"Obama’s claim that oil rigs did not cause any spills during Hurricane Katrina is simply false, as the Wonk Room reported in June, 2008, when Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and other conservatives made the same false claim:"posted by 7-7 at 9:39 AM on May 13, 2010Unsurprisingly, this devastation caused significant spillage, according to the official report prepared for the MMS by a Norwegian firm:
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Caused 124 Offshore Spills For A Total Of 743,700 Gallons. 554,400 gallons were crude oil and condensate from platforms, rigs and pipelines, and 189,000 gallons were refined products from platforms and rigs. [MMS, 1/22/07]
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Caused Six Offshore Spills Of 42,000 Gallons Or Greater. The largest of these was 152,250 gallons, well over the 100,000 gallon threshhold considered a “major spill.” [MMS, 5/1/06]
According to a lawsuit filed in federal court by Natalie Roshto, whose husband Shane, a deck floor hand, was thrown overboard by the force of the explosion and whose body has not yet been located, Halliburton is culpable for its actions prior to the incident.posted by heathkit at 1:29 PM on May 13, 2010
The suit claims that the company "prior to the explosion, was engaged in cementing operations of the well and well cap and, upon information and belief, improperly and negligently performed these duties, which was a cause of the explosion."
When estimates of the size of BP’s oil spill in the Gulf quickly shifted from no leak to 1,000 barrels a day to 5,000 barrels a day—with BP telling members of Congress the daily flow could rise up to 60,000 barrels—it was pretty obvious the estimates weren’t entirely reliable.posted by saulgoodman at 9:23 AM on May 14, 2010
As it turns out, after BP finally released 30 seconds of video footage of the spill on Wednesday, one expert told NPR that crude was gushing out at a rate of 70,000 barrels a day, which is even worse than the worst-case estimate BP gave lawmakers. According to the experts cited by NPR, the spill is “already far larger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska, which spilled at least 250,000 barrels of oil.”
"You're talking about a reservoir that could have tens of millions of barrels in it," Resink said. At the current spill rate, it "would take years to deplete," he added.posted by tybeet at 9:57 AM on May 14, 2010
Members of the Chu team are credited with accomplishments including designing the first hydrogen bomb, inventing techniques for mining on Mars and finding a way to precisely position biomedical needles...posted by tybeet at 8:29 AM on May 15, 2010
BP’s effort to use robots on the seafloor to close off the well failed, and a 40-foot steel structure meant to cap the leak was scuttled when the containment box became clogged with an icy slush of seawater and gas. BP now is deliberating between using a smaller containment chamber to control the well or inserting a tube directly into the leaking pipe to channel the oil.
Chu said he’s tasked his team to develop “plan B, C, D, E and F” in addition to finding a way to stop the oil leak.
“Things are looking up, and things are getting much more optimistic,” the Nobel-prize winning physicist said after meeting with the scientists and BP in Houston Wednesday.
Two dispersants BP has been using to break up the oil spewing from an undersea wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico carry the federal stamp of approval. But they are not rated as effective or as safe for marine life as at least 12 other government-approved dispersants on the market. Environmental groups are asking why this is the case [...]Less Toxic Dispersants Lose Out in BP Oil Spill Cleanup
'You now have a giant chemistry experiment being done in the Gulf of Mexico,' Mr. Charter says."
"Critics say Nalco, a joint partnership with Exxon Chemical that was spun off in the 1990s, boasts oil-industry insiders on its board of directors and among its executives, including an 11-year board member at BP and a top Exxon executive who spent 43 years with the oil giant.At this point I really shouldn't be surprised at this shit anymore. BP is a major multinational energy corporation, their bottom line is profit. That means minimizing PR damage by spreading the oil around so that no one can get an accurate fix on how bad the damage is, by using a shitty, poisonous chemical that should be one of the least appealing alternatives, but since they basically make it in-house they have a ton of it lying around so hey, why not score some inside sales and spew this toxic shit all over the ocean!
"It's a chemical that the oil industry makes to sell to itself, basically," said Richard Charter, a senior policy adviser for Defenders of Wildlife."
The oil giant BP declared success in reducing the Gulf of Mexico oil leak last night, allowing it to siphon some of the flow into floating tankers after a delicate seabed operation.The key word being "some".
Nearly four weeks after an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, technicians used underwater robots to insert a 4in pipe into the broken riser — leading out of the well a mile underwater — partially sealing the spill and diverting the oil to the surface.
As scientists revealed potentially devastating new information about the extent of the spill, BP would not say how much oil it was capturing. “The key thing is it’s working and that’s great news,” said Mark Proegler, a spokesman for the company.
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