The Oil Spill Plot Thickens

The estimated oil spill volumes in the gulf, from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, were approximately 2/3 of the 9 million Exxon Valdez spill of 1989. The Horizon spill is expected to eclipse that volume. Significantly. BP is voluminous in every aspect.

A little digging (OK, a little chicken scratching actually) turns up a significant volume of articles, publications and documents referring to BP's horrendous, historic record of environmental and saftey disasters.

Could this be why BP is threatening journalists, fudging the spill volume rate and denying access to scientists?

thanks to Ted for the following...
"Oil washes up on shore today, but journalists beware: If you are caught photographing, you will be arrested. CBS documents its encounter this morning." more

BP initially estimated that the wellhead was leaking 1,000 barrels (42,000 US gallons; 160,000 litres) a day. "John Amos, a geologist who has worked as a consultant with oil companies on measuring oil spills, said that figure is the "extremely low end" of their estimates, putting a more realistic figure at 20,000 barrels (840,000 US gallons; 3,200,000 litres) a day".

Adding to the spill controversy, BP elected to use a dispersant, in an attempt to "clean up", which contains propylene glycol, 2-butoxyethanol and a proprietary organic sulfonic acid salt.

"By May 15, 436,000 US gallons (1,650,000 l) of Corexit EC9500A and EC9527A had been released into the Gulf. These products are neither the least toxic, nor the most effective, among the dispersants approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, and they are banned from use on oil spills in the United Kingdom.

Twelve other products received better toxicity and effectiveness ratings, but BP says it chose to use Corexit because it was available the week of the rig explosion. Critics contend that the major oil companies stockpile Corexit because of their close business relationship with Nalco. By 20 May, BP had applied 600,000 US gallons (2,300,000 l) of Corexit on the surface and 55,000 US gallons (210,000 l) underwater." from Wikipedia.

And, it gets slicker...
"The Interior Department exempted BP's Gulf of Mexico drilling operation from a detailed environmental impact analysis last year. The decision by the department's Minerals Management Service to give BP's lease at Deepwater Horizon a "categorical exclusion" from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on April 6, 2009 – and BP's lobbying efforts just 11 days before the explosion to expand those exemptions, show that neither federal regulators nor the company anticipated an accident of the scale of the one unfolding in the gulf."

BP, Transocean and Halliburton, partnered on this project, are all blaming one another. (A fine display of no honour amongst thieves.) Haliburton, previously implicated in the oil spill in the Timor Sea off Australia's coast in August 2009, was pouring the cement to cap the well, when the Horizon explosion occurred.

Incidentally, Halliburton was awarded a $568 million "No-Bid" contract with the Pentagon, sometime this month. (probably in a venue they are successful at, like plundering oil rich countries)

So to add it up...large corporations, which provide significant political donations, despite terrible safety and environmental track records are also accommodated with exclusive government contracts which indemnify them from abiding by established safety and environmental standards.

I recommend we ALL incorporate.