Bp oil spill capped!

[Jazzhands]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill

now let's kick some corporate ass.

[M-26-7]

Well, they closed some valves which may cause the pressure in the pipes to build up and explode. They've had this option available to them for a long time, but they haven't used it until now for that reason. They are monitoring it to try and see if it is on the verge of rupturing, in which case they would presumably reopen the valves to relieve the pressure.

[#FF0000]

Well, they closed some valves which may cause the pressure in the pipes to build up and explode. They've had this option available to them for a long time, but they haven't used it until now for that reason. They are monitoring it to try and see if it is on the verge of rupturing, in which case they would presumably reopen the valves to relieve the pressure.

I have a terrible feeling that it's going to rupture. I heard awhile back that the entire goddamn well is faulty.

[Pretty Flaco]

How much of the oil have they even cleaned up so far? If more leaks and we can't clean it fast enough, could it get to the new england states?

[Jazzhands]

How much of the oil have they even cleaned up so far? If more leaks and we can't clean it fast enough, could it get to the new england states?

If that happens, think Chernobyl, but in water and with oil-slicked birds instead of two-headed ones. In short, yes. That thing will keep going until it runs out of oil, by which time the entire East Coast will look like the Zone of Alienation in Ukraine, but with oil-soaked birds instead of two-headed ones.

[#FF0000]

If that happens, think Chernobyl, but in water and with oil-slicked birds instead of two-headed ones. In short, yes. That thing will keep going until it runs out of oil, by which time the entire East Coast will look like the Zone of Alienation in Ukraine, but with oil-soaked birds instead of two-headed ones.

That seems really, really unlikely.

[Glenn Beck]

Commissarusa, please stop playing STALKER and go to bed

[mlgb]

glad its finally over

[Dean]

How much of the oil have they even cleaned up so far? If more leaks and we can't clean it fast enough, could it get to the new england states?

This is a certainty. As soon as it hits the atlantic currents, it will shoot up the east coast. It will take a bit to actually hit the coast, as it will be following the currents, but that comes not too long after.

[this is an invasion]

We are all fucked.

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

We are all fucked.

... and lubed up for it too.

[Ele'ill]

It's capped- now we cap them.


This is the point where we decide if we're going to tolerate corporations selling off our planet. It isn't a discussion of whether we're going to take it anymore- our planet simply cannot take it anymore.

We cannot picket BP gas stations as BP gas stations and every other gas station has a mixture of gasoline that was derived from oil from every major oil company pushing the Earth's blood. It's an ineffective tactic. These stations are locally owned and are mom and pop shops sold by BP- BP only gets a handful of bills from each gas purchase.

The oil industry and many other industries like it are so far removed from community control yet their mismanagement leads to catastrophic fallout that we in our communities feel directly.

What are we going to do about it?

I don't give a fuck if two or three people end up behind bars in a cushy prison I want to see a push for alternative energy like we haven't seen before. I want oil to be a thing of the past I want to see BP go under and all of their assets be relocated into an industry that can deliver planet saving practices. We'll worry about that industry being a part of capitalism later.


If we don't worry about the planet now then any revolution is only going to win us a wasteland. No thanks.

[Tatarin]

If they were willing to go all the way to Iraq, kill 500,000 in massacre, in a war that has no popular support and costs billions of money only this last decade, what makes you think they'll forget the oil in the gulf?

[Ele'ill]

If they were willing to go all the way to Iraq, kill 500,000 in massacre, in a war that has no popular support and costs billions of money only this last decade, what makes you think they'll forget the oil in the gulf?

What?

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

Now the media will thank BP for their intelligence and skilful handling of the oil disaster. :cool:

[Jazzhands]

If they were willing to go all the way to Iraq, kill 500,000 in massacre, in a war that has no popular support and costs billions of money only this last decade, what makes you think they'll forget the oil in the gulf?

Because the oil presumably threatens those cushy vacation spots in Florida all the Congressmen have. I don't think they're more likely to give a shit though. After all, they have the West Coast.

[LC89]

They r ready to build a new rig!

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

A seep has been detected.


NEW ORLEANS – BP and the Obama administration offered significantly differing views Sunday on whether the capped Gulf of Mexico oil well will have to be reopened, a contradiction that may be an effort by the oil giant to avoid blame if crude starts spewing again.

Pilloried for nearly three months as it tried repeatedly to stop the leak, BP PLC capped the nearly mile-deep well Thursday and wants to keep it that way. The government's plan, however, is to eventually pipe oil to the surface, which would ease pressure on the fragile well but would require up to three more days of oil spilling into the Gulf.

"No one associated with this whole activity ... wants to see any more oil flow into the Gulf of Mexico," Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, said Sunday. "Right now we don't have a target to return the well to flow."

But retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the Obama administration's spill response chief, said a seep had been detected a distance from busted oil well, and he demanded that BP provide results of further testing of the seabed Sunday night. Allen didn't say what was coming from the seep.

The concern all along — since pressure readings on the cap weren't as high as expected — was a leak elsewhere in the wellbore, meaning the cap may have to be reopened to prevent the environmental disaster from becoming even worse and harder to fix.

"When seeps are detected, you are directed to marshal resources, quickly investigate, and report findings to the government in no more than four hours. I direct you to provide me a written procedure for opening the choke valve as quickly as possible without damaging the well should hydrocarbon seepage near the well head be confirmed," Allen said in a letter to BP Managing Director Bob Dudley.

An administration official familiar with the spill oversight told The Associated Press that the seep and possible methane were found near well. The official spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because an announcement about the next steps had not been made yet. The official also would not clarify what is seeping near the well.

When asked about the situation earlier Sunday before the letter was released, BP spokesman Mark Salt would only say that "we continue to work very closely with all government scientists on this."

Allen insisted Sunday that "nothing has changed" since Saturday, when he said oil would eventually be piped to surface ships. The government is overseeing BP's work to stop the leak, which ultimately is to be plugged using a relief well.

Allen decided to extend testing of the cap that had been scheduled to end Sunday, the official who spoke on condition of anonymity said. That means the oil will stay in the well for now as scientists continue run tests and monitor pressure readings. The official didn't say how long that would take.

Officials at the Department of Homeland Security referred questions to a statement issued by Allen; neither he nor BP officials could explain the apparent contradiction in plans.

Suttles' comments carved out an important piece of turf for BP: If Allen sticks with the containment plan and oil again pours forth into the Gulf, even briefly, it will be the government's doing, not BP's.

The company very much wants to avoid a repeat of the live underwater video that showed millions of gallons of oil spewing from the blown well for weeks.

"I can see why they're pushing for keeping the cap on and shut in until the relief well is in place," said Daniel Keeney, president of a Dallas-based public relations firm.

The government wants to eliminate any chance of making matters worse, while BP is loath to lose the momentum it gained the moment it finally halted the leak, Keeney said.

"They want to project being on the same team, but they have different end results that benefit each," he said.

Oil would have to be released under Allen's plan, which would ease concerns that the capped reservoir might force its way out through another route. Those concerns stem from pressure readings in the cap that have been lower than expected.

Scientists still aren't sure whether the pressure readings mean a leak elsewhere in the well bore, possibly deep down in bedrock, which could make the seabed unstable. Oil would be have to be released into the water to relieve pressure and allow crews to hook up the ships, BP and Allen have said.

So far, there have been no signs of a leak.

"We're not seeing any problems at this point with the shut-in," Suttles said at a Sunday morning briefing.

Allen said later Sunday that scientists and engineers would continue to evaluate and monitor the cap through acoustic, sonar and seismic readings.

They're looking to determine whether low pressure readings mean that more oil than expected poured into the Gulf of Mexico since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11 people and touching off one of America's worst environment crises.

"While we are pleased that no oil is currently being released into the Gulf of Mexico and want to take all appropriate action to keep it that way, it is important that all decisions are driven by the science," Allen said in a news release.

"Ultimately, we must ensure no irreversible damage is done which could cause uncontrolled leakage from numerous points on the sea floor."

Both Allen and BP have said they don't know how long the trial run will continue. It was set to end Sunday afternoon, but the deadline — an extension from the original Saturday cutoff — came and went with no word on what's next.

After little activity Sunday, robots near the well cap came to life around the time of the cutoff. It wasn't clear what they were doing, but bubbles started swirling around as their robotic arms poked at the mechanical cap.

To plug the busted well, BP is drilling two relief wells, one of them as a backup. The company said work on the first one was far enough along that officials expect to reach the broken well's casing, or pipes, deep underground by late this month. The subsequent job of jamming the well with mud and cement could take days or a few weeks.

It will take months, or possibly years for the Gulf to recover, though cleanup efforts continued and improvements in the water could be seen in the days since the oil stopped flowing. Somewhere between 94 million and 184 million gallons have spilled into the Gulf, according to government estimates.

The spill has prevented many commercial fishermen from their jobs, though some are at work with the cleanup. Some boat captains were surprised and angry to learn that the money they make from cleanup work will be deducted from the funds they would otherwise receive from a $20 billion compensation fund set up by BP.

The fund's administrator, Kenneth Feinberg, told The Associated Press on Sunday that if BP pays fishermen wages to help skim oil and perform other cleanup work, those wages will be subtracted from the amount they get from the fund.

Longtime charter boat captain Mike Salley said he didn't realize BP planned to deduct those earnings, and he doubted many other captains knew, either.

"I'll keep running my boat," he said Sunday on a dock in Orange Beach, Ala., before heading back into the Gulf to resupply other boats with boom to corral the oil. "What else can I do?"

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

If that happens, think Chernobyl, but in water and with oil-slicked birds instead of two-headed ones. In short, yes. That thing will keep going until it runs out of oil, by which time the entire East Coast will look like the Zone of Alienation in Ukraine, but with oil-soaked birds instead of two-headed ones.

Difference being that there's only ever been one Chernobyl, while this sort of shit happens relatively frequently.

[Dean]

Difference being that there's only ever been one Chernobyl, while this sort of shit happens relatively frequently.

Wot are you talking about this and Exxon Valdez are the only major oil spills. Nothing in the Mediterranean or Africa nope nope. :lol:

[Jazzhands]

Wot are you talking about this and Exxon Valdez are the only major oil spills. Nothing in the Mediterranean or Africa nope nope. :lol:

I googled it and it seems like there really are no oil spills in those areas so we're really alright unless--

oh goddammit.

http://www.newswek.net/2010/07/18/oil-s-shame-in-africa.html?from=rss

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

Well I know I wasn't the one to blame. I never said "drill, baby, drill" in public.

[Ele'ill]

Stand up- fight back.

[Blackscare]

... and lubed up for it too.

get it cause it's oil

[Ele'ill]

Let's get some discussion going on what can be done right now, tomorrow and into the future regarding this topic.

Anyone have links as to what's being done?

What are reformists doing?

What are activists doing?

What are anarchists doing?

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

What are anarchists doing?

I'm an anarchist and I'm getting dressed because I have no food and it's getting dark out and I still haven't eaten today.

[this is an invasion]

I'm eating Chinese food.

[Ele'ill]

We can do better than this

[this is an invasion]

No, I don't think there's anything we can do about this at all. You can get a million activists together, and you won't be able to do shit.

Sorry, bro, but this is really one of those things that we have no power over.

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

No, I don't think there's anything we can do about this at all. You can get a million activists together, and you won't be able to do shit.

Sorry, bro, but this is really one of those things that we have no power over.

I don't get it. What are we doing again? I'm a little fried right now as when I was out I ran into this old hippie guy I know.:confused::laugh::rolleyes:

But I'll enjoy Earth while I can. mmmmm a granola bar...

[Jazzhands]

http://www.naturalnews.com/029082_Gulf_Coast_oil_spill.html

hey guess what? WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE.

[Sasha]

BP photoshops fake photo of crisis command center, posts on main BP site

by John Aravosis (DC) on 7/19/2010 10:37:00 PM (http://www.americablog.com/2010/07/bp-photoshops-fake-photo-of-command.html)

(H/t to AK for spotting this.)

UPDATE 12:08PM Eastern 7/20/10: BP has faked yet another oil crisis response photo (http://www.americablog.com/2010/07/bp-fakes-another-oil-spill-photo-this.html) on its Web site.

UPDATE: 11:14PM Eastern: BP has now posted the "original" photo (http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9033571&contentId=7061708), they claim. Except - surprise - they are refusing to post the high-resolution version of the new "original" photo (update: they've now posted the original photo (http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/incident_response/STAGING/local_assets/images/HIVE_houston01.jpg)). They posted the high-res version of the altered photo earlier, and in fact, that version is still live via a link below the new photo. Why not post the high-res version of the new "original" photo? Afraid someone is going to enlarge it and find out it's fake too?

UPDATE 10:37PM Eastern: The Washington Post has the story now (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/19/AR2010071905256.html). Oddly, BP is now claiming that the photo is real - but it showed blank screens, and rather than show blank screens at AP's crisis center, they instead put fake content-filled screens in the photo. Uh, a few questions.

1) Why were the screens in the crisis center blank in the middle of the crisis? Coffee break?
2) The BP spokesman claims that the photographer photoshopped the changes. Really? A professional photographer hired by BP Photoshops so poorly that a 12 year old kid could do a better job. Really? Let me show you what BP said exactly, and then the photo that supposedly this "professional" edited:
Scott Dean, a spokesman for BP, said that there was nothing sinister in the photo alteration and provided the original unaltered version. He said that a photographer working for the company had inserted the three images in spots where the video screens were blank.Now here is the Photoshop job that the "professional" photographer did - this is just one part of the photo that he screwed up:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TEUNdvgNqmI/AAAAAAAAFDM/i_zXzIWKpPk/s400/bpblowup.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TEUNdvgNqmI/AAAAAAAAFDM/i_zXzIWKpPk/s1600/bpblowup.jpg)

Anyone who has ever used Photoshop knows that this is an incredibly amateur job. I can do far better than this, and I tend to play with Photoshop for fun. We're to believe that a professional photographer did this poor a job, for pay, for a huge corporate client? Really? No one would hire this photographer again if this is true. Oh, and the photographer added the fake screens to the photo, what, without BP's permission? That's what they're implying, "the photographer did it."

3) Why does the meta data show that the photo was actually taken on March 6, 2001? Or is BP next going to tell us that their professional photographer has never set the time and date stamp on his multi-thousand dollar camera? Because then all of his photos for all of his clients will be screwed up. Really?
______________________________________

UPDATE: The photo contains data suggesting it was taken in 2001, not July of 2010 as claimed on BP's Web site. That would suggest, at least one possibility is, that BP took an old photo and Photoshopped new pictures of the oil spill over it, to make it look "new." More on this at the end of the post.

I guess if you're doing fake crisis response, you might as well fake a photo of the crisis response center. Why do they need a fake photo at all? Don't they have a real crisis response center they could have used?

Original BP Photo (http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/incident_response/STAGING/local_assets/images/HIVE_houston.jpg) that is linked off of this page, with a snippet of the photo (http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9033571&contentId=7061708):

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETTdOtWj5I/AAAAAAAAFB0/iG1avKpceKk/s400/bpphotoshop8.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETTdOtWj5I/AAAAAAAAFB0/iG1avKpceKk/s1600/bpphotoshop8.jpg)

Note the bad Photoshop job on the parts I cropped and blew up - click on each photo to see the larger version, which makes it painfully clear that they faked the photo (poorly, at that):

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETXPdezUhI/AAAAAAAAFC0/J-l6tTTzDgg/s400/bpphotoshop2.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETXPdezUhI/AAAAAAAAFC0/J-l6tTTzDgg/s1600/bpphotoshop2.jpg)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETT18OzMjI/AAAAAAAAFCs/zjhH-FI-NOk/s400/bpphotoshop7.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETT18OzMjI/AAAAAAAAFCs/zjhH-FI-NOk/s1600/bpphotoshop7.jpg)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETTsgsuFYI/AAAAAAAAFCc/1xWeFz5s454/s400/bpphotoshop5.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETTsgsuFYI/AAAAAAAAFCc/1xWeFz5s454/s1600/bpphotoshop5.jpg)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETTr5jyKnI/AAAAAAAAFCU/O890bM2hkfI/s400/bpphotoshop4.jpg (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETTr5jyKnI/AAAAAAAAFCU/O890bM2hkfI/s1600/bpphotoshop4.jpg)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETTrohHfiI/AAAAAAAAFCM/vLvr2qfQAR4/s400/bpphotoshop3.jpg (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETTrohHfiI/AAAAAAAAFCM/vLvr2qfQAR4/s1600/bpphotoshop3.jpg)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETTquUv2EI/AAAAAAAAFB8/w49JPjAHTcQ/s400/bpphotoshop1.jpg (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETTquUv2EI/AAAAAAAAFB8/w49JPjAHTcQ/s1600/bpphotoshop1.jpg)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETT1TPANLI/AAAAAAAAFCk/TjUGLFAHedE/s400/bpphotoshop6.jpg (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETT1TPANLI/AAAAAAAAFCk/TjUGLFAHedE/s1600/bpphotoshop6.jpg)

UPDATE: BP has apologized for the Photoshopped version of its command center, and it has just released this new, unedited version.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETjTKLdr5I/AAAAAAAAFC8/ZNBH-0AINW8/s400/bpnewphoto.jpg (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETjTKLdr5I/AAAAAAAAFC8/ZNBH-0AINW8/s1600/bpnewphoto.jpg)

In all seriousness, an astute reader noticed that the meta info for the photo says it was created in 2001, not July 16, 2010 as claimed on BP's site. It looks like BP took a photo from 2001, and in order to make it look like the command center in July of 2010, they pasted pictures of the oil well leaking over the old photo.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETnaBbSj4I/AAAAAAAAFDE/uIVZMxbG66M/s400/morebp.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETnaBbSj4I/AAAAAAAAFDE/uIVZMxbG66M/s1600/morebp.jpg)


source: http://www.americablog.com/2010/07/bp-photoshops-fake-photo-of-command.html

[Ele'ill]

No, I don't think there's anything we can do about this at all. You can get a million activists together, and you won't be able to do shit.

Sorry, bro, but this is really one of those things that we have no power over.


I don't believe this is true at all. I believe the second we stop trying we are no longer revolutionary.

Throughout history the largest and most successful movements have had moments of 'writer's block'. This is not an excuse to give up- each time you come to a point where you can't push any further you need to dig deep and find a way or make a way-

The corporations using unstable and unsustainable operating proceedures are not just unjust they're physically dangerous to our communities.

There's a very dedicated group of activists and organizers in Pennsylvania that have their shit together. The group is called 'Pennsylvania From Below'. They're researching and reporting on Natural Gas drilling in central PA and how it's devestating communities in the surrounding areas.

http://pafrombelow.info/

We could use some organizing in the gulf area to document what the oil is doing to the shore line and the communities located there. We could use some dedicated people pushing this bullshit no photo law.

[IllicitPopsicle]

source: http://www.americablog.com/2010/07/bp-photoshops-fake-photo-of-command.html

lawl

[pastradamus]

How much of the oil have they even cleaned up so far? If more leaks and we can't clean it fast enough, could it get to the new england states?

Have who (this being the key word here)cleaned up? The local working population? Or the oil companies, because from what I see comrade the Oil Giant seem to be doing sweet Fuck all to fix this disaster.

[Blackscare]

UPDATE: BP has apologized for the Photoshopped version of its command center, and it has just released this new, unedited version.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETjTKLdr5I/AAAAAAAAFC8/ZNBH-0AINW8/s400/bpnewphoto.jpg (http://www.anonym.to/?http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1xQeOPE9ePU/TETjTKLdr5I/AAAAAAAAFC8/ZNBH-0AINW8/s1600/bpnewphoto.jpg)


I lol'd so hard.

[#FF0000]

Apparently, if this oil isn't stopped, it could, in fact, make it up to the New England states, maybe?

http://www.slate.com/id/2260733/#map

[gorillafuck]

Apparently, if this oil isn't stopped, it could, in fact, make it up to the New England states, maybe?

http://www.slate.com/id/2260733/#map
Fuck no I hope not.

[Sendo]

Difference being that there's only ever been one Chernobyl, while this sort of shit happens relatively frequently.

Nigerians deal with this shit from Chevron...except on land. DN! has a plethora of interviews and stories on it.

Chevron, Exxon-Mobil, BP, they are all evil. Boycotting won't work. All their hands are dirty with oil spills and blood.

[Sasha]

Oil Rig’s Siren Was Kept Silent, Technician Says

By ROBBIE BROWN (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/robbie_brown/index.html?inline=nyt-per)

Published: July 23, 2010





Yahoo! Bu (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/us/24hearings.html?_r=1&ref=us#)Permal (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/us/24hearings.html?_r=1&ref=us#)





KENNER, La. — The emergency alarm on the Deepwater Horizon was not fully activated the day the oil (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/o/oil_spills/gulf_of_mexico_2010/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) rig caught fire and exploded, killing 11 people and setting off the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a rig worker on Friday told a government panel investigating the accident.



The worker, Mike Williams, the rig’s chief electronics technician, said the general safety alarm was habitually set to “inhibited” to avoid waking up the crew with late-night sirens and emergency lights.
“They did not want people woke up at 3 a.m. from false alarms,” Mr. Williams told the federal panel of investigators. Consequently, the alarm did not sound during the emergency, leaving workers to relay information through the loudspeaker system.
While it is not known whether it would have saved the workers who died in the April 20 disaster, the lack of a fully functioning alarm hampered the effort to safely evacuate the rig, Mr. Williams said.
In a statement, Transocean, which leased the rig to BP, said workers were allowed to set the alarm to prevent it “from sounding unnecessarily when one of the hundreds of local alarms activates for what could be a minor issue or a non-emergency.”
“It was not a safety oversight or done as a matter of convenience,” the company said. Transocean also pointed to a separate audit of the rig in early April, in which inspectors testing the fire detection system found no detectors inhibited.
A six-member panel is investigating the disaster that unleashed the largest oil spill in United States history. At hearings this week here, crew members have described repeated failures (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/us/22transocean.html) in the weeks before the disaster, including power losses, computer crashes and leaking emergency equipment.
The rig’s history of mechanical errors was documented in a confidential audit conducted by BP seven months before the explosion and reviewed by The New York Times. According to the September 2009 document, four BP officials discovered that Transocean, the rig’s owner, had left 390 repairs undone, including many that were “high priority,” and would require a total of more than 3,500 hours of labor. It is unclear how many of the problems remained by the day of the catastrophe.
The 60-page audit found that previously reported errors had been ignored by Transocean. “Consequently, a number of the recommendations that Transocean had indicated as closed out had either deteriorated again or not been suitably addressed in the first place,” investigators wrote.
In a statement, BP said it had expected Transocean to take the audit seriously. “The goal is to have the contractor address all safety critical items in a prompt manner,” the statement said. “As we have previously said, the Deepwater Horizon tragedy had multiple potential causes, including equipment failure.”
During Friday’s hearing, witnesses addressed the role that shortcuts and mistakes played in compounding the rig’s troubles.
An engineering expert told investigators that the crew members had incorrectly performed a critical test of emergency equipment and did not detect a dangerous “kick” of gas roughly an hour before the explosion.
John R. Smith, a petroleum engineering professor at Louisiana State University, told investigators that rig data showed crew members had failed to correctly test the pressure in the well.
“The reality is it’s not a test at all, in my opinion,” Mr. Smith testified, after reviewing records of the crew’s actions. For months, survivors and Transocean officials have maintained that the well pressure test had been properly conducted.
Mr. Williams, who filed a lawsuit against Transocean in federal court in New Orleans on April 29, added several new details about the equipment on the rig, testifying that another Transocean official had turned a critical system for removing dangerous gas from the drilling shack to “bypass mode.”
When Mr. Williams questioned that decision, he said he was reprimanded.
“No, the damn thing’s been in bypass for five years,” he recalled being told by Mark Hay, the subsea supervisor. “Why’d you even mess with it?”
Mr. Williams recalled that Mr. Hay added, “The entire fleet runs them in ‘bypass.’ ”



Problems existed from the beginning of drilling the well, Mr. Williams said. For months, the computer system had been locking up, producing what the crew called the “blue screen of death.”


“It would just turn blue,” he said. “You’d have no data coming through.”
Replacement hardware had been ordered but not yet installed by the time of the disaster, Mr. Williams said.
In the final weeks of drilling, supervisors were under intense financial pressure to complete the ill-fated well, several witness have testified. BP was 43 days behind schedule when the rig exploded, costing the company about $1 million a day in rig rental rates, company officials say.
The confidential BP audit has been referred to by lawyers and investigators but not detailed publicly. The inspection, conducted Sept. 13 to 17, paints a grim picture of Transocean’s upkeep of the rig.
Of BP’s previous safety orders to Transocean, the audit states, some “findings were simply rejected, with no formal risk mitigation demonstrated.”
“While it is appreciated that a good number of findings had been addressed by hard work and effort, there were too many that had not,” it states.
Unsafe working conditions include rig areas covered in a “thick film of drilling mud,” supposedly watertight equipment that actually leaked and safety equipment that was past its inspection date. The recording of maintenance issues was “substandard with missing information and poor quality reports that lacked sufficient detail to convince the reader that the task had actually been performed in accordance with the procedure.”
The findings reinforced those in two separate audits, obtained by The Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/us/30rig.html), that were performed in March and April by Lloyd’s Register Group, a maritime and risk-management organization. In an audit conducted April 1 to 12, investigators identified 26 components and systems on the rig that were in “bad” or “poor” condition.
A month earlier, an audit on the rig’s “safety culture” by a separate division of Lloyd’s found some workers were dismayed about safety practices and feared reprisals if they reported mistakes.


source:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/us/24hearings.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&ref=us