Obama says BP oil spill disaster is the worst that America has ever faced
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June 16, 2010- US President Barack Obama, in a nationally televised address today said that the current BP oil spill disaster is the worst that America has ever faced. He said that tomorrow, when he would be meeting BP’s Chairman, he would ask that BP set aside enough resources to compensate everybody who has been adversely affected by the oil spill, which maybe includes the lost income of shrimp farmers, fishermen as well as oil workers who are unable to earn due to the moratorium on drilling operations in the Gulf.
This environmental disaster is proving to be worse than the Exxon Valdez oil spill a decade back. In fact some experts say that this present BP oil spill is the equivalent of having an Exxon Valdez type disaster every four days!
Will CSB investigate the BP Transocean Deepwater Horizon accident?
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June 9, 2010- The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) which is an important agency in the government that investigates accidents in the chemicals, oil & gas and similar industries, is being urged to investigate the BP/ Transocean oil rig (Deepwater Horizon) fire and sinking. Chairman John Bresland of the CSB issued the following release given below
Statement from CSB Chairman John Bresland Regarding
House Committee Request to Investigate BP Deepwater Horizon
I have received the letter from Chairmen Waxman and Stupak of the of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, requesting that the CSB investigate the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout. It is my desire that the CSB do everything it can to facilitate the request and to undertake the investigation and determine what factors led to the explosion and failure of the blowout prevention system.
The CSB, a small agency, is currently engaged in numerous investigations consuming all of our investigation staff. However, I will be consulting immediately with the rest of the board and with key staff to determine how we may put together a high-performing investigation team.
The CSB thoroughly investigated the BP Texas City refinery explosion of 2005 and issued a lengthy report and hour-long CSB Safety Video following our investigation, and as the letter from the committee chairmen states, we would be in a unique position to address numerous questions about BP’s safety culture and practices, and to answer the questions outlined in the House committee letter today. The CSB investigation report and safety video may be viewed at www.CSB.gov.
In addition, at the CSB’s urgent recommendation in 2005, BP convened a special panel under the leadership of former Secretary of State James Baker to evaluate the safety culture at BP’s North American refineries. That report was published in January 2007.
We will be making key decisions on the matter in the next few days and we thank the Committee on Energy and Commerce for its interest in and support of CSB investigation activities
World Environment Day-Some thoughts
June 5, 2010 -So today is World Environment Day. We’re in the midst of an oil leak and spill disaster, so now is a good time to think where we’re moving. Is the planet less polluted today than some decades ago, before the environment was given its due importance. We think no, todays pollution levels seem far below the levels that were seen in the 1950s and 1960s. This is because of more stringent norms, government oversight through organisations like the EPA and other “non-state” actors like environmental watchdogs like Greenpeace and others. Today the smoke belching, gas spewing factory may be a rarity, but is it because of the above mentioned things or is it because most of these have shifted to China? BTW there you can still witness these smoking chimneys and soot that hangs in the air, especially during winter when it all turns into a thick smog and haze.
As far as disasters are concerned, the BP incident is a rare event these days-more of a black swan event-not that I am saying that it could not have been predicted or that the response could not have been better, but that it was really perhaps the first incident in which a blowout preventer failed. Or was it really the first one, as BP claims? Have there been other incidents in the past when these devices failed? Perhaps someone in the Oil and Gas industry should come out with statistics.
But, I digress here. Today on the occasion of World Environment Day, we should all pause to think whether we are really making the environment a better place over the years or worse? Is todays economic model sustainable? For how long? What legacy should we gift our children and grandchildren? A polluted planet and tons of Collaterized Debt Obligations (CDOs)? Can’t we do any better? We better think seriously about it now.
Comments are welcome!
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BPs Top Kill is a failure-gusher continues to spill oil in huge quantities
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May 30, 2010- It is now 40 days since the oil spill caused by the explosion, fire and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig started. BP’s much publicized “Top Kill” operation to plug the oil gusher has come a cropper, as oil continues to flow out in large quantities, leading many to believe that this environmental disaster may now even exceed the Exxon Valdez disaster!
This is certainly not good news for anybody. The oil spill now threatens large parts of the Gulf of Mexico. Wildlife, marine animals, as well as people who depend on the sea for their livelihood (fishermen and shrimp farmers). Entire beaches on the south coast are threatened by the spreading slick. The incident highlights how just one well in the hundreds that are already in operation in the Gulf region can pose a danger that was not anticipated.
BP’s Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles was quoted in some media reports as saying that the Top Kill attempt was now a failure. Suttles was also quoted as saying BP will now turn to the “lower marine riser package”, or LMRP, technique, which he hopes will be operating within four to seven days.
Lets hope this operation will be successful.
BP Oil Spill worse than the Exxon Valdez spill? Experts debate
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May 27, 2010- The Deepwater Horizon oil rig accident may be causing more damage than earlier estimated, say some experts. BPs intital estimates of about 5000 barrels per day may be too much on the lower side. The Washington Post quotes that U.S. Geological Survey Director Dr. Marcia McNutt said at a news conference Thursday that two teams of scientists, using different methods, have preliminarily determined that between 17 and 27 million gallons of oil have gushed into the ocean so far, which makes it comparable to the oil spill caused by the Exxon Valdez supertanker, which ran aground off Alaska’s coast in Prince William Sound about a decade back.
This also implies that the average spillage rate would be around 12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day, which is far higher than BPs earlier estimates.
Meanwhile the reports coming in from various sources say that the “Top Kill” operation started by BP to staunch the oil flow is progressing well. President Obama has already put a moratorium on further drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico, for at least six months.
In Washington, Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar, who is leading the emergency review into the whole accident is believed to have blamed the earlier (Bush) administration for “reprehensible” culture that developed within the Minerals Management Service, the regulatory agency in the government that issues permits for offshore oil drilling.
