I’m sad to inform you, if you did not know, that BP has abandoned Top Kill in failure, but not before they staged a Potemkin Village for disingenuous PR.
The most ambitious bid yet to stop the worst oil spill in U.S. history ended in failure Saturday after BP was unable to overwhelm the gusher of crude with heavy fluids and junk. President Obama called the setback "as enraging as it is heartbreaking."
The oil giant immediately began readying its next attempted fix, using robot submarines to cut the pipe that’s gushing the oil into the Gulf of Mexico and cap it with funnel-like device, but the only guaranteed solution remains more than two months away.
The company determined the "top kill" had failed after it spent three days pumping heavy drilling mud into the crippled well 5,000 feet underwater. It’s the latest in a series of failures to stop the crude that’s fouling marshland and beaches, as estimates of how much oil is leaking grow more dire.
The spill is the worst in U.S. history — exceeding even the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster — and has dumped between 18 million and 40 million gallons into the Gulf, according to government estimates.
"This scares everybody, the fact that we can’t make this well stop flowing, the fact that we haven’t succeeded so far," BP PLC Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said Saturday. "Many of the things we’re trying have been done on the surface before, but have never been tried at 5,000 feet."
Frustration has grown as drifting oil closes beaches and washes up in sensitive marshland. The damage is underscored by images of pelicans and their eggs coated in oil. Below the surface, oyster beds and shrimp nurseries face certain death. Fishermen complain there’s no end in sight to the catastrophe that’s keeping their boats idle.
News that the top kill fell short drew a sharply worded response from President Barack Obama, a day after he visited the Gulf Coast to see the damage firsthand.
"It is as enraging as it is heartbreaking, and we will not relent until this leak is contained, until the waters and shores are cleaned up, and until the people unjustly victimized by this manmade disaster are made whole," Obama said Saturday… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <AP/Google>
When Obama was visiting, he toured several sites where workers were striving to protect the shoreline and save wildlife, but BP did not tell him the rest of the story.
Increased national attention was on the Gulf Coast yesterday when President Obama made a visit to assess the oil spill response effort. An official in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, is reporting that BP “bused 400 cleanup workers into Grand Isle” — at a rate of $12 an hour — to be there when Obama arrived. From New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU:
Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts didn’t buy into the cleanup effort.
“They must think we’re all fools,” he said.
Roberts called BP’s efforts “shameful.” […]
Roberts said that since oil started coming ashore in Grand Isle last week, no more than a dozen workers hired by BP have been seen on the beaches in the area, until Friday when the president arrived.
Yahoo News adds that Roberts said the “overnight contingent of workers was there mainly to furnish a Potemkin-style backdrop for the event — while also making it appear that BP was firmly in command of spill cleanup efforts.”… [emphasis original]
Inserted from <Think Progress>
If only BP was as informed on how to stop the GOP Gulf Gusher as they are at putting on a show. Their criminal acts demand prosecution.
Corporations are NOT people! Money is NOT speech!
14 Responses to “Top Kill Fails; BP Defrauds”
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you know, i am beyond Obama’s outrage. while i dont blame him and know he is limited in what he can do – and i know he has been involved since day one, his ‘leadership’ from the PR side has been awful – he has let BP run the operational show AND the PR show – those angry words of his should have been said on day 1 – not day 40
as for the ‘lead’ – this aint no leak, it is an abomination, debacle and disaster unseen in america before – as i have said in my write up – there are scientists who believe this gusher could go on for years – thus rendering a big part of the Gulf dead for decades. this is one more nail in the coffin that is enGULFing earth
i hope wall st and the rich corporate execs and Lisa Murkowski are happy they are rich – they are gonna need all the cash fast to build shuttles big enough to take them to a habitable planet
DC, that was a great article you wrote. The GOP have wrecked the planet so much that the way they wrecked the economy is minor in comparison.
Much of what Cappy said echoes my sentiment. The busing in of day workers for a show is incredulous. It’s actually hard to write as I’m so completely saddened. Let’s talk workers for a minute. As you know workers are getting sick cleaning up what they can in the Gulf.
I believe I have the answer as to why their getting sick. That would be lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Begrudgingly on Saturday BP spokesshill said “well if we have to give out respirators we will”. Just hand them out, no training, nothing. Shades of 911 as TC reported. There are three things I’ve come up with getting people sick there,
Crude,Dispersant,and the drilling Mud itself. It not just harmless Mud as they have you believe. The Main culprit is the Corexit(both kinds being used). Why I say all this is I looked up the MSDS sheets and under Heath hazards the symptoms being complained about are just about exact as what’s indicated on the sheets. I’ve already contacted my Senator and will Contact my Congressman today. Somehow I don’t think anything will get done. Just like 911 people will be sick for a long time. Sorry If this was rather long.
In addition to that, Tim, oil is the basis for almost all the pesticides in use today. As a former volunteer firefighter, I have some Haz-Mat training and experience. That workers are not already wearing respirators is a crime.
I clearly did not drink enough wine or beer last night despite my massive headache.
DCap has stated my sentiments on Obama far better than I ever could have. Despite his efforts both in front of the camera and behind the scenes I’m afraid this will be an albatross around his neck for the rest of his time in office.
Beach, I’m sure the GOP will try to blame him to evade their true culpability for this.
Everyone here has said exactly what I was going to say. Get the Navy subs down there to crimp the pipe and then put the mud in. And throw hay on the top to soak up the oil. I swear, there are idiots running BP.
Lisa, the Navy subs that go that deep are unmanned RPVs and no better than the ones already in use.
TC – please don’t put that viper on the page. This is the first blog I read and that damned thing nearly gave me a heart attack! While I agree that BP are vipers, seeing that thing before I’m fully awake scared the shit out of me.
I’m sorry Lisa. Can you recommend a more appropriate graphic?
Sort of a insult to vipers if you think about it. ; )
Ok, you got me there. 🙁
😉
Yep TC, this is a vital post…TY. I have to tell you, after reading BB and DC ‘s latest posts, I feel as though I drug my fingers across the keystrokes. All of y’all been brilliant. Tim is right on the why of sick… but even with proper hazmat suit up, you’re going to wretch and wretch…it’s fracken’ patroleum in the raw. I’ve worked a dockside clean up on wildlife… birds. I got sick as hell and only volunteered for three days, few hours at a time and I was in my twenties! BP seems to still have the Obama White House et toto as their bitch. I feel badly for the President…. but I also really thought he was so much more than this in the leadership dept.
It’s a good post TC. TY
Gwen, I’ve helped clean a pesticide spill. It took nine hours, but in proper Haz-Mat gear, nothing gets through. But for this I was rearing SCBA, not a respirator. I did have a couple hour long breaks when we ran out of tanks.
It seems that BP is in charge, only because nobody has a better idea or better equipment. We’re at the cutting edge here.