"... The oil "did not disappear," he said. "It sank."


Quite a mess... For some time yet...

I am very sure this will happen again:


Tony Hayward says BP was 'not prepared' for the Gulf oil spill


It's our only planet!
Martin

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I'm not sure if anyone else is getting this... but BP is making an all out assault on the air waves in dallas-ft worth. It seems they've found a few people that are happy(well paid for their spoon fed lines) with BP and want everyone to know that the Gulf food is safe and tourists should return even though tourist season is clearly over.

Well played BP. Make sure I hear how much you care about the Gulf after the fact that you spilled 10-20X more oil into the Gulf than you did in Alaska. They still can't fish near the sound since there is still oil coming ashore. Lets also make clear that they fought the Alaska court case so vigorously that the people affected by it are now entitled to about $50k which replaces virtually nothing of the actual money lost to the fishermen of Alaska. Well played indeed

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

So who knows the extent of the disruption to the Gulf ecology?... How far? How long? And only for the Gulf?...


Louisiana oyster beds remain empty after BP disaster

... The oysters were good but hardly plentiful. At this, the season of peak demand, far too many were simply dead.

Not, as you might think, coated in sticky oil or even poisoned by chemical dispersants but killed off, as luck would have it, by fresh water.

Millions of gallons from the Mississippi River were hurriedly diverted...

... He thinks about Alaska and the herrings that disappeared from Prince William Sound three years after the Exxon Valdez spill, never to return.

More than seven months after the blowout on the Deepwater Horizon, the full ramifications of this disaster are still hard to gauge.

The uncertainty gnaws at everyone who depends on the sea. Is it possible, they wonder, that the worst days may still lie ahead?



It's our only planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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Check some major news channel releases that whole Gulf area ocean floor was turned into hellish scene. All those million tons of oil mostly sank into the floor and clearly the food chain link at the bottom is effectively broken. But off course since Republicans in power these coverages will be silenced asap.

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Mandtugai!

You might want to check who owns and runs most of the News/Media sites out there. You'd be surprised at who's in charge

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

You might want to check who owns and runs most of the News/Media sites out there. You'd be surprised at who's in charge

Rupert of course, and we know who he backs

T.A.

Yes he is the Dear Leader Kim Jong Murdoch of America who own 90% of all media power or brain washing power something.

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Mandtugai!

The biggest law suite ever, US-style?


Gulf of Mexico oil leak: US sues BP over oil disaster

The US is suing BP and eight other firms for allegedly violating federal safety regulations in connection with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The lawsuit asks that they be held liable without limitation for all clean-up and damage costs.

The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion in April killed 11 workers and spilled millions of barrels of oil over several months.

The oil leak became the worst environmental disaster in US history. ...

US Attorney General Eric Holder said the complaint alleged that "violations of safety and operational regulations" caused the 20 April explosion. ...




It's our only planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
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First part of the aftermath:

The biggest law suite ever, US-style?


Gulf of Mexico oil leak: US sues BP over oil disaster

The US is suing BP and eight other firms for allegedly violating federal safety regulations in connection with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The lawsuit asks that they be held liable without limitation for all clean-up and damage costs.

The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion in April killed 11 workers and spilled millions of barrels of oil over several months.

The oil leak became the worst environmental disaster in US history. ...

US Attorney General Eric Holder said the complaint alleged that "violations of safety and operational regulations" caused the 20 April explosion. ...

Here's part two summarised in just 48 pages:


US oil spill: Cost-cutting decisions led to BP disaster

... In a months-long investigation, the panel found that mistakes and "failures to appreciate risk" compromised safeguards "until the blow-out was inevitable and, at the very end, uncontrollable".

BP's "fundamental mistake", the panel wrote, was failing to exercise proper caution over the job of sealing the well with cement.

"Based on evidence currently available, there is nothing to suggest that BP's engineering team conducted a formal, disciplined analysis of the combined impact of these risk factors on the prospects for a successful cement job," the report reads.

Specific risks the report identifies include:

* A flawed design for the cement used to seal the bottom of the well
* A test of that seal identified problems but was "incorrectly judged a success"
* The workers' failure to recognise the first signs of the impending blow-out

The conclusions run counter to industry efforts to portray the Deepwater Horizon disaster as a rare occurence, as oil companies prod the US government to open greater areas of the US coast to oil exploration.

"The blowout was not the product of a series of aberrational decisions made by rogue industry or government officials that could not have been anticipated or expected to occur again," the report read.

"Rather, the root causes are systemic and, absent significant reform in both industry practices and government policies, might well recur."




And we have nothing to cleanly clean up an oil spill...

It's our only planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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... In a months-long investigation, the panel found that mistakes and "failures to appreciate risk" compromised safeguards "until the blow-out was inevitable and, at the very end, uncontrollable".

Gosh almighty. Doesn't that describe the mortgage meltdown too? Remember backing mortgages was Bear Sterns "most profitable" division.

Perhaps teaching risk assessment should be a top priority of schools going forward. Far too many people are far to willing to buy Lotto tickets.

---

When the fuss dies down, it will happen again somewhere else .......

Looks like that will be so. Looks like BP are to be let off the hook:


BP set to avoid harshest Gulf of Mexico fine

There was light at the end of the tunnel for BP (BP.) after a US Presidential Commission inquiry into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill made it likely that the company will not be found grossly negligent.

If this proves to be the case, the FTSE 100 oil major could avoid paying the severest financial penalties for the disaster.

Despite the report taking a highly critical stance of failures by BP's management team in the run up to the April 2011 explosion, the 48-page excerpt of its upcoming full report, also heaped blame on contractors Transocean and Halliburton, as well as highlighting the wider flaws within the oil industry and surrounding regulation.

The Commission said the blowout, which resulted in the death of 11 men, was "not the product of a series of aberrational decisions made by rogue industry or government officials that could have been anticipated, rather the root causes are systematic and absent significant reform in both industry practices and government policies might well recur". ...


I think the "might well recur" is very likely...


It's our only planet,
Martin

---

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Regulatory failure due to political pressure, incompetence, and corruption and also the pressure for short-term profits at the expense of the long-term are the two primary causes of the gulf oil spill, in my opinion.

In order for regulation by micromanagement by government agencies to succeed in an industry, the people doing the regulation must have expert-level knowledge of the industry they are regulating. All too frequently, these regulators can only come from industrial insiders, as only the insiders possess the necessary knowledge.

Furthermore, since the government, through its agency, told the business to do 'X, Y, and Z', that makes the government at least partly at fault when something disastrous (like the Gulf oil spill) happens.

Also, regulation by insiders opens the door to all sorts of things, such as conflict of interest, influence peddling, and outright subversion of intent for the benefit of a specific business, or the detriment of another.

A much better regulatory scheme, in my opinion, would be to make certain outcomes criminal with very stiff penalties. In this case, make the release of any crude oil beyond a very small amount a crime. The business must pay for the cleanup, the business must pay a rather large criminal fine, and give the officials in the business a nice, long jail term. Then, let the business itself decide how to go about avoiding this.

Let the officers of BP and the other oil companies decide how best to act in drilling for oil. Let them decide if the risks of cutting corners in safety is worth not only the end of the corporation but also each of them spending the next 30 years in prison. Let the shareholders in the corporation decide if letting the corporation take large risks in the name of short term profit is worth losing their entire investment.

Stop trying to prevent certain bad outcomes by having Government micromanage business. Just let the business' shareholders know that if they let bad things happen, they lose their investments. Just let the business' leadership know that if they let bad things happen, not only will the business be over, but the leaders themselves will be in the poorhouse, and in jail for long terms. Motivate them to not screw up, and they won't.


Another thing in society that needs reform is the notion that 'you need it all, and need it right now'. Lets all start looking ahead to the long-term future. What is really important is not 'where will be be on this quarter's bottom line', but instead 'where will we be in 10 years...' or '... 100 years'...

Kong: after a stunt like BP is pulling, they should have all permits to conduct business in the united states REVOKED. Period. Shut them down.

Sieze all assets in the USAQ, and see them in court afterwards. If I had dumped 2 barrels of oil into a storm drain, rest assured I would face the same fate.

Now THAT would be justice.

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Janice

... after a stunt like BP is pulling, they should have all permits to conduct business in the united states REVOKED. Period. Shut them down. ...

News of their practices say one thing... Politics appears to something along the lines of "be damned"!

Just see the latest news:


BP shuts Alaska pipeline after leak

• BP shares fall 2.5% and oil prices rise on news
• Pipe carries 12% of America's oil output
• Leak could push up petrol prices for motorists


BP Gulf oil spill final report backs British safety model

... Under the UK's 'safety case' model which the commission has endorsed in previous hearings, companies are required to separately assess the risk for each operation and show how they would mitigate this. Experts believe this system, which is audited by independent consultants, results in fewer accidents because companies have to proactively demonstrate safe operations in each instance.

The analysts also doubt that production in the Gulf of Mexico will ever recover to pre-spill levels. Tighter drilling regulations will mean that "permitting will forever be more deliberate and constrained" they said.

In 2006, BP was responsible for the largest ever oil spill on Alaska's North Slope when a pipeline at its Prudhoe Bay field leaked an estimated 5,000 barrels.

BP's Alaska operations have also been the subject of numerous 'whistleblowing' safety concerns being raised by the ombudsman the company set up in 2006. Of the 252 known concerns received since 2006, 148 relate to BP's Alaska operations, including 50 specific safety-related concerns at the North Slope operations. ...


BP oil spill: Colombian farmers sue for negligence

Farmers claim BP breached a duty of care which lead to poisoned water, caused crops to fail and livestock to die


Offshore oil industry needs sweeping overhaul – White House commission

... But a number of legal experts have warned in the past few days that the current political atmosphere, with oil prices rising and a conservative Republican hold on Congress, would work against any overhaul of the industry.

In its recommendations, the commission has looked beyond the Gulf to Alaska, now being opened up for exploration, and recommended further research on the effects of a spill in the harsh and remote environment.

The commission is also expected to recommend reducing the size of lease sales to allow for better environmental oversight.


It's still our only planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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Yep, it's BP bashing time, only to be expected....

Except that the 'bashing' is being very carefully orchestrated to keep the oil flowing...


What was that mantra phrase from James Herbert's Dune series?

The Spice must flow!


I just hope the transformation of our planet is nothing like as drastic as happened to Arrakis! Stories and cinema are one thing. The real world has to be lived in!

It's our only planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
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The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Only "delayed"?...


Shell Delays Alaska Exploration After Oil Spill in U.S. Gulf

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, will delay its drilling campaign in Alaska after the worst U.S. oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year.

Shell hasn’t received full clearance to start drilling off the coast of Alaska, according to Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser. The company decided to postpone its plans to spend as much as $150 million in the region until 2012. ...


So... What would happen with a gulf-like-scale blowout unleashed to spoil the Arctic?

It's our only planet,
Martin

---

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The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Only "delayed"?...


Shell Delays Alaska Exploration After Oil Spill in U.S. Gulf

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, will delay its drilling campaign in Alaska after the worst U.S. oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year.

Shell hasn’t received full clearance to start drilling off the coast of Alaska, according to Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser. The company decided to postpone its plans to spend as much as $150 million in the region until 2012. ...


So... What would happen with a gulf-like-scale blowout unleashed to spoil the Arctic?

It's our only planet,
Martin

What will happen? 
I will tell you: Same xxxxxx, different temperatures!!

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With the lack of surface ice, the arctic currents have not yet been calculated and/or mapped. It will be possible to share the mess with not only the alaskan coast, but the entire pacific and atlantic as well as the arctic oceans.

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Janice

With the lack of surface ice, the arctic currents have not yet been calculated and/or mapped. It will be possible to share the mess with not only the alaskan coast, but the entire pacific and atlantic as well as the arctic oceans.

By the example of this ongoing mess, looks like the BP Gulf mess will be dragging on for a very long time yet...


Amazon pollution: Chevron hits back in row with Ecuador

... The legal wrangle has been going on for almost two decades, and has spawned lawsuits in the US and Ecuador.

Analysts say further appeals are likely to drag on for years.

The oil firm Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, is accused of dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into unlined pits and Amazon rivers between 1972 and 1992.

Campaigners say crops were damaged and farm animals killed, and that local cancer rates increased. ...


It's our only planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)