of offshore drilling and that you demand a real clean energy future that includes an end to our addiction to oil. Tell them the problem is not foreign oil, its oil, period.

Here's How Exxon Tried to Avoid Paying for Its Massive Oil Spill -- Let's Not Allow BP to Do the Same

Penalties that British Petroleum will pay 

are based on spill volume --

Exxon saved billions by scuttling the true amount.

 LET US NOT ALLOW THESE SCUMBAGS
WHO COULD HAVE BEEN INSTALLLING
WINDFARMS BUT CHOSE TO LIE ABOUT
THE SAFETY OF THE OFFSHORE OIL...

Demand an audit of the Fed! Sign the petition: First Name Last Name Email ZIP Not ? Click here. Otherwise, just click: The Federal Reserve has handed out trillions of dollars of our money to big banks and refuses to tell Congress who they gave it to. The Senate may be voting on whether to demand an audit as soon as tomorrow -- can you sign our urgent petition in support?

---

The Fed handed out billions of your money and refuses to say where it went. Tell the Senate to demand an independent audit.

I recently asked the Chairman of the Federal Reserve who received the half trillion dollars ($500,000,000,000) the Fed handed over to various banks. He said he didn't know.
Think about that for a minute -- he didn't know!
That kind of ignorance and arrogance must end. We need a full independent audit the Fed. The House has passed it and the Senate could vote on it as soon as tomorrow. It's going to be extremely close -- every vote will count.
Can you sign the PCCC's urgent petition asking the Senate to support the Audit the Fed amendment?
The amendment is simple. If it passes, we'll finally learn how the Fed has been handing billions of dollars to big Wall Street banks like party favors. But if it fails, the Fed can keep handing out our money to whomever it wants, without telling Congress or the American people.
You'd think passing this legislation would be a slam dunk. Wrong. Wall Street bankers and their lobbyists are twisting arms and pouring millions into the campaign coffers of politicians on both sides of the political divide, to keep their sweetheart Fed loans under wraps. We need to counter their influence-peddling by making the Senate listen to the united voice of the American people. (That would be you.)
It's time to step up the pressure. Sign the PCCC's petition NOW. Then, we'll tell you how to contact your senator.
We can pass this, with your help. The amendment is already cosponsored by progressive heroes like Bernie Sanders, Pat Leahy, and Russ Feingold. And joining us in this bipartisans coalition are John McCain, Jim DeMint, David Vitter, and Sam Brownback.
Now we need your senator on board. Can you take a second to sign the PCCC's petition right now?
Courage,
Alan Grayson, Member of Congress

ARIZONA WE HARDLY KNEW YE...