Political Ruminations

More trouble in the Gulf update

The AP reports a statement from a White House spokesman:

WASHINGTON — A White House spokesman says BP's ruptured oil well is leaking at the top, along with seepage about two miles away.

Robert Gibbs also says officials are monitoring bubbles that can be seen on an underwater camera.

BP claims that the seepage is unrelated to the Macondo well, but is naturally occurring.

BP shares, which had dropped more than 6 percent after engineers detected seepage on the floor of the Gulf after the well was capped on Thursday, recovered in late trade on the news. They were down 3.9 percent in late afternoon trading in New York.

BP spokesman Mark Proegler told Reuters: "Scientists have concluded that the seep was naturally occurring."

Investors had feared that seepage could signal that the April 20 blowout that preceded the leak damaged the wellbore, which could allow oil and gas to leak out the sides and possibly breach the seabed.

Take BP’s statement with a grain of salt. There has not yet been any confirmation of this from Thad Allen.

BP recently sought to hire Gulf scientists @ $250/hour. They were told that they must keep their research confidential for three years.

Some scientists from LSU, Southern Mississippi, and Texas A&M have seemingly accepted the offer. Alabama Press-Register, July 16, 2010:

BP PLC attempted to hire the entire marine sciences department at one Alabama university, according to scientists involved. The university declined because of confidentiality restrictions that the company sought on any research. The Press-Register obtained a copy of a contract offered to scientists by BP. It prohibits the scientists from publishing their research, sharing it with other scientists or speaking about the data that they collect for at least the next three years. …

More than one scientist interviewed by the Press-Register described being offered $250 an hour through BP lawyers. …

Scientists from Louisiana State University, University of Southern Mississippi and Texas A&M have reportedly accepted, according to academic officials. …

Robert Wiygul, an Ocean Springs lawyer who specializes in environmental law, said that he sees ethical questions regarding the use of publicly owned laboratories and research vessels to conduct confidential work on behalf of a private company. … It also buys silence, he said, thanks to confidentiality clauses in the contracts.

“It makes me feel like they were more interested in making sure we couldn’t testify against them than in having us testify for them,” said George Crozier, head of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, who was approached by BP.

Richard Shaw, associate dean of LSU’s School of the Coast and Environment, said… “The first order of business at the research meetings is to get all the disclosures out. Who has a personal connection to BP? We have to know how to deal with that person,” Shaw said. …

“This is not an agreement to do research for BP,” Wiygul said. “This is an agreement to join BP’s legal team. You agree to communicate with BP through their attorneys and to take orders from their attorneys. … The contract requires scientists to agree to withhold data even in the face of a court order if BP decides to fight such an order. It stipulates that scientists will be paid only for research approved in writing by BP.

One thing for certain. BP does not have the interests of the American people at heart, and, there is still much that we do not know.

UPDATE: Admiral Allen stated that the seepage is naturally occurring.

There had been concern that the seepage spotted over the weekend could mean oil and gas from the damaged well was flowing into geologic formations from which they could eventually flow into the Gulf of Mexico. That would be a much more difficult situation to deal with it.

But BP said Monday that appeared not to be the case. That view was echoed by Adm. Thad Allen (ret.) at an afternoon briefing.

More trouble in the Gulf

Via Bob Cesca:

One of the concerns everyone had about capping the BOP was that it might create other leaks in the sea floor -- leaks that are more difficult to plug. It sounds like it's happening now.

This is why I didn't comment/cheer when they capped the well.
Whether it's methane or oil, we could be in serious trouble.

A well respected geologist on The Oil Drum, ROCKMAN:

A top kill method is a very common way to get a shut in well under control. Been done 100's of times in the GOM on shut in wells. Those incidents never made headlines becuse no oil hit the water and no lives lost. But you've got to be 100% certain the BOP/well head/csg can handle to pressure. The injected mud has to push that 13,000' column of oil/NG all the way down and back into the reservoir. Obviously a gutsey call either way you roll.

For reference purposes, the well is currently a "shut in" well.

Personally, I'd be interested in knowing if the people working on the boats in the Gulf of Mexico are sleeping in lifeboats, and walking around with respirators on their belts.

Scary stuff.

Thanks, BP: New images of the Gulf

Just beyond words. This oil spill, horrific environmental disaster that will affect us for a lifetime. But BP will "make it all right". Drill, baby, drill.

The turtles are dying

What is occurring in the waters of the Gulf is horrific, and it will likely be years before we know the full extent of what was wrought. We do know, however, that many of the animals are struggling for life.

The seemingly endless oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is killing countless sea animals and sea birds, large and small. But there is no story as tragic as the plight of the sea turtles.

These magnificent, graceful, creatures are particularly vulnerable to the effects of oil in the water, which weakens their eggs, chokes and poisons their young, and leaves adults addled and starving.

The turtles bury their eggs in the sand on the beaches of the Gulf. Then, they hatch, and when I would see them all scurry towards the water, the sight conjured up a sense of joy. So natural, seeking food and water, just as they have done for thousands of years.

I used to love to watch the baby turtles run for the water, and it breaks my heart that the baby turtles run for life now, means almost certain death for the little turtles.

I don't think the Gulf can be returned to something resembling normal for at least a generation. The beaches, maybe. The water, no.

Drill, baby, drill.

The image is of a dead turtle lying in a pool of oil on a Louisiana beach in early June,

H/T Bob Cesca

Allegations that BP is covering the oil with sand instead of cleaning it

First, they poisoned the water further through the use of Corexit, the dispersant they have been pumping in since day one of the spill, in order to disguise the massive amounts of oil permeating Gulf waters.

Testimony before a Senate investigative panel this week is expected to reveal what many have suspected about BP all along; they don’t care about the environment, the animals that are dying, and the lives that are being destroyed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

In a shocking interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on June 29th, Allegiance Capitol Corporation V.P. Fred McCallister said that BP is deliberately sinking oil with the toxic chemical disbursant Corexit, to hide the size of the oil spill. By sinking the oil before it can be collected, BP won’t have to pay fines on it.

Now, a conservation organization has caught them bringing in sand from other locations to cover up the oil on the beaches instead of cleaning it up. Via Shannyn Moore:

British Petroleum is trucking in sand to cover up the oil. Let me repeat that – instead of cleaning up the oil they are just bringing in sand from other beaches and covering it up. In the photos and the video you can see the layering of Grand Isle, LA sand, oil and then a sand of a different type. Photo-journalists have four independent confirmations by local Sheriff’s in Grand Isle, Louisiana.

Video by Judson Parker of Save Our Shores.

What next, BP?

Music Video: The BP Blues

The calamity in the Gulf of Mexico affects real people. People who rely on it to make a living, feed their families, survive.

Video: John Wathen documents the death of the Gulf of Mexico

A horrifying, and heartbreaking tale of life in the Gulf of Mexico waters by John Wathen, who has been documenting the destruction from the air, and appeared on Olbermann's "Countdown" last night. The sight of the dying and struggling dolphins made me want to drive the "drill, baby, drill" chanters in to the oil permeated waters to see for themselves.

Maddow Blog:

Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathen posts this video of a recent flight over the Gulf of Mexico. I don't necessarily agree with all of Wathen's conclusions, and I could have done without the souping-up at the end. Still, a lot of what you need to see about the Deepwater Horizon disaster is right here -- the bad booming, the dolphins and whales swimming in oil, the slick and sheen and gunk spilling night and day into the water.

If you're looking for the big critters, start around minute six.

[Wathen's BP Slick blog]
[Wathen's amazing first footage]

H/T Bob Cesca.

Haley Barbour understands what’s important

As the BP oil slick reached past the barrier islands of Mississippi, Gov. Haley Barbour went fundraising in Washington.

Barbour told reporters:

“The most important thing right now is the 2010 elections”

Shades of Scarlett O'Hara and political opportunism. Difficult to believe that anyone would vote for this idiot.

Via Think Progress

H/T Bob Cesca

Give 'em hell Hilda Solis

Speaking at a conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials on Friday, Labor Secretary, Hilda Solis, blasted BP oil and Massey Energy, citing their recent disasters, and calling for them to enact tougher safety protocols.

“We are not saying go out of business. Do your job better. Make an investment in your employees. We want you to make a profit but not at the expense of killing your employees,”

She sure has that right. BP has the worst safety record of any in the industry.