"BP wants the federal government to meet its demand for continued access to oil and gas leases in the United States. If the oil giant can't keep drilling here, its promise to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon disaster might go unfulfilled—or so the company claims.
BP plans to release today its internal investigation of its own role, and any possible wrongdoing or errors by its own officials, in the Deepwater Horizon blowout disaster. Even though some key BP decisionmakers are not talking to federal investigators -- claiming ill health or the Fifth Amendment -- documents describing what they are alleged to have told BP are coming to light. BP would be legally and financially liable for whatever it finds in its self-investigation. By issuing its report before conclusions come from any government or independent investigations, BP stands to dominate the news media narrative on the disaster. James C. Mckinley Jr. reports for the New York Times September 7, 2010
"A string of mistakes, first by people, then by a supposedly fail-safe machine, sealed the fates of 11 rig workers and led to the fouling of the Gulf of Mexico and hundreds of miles of its coastline.
"NEW ORLEANS — The Justice Department won't say if the blowout preventer that failed to stop oil from gushing from BP's undersea well into the Gulf of Mexico is on its way to shore. Spokeswoman Hannah August declined comment Monday. The 50-foot, 300-ton device, which was lifted to the surface Saturday, is expected to be analyzed at a NASA facility in Louisiana." Harry R. Weber reports for the Associated Press September 6, 2010.
The FBI, watching as BP contractors lifted the Deepwater Horizon's failed blowout preventer from the Gulf with a crane, took possession of it immediately as evidence in civil and criminal investigations.
"IN CORDOVA, ALASKA He'd just met her, but Evan Beedle wanted Rosina Philippe to know how his life changed after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, how pieces of his identity slipped away, one label at a time. Husband. Father. Fisherman.
"BP raised the damaged blowout preventer that is seen as a key piece of evidence in the oil spill investigation to the surface at 8:53 p.m. CT., the energy giant said Saturday in a statement. " The BOP is considered evidentiary material, and is now under the supervision of the Deepwater Horizon Criminal Investigation Team and FBI Evidence Recovery Team,"National Incident Commander admiral Thad Allen said in a statement." USA TODAY had the story September 4, 2010.
"Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement investigators boarded Mariner Energy Resources' Vermilion Block 380 platform off the Louisiana coast on Friday to begin an investigation into the cause of a fire that caused 13 workers to abandon the platform on Thursday.
"The recent fire at a Mariner Energy (ME) oil production platform off Louisiana sent shock waves through Gulf Coast residents and others still dealing with the aftermath of April's deadly explosion and massive oil spill at BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the region. There were sighs of relief as well when the news came that the crew on the Mariner platform was safe and no oil spill was reported. But it has also brought unexpected, and perhaps unwelcome, focus on Houston, Texas-based Mariner Energy." Bruce Kennedy reports for AOL's Daily Finance September 4, 2010.
"GRAND ISLE, La. -- An offshore petroleum platform exploded and was burning Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast, west of the site where BP's undersea well spilled after a rig explosion.
The Coast Guard says no one was killed in the blast, which was reported by a commercial helicopter flying over the area Thursday morning. All 13 people aboard the rig have been accounted for, with one injury. The extent of the injury was not known.
Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said some of those from the rig were spotted in emergency flotation devices."
