BP's Spill Plan: What they knew and when they knew it

[kpete]

Source: neworleans.com


Written by Karen Dalton Beninato | Friday, 04 June 2010 13:09 CityVoices

NEW ORLEANS | I have obtained a copy of the almost-600-page BP Regional Oil Spill Response Plan for the Gulf of Mexico as of June, 2009, thanks to an insider. Some material has been redacted, but these are the three main takeaways from an initial read. The name of the well has been redacted, but if it's not Deepwater Horizon, then there's another rig still out there pumping oil and aimed at Plaquemines Parish.



1) In the worst case discharge scenario (on chart below), an oil leak was expected to come ashore with highest probability in Plaquemines Parish within 30 days (see map above from the Advance Response Plan). This makes it clear that BP could have stored adequate boom there before a rig failure like the Deepwater Horizon, and workers could have been mobilized to apply the boom in the 30 days that the response plan predicted oil would hit our wetlands.

2) Spokespersons were advised never to assure the public that an ecosystem would be back to normal after the worst case scenario, which we are now living through. "No statements shall be made concerning any of the following: promises that property, ecology, or anything else will be restored to normal." Even in BP CEO Tony Hayward's new television commercial his assurance is an ambiguous, "We will make this right," which does not specifically address preserving or restoring America's Wetlands.

3) Corexit oil dispersant toxicity has not been tested on ecosystems, according to the Oil Spill Response Plan. "Ecotoxilogical effects: No toxicity studies have been conducted on this product." It is contradictory that the question and answer section discusses the choice of a dispersant with: "Have environmental tradeoffs of dispersant use indicated that use should be considered? Note: This is one of the more difficult questions" and "Has the overflight to assure that endangered species are not in the application area been conducted?" Brown pelicans and sea turtles would have been the answer to the latter.

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http://www.neworleans.com/images/media/BP_Regional_OSRP_Redactedv2.pdf

Read more: http://www.neworleans.com/community/cityvoices/408085-exclusive-advance-bp-oil-spill-response-plan-what-they-knew-and-when-they-knew-it.html

[lark]

1. BP = criminally negligent

K&R

[joanmj]

2. thanks

for this info.....n/t

[disndat]

3. Obama made it very clear that BP

is going to pay for the spill and set the environment back to what it was before as well as all the businesses and people that have been ruined. The only bright side is that BP can well $$ afford to completely fix this and still have some left over, as long as Obama keep his boot on their necks.

[defendandprotect]

4. Corporations lie and do great harm but no one goes to jail . . ..

that's the contrast between real people and corporations --

real people suffer -- and corporate CEO's worry about "getting their life back" -- !!

[skeptical cynic]

5. How much is a 100-year-old sea turtle worth?

How much will BP need to spend to replace the fathers who won't be tucking their children into bed, coaching their baseball teams, and teaching them how to put bait on a hook?

BP doesn't have that much money.

Obama isn't eloquent enough.