"Nine Times."
Posted on 06/11/2010 10:26:13 PM PDT by blam
New Oil Spill Total Is Bad News For BP, Wildlife
BJune 11,2010
BRIAN SKOLOFF and HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press
GRAND ISLE, La. – The astonishing news that the oil leak at the bottom of the sea may be twice as big as previously thought could have major repercussions for both the environment and BP's financial health, killing more marine life and dramatically increasing the amount the company must pay in fines and damages.
Scientists now say the blown-out well could have been spewing as much as 2 million gallons of crude a day before a cut-and-cap maneuver started capturing some of the flow, meaning more than 100 million gallons may have leaked into the Gulf of Mexico since the start of the disaster in April. That is more than nine times the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, previously the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
The larger estimates, while still preliminary and considered a worst-case scenario, could contribute to breathtaking liabilities against BP. Penalties can be levied against the company under a variety of environmental protection laws, including fines of up to $1,100 under the Clean Water Act for each barrel of oil spilled.
Based on the maximum amount of oil possibly spilled to date, that would translate to a potential civil fine for simple discharge alone of $2.8 billion. If BP were found to have committed gross negligence or willful misconduct, the civil fine could be up to $4,300 per barrel, or up to $11.1 billion.
"It's going to blow the record books up," said Eric Schaeffer, who led the Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement office from 1997 to 2002.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I hope 0bama has a breakdown over this.
I’m rooting for the oil spill! Oil has been accused of being all that is wrong with the world, ‘bout time it fought back.
The numbers keep getting bigger. I hope they have stopped increasing.
"Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?"
"Shut up and sing! We're in the money, we're in the money".
BP? They are way overdue in solving the problem and need to joint venture with someone who can solve the problem. They need to give up some of their ownership in the wildcat.
Obama? Lacks the skills, facilities and relationships to solve this problem.
Well..., I have been assured by some FReepers posting here that it’s really no big deal and that it will all go away by itself as “oil leakage” is quite a normal phenomenon in the world.
In fact one FReeper posted a chart showing the amount of all the natural oil leakage in the world and how the BP gusher is nothing compared to that.
I guess that means we have nothing to be concerned about ...
Hoo-boy! ... what you’ll see posted here at times ...
I wish they would decide how to report the volume of the mess... gallons vs. barrels. Barrels would make more sense at this point, but the gallon numbers sound more dramatic.
Anyone who has worked in the oil patch (technical end) knows exactly what they did and why they did it. Lawyers will run through them like a tank car of prune juice.
Somewhere between the “do nothing” solution, which I have not seen anyone suggest, and the “we’re all gonna die” crowd lies a reasonable solution and the knowledge that we need oil, there is a lot of oil on this planet available to us, and shit happens, it’s an imperfect world, screws fall out all the time. We do the best we can and move on.
BP is paying and will pay for this mess, but meanwhile some on this board are playing right into Zero’s hands. He wants this to get worse, he is making it worse and he will use it to destroy the domestic oil industry and our country along with it.
If you are pissed at BP, have you noticed that Zero is preventing the use of Dutch equipment that could speed up the cleanup? Are you pissed at the media for covering that up? BP screwed up. Bigtime. Obama is doing this on purpose. There is a difference.
Both volume measurements have dramatically increased over the last month.
Absolutely I am pissed at BP, and I also agree with you. It seems quite clear that President Tar Ball is doing whatever it takes to aggravate this scenario to the greatest possible extent.
Make no mistake, Barack Hussein Obama loves this catastrophe. While I am angry at BP, I don’t believe that words exist to describe what I feel about Obama. There simply aren’t words.
Unlike Obama, BP is paying for their mistake.
Yes, and it is obvious that they are trying to deal with this. I don’t have enough (or any) expertise to criticize their attempts one way or the other, except to say that their efforts are visible. Beyond that, the company will be lucky to survive this entire affair I think.
The same cannot be said of Obama’s efforts. Not at all. One need only compare the actions of Governor Jindal, a man who clearly cares, to those of Obama, a man who clearly does not.
"Nine Times."
and yet... if there was quick, decisive action taken ANY TIME within the first .. oh... 35 days... the damage would have been MUCH less severe.
the extent of the damage is directly related to the lack of proper executive action.
Me too. I am sick of these disgusting lies and that disgusting thing inhabiting the WH.
I wish BP had not used the dispersant on the oil. While there is some difference of opinion on Corexit (both versions of it), the weighting is distinctly negative and it is banned in other places. I don’t like what the underwater films have shown with the oil looking like sickly dark snot globs. The reports of people getting sick around it are not good, either.
Then there are these (what I believe to be) facts:
1. Corexit makes the oil sink below the water’s surface
2. BP faces a fine based partly on the amount of oil spilled and the oil can’t be seen as easily or at all if it is enough below the surface
3. Obama’s buddies are shareholders in Nalco, the maker of Corexit and will benefit from this large usage (is part of the appeal offloading a large supply of toxic stuff that’s hard to sell now that it is banned in Europe?)
4. There was a large warehoused supply of another dispersal agent at the coast of one of the affected states (may have been LA) but BP refused to use it. The supply was there because regulations demand that it be readily available for a disaster just like the BP one.
5. Way late in the game, the EPA “asked” BP to back off on the amount of Corexit they were using and BP ignored the request. The matter, as far as I know, was then dropped by the EPA, almost like the request was for show only.
It is not much of a stretch to say that BP’s reason for using this stuff was self-serving in the extreme. One could speculate and say that the administration was really all for it because it made money for friends and it added to the scope of the disaster by disguising until now the true size of the “spill.”
Oil at least is a natural substance and is biodegradable over time. Corexit - who knows and who knows how much of the crap they used. I’ve got a bad feeling about that stuff and would like to hear opinions about it from anyone who is familiar with it.
More numbers. Sometimes these idiots change numbers daily. Sometimes more than once a day.
If this well is spewing 2-million gallons of oil a day all on its own, cap that puppy quick and put it in production.
I’ve heard reports of people getting sick in that area,,,
Seems like nasty stuff to me...
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