Gulf oil spill: Government tells BP to come up with speedier containment plans within 48 hours

The federal government has given BP until the end of the weekend to find ways to speed up efforts to contain huge amounts of oil gushing from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a letter released Saturday.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. James A. Watson sent a letter to BP officials on Friday expressing frustration with the overall pace of the effort and ordered the company to identify ways to expedite the process in the coming days. "Recognizing the complexity of this challenge, every effort must be expended to speed up the process," Watson wrote in the letter, sent to Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer.

BP has struggled with several efforts to contain the oil. The latest cap installed on the blown-out well is capturing about 15,000 barrels of oil a day, but large quantities are still spilling into the sea.

The Coast Guard initially sent a letter to BP on Wednesday asking for more details on its plans to contain the oil. BP responded, saying a new system to trap oil spewing from the well should be complete by mid-July. That system's new design is meant to better withstand the force of hurricanes and could capture about 2-million gallons of oil daily when fully built, the oil giant said.

But Watson said he was concerned that BP's plans didn't maximize resources or "go far enough to mobilize redundant resources" in the event of an equipment failure or another problem. "BP must identify in the next 48 hours additional leak containment capacity that could be operationalized and expedited to avoid the continued discharge of oil," Watson wrote.

BP spokesman Jon Pack said the company received Watson's letter and would respond to it as soon as possible.

The letter and deadline comes just before President Barack Obama is set to visit the Gulf Coast on Monday and Tuesday. On Saturday, Obama reassured British Prime Minister David Cameron that his frustration over the oil spill in the Gulf was not an attack on Britain, the British government said.

The two leaders spoke by phone for 30 minutes Saturday to soothe trans-Atlantic tensions over the huge spill. Cameron also has been under pressure to get Obama to tone down the criticism, fearing it will hurt the millions of British retirees that hold BP stock.

-- Associated Press

Comments

[msavage]

http://www.lvrj.com/news/exxon-valdez-oil-risks-spur-warning-for-gulf-cleanup-crews-93258964.html

The crude oil is toxic! Crews who clean the oily Gulf beaches need to know the danger. Don't become BP's Collateral Damaged, like Exxon’s Collateral Damaged.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/exxon-valdez-oil-risks-spur-warning-for-gulf-cleanup-crews-93258964.html

I was female general foreman during the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill cleanup, which turned into 21 years of extensive health deterioration for me and 11,000+ workers, without compensation from Exxon. Beach crews breathed in crude oil that splashed off the rocks and into the air which caused chronic breathing conditions, central nervous system problems, and many health issues.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5632208859935499100

There is an on going Longshoreman’s claim for workers with medical problems from the Exxon Valdez oil cleanup.
http://www.silenceinthesound.com/stories.shtml

[Paul Taylor Examiner]

Environmental groups take tax deductible donations from you and industry to operate global fear-mongering campaigns about the problems of pollution, species extinction and climate change. These eco-groups also lobby intensely for costly government regulations to fix environmental problems. Elite green groups have traded their green “seals of approval” for donations as marketing tools to industry – including to corporate oil companies. The green lobbies have grown to some $1.5 billion in annual tax-exempt assets with the advent of selling “green cred” to industry.

The Washington Post and The Economist have recently reported on the cozy relationships between eco-groups and corporate interests such as BP (British Petroleum). BP is responsible for one of the largest and most ecologically-destructive pollution incidents in history. Oil soaked ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico will be disrupted or dead for years to come. Some of the most politically-influential and wealthy eco-groups have taken tens of millions of dollars from BP, and formed “donor alliances” with other big oil operators to assure continuing corporate cash donations. At some point, these sales of green group endorsements to corporations become a clear conflict of environmental interests.

As a matter of good faith dealing and integrity, green groups should return the millions of dollars in donations from BP. And, BP should apply those millions to the cleanup and recovery in the Gulf of Mexico. Here are a few of the reported BP money and other corporate entanglements that directly benefitted big eco-groups:

· The Nature Conservancy has taken about $10 million in cash and land from BP;
· Conservation International took over $2 million from BP;
· The Environmental Defense Fund (Environmental Defense) campaigned with BP for government carbon cap-and-trade regulations through the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), an alliance of eco-groups and corporate carbon trading ventures;
· USCAP involvements include the Nature Conservancy, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Natural Resources Defense Council and the World Resources Institute;
· BP had energy business relationships with the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society.

In addition, President Obama was the top recipient of BP campaign money during the 2008 presidential election. Obama collected $71,000, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The Obama campaign should return all of its BP money.

[THOMAS46]

Hey! What if the O said this on day 2? What happened to we're doing everything we can?
Or IS this doing everything they can?

Lame!

[Roger King]

"BP must identify in the next 48 hours additional leak containment capacity that could be operationalized and expedited to avoid the continued discharge of oil". This statement was made by Watson, as if BP is holding back possible solutions and wishes to incur more anger and expenses by waiting it out.

If Watson and the US govt. are the intelligent overseers they claim they are, then maybe they should roll up their sleeves and jump into the Gulf with the needed solutions. I'll give Watson and the govt. a deadline of June 20th, to have the oil well capped and sealed.

Come on Watson...get out there and do your job. You can't control this, can you!

[Ed Dunn]

Our company has been offering to provide BP with hundreds of thousands of feet of both containment boom and absorbent boom for weeks. So far they have declined, saying they have enough. Obviously, they do not. BP is attempting to go cheap on this, and it's going to cost us a beautiful coastline.