This one is a doozy (Oil Spill)

[Guest tigerman11]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/10/93868/bp-transocean-halliburton-will.html

[Aufan59 101]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/10/93868/bp-transocean-halliburton-will.html

If anyone knows about pointing fingers at other parties, it is the politicians.

[Bottomfeeder 244]

"This is an out of control volcano of oil spewing up with 70,000 psi behind it, from a reservoir nearly the size of the Gulf, with an estimated trillions of barrels of oil and gas tucked away. It is this deposit that has me reminding people of what the Shell geologist told me about the deposit. This was the quote, 'Energy shortage..., Hell! We are afraid of running out of air to burn.' The deposit is very large. It covers an area off shore something like 25,000 square miles. Natural Gas and Oil is leaking out of the deposit as far inland as Central Alabama and way over into Florida and even over to Louisiana almost as far as Texas. What we are seeing now could be small compared to what may yet unfold if things break apart, as they can do under such circumstances. If this thing blew, it could be like the Yellowstone Caldera, except from below a mile of sea, with a 1/4-mile opening, with up to 150,000 psi of oil and natural gas behind it.

That would be an extinction event."

http://globalresearc...xt=va&aid=19180

This has supposedly been debunked.

[arnaldoabru 11]

Did anyone catch 60 Minutes last night?

[Guest tigerman11]

Did anyone catch 60 Minutes last night?

Yeah I saw it. This situation is totally disgusting. What really angers me is that America is supposed to have the most stringent regulations on industry and this happens. We are being lied to on a number of fronts. What happened to We the People?

[arnaldoabru 11]

Don't worry "they" will police themselves.

[Tigermike 3,427]

Don't worry "they" will police themselves.

Yeah cause big government was doing such a great job of policing and oversight.

[autigeremt 6,970]

If this situation doesn't turn your stomach about government and REAL change, then you are DEAD.

[Tigermike 3,427]

If this situation doesn't turn your stomach about government and REAL change, then you are DEAD.

You are right emt. The failures on all sides are evident. The FEDS failed in their oversight responsibilities. BP failed to have plans in place for a cluster f_ _ _ like this. They should have plans for just such an event as this. The great EPA of which dems are so proud should have had not just guidelines but equipment and personnel trained to monitor and supervise the clean up. It seems that no one, not BP, not the EPA, not the USCG, not the engineers responsible for building and supervising the operation, not the MMS or any other agency or company had a plan in place to handle a situation like this. That goes back to planning on all parties. Plan for the absolute worse imaginable situation. Just because something like this had never happened before is no reason to not be prepared if it did.

[OldNewby 27]

Actual people led to this disaster. People with names and titles. We don't need finger pointing, we need arrests and prosecutions. Common sense was ignored. Warning signs were ignored. Due diligence was ignored. Regulations were ignored. All for the love of money. Sickening.

[Tigermike 3,427]

With 20/20 hindsight, Shell will pre-position a concrete coffer dam in the arctic for containing any oil leaks.

Shell Outlines Safety Measures for Arctic Drilling

Shell Oil president outlines additional safety measures planned for Arctic Ocean drilling

Shell Oil Co. will take additional steps to ensure the exploratory drilling it plans to do in the Arctic Ocean this summer will be done safely, company President Marvin Odum said in a letter to federal regulators.

link

Well I guess better late than never.

[arnaldoabru 11]

If this situation doesn't turn your stomach about government and REAL change, then you are DEAD.

You are right emt. The failures on all sides are evident. The FEDS failed in their oversight responsibilities. BP failed to have plans in place for a cluster f_ _ _ like this. They should have plans for just such an event as this. The great EPA of which dems are so proud should have had not just guidelines but equipment and personnel trained to monitor and supervise the clean up. It seems that no one, not BP, not the EPA, not the USCG, not the engineers responsible for building and supervising the operation, not the MMS or any other agency or company had a plan in place to handle a situation like this. That goes back to planning on all parties. Plan for the absolute worse imaginable situation. Just because something like this had never happened before is no reason to not be prepared if it did.

Shouldn't BP have had equipment and personnel trained to monitor and supervise the clean up. After all it's their oil. Why should the taxpayers be on the hook for their f-up. What we need is less government intervention.

[OldNewby 27]

Crew Argued Over Drilling Plan Before Rig Explosion

By RUSSELL GOLD

About 11 hours before the Deepwater Horizon exploded, a disagreement took place between the top manager for oil giant BP PLC on the drilling rig and his counterpart for the rig's owner, Transocean Ltd., concerning the final steps in shutting down the nearly completed well, according to a worker's sworn statement.

Michael Williams, a Transocean employee who was chief electronics technician on the rig, said there was "confusion" between those high-ranking officials in an 11 a.m. meeting on the day of the rig blast, according to a sworn statement from Mr. Williams reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Williams himself attended the meeting.

The confusion over the drilling plan in the final hours leading up to the explosion could be key to understanding the causes of the blowout and ultimately who was responsible.

What is known from drilling records and congressional testimony is that after the morning meeting, the crew began preparations to remove from the drill pipe heavy drilling "mud" that provides pressure to keep down any gas, and to replace this mud with lighter seawater.

Ultimately, the crew removed the mud before setting a final 300-foot cement plug that is typically poured as a last safeguard to prevent combustible gas from rising to the surface. Indeed, they never got the opportunity to set the plug.

Mr. Williams declined to be interviewed.

In his sworn statement, he described the meeting as including ranking personnel from BP, Transocean and Halliburton Co., a contractor that dealt with cementing the well.

According to Mr. Williams's account, Transocean's rig manager, Jimmy Wayne Harrell, was discussing the plans for the next few hours' work, including taking out the drilling mud and running a test to make sure gas wasn't seeping into the well. Mr. Harrell explained in the meeting that he had received the plans from BP.

Then, according to Mr. Williams's statement, the top-ranked BP employee assigned to the rig, Donald Vidrine, disagreed and said "that was not the correct procedure."

A Transocean driller in charge of the crew, Dewey Revette, tried to ease the tension. "We'll get it worked out. Let's get up there and go to work," he said, according to Mr. Williams's statement. Mr. Revette, 48 years old, was among 11 workers who died on the rig.

At about this point in the meeting, according to Mr. Williams's attorney, Scott Bickford, all other employees were asked to leave the room so that Messrs. Vidrine and Harrell could talk in private. Mr. Williams's statement doesn't include a reference to asking others to leave.

It's not clear what position either BP's Mr. Vidrine or Transocean's Mr. Harrell took on when the drilling mud should be removed. Mr. Williams's statement said only that the disagreement concerned taking out the mud, running a "negative pressure" test on the well, and dealing with a piece of equipment called a seal assembly.

It also isn't clear whether Mr. Vidrine or Mr. Harrell won the day.

Typically well owner BP would have final say, since it was paying roughly $1 million a day to lease the rig and pay for services from 12 companies that had people on the rig.

What is clear is that workers soon began displacing the mud. Later that afternoon a pressure test provided ambiguous readings, a possible sign of gas seeping in, according to what Rep. Henry Waxman says a BP executive told House investigators. Eventually, in the evening, after further tests, BP made a decision to carry forth in removing more drilling mud. The rig blew about 10 p.m.

A BP spokesman, asked about the account in Mr. Williams's statement, said: "We're simply not going to comment on that sort of detail or speculation about causes." BP's Mr. Vidrine couldn't be reached for comment.

A Transocean spokesman said the company couldn't provide details of the meeting's discussion. A woman who answered the phone at the residence of Transocean's Mr. Harrell, and who identified herself as his wife, said he had no comment.

--Vanessa O'Connell contributed to this article

Write to Russell Gold at russell.gold@wsj.com

link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704414504575244812908538510.html?mod=mktw

[Tigermike 3,427]

If this situation doesn't turn your stomach about government and REAL change, then you are DEAD.

You are right emt. The failures on all sides are evident. The FEDS failed in their oversight responsibilities. BP failed to have plans in place for a cluster f_ _ _ like this. They should have plans for just such an event as this. The great EPA of which dems are so proud should have had not just guidelines but equipment and personnel trained to monitor and supervise the clean up. It seems that no one, not BP, not the EPA, not the USCG, not the engineers responsible for building and supervising the operation, not the MMS or any other agency or company had a plan in place to handle a situation like this. That goes back to planning on all parties. Plan for the absolute worse imaginable situation. Just because something like this had never happened before is no reason to not be prepared if it did.

Shouldn't BP have had equipment and personnel trained to monitor and supervise the clean up. After all it's their oil. Why should the taxpayers be on the hook for their f-up. What we need is less government intervention.

Did I absolve BP of any blame? Hell no I didn't.

Shouldn't the government have required them to provide and plan for worse case scenarios? Shouldn't the government whose job it is to monitor and make sure things are done right have had contingency plans for a catastrophic screw up?

You worrying about taxpayer money is as obscene as this oil spill.

[Aufan59 101]

Problem is that government regulators have no idea how the oilfield industry actually works.

The inspector they hire has no real experience. He only looks for what he is trained to look for, and he is trained by people not in the oilfield service industry!

Regulation is good, but there is a reason why the government worker is working for the government.

[autigeremt 6,970]

If this situation doesn't turn your stomach about government and REAL change, then you are DEAD.

You are right emt. The failures on all sides are evident. The FEDS failed in their oversight responsibilities. BP failed to have plans in place for a cluster f_ _ _ like this. They should have plans for just such an event as this. The great EPA of which dems are so proud should have had not just guidelines but equipment and personnel trained to monitor and supervise the clean up. It seems that no one, not BP, not the EPA, not the USCG, not the engineers responsible for building and supervising the operation, not the MMS or any other agency or company had a plan in place to handle a situation like this. That goes back to planning on all parties. Plan for the absolute worse imaginable situation. Just because something like this had never happened before is no reason to not be prepared if it did.

Shouldn't BP have had equipment and personnel trained to monitor and supervise the clean up. After all it's their oil. Why should the taxpayers be on the hook for their f-up. What we need is less government intervention.

Because it's the governments job to protect the people and it's interests. Pretty damn simple.

[OldNewby 27]

Not to single it out, but by it's name, The Environmental Protection Agency failed to protect the environment. Many others failed, too. Right now, we need success in stopping the flow of oil, the sooner the better.

[autigeremt 6,970]

Not to single it out, but by it's name, The Environmental Protection Agency failed to protect the environment. Many others failed, too. Right now, we need success in stopping the flow of oil, the sooner the better.

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