Gulf Oil Spill Worse Than Initially Reported

[AndyH]

(part 3/final)

Repower American - Murkowski Part 2

Plug-In America's EV Petition Drive

They need to hear from us - whether they want to or not.

Best,
Andy

 

[AndyH]

Sorry - doesn't sound like that at all. They are not sending other vessels to collect data either. Doesn't pass the smell test - what happened to all the transparency that Obama promised.

Sorry...transparency just cannot mean releasing classified information or providing advanced notice that we're going to knock on the door at 1312 Maple Street at 7:31pm to arrest the murderer. Uncomfortable. Not fun. But wouldn't be good to run around naked.

Again - this is still conjecture. I watched most of Salazar's hearing today, and heard news about the research vessel's findings earlier today -- the news report said that while it certainly looked like they'd found oil underwater, they wanted to make damn sure all the equipment was calibrated correctly and that the info was reviewed before running off. Bad info is worse than no info in this case - and it makes me feel much better that they're at least trying to conduct a methodical investigation.

NY Times on the 16th

You may have something... What do you think of the Huffington Post? (Karen? Sanity Check?!)

"NOAA director Jane Lubchenco on Monday decried media reports about plumes of underwater oil as "misleading, premature and, in some cases, inaccurate." (See the Huffington Post and New York Times coverage.)

Lubchenco implicitly criticized scientists on the Pelican, a research vessel operated by the NOAA-affiliated National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology (NIUST), for being hasty in its pronouncements to the media.

"No definitive conclusions have been reached by this research team about the composition of the undersea layers they discovered," Lubchenco said in her statement. "Characterization of these layers will require analysis of samples and calibration of key instruments. The hypothesis that the layers consist of oil remains to be verified."

NIUST, while partially funded by NOAA, is a cooperative venture with the University of Mississippi and the University of Southern Mississippi. And it was the Pelican crew's idea -- not NOAA's -- to start taking underwater measurements, although NOAA was perfectly happy to take credit for it, initially."

[http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100506_spillsampling.html]NOAA News Article

The ship was initially outfitted to do some other type of sampling when it was pulled into service to take core samples from the seabed to create a 'before' shapshot of the area before the oil settled.

They're supposed to come in for supplies and then head back out to sample further.

Maybe the info interpreted as a 'NOAA Gag Order' was more about making sure they had the proper equipment and expertise on board to pull water samples that would stand up in court? I just don't know.

 

[evnow]

As I said doesn't pass smell test. This will quickly run away from Obama if they don't do the right thing.

 

[AndyH]

BP withholds oil spill facts — and government lets it
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/18/94415/bps-secrecy-keep-facts-on-gulf.html#ixzz0oLbRCQYQ

Thanks for this. If the newspaper has their facts right, it looks like BP's still in control.

It also looks like their estimate is off...tar balls were found in the FL keys today.

It was good to see in the NOAA article that they intended (as of May 6th) to send the boat back out once it took on supplies. This at least kills rumors that no boats would be heading into the plume.

I don't know, man, I just don't know. This is the first environmental disaster that's gotten this deeply into my emotions. That stupid sign in the 'collateral damage' thread about the grocery store not having oysters stopped me in my tracks. Anything in the store with fish (fresh, frozen, canned sardines) brought waves of sadness back. It is so very sad that this country can't yet see that it has a problem. The alcoholic hasn't hit bottom yet and until it does we can't get it to agree to go into rehab. And it absolutely sucks to know what's happening and still not be able to help until the patient crashes.

 

[AndyH]

Coast Guard says Florida Keys tar balls not from Deepwater Horizon spill.

Research ships equipped to study oil in water heading to Gulf; second ship to join effort Friday or Saturday. Crew assembled on Tuesday - ship left early AM Wednesday.

 

[evnow]

BP Contractors and Coast Guard Prevent CBS From Filming Oil Spill Devastation

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/cbs-prevented-filming-oil-spill-by-bp-coast-guard.php

CBS News reporters have been turned away and threatened with arrest, prevented from reporting on the impact of oil coming ashore in Louisiana, by contractors from BP, apparently working in conjunction with the US Coast Guard.

http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/coast-guard-and-bp-threaten-journalists-with-arrest-for-docume

Contacts in Louisiana have given me numerous, unconfirmed reports of cameras and cell phones being confiscated, scientists with monitoring equipment being turned away, and local reporters blocked from access to public lands impacted by the oil spill.

 

[AndyH]

This isn't looking good... You think BP is in 'save their butt' mode?

Tonight's news reports that surface oil has reached the loop current but still no word about the status of the submerged oil.

BP's undersea video is supposed to go live sometime later tonight.
http://www.globalwarming.house.gov/

Markey to Get Live Feed of BP Oil Spill on Website
BP Acquiesces to Markey’s Request, Will Release Video Stream Tonight to Chairman
May 19, 2010 – Following a demand from Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) for a live feed of the BP oil spill to be made publicly available on the web, BP said they would release the feed and it will be shown on Rep. Markey’s committee website at http://www.globalwarming.house.gov. The release of the live link to Rep. Markey is expected tonight.

“This may be BP’s footage, but it’s America’s ocean. Now anyone will be able to see the real-time effects the BP spill is having on our ocean,” said Rep. Markey, who conducted a briefing today with independent scientists where he reiterated the call for a video feed. “This footage will aid analysis by independent scientists blocked by BP from coming to see the spill.”

Markey sent letters earlier today to BP America’s CEO Lamar McKay asking for the footage to be made public on BP’s website. If BP could not host the footage, Rep. Markey offered to host it on his website free of charge.

“BP is going to have to pay for the cleanup of this spill and the long-term damage. Hosting this video on our website is the only freebie they’re going to get,” Rep. Markey said.

Rep. Markey has frequently queried BP for more information on the exact size of the spill and on their refusal to engage with outside scientists. Independent scientists have examined video, satellite photos and other aspects of the spill and determined that it may be much bigger than estimated. Today at a briefing Rep. Markey held in his Energy and Environment Subcommittee, independent scientists from Purdue University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said that the estimate of a 5,000 barrel per day leak was an underestimation of the flow. The scientists said with more data, they could better calculate the flow of oil from the sea floor.

"This is 4th grade math. We know the numerator here—the couple thousand barrels a day BP is siphoning out of the sunken pipe. But we still don’t know the denominator," said Rep. Markey. "BP is capturing a fraction of the oil, but they don’t know what that fraction is. By releasing this video, we’ve taken the first step towards allowing better access to the information BP has about this spill."

 

[AndyH]

http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2008:energy-and-commerce-subcommittee-briefing-on-qsizing-up-the-bp-oil-spill-science-and-engineering-measuring-methodsq&catid=122:media-advisories&Itemid=55

Here are the individual briefings from yesterday's Committee on Energy and Commerce meeting on sizing the BP oil spill. There's full info on how flow rate can be calculated from undersea video, as well as an analysis of the Gulf of Mexico surface currents and current info from NASA surface observations.

 

[garygid]

Perhaps the reporters need to bring in "bigger guns" to the areas they want to view?

 

[evnow]

Last night I was (for a few minutes) listening to Anderson show in CNN. He was grilling the BP guy on why they are not trying to find out the real flow rate. First the BP gay said - it is not possible - then said they don't have the time to do it. He said "I don't Know" or something similar when asked why they took 20 days to show a 30 sec video of the spill that they have been getting live feed of from almost day 1.

Anyway, now you can see it live on CNN ...

http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream2&hpt=T2

 

[AndyH]

Thanks! The live stream wasn't up on Rep Markey's site thru 4AM central. I've had the the CNN stream up for just over an hour and most of it has been a video camera pointed at computer monitors.

The whole point of the exercise was to stream the best video possible so that analysts could determine the oil flow rate. I hope for BP that this isn't another attempt to mask the problem.

The globalwarming.house.gov website is having lots of trouble today - maybe they need a web dude or dudette that can connect the video stream? :?

[edit] 4:40pmCDT the live feed to the house.gov website appears to be live. It's using a windows media browser window and I haven't yet seen the video in Chrome. There seems to be a LOT of demand on the server (or continuing server probs) as it's been very difficult to connect.

[edit 2] 6:50pm The House streaming video page is up but slow - but I still haven't seen any actual video. The CNN page has been more reliable but seems there are still plenty of technical problems with the feed.

 

[AndyH]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/20/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?hpt=T2

BP acknowledged Thursday that the gusher of oil pouring from its damaged Gulf of Mexico well is bigger than estimated to date...Company spokesman Mark Proegler said Thursday that the siphon is now drawing about 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) a day up to a ship on the surface...

Most of the oil is gushing like mad out there, with just a little bit being siphoned off, which tells you there is a much greater volume than BP said...

"People do not trust the experts any longer," said Markey, D-Massachusetts. "BP has lost all credibility. Now the decisions will have to be made by others, because it is clear that they have been hiding the actual consequences of this spill."

The Obama administration Thursday ordered BP to release all data related to the massive oil spill, telling the company that Americans deserve "nothing less than complete transparency."

 

[mwalsh]

The Obama administration Thursday ordered BP to release all data related to the massive oil spill, telling the company that Americans deserve "nothing less than complete transparency."

IMO, the American People deserve nothing less than the full weight of the law being brought against those responsible!

 

[AndyH]

IMO, the American People deserve nothing less than the full weight of the law being brought against those responsible!

Yes sir!

You might enjoy this clip:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyFGFxvhcxk[/youtube]

It appears that BP was able to get their drilling permission by certifying that they could properly respond to a leak of up to 250,000 barrels per day...and yet they're proving incapable of containing only '5000' barrels per day...

 

[evnow]

It appears that BP was able to get their drilling permission by certifying that they could properly respond to a leak of up to 250,000 barrels per day...and yet they're proving incapable of containing only '5000' barrels per day...

Apparently there is a consortium of oil industry to respond to spills.

This deep ocean drilling is essentially stupid - without relief wells drilled along with main well. That is what "third world" Brazil and "old europe" Norway insist upon. Relief wells are the only reliable way to plug the wild wells and they take months to drill.

Deep ocean drilling is expensive - a million dollars a day. That means the corners will be cut to do things fast - already this well was 2 weeks late because of an earlier blow out that happenned when they tried to speed up !

This spill is but one fall out of Peak Oil - no company will take such great risks if easy oil is available elsewhere. A third of US oil production is now through such wells.

 

[evnow]

Fmr. EPA Investigator Scott West: US Has Told BP "It Can Do Whatever It Wants and Won’t Be Held Accountable"
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/20/fmr_epa_investigator_scott_west_us

One month after the BP oil spill, we speak to Scott West, a former top investigator at the Environmental Protection Agency who 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 by paying a $50 million settlement.

 

[garygid]

Big money gets away with almost anything, it would seem?

 

[AndyH]

BP started streaming the underwater video from the Gulf.

Live Streaming Video from BP

Has anyone successfully seen the stream from Rep. Markey's site?

 

[evnow]

As I implied earlier - when the "base" starts getting angry Obama has to take action.

A month after oil spill began, Obama begins taking charge

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/21/94648/a-month-after-oil-spill-began.html#ixzz0odJcVbB6


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/21/obama-faces-new-wave-of-c_n_585620.html

Democratic strategist James Carville and MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews, two reliable supporters of President Barack Obama, have issued withering critiques of the administration's handling of the Gulf oil spill.
....
Carville, the famously outspoken Louisianian who was a chief political aide to Bill and Hillary Clinton, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday that the administration's response to the spill has been "lackadaisical" and that Obama was "naive" to trust BP to manage the massive clean-up effort.

 

[garygid]

When it comes to the temptations of hundreds of millions (or billions) of dollars, why should one trust anyone? Seems illogical, and unnecessary, to me.