Oil Spill

Bush2 said that Oil would be the spoils of War. Perhaps he should have said that oil will spoil the war.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Media/bp-stopped-oil-gulf-mexico/story?id=10827645

What?!??! you don't support "Drill baby, Drill"!?!?

Well, I do support off shore drilling in the gulf if that's what your asking but I think my worse nightmare just came true.

In a February 24, 2010 letter, 17 lawmakers asked Ms. Elizabeth Bimbaum, Director Minerals Management Service, to investigate BPs Atlantis platform in the Gulf of Mexico. This letter should have tipped off the government that there are some serious issues with BPs procedures.

Here is part of the letter:

In recent months, we have heard disturbing reports regarding British Petroleum’s (BP) Atlantis platform in the Gulf of Mexico. This platform, the largest oil and natural gas platform in the world, may be operating without crucial engineering documents, which, if absent, would increase
the risk of a catastrophic accident that would threaten not only the workers on the platform, but also the Gulf of Mexico and the communities who depend on the resources it provides.

In March 2009, a whistleblower notified the Minerals Management Service (MMS) that he believed BP did not have required engineer-approved drawings for BP Atlantis’s subsea components. Industry standards and federal regulations require the company to have these documents before any platform can start production. These include “as-built” drawings, which are essentially an operator’s guide to how the platform components work from start up to shut
down and are critical for operators to have at their disposal.

You can read the rest of the letter at: http://motherjones.com/files/Congressional_Letter_re_BP-1.pdf

Just to be clear, the Atlantis platform in the Gulf of Mexico, has nothing to do with this spill.

Could it be next? Could the concerns about this platform and the way both BP and the MMS were doing business be relative to the current spill?

The platform blew up! Would some government required document have done any good after it burned?

That wasn't a platform, that was a drill rig.

classicman;662839 wrote:

Could it be next? Could the concerns about this platform and the way both BP and the MMS were doing business be relative to the current spill?

From CBS New of 10 Sept 2008:

Sex For Oil Scandal At Interior Department
Government officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties engaged in illicit sex with employees of energy companies they were dealing with and received numerous gifts from them, federal investigators said Wednesday.

The allegations of bad behavior involve 13 government employees in Denver and Washington, reports CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. Those accused are workers who sell U.S. mineral rights to oil companies. Such sales are one of the government's biggest sources of revenue besides taxes.

But the Inspector General for the Interior Department says they rigged contracts, and engaged in illegal moonlighting, drugs, sex and gift-taking from oil company representatives, according to three reports released Wednesday.

The reports revealed startling allegations including that an employee attended a so-called "treasure hunt" in the desert with all expenses paid by an oil producer, and that a former supervisor - who bought cocaine from a colleague then boosted her performance award - had sex with subordinates, and steered government contracts to an outside business where he also worked, Attkisson reports.

What happened when George Jr replaces all top FEMA people with political hacks? Katrina.

What happened when George Jr demoted the Richard Clark's anti-terrorism ground and had to removed from the White House? 11 September.

What happened when Congress attempted to double the SEC budget to find and stop massive financial scams? George Jr's administration refused to take the money. AIG, Madoff, banking crisis, GM, sub-prime loans, etc then occurred at record levels. In most cases, the fraud was never discovered until bankruptcy already happened.

What happened when driller were setting new records by drilling at thousands of feet in the ocean? Oil industry said they had tested and built emergency response equipment. They could lie because professional regulators were replaced with George Jr sexting regulators. When your government is run by extremists, even Jack Abramoff is encouraged.

We will discover failures directly traceable to wacko extremists for years to come. This oil disaster due to corrupt extremists in MMS is just another example. Same people who let BP do no maintenance on the Alaska oil pipeline and did nothing to punish BP for creating that failure. Same people did nothing to demand deep water safety equipment and emergency response solutions. But they did have good sex paid for by George Jr and the oil industry.

They had no working systems to avert failures. They had no designed or working equipment to provide solutions to these failures. They told George Jr's people that these things existed. When your boss is an MBA and a famous party boy, then good sex is more important then requiring engineering and wellhead protection. They were only doing what the new leadership in FEMA, SEC, Dept of Justice, Republican Congressmen, etc had also done. There were no solutions because George Jr’s people never demanded any.

After all, put the best people in power - such as White House lawyers to rewrite all science papers. Did we mention the disaster called Constellation created by the same lawyers? White House mismanagement in 2004 resulted in a useless space vehicle that costs $1billion per seat? (Russians charge $20million per seat). But being a wacko extermist (and therefore dumb) had nothing to do with it. And had nothing to do with zero oversight that resulted in this oil spill. Zero oversight that resulted in no tools to stop the leak and no tools to avert the damage.

But they did have good sex.

Save your fingers - Just copy and paste

It's all Bush's fault. ;)

spudcon;662868 wrote:

The platform blew up! Would some government required document have done any good after it burned?

First answer: Posssibly, yes. Accurate drawings of the apparatus as-built (rather than as-planned, which may not be the same) certainly seem like they could be useful in a post-disaster scenario.

Second answer: Despite that, the primary purpose of such documentation is to prevent a disaster, not to deal with one. "Some government required document" should exist, be up to date, and in use, before and during production. It may be able to do good "after it burned", but it can do more good before.

On the one hand, it may not be too late, as Atlantis isn't the one that burned, but on the other hand it may be too late. If any equipment went to the bottom with ad-hoc modifications that weren't documented, attempts to reconstruct such documents would have to rely on fallible human memory.

Happy Monkey;663030 wrote:

Second answer: Despite that, the primary purpose of such documentation is to prevent a disaster, not to deal with one. "Some government required document" should exist, be up to date, and in use, before and during production.

BOP (blow out preventer) piping and rubber were replaced (standard maintenance) by Transocean. What verified the electronics? Transocean said Cameron (BOP manufacturer) did that. Cameron does not say so. And no documents - ie a checklist - were provided to say who ultimately makes sure the BOP works before going down. That is 100% on BP's head - the prime contractor.

No problem. MMS regulators were bought and paid for.

What did George Jr MMS political appointees do when those documents, checklists, and procedures were being developed? Having free booze, sexting parties, and a good time at the expensve of oil industry 'entertainment budgets'.

BOP's must be tested every 14 days. Testing a BOP is a time consuming process that takes a day or two to complete. During that time, no drilling. Immediately you can see panic in every BP executive's eyes when they screwed up the first well (lost two weeks) and were at least a month behind schedule. How to achieve a schedule? Do what any MBA would do. Cut costs. "We don't need for fricking testing." Just do not test the BOP. And then give MMS people still working under George Jr's "attitude and knowledge" another sexting party.

If the BOP fails any test, it must be fixed and tested all over again before resuming drilling. But that assumes government regulators (MMS with a history of sexting parties and other oil company perks) are requiring safety and the advancement of mankind.

We know at least one critical high pressure pipe was not properly connected. A failure that was undetected by testing? Doubtful. We know batteries for both electronic control units were dead. A failure undetected by testing? Doubtful.

Clearly this is all Obama's fault because those who loved George Jr and recite Limbaugh said so. After all, anyone who voted for George Jr must be honest. "Misssion Accomplished".

Piece of paper made for Atlantis would not help this oil spill. Also, disasterous Gulf oil never happened on Bush's or any other President's watch except BO.

tw;663097 wrote:

BOP (blow out preventer) piping and rubber were replaced (standard maintenance) by Transocean. What verified the electronics? Transocean said Cameron (BOP manufacturer) did that. Cameron does not say so. And no documents - ie a checklist - were provided to say who ultimately makes sure the BOP works before going down. That is 100% on BP's head - the prime contractor.

Wasn't there an employee, a manager I believe, who gave an interview early on saying that pieces of rubber or some such were coming out that morning? Said that he notified BP & Transcon execs whil in a meeting.... BP made the decision to continue drilling. (something like that?)

Clearly this is all Obama's fault [COLOR="LemonChiffon"]because those who loved George Jr and recite Limbaugh said so. After all, anyone who voted for George Jr must be honest. "Mission Accomplished".[/COLOR]

Seriously? Where did that come from? This is BP's fault - Period.

Quote:

Sex For Oil Scandal At Interior Department
Government officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties engaged in illicit sex with employees of energy companies they were dealing with and received numerous gifts from them, federal investigators said Wednesday.

The allegations of bad behavior involve 13 government employees in Denver and Washington, reports CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. Those accused are workers who sell U.S. mineral rights to oil companies. Such sales are one of the government's biggest sources of revenue besides taxes.

But the Inspector General for the Interior Department says they rigged contracts, and engaged in illegal moonlighting, drugs, sex and gift-taking from oil company representatives, according to three reports released Wednesday.

I really miss that job.

classicman;663106 wrote:

Wasn't there an employee, a manager I believe, who gave an interview early on saying that pieces of rubber or some such were coming out that morning?

Testimony was from the joint Coast Guard / MMS investigation in Kenner LA. Numerous employees who were there (and still alive) testified that rubber was found in the mud pits - where mud coming up from the well was collected.

In that same testimony, the BOP failed its test when pressure was at the required numbers. It only passed when pressure was increased (to 1600 psi?). And then the tech said he restored regulators back to the required pressures after that test.

We will be learning (in Congressional testimony starting today) that subverting and ignoring routine safety procedures in the name of cost reductions was routine especially in the past decade. Was all but encouraged when government pressured the oil industry to seek domestic oil sources in deeper water in the name of a mythical 'energy independence'. Attitude that encouraged failures came from the highest levels of corporation management where 85% of all problems originate.

tw;663016 wrote:

~snip~

But they did have good sex.

Well, thank God someone did.

tw;663226 wrote:

Testimony was from the joint Coast Guard / MMS investigation in Kenner LA. Numerous employees who were there (and still alive) testified that rubber was found in the mud pits - where mud coming up from the well was collected.

That was it - There was youtube video of the one man I referred to that I cannot seem to locate. Very telling indeed.

Was all but encouraged when government pressured the oil industry to seek domestic oil sources in deeper water in the name of a mythical 'energy independence'. Attitude that encouraged failures came from the highest levels of corporation management where 85% of all problems originate.

It was not just 'energy independence', it was also the environmentalists and the NIMB crowd. They were more concerned with the view from their private beaches.

Anyone read the Rolling Stone coverage of the oil spill? Pretty damming for the government.

classicman;663255 wrote:

It was not just 'energy independence', it was also the environmentalists and the NIMB crowd. They were more concerned with the view from their private beaches.

Nonsense. Any oil obtained off the beaches - IMBackyard - was already tapped. Those oil platforms were already there. Any oil IMBackyard had been already tapped.

It was 100% about getting domestic oil in 1000 feet oceans. Otherwise oil must come from overseas. Or else America might have to innovate. It was all about building more V-8 GM cars using lies rather than innovating - ie hybrids. It was all about "drill baby drill" rather than 'work smarter'. The policy throughout the 2000s was to do anything to 'protect our oil'. Same philosophy that justified a massacre of 4000 American soldiers in "Mission Accomplished". A philosophy deeply imbedded in the minds of people such as Cheney.

The mythical energy independence meant doing anything to get more oil - rather than address the rediculous reasons for that oil.

Ten gallons of gasoline is burned in a car. How many of those ten gallons actually move the car? Between one and two. More than 8 out of every 10 gallons is completely wasted as heat, noise, etc. Because energy is so rediculously cheap according to those who then say we need to take these risks rather than innovate.

Obama will get a black eye for this one...

Ten gallons burned in a car. More than 8 get wasted. Do nothing. Why? Because throughout post WWII history, we spend virtually no money on energy research. Instead, wacko politiicans want to hype an energy plan rather then do R&D.

We were spending more on research for pet food that spend on energy research. The same people then say, "Drill baby drill". Research and innovation so hated because we might use windmills and solar cells.

There's a large Purina pet food plant next to I-70 on the way to the airport. When ever I go by there the smell makes me hungry.

I guess all that research is paying off.

:)