
Updated January 25, 2012 at 11:29 am.
A former employee of BP America is suing the oil company for wrongful termination, alleging that he was canned for refusing to alter data about the progress of the clean-up of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Interior Secretary Ken Salazar pushed back against reports that BP is in talks to resume drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, almost a year after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig blowout killed 11 workers and dumped 4.9 million barrels of oil into the ocean, calling those reports a "misconception."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The Deepwater Horizon blowout that lead to the worst oil spill in U.S. history was caused by poor management -- poor management that, according to the presidential Oil Spill Commission, is industry-wide.
The commission, which has released some of its findings on the causes of the blowout, says the blowout could have been prevented by better management by BP and its partners, Halliburton and Transocean.
"The blowout was not the product of a series of aberrational decisions made by rogue industry or government officials that could not have been anticipated or expected to occur again," the report reads. "Rather, the root causes are systemic and, absent significant reform in both industry practices and government policies, might well recur."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Even as the Obama administration tries to encourage folks to eat more Gulf of Mexico seafood, health advocates on the Gulf Coast are calling into question the method federal agencies use to determine the food is safe.
The Federal Drug Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies use an average level of seafood consumption to determine what level of pollutants would make a Gulf shrimp or oyster unsafe. Both agencies have declared Gulf seafood safe, as long as its taken from non-restricted areas.
But, according to a report released this month by the environmental non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council, the numbers the FDA uses for average consumption are far, far below the amount of seafood that the average Gulf Coast resident eats.
According to the NRDC's survey, Gulf Coast residents eat between four and 12 times as much as the national average.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Federal officials filed a civil lawsuit on Wednesday against BP and eight other companies that the government says committed environmental violations that caused or contributed to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
The lawsuit seeks for eight companies to be held liable without limitation for both removal costs and damages caused by the oil spill (including natural resource damages) and seeks civil penalties under the Clean Water Act.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Fred Bartlit, the lead investigator for the Oil Spill Commission, today said he's seen no evidence that the BP oil disaster was caused by sacrificing safety for cost.
"To date we have not seen a single instance where a human being made a conscious decision to favor dollars over safety," Bartlit said at a hearing today. "A lot has been said about this, but we have not found a situation where we can say a man had a choice between safety and dollars and put his money on dollars. If anybody has anything else to say about that, we're happy to hear it."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The lead investigator for the presidential commission on the BP oil spill said today that Halliburton, and possibly BP, appears to have known the cement it was using in the Macondo well was unstable.
In a letter to the commission (PDF), Fred Bartlit wrote that Halliburton had conducted four lab tests of the formula for the cement. Two tests in February showed the slurry would be unstable, and Halliburton apparently gave the results of one of those tests to BP. Another test in April also showed it would be unstable; those results weren't shared with BP, Bartlit wrote. A fourth test, also in April showed the cement would be stable. But, Bartlit writes, "Halliburton may not have had -- and BP did not have -- the results of that test before the evening of April 19," when rig workers began pumping the cement into the Macondo well. The well blew on April 20.
The Obama administration announced today that it is lifting the moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
But Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), who has been holding the nomination of a new director for the Office of Management and Budget in protest of the moratorium, said she will not release her hold.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who announced the early end to the moratorium today, said that oil companies who comply with new, stricter safety rules will be able to apply for permits.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters today that the deepwater drilling moratorium will likely be lifted soon, and as early as this week.
That's earlier than the original Nov. 30 end-date for the moratorium, which bars oil and gas companies from drilling new deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico during the ongoing investigation of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent, massive oil spill.
Reuters today is also reporting that the head of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the new department which oversees drilling, will make an "imminent" announcement about the moratorium.
Kenneth Feinberg and his law firm, which oversees the doling out of compensation to oil spill victims, have been paid $850,000 a month by BP since the compensation fund was created in mid-June.
BP agreed to pay Feinberg Rozen LLP $850,000 a month from mid-June through Oct. 1, according to Bloomberg -- a grand total of $2.5 million.
Feinberg's firm was appointed by the White House to administer a (eventually) $20 billion escrow fund, funded by BP in order to pay claims by fishermen, hotel owners and others hurt by the oil spill.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The presidential oil spill commission Wednesday released a series of preliminary reports on how the BP oil disaster was handled. In one of the reports, the commission found that the White House stopped NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, from releasing its worst case scenario numbers in the days after the Deepwater Horizon exploded.
"By initially underestimating the amount of oil flow ... the federal government created the impression that it was either not fully competent to handle the spill or not fully candid with the American people about the scope of the problem," the report reads.
The story from the White House, needless to say, differs.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Louisiana officials want to keep building sand berms, man-made islands off the coast, to protect wetlands from the "million of barrels of oil [still] in the Gulf," even though BP's leaking well has been sealed.
According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Louisiana officials on Monday asked the Army Corps of Engineers for an emergency permit to construct berms along 40 miles of coastline.
People hurt by the Gulf oil spill can't sue BP until after they take their claim to the oil company's $20 billion escrow fund, BP argued in a court memo filed yesterday.
BP's lawyers say the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 requires victims to bring their claims directly to the responsible party first. In this case, BP says, that's the escrow fund funded by BP and administered by Kenneth Feinberg.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)BP executives believe that claims related to the Gulf oil spill will total less than $20 billion, the amount the oil company has committed to a fund meant to pay those claims.
Incoming CEO Bob Dudley told analysts he expects to pay less than the $20 billion in claims, but said the total price tag is expected to be around $32 billion.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)The Deepwater Horizon's blowout preventer, the massive structure meant to stop the well from blowing out and spilling millions of barrels of oil, failed in part because BP and its contractors weren't keeping up with its maintenance, BP's own investigation into the disaster found.
In a report released today, BP's investigators wrote that the blowout preventer had problems when the well blew on April 20 -- problems that could have been detected.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)BP today released the report of its own investigation into what caused the Deepwater Horizon to explode and leak millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
We're still digging through the 193-page report, which you can find here, along with the appendices and executive summary. But according to BP's quick-summary press release, the company found that everyone involved had a hand in the disaster.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Via the New York Times this morning, BP is using its voluntary funding of several programs -- $100 million for unemployed rig workers, $500 million for research, $90 million for Gulf Coast tourism -- as a bargaining chip to try to get lawmakers to back down from punitive legislation.
BP has agreed to voluntarily fund a slew of programs related to Gulf restoration beyond its legal obligations, and state and federal officials are pushing for more. But the company is warning that proposed legislation that would limit its Gulf oil production would also limit its generosity.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)BP spent $93.4 million on U.S. advertising efforts between April, when the Deepwater Horizon exploded, and the end of the July.
According to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), who's heading one of the investigations into the oil spill, that's three times the amount BP spent on advertising in the same period last year.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Earlier this month, as BP pumped cement into the ruined blowout preventer on the bottom of the Gulf, the government released a four-page, scant-on-details report that claimed that only a quarter of the 4.9 millions of barrels of oil was left in the Gulf. The rest, they said, had been cleaned up, evaporated or dispersed into nonexistence.
And so the government essentially declared 'Mission Accomplished!' in the Gulf.
But skepticism quickly seeped into media reports, followed by scientific findings that there's still oil -- a lot of oil -- floating around in the Gulf of Mexico.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)The director of the government's newly reorganized offshore drilling agency conceded yesterday that the agency has relied too heavily on the oil and gas industry when creating regulations.
"I think there is the perception and the reality that we have been heavily reliant on the domestic oil and gas industry in setting standards," Michael Bromwich, the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said Thursday, the WSJ reports. "We're going to be exploring borrowing from alternative models."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)BP and the Justice Department announced today that BP has made its first contribution into the $20 billion escrow fund which will pay claims related to the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
BP's first payment was $3 billion.
In a press release, BP spelled out its payment plan: $3 billion today, $2 billion at the end of the year, and $1.25 billion per quarter from then on.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Transocean, the largest offshore drilling contractor in the Gulf of Mexico, told shareholders last week that it's keeping all of its employees on the payroll pending the lifting of a deepwater drilling moratorium.
Those who oppose the moratorium -- Gulf Coast politicians, for example -- have cited the loss of jobs in arguing against the six-month ban.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Adm. Thad Allen, the commander of the Gulf oil spill response, said today that BP will replace the failed blowout preventer on the Macondo well and, most likely, give it to the Department of Justice.
From the AP:
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)The federal criminal investigation into the Gulf oil spill will focus on BP, Transocean and Halliburton -- and their connections to federal regulators.
The Washington Post reports today that investigators known as the "BP Squad," including people from the EPA, the Coast Guard, the FBI and other agencies, are assembling in New Orleans. They'll investigate not only the oil companies, but the role the former Minerals Management Service may have played in the disaster.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)BP told investors yesterday that it plans to deduct oil spill costs from its U.S. tax bill, cutting its taxes by $9.9 billion.
As WaPo reports, BP estimated in its second-quarter earnings report that it will spend $32.2 billion on costs related to the oil spill.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Earlier this month, we told you how the National Marine Fisheries Service, charged with protecting endangered marine life in the Gulf, drastically underestimated the size and effects of an oil spill in the Gulf. Its opinion allowed the government to sell leases to oil reserves in the Gulf -- including the now-leaking Macondo well -- to various oil companies.
Fisheries estimated that a "major" oil spill would be about half the size of the Ixtoc I disaster, which dumped an estimated 3.5 million barrels in the Gulf of Mexico in 1979.
TPMmuckraker has now found proof that Fisheries did little more than throw up their hands and guess when coming up with that estimation. But the former Minerals Management Service did much worse, estimating that such a spill would be about 15,000 barrels -- less than one percent of Fisheries' estimate.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)A contractor working on the Deepwater Horizon when it exploded testified yesterday that the day before the explosion, BP had pumped an unusual chemical mixture into the well -- a mixture that later rained down on the rig like "snot."
Leo Lindner, a drilling fluid specialist for M-I Swaco, told the panel investigating the causes of the explosion that BP decided to mix two chemicals the company had a surplus of -- two chemicals that aren't usually mixed -- and pump them into the well to flush out the drilling mud.
"It's not something we've ever done before," he said.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (9)Oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for almost 90 days because, in part, the well's blowout preventer didn't work. And as it turns out, the blowout preventers on the relief wells -- the relief wells that are the only way to permanently stop the oil from leaking -- were also found to have "performance problems."
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar noted this week that the relief wells' blowout preventers, or BOPs, had been recently checked out under new testing requirements and found to have problems themselves, which have since been repaired.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)The White House announced today that it's sent a fourth bill to BP for costs related to its still-leaking oil well, this one for $99.7 million.
The administration sent the same bill to Anadarko and MOEX, a subsidiary of Japanese company Mitsui, both partners in the well. It also sent the bill to Transocean, which owns the rig.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Anadarko, the Texas-based oil company that has a 25 percent stake in the leaking Gulf oil well, has told BP that it won't pay its share of the response costs, totaling more than $272 million.
BP sent Anadarko an invoice last month (seen exclusively at TPMmuckraker) for a quarter of the expenses associated with the well and response efforts, including payments to the government and the drilling of relief wells.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)We told you yesterday about a 2007 document that shows that the National Marine Fisheries Service drastically underestimated the size of a potential oil spill and its effect on endangered species like sea turtles when they signed off on lease sales for drilling sites in the Gulf. A Fisheries official now tells TPMmuckraker that, once the leak is resolved the agency will revisit the opinion.
The agency is charged with enforcing the Endangered Species Act, and part of its mandate is to consult with other federal agencies on whether a proposal -- in this case, opening more of the Gulf to oil and gas drilling -- will jeopardize the existence of protected species.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)A federal agency charged with protecting endangered species signed off in 2007 on a new round of oil drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico, saying that even if the new drilling led to a major oil spill, only some 60 endangered turtles would be killed, according to the official agency opinion reviewed by TPMmuckraker. But in the two months since the Deepwater Horizon blew, government scientists say more than 400 sea turtles have been found dead so far.
In 2007, the National Marine Fisheries Service, which enforces the Endangered Species Act, was asked to give its "biological opinion" on the impact of new oil drilling leases -- including the lease of the now-leaking Macondo prospect -- on endangered species, including turtles, sperm whales and sturgeon. Under the law, the Minerals Management Service, which leases the underwater wells, had to get NMFS's sign-off that the drilling wouldn't jeopardize the populations of endangered species.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Texas-based Anadarko owes BP more than $272 million for its share of cleanup and response costs in the Gulf, according to a bill that was sent by BP and obtained by TPMMuckraker.
Anadarko owns a 25 percent stake in BP's Deepwater Horizon, and BP wants Anadarko to pay for 25 percent of costs. Those costs include money BP has spent to drill the relief wells and stage other spill response efforts, plus reimbursements to the federal government, damages to equipment and claims paid to those hurt by the leak.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)The Financial Times reported this morning that Anadarko, the U.S.-based company that owns 25 percent of the Deepwater Horizon's lease, had a say in the rig's design and got regular updates on its operation from BP.
The news could complicate Anadarko's attempt to prove that BP caused the blowout by acting negligently. If Anadarko can prove gross negligence or willfull misconduct, it can get off the hook for its share of cleanup and response costs.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)If you've heard anything about Bob Dudley, the BP managing director who this week took over supervising the Gulf response from CEO Tony Hayward, you've probably heard that he was expelled from Russia in 2008.
So what happened?
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)You could never imagine BP escaping public notice in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon explosion. And yet one of its partners, Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum has somehow -- despite owning a 25 percent stake in the Deepwater Horizon oil rig -- almost managed to fly under the public's radar.
That is, it did until last Friday, when Anadarko's CEO released a scathing statement declaring BP grossly negligent in the rig's explosion. But why risk the PR exposure? Possibly, Anadarko is looking to limit their legal exposure.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)It's well-known that Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), the congressman who made headlines today for apologizing to BP for the "$20 billion shakedown" of the new escrow account, has been drenched in oil and gas industry money for years.
But here's a nice catch by 538:
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (5)A Democratic congressman is demanding more information from drilling giant Transocean about the forms signed by Deepwater Horizon rig workers stating they were not hurt and were not witnesses of the explosion that brought down the rig April 20.
Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA) has fired off a letter to Transocean calling its response to his earlier request for information on the forms insufficient.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Here's a sobering tidbit from BP's guide for company spokespeople dealing with oil spills: "No statement shall be made containing ... Promises that property, ecology, or anything else will be restored to normal."
The passage comes from BP's June 2009 Gulf of Mexico Regional Oil Spill Response Plan, made available by the Minerals Management Service. Check out the monster document right here (the flacks' guide is in Appendix X, page 528).
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)BP, struggling to maintain its image while taking responsibility for the worst oil disaster in U.S. history, has hired someone new to head its American public relations operation: Anne Womack-Kolton, the former campaign press secretary for Vice President Dick Cheney.
Womack-Kolton ran Cheney's press shop during the 2004 campaign, and worked as an assistant press secretary in 2000. She was also an assistant in the White House press office.
She begins today, the BP press office tells TPM.
In the private sector, she's worked for the Brunswick Group and APCO Worldwide.
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