BP calls Gulf oil leak 'environmental catastrophe'

[sinkingfeeling]

Source: CNN.com

CNN) -- BP's top official, who had previously said the environmental impact on Gulf of Mexico would be modest, upgraded his assessment Friday to an "environmental catastrophe."

Also Friday, engineers in the Gulf tried the "junk shot" method in an attempt to stop a massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, BP's chief executive Tony Hayward said.

The light-brown material that was seen spilling out of the well throughout Thursday was the previously pumped fluid from the top kill procedure mixed with oil, he said.

Suttles said part of the problem is that too much of the muddy fluid is leaving the breach instead of going down the well.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/28/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?hpt=T1

---

This hasn't gotten much play. I mean that's a turnaround for Mr. Hayward.

[IScreamSundays]

1. Quite a jump...

from modest to catastrophe. I am thinking they know this "top kill" exercise is futile.

[gordianot]

2. From his grave Al Capone admits to tax evasion and other criminal activity.

[treestar]

3. Wow, they admit it

Their liability is such that they will have to go out of business. Well, except for the limits earlier legislated.

[primavera]

8. Out of business?

If ours were a just world, their liability would be such that their heads would be spitted on pikes.

[jwirr]

4. I don't think any of us know the extent of the damage. One question

I have running through my mind is what is happening to the ground water along the shores? The Gulf water and ground water are connected - does this oil also pollute the ground water?

[fascisthunter]

5. this about face, won't save face

the damage has been done PR team.

[imurhuckleberry]

6. BP Uses ‘Junk Shot,’ Says Spill an ‘Environmental Catastrophe’

Source: Bloomberg

May 28 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc added rubber golf balls and scraps to the mud it was pumping into its leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well in an effort to stop the spill, which Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward called an “environmental catastrophe.”

The company restarted its effort to block the well with mud in a procedure known as “top kill” at 7 p.m. New York time yesterday, said U.S. Coast Guard Chief Bob Laura. The attempt began May 26 and was suspended the same day at 11 p.m. for adjustments, including use of rubber material already on hand in case BP tried a separate procedure called a “junk shot.”

BP said in a statement today that it has spent $930 million responding to the spill, which began after an April 20 rig explosion that killed 11 workers. The well has been spewing an estimated 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf, a U.S. government panel said yesterday. The midpoint of that estimate would make it the nation’s largest oil spill on record and more than twice as big as the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.

“This is clearly an environmental catastrophe,” Hayward said today in a CNN television interview. He also called the situation “a very significant environmental crisis” and said BP is pumping “loss-control” material into the so-called blowout preventer atop the well to stanch the flow of oil.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=al.rFUg9w44o

[glinda]

7. Pot call Kettle. BP is an environmental disaster. F them. Jail them and all involved.