BP Accountability

The Gulf spill threatens environmental disaster due to factors such as petroleum toxicity and oxygen depletion. More than 400 species live in the islands and marshlands at risk, including the endangered Kemp's Ridley turtle. In the national refuges most at risk, about 34,000 birds have been counted, including gulls, pelicans, roseate spoonbills, egrets, terns, and blue herons. A comprehensive inventory of offshore species in the Gulf of Mexico completed in 2009 counted 15,700 species of sea life, with those in the area of the oil spill numbering 8,332 plant and animal species, including more than 1,200 fish, 200 bird, 1,400 mollusk, 1,500 crustacean, 4 sea turtle, and 29 marine mammal species.

As of June 15, there had been 1152 dead animals found in the spill zone including 770 dead birds, 341 sea turtles, and 41 dolphins and other mammals, with some reports of dolphins being spotted running low on food, and 'acting drunk' apparently from effects of the spill. There may be other dead animals that go unfound. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it has not yet been determined if these animals were killed by the oil. Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia indicated that the oil could harm fish directly, and microbes used to consume the oil would also add to the reduction of oxygen in the water, with effects being felt higher up the food chain. According to Joye, it could take the ecosystem years and possibly decades to recover from such an infusion of oil and gas.

Oceanographer Ian MacDonald believes the natural gas dissolving below the surface has the potential to reduce the Gulf oxygen levels and carry forth huge amounts of benzene and other toxic compounds. On May 18, 2010, BP chief executive Tony Hayward insisted the environmental impact of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will be "very, very modest". Harry Roberts, a professor of Coastal Studies at Louisiana State University has told Bloomberg in early June 2001 that a hypothetical total of 4 million barrels of oil released would be enough to "wipe out marine life deep at sea near the leak and elsewhere in the Gulf" as well as "along hundreds of miles of coastline," while Mak Saito, an Associate Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts indicated that such an amount of oil "may alter the chemistry of the sea, with unforeseeable results."

It is possible the Gulf Stream sea currents may spread the oil into the Atlantic Ocean. If oil follows the Loop Current to the East Coast of the United States, it could impact wildlife even without the oil reaching the beaches. Duke University marine biologist Larry Crowder said threatened loggerhead turtles on Carolina beaches could swim out into contaminated waters. Sea birds, mammals, and dolphins could also be affected. Ninety percent of North Carolina's commercially valuable sea life spawn off the coast and could be contaminated if oil reaches the area. Douglas Rader, a scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund, said prey could be negatively affected as well. Steve Ross of UNC-Wilmington said coral reefs off the East Coast could be smothered by too much oil.

Eight U.S. national parks are threatened by the spill, with oil washing up on the beaches of the Gulf Islands National Seashore beginning on June 1st. Damage to the ocean floor is as yet unknown and marine life between the ocean floor and the surface could be affected. Thad Allen said removing the oil from the ocean surface would take a "couple of months" but getting it out of the marshlands "will take years". Many other oil spills, including spills in environments similar to the US Gulf coast, continue to cause great environmental damage for years, or even decades.


Areas where oil has made landfall ... Sunday July 4th 2010  

BP and Halliburton's Role in the Gulf Oil Disaster -- Well Casing Horror Story

by Rob Kall

Right from the beginning, it was reported right away-- that Halliburton's job was to cement and seal the well casing. But I misunderstood what that meant. I took it to mean that Halliburton's job was to seal the connection between the well-head and the top of the pipe that was drilled 18,000 feet into the ground. Wrong.

Halliburton's job was to seal the well casing. When a well like the Gulf disaster well on BP's Macondo prospect oil field is drilled, they start with a big hole-- about 22 inches in diameter. Then, after a few or five thousand feet, they go to a smaller diameter, say 16 inches, then 12 inches, 11 inches, 9 inches. That initial drilling hole is the well casing. It's like a several mile long inverted cone. When the well is completed, they put a heavier duty four inch pipe all the way down the well. That's what the oil is supposed to flow through.

Halliburton's job was to seal the well casing with concrete-- all three plus miles of casing, so the four inch pipe was surrounded with concrete. New disclosures make it clear that BP made decisions to cut costs which reduced the safety of the job Haliburton did. A huffingtonpost.com article reports that, as part of an investigation, congressmen Henry Waxman and Bar Stupak wrote:

Despite warnings from its own engineers, "BP chose the more risky casing option, apparently because the liner option would have cost $7 to $10 million more and taken longer," Waxman and Stupak said.

In the brief e-mail, Morel said the company is likely to make last-minute changes in the well.

"We could be running it in 2-3 days, so need a relative quick response. Sorry for the late notice, this has been nightmare well which has everyone all over the place," Morel wrote.

BP apparently rejected advice of a subcontractor, Halliburton Inc., in preparing for a cementing job to close up the well. BP rejected Halliburton's recommendation to use 21 "centralizers" to make sure the casing ran down the center of the well bore. Instead, BP used six centralizers.

In an e-mail on April 16, a BP official involved in the decision explained: "It will take 10 hours to install them. I do not like this." Later that day, another official recognized the risks of proceeding with insufficient centralizers but commented: "who cares, it's done, end of story, will probably be fine."

Continued


In response to the callous statements made by the BP official mentioned above ...  

EVERYONE CARES ... NOW FIX IT

June 8, 9:38 AM Salt Lake City Headlines Examiner Marci Stone

Oil spill containment cap is working and oil being collected is climbing steadily

Tuesday, Adm. Thad Allen from the Coast Guard said that a newly installed oil spill containment cap is working and is limiting the amount of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico. Allen said Tuesday that over 14,800 barrels of oil were stopped from leaking into the ocean over the last 24 hours, and that the amount is climbing steadily each day since the containment cap was put into place on Friday. Continued

The previous article gives one hope, but as of June 14 2010 ... I have heard little, if anything more, about any improvements from any viable source ... so I will delay any victory celebrations I may have hoped for.