Disturbing accounts from Gulf of Mexico

[landpoke]

The solution to pollution is dilution.

My grandfather, a chemist from the old school, used to say that. Usually as he was dumping some nasty concoction he'd mixed up down the kitchen sink.

[Uncle Ted]

Disaster that never was: Why claims that BP created history's worst oil spill may be the most cynical spin campaign ever

According to Dr Ed Owens, the veteran British oil spill expert who runs the SCAT teams, there are several reasons why the Gulf appears to have escaped so incredibly lightly.

First, the type of light oil that leaked here dissipates far more quickly than the medium crude that pumped from the Exxon Valdez, particularly in these warm waters.

Second, powerful currents from the enormous Mississippi Delta swept much of the oil away from the shore. In addition, there is the undeniable success of the clean-up effort, which is far more sophisticated and effective than those used to tackle previous disasters.

The combined result of these factors is clear from the statistics. Although more than 9,000 miles of shoreline lies within reach of the Deepwater Horizon rig, just 369 miles have been oiled - and only 53 of them with what are classed as ‘heavy’ deposits.

Compare this with the Exxon when, though the spill was 20 times smaller, the oil was so persistent and spread so widely that more than 2,000 miles of coastline were hit - and even today lumps of tar are occasionally found trapped between the rocks.

So, in Barack Obama’s words, which of these two terrible spills was ‘the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced’?

Back in mid-June, with approval of his presidency at an all-time low in the opinion polls, and critics drawing parallels between his mishandling of the BP crisis and the Hurricane Katrina fiasco that forever tarnished George Bush’s reputation, the answer was obvious.

Not only was it important for him to be seen to recognise the worst-case scenario - and appear to be doing everything he could to avert it - but he needed to find a scapegoat.

Thus, he turned on BP - a nominally British company, though half of its top executives and the majority of its workers are Americans - with a vengeance.

[statman]

I had read the same. The gist of the article was that Exxon Valdez was more problematic because of the cold water and the relative lack of bacteria to do a majority of the work.

And because it happened close to shore and didn't have time to evaporate before coating the coastline.

[il Padrino Ute]

Disaster that never was: Why claims that BP created history's worst oil spill may be the most cynical spin campaign ever

As usual, Obama will always look for someone else to blame for his failures.

[Ma'ake]

As usual, Obama will always look for someone else to blame for his failures.

That's the thing, now - it really wasn't that big of a deal, so no serious damage to Obama.

Seriously, I'm just happy the really ugly scenarios never arose. Now I can go back to savoring the great summer of 2010, the PAC afterglow, watch the tomatoes start to turn color.

[il Padrino Ute]

That's the thing, now - it really wasn't that big of a deal, so no serious damage to Obama.

Seriously, I'm just happy the really ugly scenarios never arose. Now I can go back to savoring the great summer of 2010, the PAC afterglow, watch the tomatoes start to turn color.

This morning, I found a medium sized ripe tomato on one of the vines. It was delicious.

[Uncle Ted]

Spike Lee is calling the government report a lie.

Speaking to a meeting of the Television Critics Association on Sunday, Lee said journalists should expose what he called the real story. He argued that it's unlikely that "abracadabra, presto chango" the vast majority of the oil has vanished from Gulf of Mexico waters and coastal wetlands.

We need to listen to Spike. He makes movies and knows what he is talking about.

[WashingtonCoug]

Spike Lee is calling the government report a lie.

lol for once someone here speaking within his field.

[wuapinmon]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/04/...ex.html?hpt=T1

Declaring 2010 "the best year in safety performance in our company's history," Transocean Ltd., owner of the Gulf of Mexico oil rig that exploded, killing 11 workers, has awarded its top executives hefty bonuses and raises, according to a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

That includes a $200,000 salary increase for Transocean president and chief executive officer Steven L. Newman, whose base salary will increase from $900,000 to $1.1 million, according to the SEC report. Newman's bonus was $374,062, the report states.

Newman also has a $5.4 million long-term compensation package the company awarded him upon his appointment as CEO in March 2010, according to the SEC filing.

The latest cash awards are based in part on the company's "performance under safety," the Transocean filing states.

"Notwithstanding the tragic loss of life in the Gulf of Mexico, we achieved an exemplary statistical safety record as measured by our total recordable incident rate and total potential severity rate," the SEC statement reads. "As measured by these standards, we recorded the best year in safety performance in our Company's history."

[Pheidippides]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/04/...ex.html?hpt=T1

I'm not sure I would have declared all of that (presumably it came from their 10k?) but it's probably not completely inaccurate for a score of reasons.

[wuapinmon]

I'm not sure I would have declared all of that (presumably it came from their 10k?) but it's probably not completely inaccurate for a score of reasons.

I think the media gatekeeping is magnificent in the story. Look at the photo they used of the executive, at how they parsed the SEC report. That's some creative journalism, and those execs are squirming a little over what they probably viewed as an innocuous report. People will read this, get up in arms, and then no one will give a shit in a few months, and CNN will do the same thing again with something else.

[UtahDan]

I'm glad this all ended well, but I continue to have concerns about drilling in the area where the City of Enoch was ripped from the earth, leaving behind the Gulf of Mexico. How stable can it really be?