(Rep. Henry) Waxman: BP Knew of Safety Failure before Blast

[sabra]

Source: CBS News/AP

Blowout Preventer Had Hydraulic Leak before Explosion that Led to Massive Spill, Congressional Probe Shows


(CBS/AP) A congressional investigation into the Gulf oil spill revealed that a key safety device, the blowout preventer, had a leak in a crucial hydraulic system, according to Rep. Henry Waxman.

He cited BP documents received by the Energy and Commerce Committee that showed there was a breach in the well integrity that allowed methane gas and possibly other hydrocarbons to enter the well.

Waxman, D-Calif., said at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday that the investigation also discovered that the well had failed a negative pressure test just hours before the April 20 explosion.

Rep. Henry Waxman says BP officials provided conflicting accounts of what happened after the failed test.

Waxman said that a BP senior executive told the committee that the well didn't pass the test around 5 p.m. on the day of the explosion. Waxman said results of a second test were unsatisfactory.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/12/national/main6476337.shtml

[maddezmom]

1. watching it now on CSPAN

http://www.c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN3.aspx

[KansDem]

2. All right, then. Let's do it...

...what are we waiting for?

[madmax]

3. The moustache for Justice saddles up again! nt

[Ticonderoga]

4. Gotta call broker...Dump bp

[Joe Chi Minh]

7. Better late than never.

[gratuitous]

5. Oh, we could argue all day long about who didn't fix this or that

But now that we've come to it, BP is pretty darn mad, too. Losing the revenue from all that oil. So let's just say that everybody made mistakes and leave it at that, okay?

Okay?

Come onnnnnnnn! Okay?

Or are you going to hold a grudge and keep looking backwards to the past?

Come onnnnnnnn!

[zenprole]

6. Not So Fast

Waxman's got his own public safety violation happening with his unconscionable support of Jane Harman in the California 36th.

Marcy Winograd is scaring the crap out of the Democratic establishment - she's gained strong support with very little money but is especially threatening for her stands on Palestine and our Endless War Machine. It looks like Harman's cash and clubby connections will run dry this time around.

Is inbred decision-making causing a hazard to the public? Did someone know that a certain decision would end in disaster? Let's inform Congressman-for-life Waxman that there's another ongoing toxic spill he needs to clean up. Out with Harman, who's a Republican's Democrat and has been investigated for collusion with foreign agents. Then Henry can fulminate about BP...with the full support of Marcy Winograd.

[Stuart G]

8. Whistleblower Claims That BP Was Aware Of Cheating On Blowout Preventer Tests

Source: Huffington Post

As the federal and congressional probes continue into the causes of the Gulf oil rig explosion, new information is coming to light about the failure of a key device, the blowout preventer, to shut off the gushing well, which could have prevented the growing catastrophe.

And new questions are being raised about the testing of the preventers. At today's hearing before a House subcommittee, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., revealed that the blowout preventer had a leak in a crucial hydraulic system and had failed a negative pressure test just hours before the April 20 explosion. And at a hearing in Louisiana on Tuesday, the government engineer who gave oil giant BP the final approval to drill admitted that he never asked for proof that the preventer worked.

In addition, an oil industry whistleblower told Huffington Post that BP had been aware for years that tests of blowout prevention devices were being falsified in Alaska. The devices are different from the ones involved in the Deepwater Horizon explosion but are also intended to prevent dangerous blowouts at drilling operations.

Mike Mason, who worked on oil rigs in Alaska for 18 years, says that he observed cheating on blowout preventer tests at least 100 times, including on many wells owned by BP.



Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/12/bp-whistleblower-claimed_n_573839.html

---

Who do you think is telling the truth..BP..or this fellow???

[Scuba]

9. Find this man. Protect his life....

He'll be useful during the criminal trials.

[Mojeoux]

11. OMG I so agree with you. n/t

[SpiralHawk]

10. But, BP decided to go with Republicon Family Values

...and there you have it.

[fascisthunter]

12. D'oh

[Stuart G]

13. And it is going to get much worse, before it gets better...

[northernlights]

14. it's not likely to get better in our lifetimes

no matter how young you may be right now. :(

[nashville_brook]

15. k n r

[groundloop]

16. K & R times 2