The Daily Glob

"Experts, Rivals Blast BP Practices"

"Monday was a relatively good day for BP in the glare of oil spill inquiries. Tuesday was a bad day.

Drilling experts and corporate rivals testifying before a presidential oil spill commission blasted BP Tuesday for decisions about the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that might have removed obstacles to the April 20 blowout that led to the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

"Criticism Runs Deep for Spill Commission Findings"

"NEW ORLEANS -- Critics of a presidential commission's preliminary findings that largely supported BP's internal probe of the Gulf oil spill questioned Monday how anyone could suggest money wasn't put ahead of safety in the days before the disaster.

'Why cut corners if it is not for money?' said Billy Nungesser, the president of oil-soaked Plaquemines Parish, La.

Nungesser also challenged the statement from the commission's chief investigator, who said he agreed with about 90 percent of what BP said in its internal report released in early September.

'I really feel for the families of these 11 victims,' Nungesser said. 'Here they are hoping and praying that their loved ones lost would set some fundamental change and protection so things would be different. If we are gonna not be honest with everybody, including the American public, about what happened and why — then these people died in vain.'

Daniel Becnel, a Louisiana lawyer suing BP and others over the oil spill, said the commission's findings about money not being a factor are 'absolutely absurd.'

'The reason is it so absurd is because BP is known to paste over safety, especially if it involved money and downtime,' Becnel said. 'They couldn't afford any more downtime on that rig.'"

Harry R. Weber reports for the Associated Press November 8, 2010.

"Criticism Runs Deep for Spill Commission Findings"

SEE ALSO:

"Oil Spill Panel: BP Didn't Sacrifice Safety for Costs" (AP)

"Factbox: Oil Spill Commission Findings" (Reuters)

"Well Acts ‘Plain Wrong’ or ‘Difficult to Explain,’ Reilly Says" (Bloomberg)

"Halliburton and BP Knew of Cement Flaws"

The chief investigator of the presidential commission investigating the gulf oil spill says that Halliburton and BP knew of flaws in the cement used to seal the oil well weeks before the spill. Here is his letter to the full commission. John M. Broder reports for the New York Times October 28, 2010.

"White House Pushes Back on Spill Report"

"The White House is pushing back against the draft reports the National Oil Spill Commission released Wednesday  on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that included scathing criticism of the administration's handling of the disaster. The reports' harshest criticism was directed toward the administration's handling of information about the size of the spill and the extent of the damage.

'This was an unprecedented environmental disaster met with an unprecedented federal response which prevented any of the worst-case scenarios from coming to fruition,' White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Thursday. 'When we had information, we gave it to the public.'

He also refuted the report's claim that the Office of Management and Budget blocked another federal agency from releasing estimates about the worst-case scenario for the spill. 'No information was altered. No information was withheld. And nothing in the report had anything to do with the robust response,' said Gibbs."

Kate Sheppard reports for Mother Jones October 8, 2010.

SEE ALSO:

"WH Defends Oil Spill Predictions After Report Claims It Hid Worst-Case Numbers" (TPM Muckraker)


"Just How Much Did the Feds Screw Up Gulf Spill Estimates?" (Mother Jones)

Federal Cops to Gulf Journos: Don't Dig -- It's Illegal

"What are you in for?" a grizzled inmate might ask some future jailed journalist. "Building sand castles," the journalist might well reply. Police officers from the Fish & Wildlife Service and National Park Service are telling journalists they may not dig or build sand castles on public Gulf of Mexico beaches. The apparent problem: they might discover that layers of oil lie beneath beaches the feds and BP have declared clean.

Forget what they taught you in J-school; the feds say journalists are not supposed to dig. Don't believe us? Watch the video:

 

Reporter Dan Thomas of WEAR ABC 7 TV (Pensacola) ventured out to the Gulf Islands National Seashore September 18, 2010, toy beach shovel in hand. He quickly found layers of crude oil less than a foot below the surface -- giving the lie to BP and government claims that beaches had been cleaned.

He was quickly accosted, first by a US Fish & Wildlife agent, and then by a uniformed National Park Service police officer, and told that what he was doing was illegal. Illegal to report in a National Park without a press pass (Thomas had one). Illegal to dig in a National Park (this one was a tourist beach). Illegal to dig below 6 inches. Even illegal to build sand castles. And the officers left the impression that it might be illegal to ask why.

In fact, the feds have yet to document definitively that any of these things are illegal. They fit a larger pattern of BP and federal agents illegally restricting access to reporters trying to report on the impacts of the BP Gulf oil spill.

-- "Building Sand Castles on Florida’s Beaches Is Illegal, Feds Tell
Oil-Hunting Reporter," Raw Story, September 19, 2010, by Stephen C.
Webster.

-- "BP's Press Harassment Continues," Mother Jones, September 21,
2010, by Jen Phillips.

-- Previous Stories: WatchDogs of June 30, 2010 ;  July 14, 2010 ;  July 14, 2010 ;   and August 25, 2010 .

"Is Another Deepwater Disaster Inevitable?"

"Mark Ploen, the silver-haired deputy incident commander, wore a white vest. A 30-year veteran of oil spill wars, Ploen, a consultant, has helped clean up disasters around the world, from Alaska to the Niger Delta. He now found himself surrounded by men he'd worked with on the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska two decades earlier. 'It's like a high school reunion,' he quipped." Joel K. Bourne, Jr. reports for National Geographic with photograph by Joel Sartore September 16, 2010.

"Whistleblower Group Sues To Find Out Why Administration Lowballed BP Oil Spill Estimates"

"What led Obama administration officials to wildly understate the size of the BP oil spill until it was all over? Was it just a series of honest mistakes? Or was science being manipulated for political purposes? An environmental whistleblower group suspects the latter, and its distrust has only grown as the U.S. Geological Survey, one of several agencies involved in assessing the flow rate, has refused to turn over relevant documents including directives from political appointees.

"Interior: Idle Wells in Gulf Must Be Plugged"

"The Obama administration said Wednesday it will require oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico to plug nearly 3,500 nonproducing wells and dismantle about 650 production platforms that are no longer used.

BP Report Roundup: "BP Spill Report Hints at Legal Defense"

"BP spent months this summer trying to contain the gusher of oil  on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. Now the company is trying to contain the legal and financial fallout from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, and on Wednesday it released the results of an internal investigation that mostly pointed fingers at other companies.

Conducted by the company’s safety chief, Mark Bly, and a team of about 50 made up mostly of BP employees, the inquiry was initiated almost immediately after the April 20 explosion that killed 11 and spilled almost five million barrels of oil into the ocean.

The 193-page report  is part mea culpa, part public relations exercise, but mostly a preview of BP’s legal argument as it prepares to defend itself against possible criminal or civil charges, federal penalties and hundreds of pending lawsuits.

The report deflects attention from BP and onto its contractors, especially Transocean, which owned the rig, and Halliburton, which performed cement jobs on the well. It also focuses less on decisions that BP made in designing and drilling the well than on what rig workers, from Transocean and Halliburton, did in the hours leading up to the blowout."

Ian Urbina reports for the New York Times September 8, 2010.

SEE ALSO:

"In Its Report on the Gulf Oil Spill, BP Spreads the Blame" (Washington Post)

"Regret, Apology Not Part of BP's Oil Spill Report" (AP)

"Transocean, Halliburton Blast BP Report on Cause of Blowout, Oil Spill"

"The BP Report Is Out, But What About Its Methodology?" (Wall St. Journal)

"Ed Markey Swipes at Internal BP Report" (Politico)

"BP Report on Well Disaster Faults Mechanical, Human Failures" (Los Angeles Times)

"BP Internal Investigation Into Gulf Oil Spill Mostly Points Finger at Others" (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

"Halliburton Says Errors in BP Report" (Barrons)

"BP Says Transocean, Halliburton Have to Share Blame for Gulf Rig Explosion" (Bloomberg)

"BP Oil Spill Report: the Deepwater Horizon Blame Game" (Guardian)

"BP Report Pins Most of Blame on Others" (Wall St. Journal)

"Analysts: BP Report Supports Case, Buoys Investors" (AP)

"BP Report Shares Blame For Rig Explosion"(NPR)

"Backlash Against BP Spill Report" (UK Press Association)

"BP: Multiple Companies, Teams Contributed To Spill"

"Oil giant BP PLC said in an internal report released Wednesday before
a key piece of evidence has been analyzed that multiple companies and
work teams contributed to the massive Gulf of Mexico spill that fouled
waters and shorelines for months.

In its 193-page report posted on its website Wednesday, the British
company describes the incident as an accident that arose from a
complex and interlinked series of mechanical failures, human
judgments, engineering design, operational implementation and team
interfaces.

BP spread the blame around, and even was critical of its own workers'
conduct, but it defended the design of its well and it was careful in
its assessments. It already faces hundreds of lawsuits and billions of
dollars of liabilities. In public hearings, it had already tried to
shift some of the blame to rig owner Transocean Ltd. and cement
contractor Halliburton. BP was leasing the rig from Transocean and
owned the well that blew out.

The report was generated by a BP team led by Mark Bly, BP's head of
safety and operations."

Harry R. Weber, Michael Kunzelman, and Dina Cappiello report for the
Associated Press September 8, 2010.

Full Text of BP Report