Several days after the April 20 blowout, BP estimated that the well was leaking 1,000 barrels per day. On April 27, Sky Truth, using satellite images of the Gulf, reported that the flow rate was higher. The following day the government, over objections by BP, raised the estimate to 5,000 barrels per day. Scientists believe those estimates are inaccurately very low. BP has wrongly dismissed the importance of reasonable, scientific measurements.[ii] According to recent press reports, "Scientists studying video of the gushing oil well have tentatively calculated that it could be flowing at a rate of 25,000 to 80,000 barrels of oil a day." [iii]
BP continues to ignore the importance of understanding the true size of the oil spill. They have maintained that stopping the leak is more important than measuring the size. They have also stated that there is no way to measure the leak.[iv]
A couple of weeks ago both Greg Abbott and Rick Perry tried to downplay the oil leak. Abbott had said BP had taken all of the right steps to rectify the situation while Perry blamed the calamity on God. Seriously.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that Attorney General Abbott received $2 million in contributions from the oil and gas industry.
Why was Attorney General so quick to proclaim that BP had made "all the right actions and all the right comments"? He has 2 million reasons. According to Attorney General Abbott's publicly available campaign finance reports between 1992 and 2009, he accepted over $2 million in campaign contributions from oil and gas employees and PACs.[viii]
It is always helpful to know just who precisely our elected officials work for. In Perry and Abbott's case, neither works for us.
The gusherf**ck.
Meanwhile the carnage in the Gulf grows worse. A geologist has provided horrifying graphs that BP, Rick Perry and Greg Abbott don't want us to know about.
An eddy spinning off of the Loop current captured spilled oil at the end of last week then pulled it into the Loop current.
According to the geologist the oil has moved 1 degree south in 2 days. The currents are rapidly directing the leak to the Florida Keys. I guess Rick Perry will blame this on God as well.
Last night Sixty Minutes did a remarkable job of exposing the impact of the devastating explosion. The show's host interviewed one of the survivors who told his unbelievable story in heart wrenching detail. It is a miracle that Mike Williams is alive today.
Part II.
William's story is a very sobering one. In an effort to speed up production short cuts were taken and BP cheated on blowout prevention tests.
A whistleblower claims that the oil industry cheated on blowout prevention tests up to 50% of the time. Although MMS inspected Deepwater Horizon much less than MMS' own policies required, it appears that BP's and its agents' safety record was far below what was claimed. It's not yet clear if Federal regulations cover the minutiae of blowout preventers, but they probably do contain some generic "be safe above all else" regulations.
Eleven people are dead and we have an unstoppable oil volcano in the Gulf of Mexico that is wreaking havoc with the economic and environmental conditions in the region.
And yet the Republican Party continues to stand by its man BP. |
