As the Gulf oil leak continues to spew, albeit at a slightly lower rate now, and the American public is becoming resigned to the dreadful spectacle of continued damage to wildlife and coastlines, BP continues to act as a law unto itself. Not that that should be any surprise; the oil producer clearly believed from the onset of the crisis that its status as America’s biggest oil and gas producer made it too big to push around. Recall this stunning remark from BP’s chairman:
The US is a big and important market for BP, and BP is also a big and important company for the US, with its contribution to drilling and oil and gas production. So the position goes both ways.
This is not the first time something has gone wrong in this industry, but the industry has moved on.
Despite the threat of an criminal indictment hanging over its head, the company continues to insist on paying a normal quarterly dividend over vociferous objections by Obama and many senators. Now estimates of likely damage vary; earlier they ranged from $10 to $60 billion; more recent forecasts seem to top out at $35 billion. For a company to sacrifice one year of dividends would whack its stock short term but hardly be fatal. And BP is likely looking at the Exxon Valdez record of initial damage awards being delayed and cut back considerably, as well as the fact that Obama has never followed through on tough talk. Par for the course is that the head of the NOAA appears to be taking up BP party line, insisting that the sighting of underwater oil plumes are “anomalies” (even if there was uncertainty on this matter despite a considerable number of sightings, a more honest answer would have been something like “we’ve seen evidence of them, but we aren’t certain whether these are a meaningful phenomenon. We are continuing to investigate”).
Some readers will defend BP, arguing that until the extent of the damage is known, there is no point setting aside reserves, particularly for a company that throws off so much cash and is less levered than most in its industry. However, most companies, like banks and retailers DO set aside reserves at the time a loan or sale is made, and they are supposed to increase them if loss levels rise higher than what they had forecast (we’ve noted that banks have been playing fast and loose on this one). And BP could have taken the same action yet made a more conciliatory stance (“Look, we don’t have a good handle on the losses yet. We are confident we can handle a worst-case scenario. We don’t want to overreact now; we’ll revisit this topic next quarter”). They might even argue that BP is doing everything it can. That is patently untrue. We’ve pointed out examples, and are sure readers can come up with others: the refusal to allow cleanup workers to wear respirators (it took an indictment), the failure to reimburse Gulf towns for cleanup costs (I heard two stories when I was in Alabama from people who have weekend homes on the coast), and the fact that most of the oil could have been kept from hitting the sho. I keep pointing to this post from Fishgrease at Daily Kos precisely because I think everyone needs to read it:
…if fucking proper fucking booming is done properly, you can remove most, by far most of the oil from a shoreline and you can do it day after day, week after week, month after month. You can prevent most, by far most of the shoreline from ever being touched by more than a few transient molecules of oil. Done fucking properly, a week after the oil stops coming ashore, no one, man nor beast, can ever tell there has been oil anywhere near that shoreline.,,,
I couldn’t find any pics of fucking proper fucking booming from along the Gulf, because there aren’t any.
Yves here. Fishgrease explained that the liberal use of “fuck” or equivalent is essential for successful booming.
Fishgrease also points out in his Booming School II post that the Coast Guard, which has done an utterly incompetent job of booming, is touting BP’s performance, perhaps to hide its own abject failure (from the first and second post):
Now the Coast Guard? They know booming. They know what fucking proper fucking booming looks like. Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Thad Allen should be fired. Today. Now. This minute. Before he can give another press conference echoing what BP said not five minutes before him. Then he should be fucking court-martialed and fucking sent to prison before BP can give him a goddamned fucking job. He’s a shameless piece of shit…
Maybe fucking Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Thad Allen had no idea of what was going on with Governor Jindal because fucking Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Thad Allen was spending all his time reading BP-written talking points to the fucking media.
“Several, several options are being exhausted here,” said Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. “We have engineers that are on scene in Houston with British Petroleum.”
Fuck. Me.
Obama. FIRE HIM! FIRE HIM OR FUCK YOU!
Obama needs to decapitate the USCG immediately, put a hard ass in charge, and then personally tell BP that the United States of America is not going to be pushed around by some half-assed self-important British corporation.
BP seems much more serious about image control than it is about booming and other things that might reduce damage. From Jacqueline Leo (hat tip Francois T):
According to the news blog Powering a Nation, BP had workers sign a contract that included a gag order, preventing them from talking to the media. Even as the birds lay dying in a sea of mud and oil, BP has tweeted, claiming that the company and the U.S. Coast Guard have not muzzled their workers. But according to the blog, there was a clause “prohibiting them and their deckhands from making ‘news releases, marketing presentations, or any other public statements’ while working on the cleanup.”
Even more important, BP is using paid search to influence public opinion as people look for information about the oil spill and its consequences. Just Google any of the common search terms related to the disaster and what pops up first? BP. Since this catastrophe is one of the hot search topics of the year, you can imagine what BP is paying for the privilege of elbowing out other news and opinion sites that would normally buy at least one of these terms. But money talks–and oil money, as slippery as it may be, talks louder than most.
According to Scott Slatin, who runs a New York-based search marketing company, “While we have seen corporations use search-engine marketing to sway opinions, most recently in the health-care debate, it is always under the cover of a non-profit or lobbying organization. This is the first time I have seen a company use this tactic on such a wide scale. And it is very effective, because BP gets its message, ‘Learn more about how BP is helping’ atop almost every Google search permutation related to the spill, and effectively blocks non-profits (with much smaller pockets) from getting their message across.”
Yves here. BP may have been too clever by half. It’s one thing to lie to the press about putting a gag order on your employees; quite another to lie to Uncle Sam. The most obvious smoking gun is BP insistence that the leak was only 5,000 barrels a day. If prosecutors decide to investigate BP’s coverups, and the trail leads to the executive suite, it could do even more damage to BP than the environmental losses.
The media may be unwittingly doing BP a favor by focusing its ire on CEO Tony Hayward’s offensive statements. It succeeds in personalizing the problem, when the chairman’s remarks and the company’s priorities indicate that Hayward’s attitude is broadly shared within BP. He may be an outlier only in his artless candor.
Unfortunately, the odds are that BP will get off far more lightly than most Americans think it deserves, and in particular, will not pay the full cost of the environmental damage. The only thing that could change the calculus is if the Democrats take large midterm losses (and the fact that the economy is stalling, contrary to optimists’ expectations, makes that more likely). If Obama suddenly believes his re-election is imperiled (many Democrats seem to believe he is protected by the lack of credible Republican candidates), he may suddenly develop a backbone. Taking a hard line (and for a change, following through) with a near universally hated company is a political no brainer. And although I am no legal expert, criminal action would seem to open up the possibility of cancellation of oil leases.
Despite BP’s brazenness, it could be simultaneously preparing itself for worst case options. Some investors see a breakup, takeover, or bankruptcy filing as a real possibility. From the Globe and Mail:
A few weeks ago, when BP was relatively confident it could stem the flow, there was little sense that BP faced anything more than a very expensive cleanup bill. While some still think that’s the case, others say the company’s breakup, takeover by a rival energy heavyweight, or bankruptcy in whole or in part is probable, if not certain. “BP could be facing the death penalty in the U.S.,” said energy analyst John Kilduff, of New York hedge fund Round Earth Capital. “The viability of the company is definitely in question.”
Another high-profile analyst agrees. Dougie Youngson of London’s Arbuthnot Securities said investors who think BP’s selloff is overdone could be gravely mistaken. The company has “the real smell of death,” he said a few days ago.
The reports on the move to segregate the oil spill operations from a managerial standpoint (it’s conceivable that each major production operation is a separate legal entity) may be a precursor to a “good company/bad company” split. From the Guardian:
BP is to hive off its Gulf of Mexico oil spill operation to a separate in-house business to be run by an American in a bid to isolate the “toxic” side of the company and dilute some of the anti-British feeling aimed at chief executive Tony Hayward, the company said today.
Yves here. If the Guardian has this right, BP could be in the process of trying to maneuver to keep US claimants from getting access to the full resources of the company to pay reparations in the Gulf. This could get nasty indeed.
57 comments
Comments are closed.
Re ” albeit at a slightly lower rate now”
It is important to remember that, because of the removal of the riser pipe+bend in the pipe, the flow is less obstructed, resulting in the “temporary 20% increase”.. 6000bpd likely doesn’t even cover half of that 20% increase (considering the 19000bpd is still a low-end estimate).
Other than that, nice post as usual. :)
you both missed the point :)
Recall this stunning remark from BP’s chairman:
The US is a big and important market for BP, and BP is also a big and important company for the US, with its contribution to drilling and oil and gas production. So the position goes both ways.
This is not the first time something has gone wrong in this industry, but the industry has moved on.
That accurately depicts both the current power reality and the attitude of corporate sociopathy.
The government is a kleptocracy which consistently abdicates sovereignty in order to leave behind power vacuums for lawless, stateless, anti-sovereign corporations to fill.
The response of “Obama”, i.e. a fungible criminal cog, was by the numbers – give BP the anti-sovereign equivalent of the imperium, let them lawlessly control as much of the Gulf and its beaches as it chose and was able to control, and alienate all government property (Coast Guard, NOAA, regional police forces, etc.) to be lawlessly “deputized” as corporate cadres. Meanwhile the government’s only remaining job was to parrot BP’s lies.
The geographic lawless zone is yet another form of enclosure, and it’s just an extreme example of the ongoing enclosure assault taking place on every level of what used to be civilization, from the most physical/geographical to the most political and spiritual.
(How many readers here are following the struggle to sustain net neutrality and enact a real National Broadband Plan? Anyone who cares about the future should be, since what’s at stake is nothing less than the last space left for public democracy.)
The drive everwhere is to destroy society itself and replace it with a corporatized anti-society.
An analogue is how the Nazis set up the “General Government of Poland” administrative zone, which was ruled as a direct bureaucratic tyranny by Nazi functionaries, and whose purpose was to provide a stateless, lawless zone where the SS could operate with total license. That’s where the death camps were set up. No laws were broken at the death camps, because no law applied. The SS was a corporation just like today’s. Himmler even wanted to put it on a profit-seeking basis.
This same combination of total power prerogative with zero responsibility or accountability is the goal of corporatism. I defy anyone to name a sector or other area where this isn’t the trend. The kleptocracy now exists only to facilitate and enforce this program.
(If I were a corporatist I think I’d want the rackets to systematically step up the assault right now, as conditions seem especially favorable. You couldn’t ask for a more compliant, active flunkey than Obama (even Bush could be unpredictable with his childishness and his craziness), while for the time being there’s no counter-movement on the scene which could possibly frighten the kleptocrats in office.)
Thank you. Your point of view is correct and perfectly articulated. It is hard to imagine any event, man made war or natural, that will not play into the hands of the system so thoroughly in place for policing the deprived and soon to be deprived scores of American people.
Very little is written on police organizing exported to the rest of the world by the US along with drug prohibition policy policed by the UN.
I recommend a little known book about how decisions for the rest of us are made by small groups of transnational frat buddies meeting at conferences all over the world that bypass democratic processes: Anti-Drugs Policies of the European Union: Transnational Decision-Making and the Politics of Expertise by Martin Elvins, Palgrave-Macmillan: 2003.
Ever since Hank Paulson sat in front of Congress and the American people on the TV repeating how ‘hard we are working,’ the fix has been clear. Nothing in his words or the words of anyone following him in front of Congress and the cameras implies responsibility to anyone on earth other than their own cronies.
It is Paulson’s words that signaled the beginning of the end of the American enterprise ‘for the people.’ For seven hundred billion dollars he stood up there with no clothes on and told us where we stand. Everyone has his price.
And the beat goes on with PR talking points worthy of Geobbles like worries about HATE for British Petroleum, the GAFFEs of their CEO, his apologies, and the facile utterances of Obama. Where is the law? Feelings are not rule of law.
The PR talking points are way off the mark.
It would surprise me if HATE has any room in the hearts of people whose love of country, of American culture in the Gulf area, their families, communities and livelihoods, the wildlife of the beach and waters of the Gulf, for the people hired by BP on the clean-up acquiring health problems as we speak, are feeling anything but heartbreak, pain and apprehension right now.
An essential aspect of limiting claims for environmental damages is to limit evidence of said damage. As we can see, BP is heavily committed to this in every aspect of their intervention, and whimpering to the media notwithstanding virtually every government agency involved is aiding and abetting BP’s cover-up program, mostly by abject abdication of any responsibility and engagement with the spill to BP. It’s symptomatic of the entire government response that in order to get pictures of oiled wildlefe (of which there are hundreds of _dead_ animals on the beaches to all eyewitness reports), the photographer had to be personally accompanying the Governor of Louisiana that he not be hustled away by BPs security goons. I view the ‘segregate the clean-up’ procedure as a tacit admission by BP’s senior management that they are going to duck claims, repeated pablum to the contrary notwithstanding.
Yves: “Taking a hard line (and for a change, following through) with a near universally hated company is a political no brainer.” Obama just doesn’t think like that. He doesn’t; not one thing in his record as a senator, in his campaign, in his year in a half as the Invertebrate-in-Chief has he indicated that he in any way thinks like that. So there is no reason to believe that he ever will. He is completely captive to the mindset of the technocracy and the oligarchy: they are the experts, they are the titans, they are the consituency, what can he do for them once he’s sat down at the table with them? It boggles me that anyone has ever fooled themself to think that he’s on the side of the public. It’s not even that he’s ‘sold out,’ because his rhetoric, if you’ve parsed it, always has been coded to show that he thinks what is best for business is the only way to do the business of governance. Obama has conceded 90% of what business wants in his own mind before he even gets into a negotiation, and is easily rolled for the remaining dime. It’s his job to defend them _from the unreasonable public_. Think through what he has said time and again praising industry, and you see this perspective: that is his core belief insofar as I can see any. And votes?: What, Him Worry? Business paid to put him in office, and he believes firmly that they will do so again, and he’s right to believe that because they couldn’t have a more willing front man.
It would seem impossible to have said this even a year ago, but Obama’s response to the Blob in the water is _less engaged and less effective_ that was that of “Shrub” Bush to the Katrina disaster. We don’t have to travel abroad or even in the mind to live in Absurdistan: the Beltway class have changed the name of the country completely in the last fifteen years, and we all reside in the country of the incredibly lame already.
Richard quoting Yves:
“Taking a hard line (and for a change, following through) with a near universally hated company is a political no brainer.”
Not so fast, as there were 3 companies involved in this disaster. What will happen with Halliburton and Transocean, if it is found out that they are to be blamed too?
Are you suggesting that Cheney’s company will then pay say 1/3 of the damage?
And Transocean, a US company except for the location of its headquarter (in the oceanic country Switzerland; hey, hadn’t Obama-the-campaigner suggested that he wanted to tackle the corporate tax evasions?!): does Washington DC want them to pay say 1/3 of the estimated $ 35 billion?
Apparently, this is not the first time Transocean had a problem with its Blow-Out Non-Preventer.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7806200/Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-spill-Transocean-silent-as-BP-bears-the-brunt-of-anger.html
Carol,
My understanding, per remarks I have seen in the media and in comments here, is that this was BP’s drill, pun intended. BP was the equivalent of the prime contractor. The only way it can shift blame and liability to its subcontractors is if it can prove they failed to comply with BP’s instructions AND that was a major contributor to the blowout.
The evidence so far is that the all the crucial decisions that compromised safety, from well design (using only one pipe rather than two nested pipes) to the conduct of the drilling operation (getting MMS to sign of on BOP tests with less than normal pressure levels, continuing to proceed with the operation even though dangerous levels of gas were kicking up from the site, having or allowing Schlumberger to leave the site with the cement seal untested, and evacuating the mud with NO test of the integrity of the seal).
In other words, you are falling for BP spin in bringing up the other companies as meaningful culprits.
“…BP was the equivalent of the prime contractor….”
We are in full agreement. BP is the prime contractor and that makes it the prime party responsible as per an applicable US law post Exxon Valdez.
Still, BP leased the rig from Transocean, and there appear to have been issues with Halliburton (cement lining) and Transocean (rig operator).
I am sorry if it appeared I had fallen for BP’s spin, as I consider their spin, and their public relations most horrible and disingenuous.
I am surprised though, by the difference in treatment (foreign) BP gets from the MSM, Obama, and Congress compared to (US) banks.
Just 1 of the countless examples: Sen.Schumer expressing dismay about dividend payments by BP, but doing nothing to prevent Wall Street banks from taking 50+% of last year’s profit out of the banks and into the bonus pool. And those profits were thanks to the taxpayers, FED’s ZIRP, accounting tricks etc., and meant to form a buffer for future losses.
BP (and Halliburton and Transocean) are at least partly providing society a service, whereas most of Wall Street banks have been, and still are!!!!, extracting a huge rent from society.
Apparently, Mr Hayward, CEO of BP, is not a ‘savvy businessman’ worthy of a golf course play with Mr Obama.
Winston Churchill observed that you could always rely on the US to do the right thing, after it had exhausted every other possibility.
I’m terrified that after we had all breathed a sigh of relief that the US had at last done the right thing by electing Obama after a series of disastrous Presidents beginning with Reagan, we will be proved wrong. If Obama fails what option will the US have left to do the right thing? If Obama fails to respond to the popular fury about the robber bankers, about corporate arrogance, about Israel’s intransigent stupidity, and at the end of the his term it’s just business as usual what lesson can be drawn but that democracy has failed – and when democracy fails the mob is inclined to want to rule.
OutsideLookingIn:
You missed the lesson(s) of February, 2009 when BHO decided to serve the oligarchy rather then the People of the United States of America.
His malign behavior here is easily expected, no surprise.
The PUSA have and will have no representation going forward absent revolution.
Let it come in my lifetime.
“The PUSA have and will have no representation going forward absent revolution.”
Please spare me the revolution fantasies. I have more than a few qualms about the “representative” aspect of our government, but we’re not going to have a revolution. While this is a low point, with Obama being little more than a slightly gentler kinder plutocrat than that other guy, it’s hardly the first time in our history we’ve been at such a point. Think the 1920’s or the Gilded Age, amongst others.
To contradict the 60’s nostalgia, the revolution _will_ be televised (it will also be a work of fiction).
Yves: “I heard two stories when I was in Alabama …”
Let me guess, you weren’t there for a beach vacation. I’ve heard that there are some problems with that right now, and at this time of year our Yankee beaches are quite nice.
Any chance you’re doing a little first hand investigating?
Yves: ‘Fishgrease explained that the liberal use of “fuck” or equivalent is essential for successful booming.’
Ordinarily I’m opposed to the overuse of profanity, but there are select cases when it seems to be necessary. For instance, in my and others experience in repairing our motor vehicles, it seems that the generous and heartfelt use of such exclamations is an essential part of the process. The same may be true of oil booming.
The UK Telegraph is reporting that Tony Hayward sold 1/3 of his stock positions in BP on March 17, 2010. The Waxman Congressional Investigation seems to have emails that show that BP asked for MMS permission to use a cement plug 750 ft. above the bottom of the hole on March 11, 2010. The Fourth Estate of the Free Press is failing us. Congress is failing us. Why is Tony Hayward still in charge of the operation?
If BP is “too big to prosecute” and the Megabanks are “too big to fail” and prosecute, then we have confirmation of a lawless unconstitutional state being run by very huge and powerful interests that are making a mockery of what we call a constitutional representative democracy. We all know that Attorney General Cuomo has grand jury testimony that could bring indictments against Investment Banks for their intentional creation of a feaux due diligence process in securitizing the toxic mortgages. I believe the Rating Agencies were given immunity. I have been waiting for the indictments for 2 years and Grand Jury Secrecy is being used to suppress the information. Maybe Yves can elucidate us on the testimony of the ex-chief of Clayton Holdings.
Just to make matters worse, the safety of the citizens of the Southeast is being compromised by literally giving British Petroleum defacto sovereignty over the oil blowout.
The government is relying on BP for information on the situation on the bottom of the Gulf, and nobody from BP or the Government has provided any evidence that Matt Simmon’s allegations are baseless. It feels like we have stepped “through the looking glass”, and we are now living in a full blown Oligarch Kleptocracy of Powerful Private Interests that have the power of Feudal Lords.
Fishgrease has been quite the source during this mess. Nice to see him getting wider exposure.
I knew this was going to happen, from the moment we had that incident with BP, the CG, and CBS news reporters a few weeks back. You remember, when a CBS news crew tried to film the oil sheen on a public beach and were threatened with ARREST by BP workers and the Coast Guard, with the Coast Guard telling them “it’s BP’s rules, not ours”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UbtuLjEyVA&feature=player_embedded
I don’t know why this story didn’t get more traction.
Think about the CG’s comments for a second, they’re staggering. The implication is that BP rules (whatever they happen to be) have the force of law, and that the CG works for BP here.
Add that to the Mexican immigration issue, the clearest human expression of violation to our sovereignty. Where debate on sovereignty vis-a-vis the ILLEGAL immigration issue is suppressed by the Orwellian Goebbels/Frank Luntz propaganda machine by labeling the people speaking as anti-IMMIGRANT; an oxymoron in the US if ever there was one.
For an honest, impassioned reaction to the anti-debate on US sovereignty watch California Representative McClintick’s response to President Calderon’s appearance on the House floor clearly addressing the issue here
And the speech he’s reacting to by the President of Mexico, Calderon on American whose arrogance is matched by Congress’s reaction here.
UNBELIEVABLE.
As opposed to calling anyone who is against ILLEGAL immigration, in the best tradition of Orwellian Goebbels/Frank Luntz propaganda speech, anti-immigrant. If they could somehow get immigration and phobic to rhyme they would.
apologies for wrong link. the correct link on contempt for American sovereignty is here:
For an honest, impassioned reaction to the anti-debate on US sovereignty watch California Representative McClintick’s response to President Calderon’s appearance on the House floor clearly addressing the issue.
and then listen to the effects of American drug policy and NAFTA on Mexicohere
Blurry images from down below no one knows exactly what they are! Leaking oil –bad press, scientific predictions folks not happy –our President is a bit upset maybe too little too late! All of those things at one time may sink BP MONEY MAKING SHIP!
By Dwight Baker
June 3, 2010
Dbaker007@stx.rr.com
Who could ever rule out that the BP blowout ‘that they own’ could take the company down? Of course Rothschilds have $600 trillion in gold they might just step up and help out.
Computer models show Gulf oil reaching East Coast
Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2010/06/02/2230930/computer-models-show-gulf-oil.html#ixzz0pp8Dj3Ko
Be sure and watch the video
Now think a bit about that? Who is guilty? BP! Who is going to pay? BP? So BP why should you wait another day to not use the TAME NATURE overshot plan and end this oil ruining our coastlines killing our plant life, fishes and such.
Poor BP folks that have been in front of a camera should pack their bags and move to Argentina. Got enough stacked back Argentina will cover all your tracks. Now those are harsh and insulting words but deserved. If you think I am wrong prove it.
Contact dbaker007@stx.rr.com for a complete illustrated and well documented commentary of “what went wrong who is guilty and what is the cure’.
So What —Yes We now Know! That knowing might buy us a cup of coffee? Unless we can get some one affected to make the Tame Nature overshot a reality!
By Dwight Baker
June 4, 2010
Dbaker007@stx.rr.com
Was The BLOW OUT planned? God forbid if it were! But the big players EXXON/MOBIL partners with BP British Petroleum took in another partner Anadarko Production for 25% of the cost to drill and complete.
Hiccups in anything will cause a clamor some where down the line.
EXXON/MOBIL is Rockefeller BP is Rothschilds the richest families on planet earth they have trillions stashed back and can get more.
Anadarko is one of the largest lease holders and producers of oil in the Gulf, yet they are not in the same league with BP and EXXON/MOBIL so connecting the dots this drama going on could be to run up the liabilities so high Anadarko would have a fire sale to stay in business. J. D. Rockefeller said, “The best time to buy is when blood is running in the streets”
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-10-energy-companies-with-massive-exposure-to-the-gulf-of-mexico-2010-6#andarko-petroleum-apc-1
http://www.anadarko.com/Investor/Pages/NewsReleases/NewsReleases.aspx?release-id=1004591
CALL IT WHAT IT IS —-A BLOW OUT
Grand Isle, La.,
On Friday June 4, 2010 President Obama and Adm. Thad W. Allen of the Coast Guard took a two hour and thirty minute ride by car to Grand Isle, La. I suppose that was a good use of time? Obama is President so he gets to call all the shots.
One of President Obama statements were “I want BP to be very clear they’ve got moral and legal obligations here in the gulf for the damage that has been done,”
I am far from a Harvard lawyer by any stretch of the imagination but my words [a bit red neck oil field rough neck talk] would have sounded a bit like this.
“BP boys you are on my long list but you just went to the top of the list, No more ‘monk eying’ around with this problem that you caused, I will give you ten more days to stop the blow out if not stopped—-some of you BP boys are going to jail.
That is not a threat that is a promise, these folks have had it up to here with your lying and cheating, beats the hell out of me boys what you have been doing and thinking. Your thinking so far has been stinking up my nostrils. After seeing all of this tell you one thing for sure it is criminal and BP is going to pay every last cent from the time of the blow out till all is back to normal and that might take 100 years. So if that doesn’t build a fire in your short smoke stack wait ten days if the blow out is not stopped off to jail some of you BP boys will go.
Some of the mum boo jumbo that went on while Obama was there was Dr. Chu was un-clear about what he had put his name on to do!
A BP hand took off to explaining what Chu had agreed to do.
This cap was designed with rubbery materials and soft metal to seal against the flange that joins the riser pipe to the preventer stack, but the flange has bolts of different sizes and heights.
“It’s all problematic,” the technician said, describing the switch in caps as a scramble.
The technician said that shortly after the cap was successfully placed, Dr. Chu wondered aloud why oil was still spewing from around the bottom. Engineers had to tell him that the leaks were expected, at least initially.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/05/us/05capture.html?th&emc=th
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704183204575288592589771992.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_PoliticsNCampaign_4#video%3DC049FC8E-413C-4D75-B789-347183EB076A%26articleTabs%3Dvideo
http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com/#loc=Surry%20Hills%2C%20NSW%2C%20Australia&lat=-33.883&lng=151.217&x=151.217&y=-33.883&z=7
PLEASE writers, publishers, readers seekers for the truth, get the facts —Contact me and you can get them —-Then you will know some more of the oil field details that led up to the blow out and now the cure.
Please do not regurgitate the trash coming down to you for the media master firms out to sell propaganda to protect BP and some of the others who have not a clue what to do!
The TAME NATURE Overshot Plan was first sent to BP May 13,2010
By Dwight Baker
June 2, 2010
Dbaker007@stx.rr.com
First sent to BP May 13, 2010 today an UP DATE
June 6, 2010 noting that BP is trying to steal my basic ideas. Why “ That is a felons way”!
I envisioned the cure and passed it along to BP many days ago and still hold to the basic premise that We the People must demand President Obama to demand BP to Tame Nature with the overshot
I have published the CURE for all to see.
Now, for those who care to and must know the problems that created the blow out and the cure —- Please contact me for my 2500 word narrative with large technical drawings including technical ecological social and political conclusions built around facts. The file size is 1.01 MB
For all you living on the coast Please send and e-mail to me to get this full of facts file.
Contact Dwight Baker at dbaker007@stx.rr.com and the file will be sent.
I HAVE SENT PRESIDENT OBAMA 30 TO 50 e-mails per day many like I have been posting here. Wonder if any gets passed along? The same is true for the Governors in the affected area— some of the Parish presidents, Coast Guard and on and on and on.
Dwight Baker
Po Box 7065
Eagle Pass, TX 78853
830-773-1077
dbaker007@stx.rr.com
June 4, 2010
Hope your trip to the Gulf is going OK. The fix that BP tried is leaving you high and dry one more time. Too bad for you and for us, but I do have the solution for the problem.
It is called TAME NATURE overshot with a patent pending device and patent process pending. So I am covered but that is not as important to me as your position BP has put you in and we as a people seeing BP run rough shod over us.
Oil and Gas folks knows that the crowd representing BP are jokes. However that is what happens when one lie must be told to cover up the other lies that were told before.
So when you have had enough of there mum boo jumbo get with me and along with some good others in oil and gas we will get this fixed but under the watch of BP. We cannot let them get off the hook.
Halliburton will buy into the TAME NATURE overshot plan along with many well control folks I know.
So as sad as it is the ball is in your hands with that being said throw the right pass and we oil and gas guys will make a touchdown.
Cheers hope your flight back to DC is all OK.
Dwight Baker
American Champs in oil and gas time to enlist!
By Dwight Baker
June 6, 2010
Dbaker007@stx.rr.com
Anger frustration has led many in America to disappointment and discontent so much that 90% of the comments on the internet about the Blow Out are senseless stupid and most times more about party lines. Now is that stupid or not?
Chu does not have a clue what to do about the techniques pipes etc in oil and gas ‘folks oil and gas is a generational passed down occupation’. Nor does many from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton and on — but one thing for sure some of those folks have been on a learning curve 90 degrees straight up. And over time the brightest will always come to the top for study defines them.
E-mail Dbaker007@stx.rr.com for What Went Wrong and the Cure for the BP Blow Out.
Most reports on the Blow Out in the TV news media are faulted. The Blow Out has set them back for none knew what was really going on, so on and on — that has gone on— one emulating the other with neither have the common sense and reason about oil and gas matters to understand the subject matter they were reporting.
Thus the rub has come for the working class of folks in America. For many of them have grown up valuing common sense and reason more highly than years of grueling education. And for many that was the only way for them to go — for lack of funds and preparatory education to get them ready for Colleges and Universities.
Yet none should forget the Wall Street crisis was led by the blue blood elites with years of training in Universities.
Now it is time for many who do not have a clue to bow out and let many CHAMPS with generational oil and gas common sense and reason take over. And from that crowd of Champs there is many that would stay and stay and stay until the job is finished knowing when complete the best had been done for all around.
In the BP culture of folks I have not seen any of that type. Therefore BP needs to pay whatever it takes then stand back and let the AMERICAN CHAMPS in OIL and GAS take over.
Thank you, Dwight. You are a prolific and indefatigable thorn in BP’s side. Your expertise is far above my pay grade, but I sure hope BP is taking it seriously. This is a dire emergency that will haunt all of us for decades, and your efforts are awesome. Really.
I have one word for you, young cajun. Well, three. False Claims Act. 31 U.S.C. § 3729–3733.
“Schlumberger is on stand by to run the bond log but released BP Hand said was not needed”
I came across a blog where it was reported that the schlumberger crew boss, when hefound the well was still kicking, immediately ordered kill mud be pumped down the well and when the bp manager refused he immeditely requested bp transport his crew from the rig. bp said there woa no transportaton avialable until the next day, to the crew boss called headquarters and had a helocopter sent out asap and got his crew the hell off the rig. the rig exploded six hours later. now that’s a G-O-O-D crew boss.
if this is what happened, this is going to provide some seriously damaging testimony in court.
whoops, replying to wrong post.
Lessons from the [not spill] but Blow Out
By Dwight Baker
June 5, 2010
Dbaker007@stx.rr.com
MY TAKE on this article http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/05/AR2010060503288.html
Language is the art to communicate. Invented by humans. In the use of language professions and work groups have their own set and order of words that they convey meanings to those in the pier groups as work is done.
The BP blowout cannot be defined in language used by east coast blue bloods or by bankers, lawyers, or those in the medical professions. Those who drive taxicabs or work at Wall Mart cannot define the blow out using their daily language. Or those hyper intelligent that never worked in the field but have the pedigree to get the best oil field jobs. And folks — “That is where the worst rub comes for me today in trying my best to stomach Mr. Tony Hayward”
Oil and Gas language is peculiar to those who have spent years working in and at the jobs to produce oil and natural gas. Oklahoma men have traveled the world over working in oil and gas occupations; the same is true for men in Louisiana, Texas, California and Wyoming.
Not only is the language different but also the method of delivery is more to the point with less inflections and variations that often times leaves folks wondering the direct meaning and direct intent. Action words often come at the beginning of conversation. Long and arduous dialogs do not exist.
Therefore after reading the article I disagree with the thesis stated.
Going to the bottom line of what went wrong why and by who took some time —but the passion of wanting to aid in solving the dilemma that BP had stated they were in and us as a Nation of good folks who needed and advocate to tell all. Thus it took time and effort to search to find out the clues, because at that time —-much like today BP was hiding most if not all of the vital facts that were needed to understand the processes needed to do the problem solving.
The article written citied sources for proof of their facts using folks outside the oil and gas industry, so the language of the vital events that led to the blowout are missing.
Therefore MY TAKE on lessons learned from the [not spill] but blowout goes a bit like this.
[1] The BP Company Man out of human greed needing bonus money if the rig was moved by a specific time brought about the final fatal and horrific mistake that caused the blow out. Coming out of the hole under-balanced.
[2] The Minerals Management Service has revenues just slightly under the IRS. The power that comes about when that much money is being controlled is for some that provides the ways and means to ‘dip in’ at different levels. The MMS did not do the work assigned for them to do during the application to drill and through the drilling process.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_reserves_in_the_United_States
The MMS has a poor reputation and most knows ‘now’ how corrupt that bunch was and maybe still is. MMS let it slide that BP was required to install a master primary FAIL SAFE BOP the cost $500,000. Should that have been installed the Deepwater Horizon would still be standing and the eleven men that died would still be alive. The BP workers that I have seen on TV told they had never seen an MMS employee on the Deepwater Horizon to look around or do an audit.
[3] Now step-by-step that led to the final fatal and horrific mistake in oil and gas language is said like this.
Triping out of the hole taking a kick better everybody get their act together or we will all go up in smoke. Halliburton pumps light weight cement to the top of the last string of 7 inch casing running down the string 500 ft deep. Schlumberger is on stand by to run the bond log but released BP Hand said was not needed. Halliburton hands are on stand by to pump cement over the production zone about 700 ft of pay, but were told to leave while the rig tripped out of the hole. Halliburton had set two plugs in the 7 inch casing when the rig run it in the hole. The plugs are designed like check valves to keep flow from coming up in the open hole.
The BP Company man calling the shots that night broke the golden rule never trip out of the hole under-balanced. Bonus money was on the line to get the Deepwater Horizon moved to the next drill site. The BP Company man told the crew to come out of the hole pumping the expensive drilling mud up then off to a ship waiting to process it for the next hole. Replacing the mud in the hole with seawater — deadly sin of being under-balanced.
The Deepwater Horizon was a good drill ship she had set a world record for the deepest well drilled.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon
Her crew that I have seen on TV and heard them tell of that terrible night has been stand up good guys that did their jobs. They were buddies that worked the work in the right sequence they knew their jobs. Most have said the call the BP Company man made to come out of the hole under-balanced was a bad call.
So what went wrong bottom line at the end of time for the Deepwater Horizon and the eleven men who met their final demise? –The cement slurry that was pumped in by Halliburton was never tested by Schlumberger to see if a bond had set up around the pipe and against the rock drilled through.
The plugs set by Halliburton were holding the inside column weight of fluids in the pipe set to produce through. The weight of the rocks had been over- replaced by the heavy weight drilling mud. But when coming out of the hole under-balanced that was less than the weight of the rocks that had been drilled out. NEED TO KNOW FACT HOW MUCH DRILL PIPE HAD BEEN PULLED OUT OF THE HOLE. At that time — —-the slips in retainer mechanism in the wellhead control unit designed to hold the casing in place—- let loose because the cement needed to keep all of that intact was not there. CEMENT BOND LOG HAD NOT BEEN RUN —–Those are two vital facts why the well blew out.
At that time the last sting of 7 inch casing was pushed up into the 9 5/8 casing then the virgin formation pressure of over 15,000 to 22,000 PSI pushed through and begin to blow up hole some water first then the balance of the mud in hole following right behind was the gas and oil. The rig floor and people were shattered and shredded by the high-pressure 10,000 to 15,000 PSI blast. During that time all the hydraulic hoses electrical wiring were ripped apart.
Now all the other suppositions, hypothesis and BP attempted ways to try to shift the blame on others is simply and stupidly wrong. That is the Lying —Lawyering ways to use the SEE–SAW—YAW OF THE LAW taught at most Universities. The worst part for us in the USA inside the beltway of DC is mostly Lawyers. MY GOD FORBIDS.
Understanding anything comes little by little most all will agree. Therefore contact me Dwight Baker dbaker007@stx.rr.com and I will be happy to send along the first narrative along with the large illustrations so that you can read and look and in doing so really helps.
“Schlumberger is on stand by to run the bond log but released BP Hand said was not needed”
I came across a blog where it was reported that the schlumberger crew boss, when he found the well was still kicking, ordered kill mud be pumped down the well before he would proceed and when the bp manager refused he immeditely requested bp transport his crew from the rig. bp said there was no transportation avialable until the next day, so the crew boss called headquarters and had a helicopter sent out a.s.a.p. and got his crew the hell off the rig. the rig exploded six hours later. now that’s a G-O-O-D crew boss.
if this is what happened, this is going to provide some seriously damaging testimony in court.
I’ve only seen that story in one blog post, although it has been repeated elsewhere (details slightly different, BTW). The official story from Schlumberger is a little different. Its crew was on site a few days prior to its departure (not sure if they were on hold or monitoring the logs) and it has said it left on a regularly scheduled BP helo. That could be after calling home and threatening to get their own chopper.
What happened to the live video feed from the ROVs? Nothing for the last couple of days that I can find.
Nixon,Nixon/Ford,Reagan,Reagan,Bush I,Clinton,Clinton,Bush II,Bush II, Obama=(Bush III). Look at that line up of losers and criminals. Worst generation of Americans EVER! Sometimes you get what you deserve.
Think of the loss to Florida beachfront real estate values ALONE! If the whole of the state becomes a giant, dripping dipstick poking into the Caribbean, the value of that property has a long way to go down. And so do the banks that extended the mortgages for that property.
BP may be continuing to pay its dividend because that’s the only way it has of transferring residual value to shareholders. If they’re really on the hook for ALL the damage from the spill, there won’t be much left.
The one main thing that corporate media fails to report is that the Reagan Revolution conquered the federal government for corporate American. From Goldman Sachs to BP, the federal government works for them not its citizens.
The drama plays out in the Gulf Coast with only BP dictating the script.
Yet, Douglas Brinkley, Tulane Historian, commented on Saturday CBS News: People have the power. BP is nothing compared to the power of the USA
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6552514n
The arrogance of the British started the first Revolution. The arrogance of the wealthy elite in treating the Gulf Coast as another Nigeria; plus, forcing an end to government jobs stimulus in face of a double dip recession; brings on Revolutions.
The focus should be NOT on how much they are capturing – this is irrelevant – only relevant data is how much is LEAKING!!! Let’s not forget that they increased the flow for at least 20% and probably more by the latest attempt. Capturing some oil is progress but not job done by far!! So by doing some trivial mathematics assuming they increased flow by 20% they in effect reduced the spill only by 20% if they are capturing 10k barels a day.
In today times it seems to me that this is accepted modus operandi:
TRUTH = scandal
HALF TRUTH = normal way of operating
LIES = way forward
There remains a void in our populous in the USA for those many folks that want to know the truth. Truth does not come as a BOLT of lighting but little by little. I am an advocate for our sovereignty so we can remain free and I will never stop trying to find the few that want to learn what truth I have to deliver. As a consequence I have worn out my welcome on Yeves site.
Not from where I sit, Dwight, though you may have worn out your welcome at BP, if you ever had one.
To repeat my comment above:
“Thank you, Dwight. You are a prolific and indefatigable thorn in BP’s side. Your expertise is far above my pay grade, but I sure hope BP is taking it seriously. This is a dire emergency that will haunt all of us for decades, and your efforts are awesome. Really.”
“As the Gulf oil leak continues to spew, albeit at a slightly lower rate now”
almost certainly not true.
the most CREDIBLE flow figures emerged from a computer analysis done by Steven Wereley, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, analyzed videotape of the seafloor gusher using a technique called particle image velocimetry. A computer program simply tracks particles and calculates how fast they are moving. Wereley put the BP video of the gusher into his computer. He made a few simple calculations and came up with an astonishing value for the rate of the oil spill: 70,000 barrels a day — much higher than the official estimate of 5,000 barrels a day.
The method is accurate to a degree of plus or minus 20 percent.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126809525
this only pertained to the plume at the end of the pipe. subsequent availibility of video of the leaks at the bend of the riser upped that figure to over 100,000 bbls per day. add to that a 20% PLUS increase in flow after the riser was cut off above the wellhead. that would add AT LEAST 20,000 bbls per day to the flow, well over the 15,000 bbls per day maximum capacity of the tophat operation.
it’s hard to get a true sense of the forces and quantities. operating here. think of it this way…
imagine a fire hose with a 20 inch nozzle elevated at 45 degrees shooting a stream of water a thousand yards out. that’s what’s coming out of that well head. the ‘tophat’ cannot possibly be collecting more than 10% of the flow.
remember, followup interviews with some of the scientists on that ‘official’ panel to determine the flow rate stated they calculated primarily from pictures of the water surface, were only provided a few minutes of a single very poor quality video of the leak at the end of the pipe and were instructed to use the most conservative method of calculating the flow AND even then came up with a MINIMUM figure of 17,000 to 25,000 bbls per day, with the MAXIMUM figure left unstated and to be calculated ‘later’. so the media, as was inevitable, immediately conflated that minimum (and purposefully provided) ‘range’ and made the 25,000 bbls per day figure the maximum ‘official’ flow rate.
in other words, the entire process was utterly rigged from start to finish.
Like the “stress” tests?
Since that article was written, BP sawed off the bent riser and there were numerous videos of the oil spewing unobstructed into the ocean. Did the researchers ever take that video and re-run their calculations to see if the results were different?
BP did revise their flow values up to 20,000 barrels/day, but even that is nowhere close to the value of 70,000 bpd as mentioned in the article you linked to.
Lost in all “lets burn BP” rage is the ugly truth that Americans as “we the people” are just as guilty. Lets not forget why we need to fight wars in the middle east and drill drill drill in the gulf and in Alaska. Americans think that they have a God given right to drive whatever they want regardless of consumption at the lowest “cost” per gallon as possible. So yes BP has been criminally negligent but lets not forget that they are just the tools that helps us satisfy our gluttonous ways…
It takes leadership to make rules. People follow rules.
If you have a bunch of SUVs in your neighborhood big enough to kill you and your kids if you get wacked, you’re compelled if you can afford it to match it for the safety of your kids.
Come on! Multi nationals own the Supreme Court and every other branch of government.
They make their own laws to suit themselves.
“you’re compelled if you can afford it to match it for the safety of your kids”
Rationalize all you want. However, when gas went to $4/gallon people like you forgot all of this safety crap and started to dump their SUVs faster than Obama’s promise of “change”. The solution to oil waste is to price it accordingly. There is a war and environmental cost that is not price on what you pay at the pump. So put a $2 or $3 dollar tax per gallon of gas and you will see how fast people become “environmentally friendly”. Like I said and you proving me correct is that Americans feel that they have a God given right to drive whatever they chose without regards of its impact to the environment or to other people’s lives.
Well said. For over 30 years we’ve talked about energy independence and where are we? Gas is only $2.70 a gallon…
To pretend that WE are not a big part of this problem – it’s our leaders – is FUCKING bullshit. WE wanted less government, less regulation, less taxes, cheap gas, and we got it! WE did it to ourselves. The consequences of such collossal stupidity are now coming home to roost.
Blaming BP is a distraction – BIG BAD OIL – that won’t change our addiction to oil. Punishment, fines, villification, dismemberment of BP will NOT change this one bit. Because at the end of the day, come 2011, we’ll still be addicted to oil.
BP knows America and in particular the South which is invested significantly in oil,gas and chemical companies. Those who have visited New Orleans and bypassed Bourbon St will find the most intensive network of chemical,oil and gas installations anywhere in the states. They exist in New Orleans because of lack government oversight at all levels.
Has anyone wondered why the number of oil soaked birds has been so small? No pictures of large fish kills which always occur in these events! The media says something about that the oil spill was so far away that it didn’t have the normal impact on the coastal wildlife but my guess is that the marshes,tide lands and most of the Gulf is an industrial cesspool and that the once rich bird and marine life have been culled out by various industrial and tourist industries. The shrimp industry alone takes hundreds of thousands of pounds of shrimp daily from the gulf;what do you think that has done to the marine and bird feeding grounds probably culled it down significantly over time.
So BP may sound way off the environmental center to many Americans but this is what they have come to expect from Americans thirsty for more oil and gas. Also a bit below regarding the South’s judiciary connection to the oil business.
“More than half of the federal judges in districts where the bulk of Gulf oil spill-related lawsuits are pending have financial connections to the oil and gas industry, complicating the task of finding judges without conflicts to hear the cases, an Associated Press analysis of judicial financial disclosure reports shows.
Thirty-seven of the 64 active or senior judges in key Gulf Coast districts in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida have links to oil, gas and related energy industries, including some who own stocks or bonds in BP PLC, Halliburton or Transocean — and others who regularly list receiving royalties from oil and gas production wells, according to the reports judges must file each year. The AP reviewed 2008 disclosure forms, the most recent available.”
Is anyone doing independent air monitoring? Real-time monitoring with results posted on the web would help ensure multi-billion dollar liability for health claims down the road for BP, and further reveal the fascist governmental cover-up.
I am beginning to relish this spill, it makes visible the depth of capture and should radicalize anyone with a soul.
Under the Clean Water Act, every barrel of oil spilled into the “waters of the US” is subject to a fine of $4300. No wonder BP has lowballed the amount of oil leaked into the Gulf, and has used dispersant that reduces how much of it makes it to the surface (and then can be skimmed and measured). If we assume the low value of 15,000 barrels/day from the start, BP is already on the hook for BILLIONS of dollars, not to mention the cost of stopping the leak and cleaning up all the oil.
BP’s CEO says they will pay all “legitimate” damages, and will “make the shore right”. I don’t trust that word “legitimate” although legally they have to say that.
Well then, how do we put a value on the ecology of the Gulf, no doubt ruined for decades? How about the marine animals that are dying and will die; Kemp’s Ridley turtles are endangered and nest along these beaches. Bluefin tuna lay their eggs in this part of the Gulf. Is the loss of tourist dollars to the coastal hotels and businesses “legitimate”? How about the sport fishing business, and the commercial fishermen and shrimpers, who all may be out of business for a generation? How much is a marsh worth?
BP needs to pay for this, and pay HARD, and if it ends up with the US seizing their assets here and selling them to pay for these damages, I’m all for it.
Why do wetlands hate America?
It was the environmentalists who wanted to preserve them so that Al-Qaeda terrorists and Mexicans could sneak in undetected to attack us because they hate our freedoms.
Thank God for BP. Hayward should be feted as a national hero. Without him, Obama and Osama would have been able to implement their plan to hand over this country to the whims, not of oil companies, but of a vast terror network.
Yes, I’m referring Greenpeace.
And as everyone knows, the color of the Muslim flag is….
GREEN!
And the color of the Mexican soccer jersey?
GREEN!
Do you see the connection???
Brought to you by:
The Tony Hayward Institute for Safe, Clean and Renewable Fantasies
and by
The Sarah Palin Foundation for Sheer Gibberish
and by
The Rand Paul Campaign for Abolishing Headstart And Using The Savings To Cut Taxes on Private Kindergarten for Billionaire Children
superduperdave has it right. There are a LOT of ocean front homes and condos. And they go on for miles and miles and miles. And their market values approach NY real estate prices. I’m referring to Fairhope, Perdido Key, Orange Beach and Gulf Shores (all around the Mobile, Al area). And then there is Fla.
The first hurricane thru will blow oil gunk several blocks deep destroying any value these places might have. Not to speak of lingering oil fumes and ruined beaches.
The major banks have invested heavily in these localities and hold mortgages that in total probably add up to well up in the billions. Multiple that many times to get property losses in Fla. I’d suspect the banks will sooner than later be involved in some real knockdown fights with BP over their mortgage losses.
Because if I owned one of those ruined beach front homes I’d be go to hell if I’d pay one more cent on a mortgage on a now worthless house (or condo). Instead I’d just send the monthly statement to BP. And I suspect a few hundred thousand former beach residents will do just that (if it comes down to it).
Let the banks and BP fight it out, they deserve each other. Hmmm, maybe thats what Obama and crew are thinking.
What did they say back in the Reagan days? “What’s good for Oil is good for America!”
Agreed. And thank you for calling out Allen, he’s been disgusting and a BP mouthpiece from the start. On the humor side, saw this comic with him in it this morning — he and Robert Gibbs give Obama and Haywarth lap dances.
http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2010/06/isaiahs-world-today-just-nuts-working.html
If Obama did anything serious to BP, it would mean that corporations can be treated as criminals and that would mean many other corporations would be held accountable for their actions (mezothelioma). He can’t let that happen. We need to look at these types of things in a broader legal sense; think precedent. And we need to start thinking of Obama as a Bush clone, with a more articulate tone.
I’ve found http://www.theoildrum.com to be the best source of information, far better than DailyKos and Fishgrease. Check it out daily. The comments are usually enlightening. The daily DrumBeat is also an excellent complilation of a variety of industry-related articles.
Same here. A link here on NC steered me to Fishgrease, who recommended theoildrum.com, particularly comments by Rockman, an obvious oil industry veteran. Like NC, The Oil Drum offers good information and (mostly) intelligent comments.
PublicCitizen.org has well documented BP’s sordid CRIMINAL history in U.S. They are currently ON PROBATION for FELONY CONVICTIONS as a result of Texas City disaster and a huge oil leak in Alaska. A judge in Houston could tomorrow revoke probation and resentence those fucks to the nastiest hellhole in Texas. Of course he is instead am oil industry stooge.
I am not sure about the assumption that more skimmers = more oil recovered. High recovery rates requires that the right equipment be at the right place at the right time. This is much more difficult then the general public realizes. Clean-up efforts during the Exxon Valdez spill resulted in the recovery of about ten percent of the oil spilled. I suspect that the recovery rate for this spill will be lower then ten percent. Throwing more skimmers at the problem likely won’t change that. It has to do with the behavior of oil in the sea.