'Not for public': the oil spill may be getting much worse

[yossarian]

BP Admits That - If It Tries to Cap the Leak - the Whole Well May Blow

"...Oil industry expert Rob Cavner said that BP must "keep the well flowing to minimize oil and gas going out into the formation on the side."

"BP's Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles told CNN last Thursday that BP's data indicates that BP can't cap the leaking oil..."

Everything we hear is an attempt at damage control and to conceal the catastrophic extent of what's harmlessly called a 'leak'. The biggest joke of all is the $20 billion which was heralded today as being a good sign of the government taking a hard stance. This won't even cover the damages that so far occured, not even mentioning what Florida awaits and the rest of the world.

The BP (U.S.) share went up 0.23 after the announcement...


Source: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/06/ ... -leak.html

[ninakat]

BP Admits That - If It Tries to Cap the Leak - the Whole Well May Blow

"...Oil industry expert Rob Cavner said that BP must "keep the well flowing to minimize oil and gas going out into the formation on the side."

"BP's Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles told CNN last Thursday that BP's data indicates that BP can't cap the leaking oil..."

Everything we hear is an attempt at damage control and to conceal the catastrophic extent of what's harmlessly called a 'leak'. The biggest joke of all is the $20 billion which was heralded today as being a good sign of the government taking a hard stance. This won't even cover the damages that so far occured, not even mentioning what Florida awaits and the rest of the world.

The BP (U.S.) share went up 0.23 after the announcement...


Source: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/06/ ... -leak.html

Excuse my ignorance, but couldn't Obama issue an executive order seizing BP's assets, financial and otherwise? I know it's unprecedented, and will never happen, but isn't this really what needs to happen? Some sort of fast track court order might work as well -- this is an extreme emergency after all. The most we can hope for is $20 billion to handle much bigger losses to the multi-trillion dollar economy in Gulf states?

[The Consul]

The citizens of the Gulf and the US in general are being treated to a militaristic need to know. It is like Iraq. Nothing but spin and message control. How far away from their guns are all those private "security" mercenaries do you think?
How far away are we from our insurgency....?
Will it happen after Mariah Carey hits 300 lbs?
Will it have to wait until we find out about Gary Coleman's death bed secret?
Can we slip it in before Simon Cowell is replaced?
Or will it happen when it starts to rain pure shit everywhere east of the Mississippi?

[Nordic]

What gets me is how the public down there, and the "journalists" down there aren't challenging the rent-a-cops about getting access to a PUBLIC beach.

Unless it's the cops or the sheriffs or the national guard telling you to stay away, nobody has ANY authority to tell you to stay off a PUBLIC beach.

This just blows my mind, and if I lived close enough, I would go there and challenge it with as many people as I could find, cameras rolling.

[Cordelia]

Excuse my ignorance, but couldn't Obama issue an executive order seizing BP's assets, financial and otherwise? I know it's unprecedented, and will never happen, but isn't this really what needs to happen? Some sort of fast track court order might work as well -- this is an extreme emergency after all. The most we can hope for is $20 billion to handle much bigger losses to the multi-trillion dollar economy in Gulf states?

I agree, but instead I expect to hear BP cry bankruptcy, followed by our Feds bailing them out with $40+ billion, whereupon they put $20B in a Gulf escrow as promised, and then issue themselves fat bonus checks.

[The Consul]

BP is not an American company. An executive order to some kind of receivership would be problematic on a variety of legal and political levels and could possibly make things worse, as hard as that is to imagine, making this more of a political issue that would distract from what needs to be done in the gulf itself. It is not in the DNA of our political structure to do so. I mean, it is a country where one political dynasty had a financial interest in the Nazi party, one of them had close ties to the family of a presidential assassin, etc etc etc. and they are treated like some kind of mythological royalty.
As far as the military contractors go, we better get used to seeing them, because they will be crawling all over the place after the collapse of Afghanistan and Iraq and wont be looking for to much of a reason to exist as heavy shite hits the fan here.

[Cordelia]

This just blows my mind, and if I lived close enough, I would go there and challenge it with as many people as I could find, cameras rolling.

Nordic--I think this would be legitimate and worthwhile anger release--be our John Wayne and take a posse down to confront the thugs on the GoM beaches (what's left of them). (I'm serious--you think I'm joking?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxaC2qkj ... re=related

[yossarian]

BP Admits That - If It Tries to Cap the Leak - the Whole Well May Blow

Excuse my ignorance, but couldn't Obama issue an executive order seizing BP's assets, financial and otherwise? I know it's unprecedented, and will never happen, but isn't this really what needs to happen? Some sort of fast track court order might work as well -- this is an extreme emergency after all. The most we can hope for is $20 billion to handle much bigger losses to the multi-trillion dollar economy in Gulf states?

Taking the Exxon Valdez disaster as a reference (even though it isn't even remotely comparable in the extent of damages), it took more than a decade in court to make Exxon cough up a paltry $2.5 billion after appeals, down from $ 4.5 billion plus interest in punitive damages afforded by the Supreme Court.

As you reckon, this isn't ever going to happen. Obama could nationalize all assets of BP in the U.S. but would never do this as this would have disastrous political and economic consequences.

However, as people in the oil industry already know that this leak won't be plugged by Christmas or anytime soon after that, it actually should be politically expedient to take them for all they've got. BP knows this, hence their happiness of being let off the hook that cheaply. You won't see the U.S. government take decisions they ought to take until the people scream bloody murder.

All that has happened so far is that BP plans to cut dividends in light of this decision by $7.5 billion, which is just what the trading blood-sucking ticks on Wallstreet anticipated.

Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bp-qui ... =afterbell

[Nordic]

This just blows my mind, and if I lived close enough, I would go there and challenge it with as many people as I could find, cameras rolling.

Nordic--I think this would be legitimate and worthwhile anger release--be our John Wayne and take a posse down to confront the thugs on the GoM beaches (what's left of them). (I'm serious--you think I'm joking?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxaC2qkj ... re=related

Take up a collection and see how much $$ you get to finance it.

[Simulist]

The United States bombed the hell out of the Iraqi people for... well, nothing actually — but it is essentially powerless to seize the assets of British Petroleum?

Something being illegal never stopped America before when it really wanted something, why should it now?

More likely: it's the multinational corporations (and their wealthy backers) who are the ones really running the United States.

[Jeff]

Oil Spill Forces Animals To Flee To Shallow Water Off Coast, Scientists Warn Of 'Mass Die-Off'


GULF SHORES, Ala. — Dolphins and sharks are showing up in surprisingly shallow water just off the Florida coast. Mullets, crabs, rays and small fish congregate by the thousands off an Alabama pier. Birds covered in oil are crawling deep into marshes, never to be seen again.

Marine scientists studying the effects of the BP disaster are seeing some strange phenomena.

Fish and other wildlife seem to be fleeing the oil out in the Gulf and clustering in cleaner waters along the coast in a trend that some researchers see as a potentially troubling sign.

The animals' presence close to shore means their usual habitat is badly polluted, and the crowding could result in mass die-offs as fish run out of oxygen. Also, the animals could easily get devoured by predators.

"A parallel would be: Why are the wildlife running to the edge of a forest on fire? There will be a lot of fish, sharks, turtles trying to get out of this water they detect is not suitable," said Larry Crowder, a Duke University marine biologist.

...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/1 ... 15003.html

[Cordelia]

This just blows my mind, and if I lived close enough, I would go there and challenge it with as many people as I could find, cameras rolling.

Nordic--I think this would be legitimate and worthwhile anger release--be our John Wayne and take a posse down to confront the thugs on the GoM beaches (what's left of them). (I'm serious--you think I'm joking?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxaC2qkj ... re=related

Take up a collection and see how much $$ you get to finance it.

OK. RI members, any donations? (Horses won't be a problem--financially strapped cowboys are giving them away.)

[2012 Countdown]

Speech was a failure, imo.
The speech did not go over well down here. What a waste. This speech could have been given at any time. There was no urgency, no forceful containment/mitigation plan.
Nothing we hadn't heard during the week. Short speech telling us nothing about getting a handle on the oil which is constantly coming in.




The berm/dredging machines are impressive.

Julia W

Summary of "official" leak estimates that have been made public to date:
Initial: 1,000 barrels per day
Next: 5,000 barrels per day
Next: 12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day
As of last week: 20,000 to 40,000 barrels per day
As of yesterday 6/15/2010: 35,000 and 60,000 barrels per day

Exxon Valdez spilled approximately 257,000 barrels of the 1,264,155 barrels it was carrying

Glad you updated the lie upon lie flow rate to current lie.
Just hear the local news say what is leaking now (what is admitted) is the amount of an Exxon Valdez every 4 days.

Oh, and the Prez says that they will start capturing 90% of the oil. To laugh.
--
your map-


That glob get more concentrated every day.

[Simulist]

Listening to Obama's speech last night was about as reassuring to me as that voice on the phone that keeps repeating to me how important my call is.

[2012 Countdown]

This just blows my mind, and if I lived close enough, I would go there and challenge it with as many people as I could find, cameras rolling.

Nordic--I think this would be legitimate and worthwhile anger release--be our John Wayne and take a posse down to confront the thugs on the GoM beaches (what's left of them). (I'm serious--you think I'm joking?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxaC2qkj ... re=related

Take up a collection and see how much $$ you get to finance it.

OK. RI members, any donations? (Horses won't be a problem--financially strapped cowboys are giving them away.)

Haha...you find your way here, and I'll drive you wherever you want to go. Lets drive down to Venice and sack BP HQ. We'll have to take out some Blackwater mercs though.