Monday, May 31, 2010

Underwater Oil Plumes Disputed By BP CEO Tony Hayward

Hey @sshole- did you miss the video? Pay Attention!

MATTHEW BROWN | 05/30/10 08:55 PM |
VENICE, La. — Disputing scientists' claims of large oil plumes suspended underwater in the Gulf of Mexico, BP PLC's chief executive on Sunday said the company has largely narrowed the focus of its cleanup to surface slicks rolling into Louisiana's coastal marshes.

During a tour of a BP PLC staging area for cleanup workers, CEO Tony Hayward said the company's sampling showed "no evidence" that oil was suspended in large masses beneath the surface. He didn't elaborate on how the testing was done.

Hayward said that oil's natural tendency is to rise to the surface, and any oil found underwater was in the process of working its way up.

"The oil is on the surface," Hayward said. "There aren't any plumes."

Scientists from several universities have reported plumes of what appears to be oil far from the site of BP's leaking wellhead, which is more than 5,000 beneath the surface.

Those findings – from the University of South Florida, the University of Georgia, Southern Mississippi University and other institutions – were based on video images and initial observations of water samples taken in the Gulf over the last several weeks. They continue to be analyzed.

One researcher said Sunday that their findings are bolstered by the fact that scientists from different institutions have come to similar conclusions after doing separate testing.

"There's been enough evidence from enough different sources," said marine scientist James Cowan of Louisiana State University, who reported finding a plume last of oil last week about 50 miles from the spill site. Cowan said oil reached to depths of at least 400 feet.

An even larger plume – 22 miles long, six miles wide and more than a thousand feet deep – was reported by the University of South Florida.

"We stand behind it," said William Hogarth, dean of the school's College of Marine Science. Hogarth, the former head of the National Marine Fisheries Service, said laboratory results are due this week.

A third scientist, LSU chemist Ed Overton, said simple physics sides with BP's Hayward. Since oil is lighter than water, Overton said it is unlikely to stay below the surface for long.

But Hogarth and Cowan said BP's use of chemical dispersants to break up the oil before it reaches the surface could reduce its buoyancy, keeping it in deeper water.

An estimated 18 to 40 million gallons of oil have been unleashed since BP's Deepwater Horizon platform exploded and sank last month, killing 11. With the undersea leak now expected to continue spewing oil until August, Hayward said the cleanup effort could last for months or even years.

The embattled CEO spent only a few minutes on the subject of plumes on Sunday, concentrating instead on outlining his company's cleanup efforts.

"The fight on this battlefield today is in Louisiana," he said.

Calls to BP seeking more information on how they tested for the underwater plumes weren't immediately returned.

"I would like my life back," Hayward told reporters

OMG! This guy is a f*cking moron. Seriously, when is he getting fired!

On heels of failure, BP vows to start again -- soon
By the CNN Wire Staff
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

New attempt to stop gushing oil could start early this week
Method involves cutting lower marine riser package and lowering cap
BP's CEO apologizes for "disruption," says BP is boosting effort to contain oil

Spill is in its 42nd day

(CNN) -- BP could try to cap a massive oil gusher again early this week in an attempt to solve what the Obama administration has called "probably the biggest environmental disaster we've ever faced in this country."

As the oil spill entered its 42nd day Monday, efforts to clean up coastal areas and develop a new plan of attack continued.

All previous attempts at containing the crude gushing from BP's undersea well have failed, including a "top kill" approach that many had pinned their hopes on.

BP said Sunday that it would strengthen its efforts to stop the flow and protect the coastline.

"As far as I'm concerned, a cup of oil on the beach is a failure," BP CEO Tony Hayward told reporters in Venice, Louisiana.

Hayward said he was sorry for the spill and the "massive disruption" it has caused the Gulf Coast.

"There's no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back," Hayward told reporters. But he said the company has about 30 aircraft searching for signs of oil and has moved more than 300 people to offshore "floatels" to speed up its response time.

Up to 19,000 barrels (798,000 gallons) of oil a day have been spewing out of a BP-owned undersea well since the late April sinking of the drill rig Deepwater Horizon. BP, rig owner Transocean Ltd. and oilfield services company Halliburton have blamed each other for the disaster, which left 11 workers dead, but BP is responsible for cleanup under federal law.

"We're disappointed the oil is going to flow for a while, and we're going to redouble our efforts to keep it off the beaches," BP Managing Director Robert Dudley said on CNN's "State of the Union."

The most recent setback was the failure of the so-called "top kill" method of pumping mud to plug the leak.

Dudley said the next effort will involve placing a custom-built cap to fit over a piece of equipment called the "lower marine riser package." The process will involve cutting the riser package to create a clean surface to cap, Dudley said, and warm water will be circulated around the cap to prevent the freezing that hindered a previous dome-cap effort.

If successful, the procedure will allow BP to collect most -- but not all -- of the oil spewing from the well. The long-term solution is the drilling of a relief well that will be in place by August.

"If we can contain the flow of the well between now and August and keep it out of the ocean, that's also a good outcome as well," Dudley said. "And then, if we can shut it off completely with a relief well, that's not a bad outcome compared to where we are today."

On Sunday, the Obama Administration questioned BP's oil spill numbers.

On NBC's "Meet the Press," Carol Browner, Obama's assistant on energy and climate change, said BP may have had an ulterior motive for underestimating the amount of oil leaking.

"BP has a financial interest in these numbers. They will pay a penalty based on the number of barrels per day," she said.

BP had originally said about 5,000 barrels of oil per day were leaking.
The latest estimate, Browner said, is between 12,000 and 19,000 barrels per day.

"This is probably the biggest environmental disaster we've ever faced in this country," she said.

More oil is leaking into the Gulf of Mexico than any other spill in U.S. history, including the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, according to the government.

Many systems are in place to manage and decrease the amount of oil coming on shore, Browner said.

Controlled burns of oil have been effective so far, she said, though they have been limited due to weather conditions.
As a consequence of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, all deepwater operations in the gulf have been shut down for now, including operating wells, Browner said.

"At the end of the day we will make the right decisions ensuring that our environment is protected," she said.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Crystal Bowersox - You Rock!

Number 2 always does better than the winner. As I watched previous AI winners walk across the stage last night, it's apparent (only two did well) and the rest are like..."What happened to you?" - with that being said, Crystal desevered to win, but will be much better off without the title.

I thought she just nailed this song!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Report: BP had 3 indications of trouble in hour before blast

May 25th, 2010
07:35 PM ET
CNN

BP had three indications of trouble aboard the doomed drill rig Deepwater Horizon in the hour before the April 20 explosion that sank the offshore platform, congressional investigators reported Tuesday.

Witnesses reported the well was spurting liquid and pressure tests indicated "a very large abnormality" was occurring aboard the rig, according to a memo released by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday afternoon.

The memo summarizes preliminary findings of BP's own investigation into the disaster, which left 11 workers dead and uncapped an undersea gusher that has spewed crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico for a month.

The well unexpectedly spouted fluid three times in the 51 minutes before the explosion and pressure on the drill pipe "unexpectedly increased" before the blast, the memo states. In addition, BP's investigation "raised concerns about the maintenance history, modification, inspection, and testing" of blowout preventer, a critical piece of equipment that has failed to shut down the well.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Palin Accuses Obama of Being in Bed with Big Oil -- DOH!

Can you really be this stupid and have a political career? Nevermind - Shrub's presidency hit me as I wrote that. Anyway, here's the rest.


WASHINGTON (AFP) – Right-wing darling Sarah Palin accused US President Barack Obama on Sunday of leading a lax response to the Gulf of Mexico spill because he is too close to the big oil companies.

The former vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor, who champions off-shore drilling, criticized the media for not drawing the link between Obama and big oil and said if this spill had happened under former Republican president George W. Bush the scrutiny would have been far tougher.

"I don't know why the question isn't asked by the mainstream media and by others if there's any connection with the contributions made to president Obama and his administration and the support by the oil companies to the administration," she told Fox News Sunday.

More than 3.5 million dollars has been given to candidates by BP over the last 20 years, with the largest single donation, 77,051 dollars, going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Palin suggested this close relationship explained why Obama was, "taking so doggone long to get in there, to dive in there, and grasp the complexity and the potential tragedy that we are seeing here in the Gulf of Mexico."

The BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers, and sank two days later. Ever since, hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil, perhaps millions, have been spewing each day into the sea.

The resulting slick, now the size of a small country, threatens to leave Louisiana's fishing and coastal tourism industries in tatters, ruin pristine nature reserves, and cause decades of harm to the ecology of fragile marshes that are a haven for rare wildlife and migratory birds.

The Obama administration has been forced to defend its response to the disaster as some Republicans have sought to portray it as their Katrina, an allusion to president Bush's mishandling of the response to the 2005 hurricane that devastated Louisiana.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs mocked Palin's suggestions that Obama was somehow in bed with big oil because of 2008 presidential campaign contributions.

"Sarah Palin was involved in that election, but I don't think, apparently, was paying a whole lot of attention," Gibbs said.

"I'm almost sure that the oil companies don't consider the Obama administration a huge ally. We proposed a windfall profits tax when they jacked their oil prices up to charge for gasoline.

"My suggestion to Sarah Palin would be to get slightly more informed as to what's going on in and around oil drilling in this country."

However, Gibbs did make it clear that reforms must be carried out to make sure that the incestuous relationship between oil firms and government regulators highlighted by the current disaster ended once and for all.

"BP will pay for every bit of this," he said. "We have to figure out and make sure that the relationship that is had with government and oil companies is not a cozy relationship as the president said.

Gibbs also said there was no comparison with Katrina.

"If you look back at what happened in Katrina, the government wasn't there to respond to what was happening. That quite frankly was the problem.

"I think the difference in this case is we were there immediately. We have been there ever since."

Palin, who quit the Alaska governorship after serving less than half of one term, famously promoted the slogan "Drill, baby, drill!" that rallied supporters while dismissing possible environmental impact of off-shore drilling.

Her detractors switched the line to "Spill, baby, spill!"

by Andrew Gully Andrew Gully

Sun May 23, 4:47 pm ET

Week of May 22nd - Oil Damage Thus Far

Saturday, May 22, 2010

The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny

What an ASSHOLE! How does this bozo still have a job?

BP boss admits job on the line over Gulf oil spill
• Under pressure BP boss promises to fix earlier 'bumpy' errors
• 'I will be judged by the response,' says Tony Hayward


Tony Hayward, the beleaguered chief executive of BP, has claimed its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is "relatively tiny" compared with the "very big ocean".

In an bullish interview with the Guardian at BP's crisis centre in Houston, Hayward insisted that the leaked oil and the estimated 400,000 gallons of dispersant that BP has pumped into the sea to try to tackle the slick should be put in context.

"The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume," he said.

US authorities estimate that about 5,000 barrels of oil a day are leaking from the damaged pipeline lying on the seabed after attempts to stem the flow failed.

The spill began just over three weeks ago when a buildup of gas erupted from a well being drilled by BP in seabed about 1,500 metres (5,000 ft) below sea level. When the gas ignited at the surface, the explosion sunk the rig, the Deepwater Horizon, and 11 workers were killed.

Hayward promised that BP would "fix" the disaster, which is on course to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill as the biggest US oil spill in history. "We will fix it. I guarantee it. The only question is we do not know when."

But the BP boss admitted for the first time that his job was on the line because of the Gulf of Mexico disaster. Asked if he felt his job was already under threat, he replied: "I don't at the moment. That of course may change. I will be judged by the nature of the response."

Hayward stressed that BP's efforts to contain the spill had succeeded in dispersing the oil and preventing large amounts reaching the shoreline around the Gulf.

But environmentalists are concerned about the unseen damage being done to marine life by the oil, which is sinking to the seabed.

Hayward said that BP was "increasingly confident" that progress was being made in trying to find ways to seal the faulty blow-out preventer, which failed to shut down the well and stem the flow of oil.

This week, US politicians attacked BP and the other companies involved in the drilling when they gave evidence at Senate hearings into the disaster.

But Hayward insisted that deep-water drilling would continue in the US despite the growing environmental and political backlash against the company.

"Apollo 13 [the unsuccessful third mission to the moon in 1970] did not stop the space race," he said. "Neither did the Air France plane last year coming out of Brazil [which mysteriously crashed] stop the world airline industry flying people around the world. It's the same for the oil industry."

He pointed out that the Gulf of Mexico, much of it in deep waters, represented one-third of the US's oil and gas production.

He insisted that BP was in far better shape to respond to the disaster than it was five years ago under his predecessor, Lord Browne. In 2005, 15 workers died in an explosion at BP's Texas refinery.

BP was then fined a record £53m by the US authorities, who also criticised the company's safety culture. BP also suffered a pipeline leak in Alaska in 2006.

"In the last four or five years we have made major improvements in safety performance. It has made the company much better … Four years ago it could have been very different," Hayward said.

BP's share price has slumped since the disaster. BP told the City yesterday it had now spent $450m (£304m) fighting the oil leak, but some analysts put BP's total bill for the clean-up and damages at $23bn. President Barack Obama has now proposed scrapping a cap on BP's liability for the spill.

Transocean, the world's largest offshore drilling contractor which owned the Deepwater Horizon, filed papers in a Houston court on Thursday seeking to limit its legal liability to $27m.

Hayward said it was "unwise" to speculate about the direct causes of the accident before investigations had been completed. "There is a lot of speculation, red herrings and hearsay." He also admitted that BP had made mistakes in its early response to the crisis. It initially refused to compensate fishermen who were unable to produce written proof of their normal earnings. Most keep no such records.

He also said BP had made a mistake when fishermen signing up to help with the relief effort were required to sign agreements limiting their receipt of any future damages from BP.

"It was a bit bumpy to get it going. We made a few little mistakes early on."

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Executives Deflect Blame for Spill at Senate Hearings

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Lawrence Taylor -- I Pleasured Myself, Not Her

DOH!

Lawrence Taylor -- I Pleasured Myself, Not Her
Sources directly connected with Lawrence Taylor tell TMZ the NFL legend's defense to rape is masturbation.We're told Lawrence will not deny he was in the same room as the 16-year-old prostitute, but his lawyer will argue Lawrence did not have sexual intercourse -- an element of third degree rape.As one source put it, Lawrence engaged in a "masturbatory act" and that was it.According to New York law, "A person is guilty of rape in the third degree when ... he or she engages in sexual intercourse with another person less than seventeen years old."Interestingly ... in the criminal complaint against the alleged pimp, authorities allege Taylor engaged in "sex acts" but there is not mention of sexual intercourse -- a requirement for 3rd degree rape.As TMZ first reported, a condom was found in Taylor's hotel room, but sources say Taylor's lawyers will argue the condom wasn't his and he didn't use it.Taylor's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, has said flatly, his client did not have sex with the girl.Read more: http://www.tmz.com/#ixzz0nkzxVoWX

BP releases terrifying photo of oil leak

You can see why BP hasn't got this image of the Deepwater Horizon disaster at the top of its homepage.

From the Houston Chronicle:

BP spokesman Mark Proegler said today that the 5-foot tall containment dome, or top hat, meant to contain the flow of this leak is now sitting on the sea floor as crews continue working on connecting it with a pipe to a surface tanker above.

"It should be in operation by the end of the week," Proegler said.

Spill baby, spill

So this story continues to piss me off daily.

BP knew of problems hours before blast

By Steve Hargreaves, Senior writerMay 12, 2010: 2:35 PM ET

(CNNMoney.com) -- BP knew of problems with an offshore well hours before it exploded last month, spilling millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, a House committee chairman said Wednesday.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the oil company told the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight privately that the well failed a key pressure test just hours before it exploded on April 20.

The test indicated pressure was building up in the well, which could indicate oil or gas was seeping in and could lead to an explosion, said Waxman.

"Yet it appears the companies did not suspend operations, and now 11 workers are dead and the Gulf faces an environmental catastrophe," he said, asking why work wasn't stopped on the well.

Witnesses before the panel, which included executives from the three primary companies working on the well - BP, Transocean, and Halliburton - said the course of events and actions leading up to the explosion is still under investigation, and will come to light over time.

BP's deepwater oil well, 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana, is now leaking some 200,000 gallons of crude a day following theexplosion that claimed 11 lives.

Lawmakers also wanted to know a valve sitting atop the well, known as a blowout preventer, known as a BOP, failed to close and avert the disaster.

"It is far too early to draw conclusions about how the incident occurred," said Jack Moore, president and CEO of Cameron International (CAM, Fortune 500), the company that built the device. "Our BOPs have a very long history of reliable performance, including performance in some of the harshest operating conditions in the world."

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said the blowout preventer may have failed for four reasons: Modifications to it may have reduced the number of shears that can close the well; a hydraulic leak may have knocked it out of commission; it may have hit a section of pipe that was too thick to cut; and its battery power may have died.

The executives said the blowout preventer is not designed to handle all situations, especially when it becomes clogged with debris from an actual explosion.

"I would think that your blowout preventer should be designed to handle that," said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas.

Lawmakers also criticized proposed efforts to seal the well by injecting rubber debris down the top, including old golf balls and bits of tires.

"The American people expect a response on par with the Apollo Project, not Project Runway," said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass.

Senate hearings

On Tuesday, hearings in the Senate focused on similar themes: what caused the well to explode, and why the blowout preventer did not work.

Three executives from the three principal companies working on the well all blamed each other.

BP (BP), which owns the well and subcontracted the other companies to work on it, said it was Transocean's job to ensure that the blowout preventer was functioning. Transocean was the owner of the drilling rig that sunk, the Deepwater Horizon, and also owned the blowout preventer.

Transocean (RIG) said the blowout preventer worked just fine in tests, and that it may have gotten jammed with concrete or other well fluids that were injected by a third contractor, causing the well to explode. Either way, argued Transocean's president, it was the faulty well, not the rig or the blowout preventer, that ultimately caused the leak.

Halliburton (HAL, Fortune 500) was the third contractor; it injected cement and other well fluids into the hole before the explosion. But a Halliburton exec said it was only following the orders of BP, which wanted a heavier fluid, known as mud, removed from the well before the well was capped with a concrete plug.

The risks and rewards of offshore drilling

Some senators, citing a Wall Street Journal report, said this process of removing the heavy fluid before the concrete plug is installed is unusual in deep water drilling, and suggested it may have caused the accident by allowing the highly pressurized oil and gas to escape. But Halliburton's executive said the process was not out of the ordinary.

The Minerals Management Service, the federal agency that regulates offshore drilling, has also come under fire in the wake of the spill.

On Tuesday, senators wanted to know why there weren't other back-up systems in place to stop a leak besides the blowout preventer, and questioned why the blowout preventer may not have been able to cut through thicker sections of pipe to pinch it shut and stop a leak. Lawmakers also questioned the agency's relationship with the oil industry, which some have described as cozy.

The Obama administration announced plans Tuesday to split the agency in two, thus removing an apparent conflict of interest between the drive to maximize oil production and efforts to ensure safety, which could slow drilling down.
Under federal law, BP, as the lead project operator, is responsible for all clean-up costs associated with the spill.

While the subcontractors are thought to have some legal indemnification from BP and the federal government, lawyers say they could still be open to lawsuits from fisherman and others affected by the spill.

Ultimately, experts have said the total cost of the spill could range from $2 billion to $14 billion or higher, depending on when the leaking well is closed and where the oil washes ashore.