After a month of spill & 6 MILLION gallons of oil in the Gulf, has Obama trusted in BP too much?

[Divine Discontent]

Live flow of oil rushing into the Gulf (availability based on BP) - http://video.ap.org/?pid=R9msqOsYZ2TmkWttgWjBgV72_tYSs_Oh&f=advoh


April 20, 2010 - Transocean Ltd's drilling rig, "Deepwater Horizon" explodes and catches fire in the Gulf. The rig was drilling in BP's Macondo project 42 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, beneath 5,000 feet of water and 13,000 feet under the seabed. A blowout preventer, intended to prevent release of crude oil, failed to activate causing the largest oil disaster the world has ever seen.



April 22 - Rig sinks; five mile long oil slick is seen.

April 25 - The Coast Guard says 1,000 barrels of crude oil per day are being leaked into the Gulf. The agency calls the leak a "very serious spill" that threatens ecosystems along the Gulf Coast. Efforts to activate the blowout preventer fail.

April 28 - The Coast Guard says the flow of oil is now estimated at 5,000 barrels a day. A controlled burn is held on the giant oil slick.



April 29 - A week after the initial incident, with hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil already in the Gulf, President Obama pledges "every single available resource," including the U.S. military, to contain the spreading spill, which Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says is of "national significance." Obama also says BP is responsible for the cleanup. Louisiana declares state of emergency due to the threat to the state's natural resources.

April 30 - An Obama aide says no new drilling will be allowed until a cause is established for the spill.



May 2 - Obama visits the Gulf Coast to see cleanup efforts. BP starts drilling a relief well to block off the existing well's flow - a process that could take 2-3 months.

May 5 - A barge begins towing a 98-ton containment chamber to the site of the leak. BP says one of the three leaks was capped, but that it doesn't effect the flow rate. Officials conduct controlled burns, the 1st in a week.



May 6 - Oil washes ashore the Breton National Wildlife Refuge in LA., an important nesting and breeding areas for many bird species.



May 8 - BP's containment dome fails when crystallized gas forces engineers to postpone efforts to place the giant chamber over the site. "Tar balls" wash up along Dauphin Island, Alabama.



May 10 - BP announces plans to place a small containment dome, known as a "top hat," over the blown out well to funnel oil to the surface.



May 20 - LA. Senator Vitter pressures as to why the Army Corp of Engineers have not been prompted to undertake a massive dredging project to protect the lowlands of Lousiana. "I've been pushing the administration and the Corps daily in meetings, conference calls and hearings for the approval of this barrier island plan for almost two weeks," said Vitter.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/21/1640972/florida-prepares-for-oil-spill.html#ixzz0ohTtEP7J

May 21 - On Friday morning, BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles, told the CBS that in the worst case scenario, the gusher could continue until early August, when one of two new relief wells would be completed to cap the flow permanently. Suttles said,
"I'm optimistic, I'm very optimistic that the Gulf will fully recover", stating it's a large body of water and has withstood spills before.




May 22 - Nearly one month from the explosion, Obama establishes a panel to review the cause so that this type of disaster does not happen again.

May 23 - BP thumbs its nose at the EPA, and continues using toxic mix of dispersants, Corexit, despite warnings to discontinue use of the current formula. Mobile-area scientists warned BP officials and Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen a week ago that the use of dispersants both on the surface and underwater at the Deepwater Horizon well could have grave consequences for the Gulf ecosystem. Dr Robert Shipp, head of Alabama's Marine Sciences at the U. of AL said that BP's Peter Carragher argued with him about his findings. Shipp said, "He was lecturing me on my lack of knowledge about the marine environment. I told him we were most concerned about the oil getting in the food web if they sink it with dispersants," Shipp said. "When we started talking about the sediments and the food web, they turned off. They were all about chemical reactions and that sort of thing. They just kept saying, 'EPA approved it.'"


Huge streaks of oil mar the Gulf waters in the NASA photo below



View a google map of the spill
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=108821684574389522691.000485751dac00cf5cb8b&ll=28.72913,-84.243164&spn=9.625992,14.501953&z=6&source=embed

A disheartening, yet brief 20 second video, showing the oil starting to come ashore at Grand Isle, LA. This is but a prelude to come of the other tens of millions of gallons of oil in the Gulf that will have to be dealt with over time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AygrXQXpRcc


Regardless of BP's confidence in containing the massive flow a week after it happened, should the White House have even granted them any trust based on past disasters and corporations inherit need to downplay the facts, or outright hide them? A million gallons of oil rushed out into the Gulf before the administration swung into higher gear, as many have stated (including the NYT). Why did the White House trust BP is an intriguing question, as many of us here would not have given them an inch because their greed is what led to the disaster. It has been shown that Transocean attempted to prevent what they thought would lead to an explosion but BP decisions stopped that action. I would hope they would be rounded up for their brazen disregard for safety after the volcano of oil is stopped - whenever that is going to happen months from now - and lest we forget - Alaskans can still go easily show you oil from the Valdez accident of 1989.

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Rep. Ed Markey says BP is lying --- http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/20100522rep_ed_markey_bps_lying_accuses_oil_company_of_lowballing_amount_of_oil_spill/

Scientists say BP is lying --- http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/05/20/bp-lies-disaster/

Video of Scientist Wereley stating flow is 70-115,000 barrels a day into Gulf http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COQN2rpk31Q

Write your Congressional Representative about your concern over trusting BP.
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml