BP's 'top kill' begins again as effort to plug Gulf of Mexico spill continues By staff writers From: AFP May 28, 2010 11:42am
BP's 'top kill' to cap the Gulf of Mexico oil leak will last at least another 24 hours, a BP official said, after re-starting the procedure following testing.
"I should stress... that this operation continues," BP's chief operating officer Doug Suttles said, referring to a risky bid to try to cap the leak spewing from the Deepwater Horizon well.
The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, engulfing it in fire and killing 11 workers. The rig sank two days later.
New oil flow estimates by scientists studying the blown-out well make the leak the worst in the nation's history, far bigger than 42 million litres that spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster.
US Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt says the results were preliminary, but two teams using different methods determined the well has spilled between 64 million litres and 148 million litres.
Mr Suttles said BP had stopped pumping a mixture of heavy drilling fluids known as "mud" into the fractured pipe to drown the oil flow in the early hours of Thursday, in order to monitor the results before resuming the work late in the day.
"Nothing's actually gone wrong or unanticipated," Mr Suttles stressed, saying it was important for engineers to keep checking pressures as robotic submarines carry out the complex operation nearly a mile (1.6km) down on the seabed.
"We reinitiated a second round of pumping and drilling mud late yesterday evening and continued that to just before midnight, when we stopped pumping operations. We then suspended activities overnight while we monitored the well,” he said.
Since the pumping had been halted "we have been assessing the first - results from the first portion of our top kill efforts," Mr Suttles said.
"We restocked the vessels that were offshore and we have developed the next phase of the top kill operation. We should begin pumping operations some time a little later this evening."
He stressed the flow of oil had not yet stopped and that the operation "may take longer" than anticipated.
Disaster is a ‘wake-up call’
US President Barack Obama unveiled tough moves to suspend new oil drilling and exploration following the Gulf of Mexico disaster, while denying the Government was too slow to tackle the crisis. After reviewing an Interior Department report into the massive oil spill, Mr Obama outlined four steps to prevent such an accident from happening again including suspending 33 deepwater exploratory wells being drilled in the Gulf of Mexico for six months.
"If nothing else, this disaster should serve as a wakeup call," he said.
Planned exploration in two locations off the coast of Alaska was suspended, and "we will cancel the pending lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico and the proposed lease sale off the coast of Virginia," he said.
Mr Obama said the disaster showed the need to develop renewable energy sources, but dismissed charges the Government had acted too slowly in the crisis.
"This notion that somehow the Federal Government is sitting on the sidelines and for the last three or four or five weeks we've just been letting BP make a whole bunch of decisions is simply not true.
"This entire White House and this entire Federal Government has been singularly focused on how do we stop the leak and how do we prevent and mitigate the damage to our coastlines."
But the US President said that "more than anything else this economic and environmental tragedy, and it's a tragedy, underscores the urgent need for this nation to develop clean renewable sources of energy". He said it was time to move forward on legislation to promote renewable energy sources.
"It's time to accelerate the competition with countries like China who have already realised the future lies in renewable energy and it's time to seize that future ourselves."
'Top kill' effort fails to stop Gulf oil leak From: AFP May 30, 2010 5:37pm
BP's "top kill" operation to plug the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico has failed in a stunning setback to efforts to stem the worst oil spill in US history.
BP and federal authorities said Saturday they are now turning to a new strategy to stop the leak, but it will take at least four to seven days before it can be put into place.
At least 20 million gallons are now estimated to have gushed into the ocean since the disaster unfolded five weeks ago, threatening an environmental and economic catastrophe across hundreds of kilometres of the US Gulf Coast.
"After three full days of attempting 'top kill,' we have been unable to overcome the flow from the well, so we now believe it's time to move on to the next of our options," BP Chief Operations Officer Doug Suttles told a press briefing.
President Barack Obama called the developments "enraging" and "heartbreaking."
Engineers had spent days pumping some 30,000 barrels of heavy drilling fluid into the leaking well head on the ocean floor in a high-pressure bid to smother the gushing crude and ultimately seal the well with cement.
But the effort failed, and when asked specifically why, Suttles had no direct answer.
"We don't know that for certain," he said.
The announcement marks the latest failure for BP, which despite a series of high-tech operations over the past month has appeared powerless to bring the disaster to heel since an explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig April 20 which killed 11 workers. The rig sank two days later.
BP successfully cuts leaking oil well pipe From: AFP June 04, 2010 5:02am BP HAS successfully cut an underwater well pipe using hydraulic shears and will now work to place a containment cap over the leak, according to the senior US official overseeing the clean-up.
"For the first time in a couple of days I have some good news for you - we just cut the riser pipe off the lower marine package," said Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen , calling the operation "a significant step forward".
So far, BP has met failure at every turn in its attempts to stem the flow of oil from the spewing well 1600 metres down in the Gulf.
About 20 million gallons of crude have gushed into the sea since April, after an explosion rocked the Deepwater Horizon rig, killing 11 workers and sending the platform sinking to the sea floor.
Shears were used to cut off the pipe at the top of the blow-out preventer stack after an attempt to saw off the riser with a precision diamond saw failed on Wednesday when the saw got stuck in the pipe.
"We don't have as clean a cut but we do have a cut now... The challenge now is to seat that containment cap over it," Admiral Allen said.
Once the containment cap is set and sealed, oil will be sucked up a riser pipe from the unit to a drillship on the surface.
Because the cut was irregular, a "very, very solid seal" would be placed around the containment cap to reduce the amount of oil that could leak out of the device once it was set up, Admiral Allen said.
"This is an irregular cut, so it will be a little more challenging to get the seal all around."
The flow of oil from the pipe was expected to increase between the time the pipe was cut and the cap is placed over the leaking well head, but Allen had no immediate information on whether the flow had increased.
Actor Kevin Costner offers US oil slick fix as BP gets new deadline From correspondents in New Orleans From: AFP June 10, 2010 12:50pm THE US has given BP 72 hours to come up with a new oil spill response, while actor Kevin Costner touts technology to help out.
Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, charged with leading the government's response to the nation's worst environmental disaster, demanded BP produce records of compensation claims filed by individuals and businesses.
"Access to this level of detail is critical in informing the public as to how BP is meeting its obligations as a responsible corporation," Admiral Allen said.
"I expect a response from BP on this critical issue as soon as possible."
Meanwhile, Hollywood star Kevin Costner appeared before US Congress to tout an oil-separating technology in which he has invested over $US20 million ($24.16 million).
"I know there must be question why I am here: I want to assure every one in the room that it's not because I heard a voice in the cornfield," Costner joked, referring to his role in the film Field of Dreams.
Costner said he was so deeply affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill that he invested technologies to help people and the environment.
"Today that technology is the most effective and efficient tool for cleaning up oil spills that you have probably never heard of," he said.
"I envisioned the machine as a safety device, compact and portable enough that it could be deployed on a small craft and rugged enough to operate reliably in rough seas."
Costner said BP was interested in the technology.
"Our machine is the right machine for the moment," Costner said.
After successful tests, "BP is now moving to place initial orders (of) these machines and they acknowledged they do the job."
Fixing the problem
A device placed last week over the blown-out well, which is located 80 kilometres off the coast of Louisiana, is capturing almost 15,000 barrels - or 1,362,750 litres of oil - a day.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar admitted that cutting the leaking riser pipe to allow the containment device to be fitted had likely increased the flow rate.
It remains unclear how much oil is still spewing out, but Admiral Allen said modifications next week to the containment system "could take leakage almost down to zero".
The official letters to BP have betrayed a sense of growing mistrust between the company and President Barack Obama's administration more than seven weeks after a blowout on the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig sparked the disaster.
A separate letter ordered BP to produce contingency planning for its "top hat" containment system and explain how it intends to recover an undetermined amount of crude and natural gas still leaking.
"BP shall provide the plans for these parallel, continuous, and contingency collection processes, including an implementation timeline, within 72 hours of receiving this letter," said the missive, dated yesterday.
Mr Obama lashed out yesterday at media "talking heads" who have criticised his response and said if it was up to him, he would fire Mr Hayward over several flippant public comments.
Mr Hayward has been summoned to testify before US politicians for the first time next week, as investors fear that intense political pressure from Washington over the spill could force the group to axe its prized shareholder dividend.
BP's share price sank by 5.42 per cent to 386.75 pence ($6.80) in London trade overnight.
The group's market value has plunged by billions of dollars since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, operated by BP and owned by US contractor Transocean, sank on April 22 - two days after a huge explosion killed 11 workers.
Shares have now collapsed by around 40 per cent since the accident, which sparked an enormous oil spill from a leaking well head on the ocean floor.
Mr Obama heads to the Gulf of Mexico next week for a fourth visit since the disaster.
BP is meanwhile plowing on with the drilling of two relief wells that should be ready by August to enable the company to permanently plug the leak.
BP presents new oil containment plan as Obama likens disaster to 9/11 From: NewsCore June 15, 2010 2:57am PRESIDENT Barack Obama touched down in Mississippi's Gulf coast region last night as part of a two-day, multi-state tour of the devastation from the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mr Obama assured Gulf residents and businesses the region's beaches will be restored to their "pristine condition", promising the full force of his government to require BP to quickly pay damage claims.
he also told the country that seafood from the region remained safe and implored holiday-makers not to cancel visits to the Gulf coast where many of the famous white beaches remain untouched.
But oil from the blownout BP well is spoiling significant parts of the shoreline and already has penetrated into critical marshlands, threatening breeding grounds for wildlife, waterfowl and sea creatures - in particular shrimp and oysters.
"I can't promise folks here in Theordore or across the Gulf that this oil will be cleaned up overnight," the president said. Yet he offered assurances that the "full resources of our government are being mobilized to confront this disaster."
Mr Obama had said yesterday the spill would shape how Americans think about the environment for years to come.
"In the same way that our view of our vulnerabilities and our foreign policy was shaped profoundly by 9/11, I think this disaster is going to shape how we think about the environment and energy for many years to come," Mr Obama told Politico.com.
His remarks will set the stage for a face-off the between the President and top BP executives at the White House.
The spill remains a crisis with severe environmental implications. Nearly two months after the disaster which killed 11 people, BP’s engineers are still unsure how much oil is gushing into the Gulf, let alone how much has already been released.
Shortly before he began his tour of the region, spokesman Bill Burton said with the President that the administration and BP were "working out the particulars" of Mr Obama's demand that the oil giant set up a multibillion-dollar, independently-run damage fund.
Mr Burton said the account would be in the hands of a third-party and would amount to "billions of dollars".
"We're confident that this is a critical way in which we're going to be able to help individuals and businesses in the Gulf area become whole again," he said.
On his fourth visit to the region, Mr Obama was determined to assert leadership in face of the calamity, with the White House showing the President using all the power available to him to stem the continuing flood of oil into the Gulf and extract compensation from BP for victims of the tragedy.
As the damaged well continues spilling millions of gallons (liters) of crude oil from its rupture about 1500 metres below the surface, Mr Obama has taken a hit in the polls.
Dealing with the catastrophe has also forced him to spend huge amounts of time on the crisis, cutting severely into his schedule, including cancelling a trip to Asia and Australia, and threatening his legislative agenda on issues like financial overhaul, climate change and immigration reform.
Mr Obama's first stop was a briefing at a Coast Guard station on Mississippi's coast, where he said that the two days in the region would help him prepare for Wednesday's (local time) showdown with BP. In particular, Mr Obama said there continues to be problems with claims for damages and with effective coordination.
"We're gathering up facts, stories, right now so that we have an absolutely clear understanding about how we can best present to BP the need to make sure that individuals and businesses are dealt with in a fair manner and a prompt manner," the President said.
Afterward he ate a lunch of local seafood, declaring it delicious.
BP's board gathered in London to discuss deferring its second-quarter dividend and putting the money into escrow until the company's liabilities from the spill are known.
The government had said earlier - uncertain that BP would voluntarily establish the damage fund - that Mr Obama was prepared to force BP to take the step.
The President 's two-day visit to Mississippi, Alabama and Florida precedes his first-ever Oval Office address to the US and his first face-to-face meetings with BP executives on Wednesday.
BP said in a statement its costs for responding to the spill had risen to $US1.6 billion, including new $US25 million grants to Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. It also includes the first $US60 million for a project to build barrier islands off the Louisiana coast. The estimate does not include future costs for scores of damage lawsuits already filed.
Mr Obama's first three trips to the Gulf took him to the hardest-hit state, Louisiana. On Monday, Day 56 since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, killed 11 workers and unleashed a fury of oil into the Gulf, he started his tour in Gulfport, Mississippi. From the stop in Alabama, where oil was washing up in heavy amounts along the state's eastern shores, he moves on to Florida.
He will meet state and local officials eager for him to show command, provide manpower and supplies and also tell the public that despite the catastrophe that's crippling the fishing and tourist trades, many beaches are still open.
The government said early that BP had responded to a letter sent over the weekend asking the company to speed up its ability to capture the spewing oil.
In its response, BP said it would target containing more than 8 million litres of oil a day by the end of June, up from about 2.4 million litres of crude a day now. The government's high-range estimates say as much as 8 million litres a day could be billowing from BP's runaway well.
Although BP is now siphoning significant amounts from its blownout well 1500 metres below the ocean's surface, the leak will not be killed for good until relief wells are completed in August.
Increasingly accurate estimates of the spill have brought the enormity of the disaster into focus. Already potentially more than 100 million gallons (380 million liters) of crude expelled into the Gulf, far outstripping the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.
BP executives could face 15 years' jail From: NewsCore June 14, 2010 6:06pm
BP executives could face up to 15 years in jail for their role in the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, legal experts say.
The advice from US legal experts came as executives from the world's other major oil companies separately claimed the accident "was preventable," reports said.
Jody Freeman, Professor of Environmental Law at Harvard Law School, told The (London) Times that if criminal negligence could be proved then "the law certainly provides for prison for environmental crimes".
She said that under normal circumstances, the maximum criminal penalty in such a case would be up to three years in prison, but in those where death and serious injury had occurred, as in the case of the Gulf oil spill, this could increase to 15 years.
The warning came as executives from Exxon-Mobil, Shell, Chevron and ConocoPhillips prepared to distance themselves from BP, according to planned statements seen by Financial Times sources.
The oil industry leaders were planning to testify in front of a subcommittee of the US House energy and commerce committee tomorrow that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico would have been "preventable" if BP had followed the industry's "best practices," the sources said.
The move was intended to make the case for continued new drilling in the deep waters of the Gulf. Meanwhile, BP said yesterday that the cleanup and compensation effort cost had risen to about $1.6 billion, which included "the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs."
The revised figure came ahead of a meeting of BP's board in London, who were planning to consider demands to defer second-quarter dividend payments to fund the relief effort. US officials demanded Sunday that BP set up a special fund to pay oil spill claims and said President Barack Obama will give a rare White House address tomorrow, in a sign of the seriousness of the disaster both for the country and his presidency.
Obama was set to tour the affected states today on his fourth visit to the Gulf of Mexico since the disaster, the White House said.
"The president is going down to the Gulf on Monday and Tuesday to the states he hasn't visited - Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. When he returns he will address the nation from the White House," top aide David Axelrod said.
"We're at a kind of inflection point in this saga. He wants to lay out the steps we'll take from here to get through this crisis," Mr Axelrod, the President's senior adviser, told NBC television's Meet The Press program.
BP said its first "planned addition" to the containment system on the leaking well was set to be deployed "in the next few days".
This has been going on for far to long, thinking back to the flak George Bush Jr took over handling of New Orleans Obama is being spared (as usual). If he's the most powerful man in the world he should be smack'n BP senseless!
"To the rational mind, nothing is inexplicable; only unexplained. " The Doctor
@ PB Spills Coffee....right on the mark with that skit
And every day that went by and BP did nothing, well next to nothing...I couldn't believe it. Then days turned into weeks...while we all waited for SOMETHING to be done I thought they would have to have had a contingency already set up for such a disaster. Then it should have been......just a matter of putting it into action. Hours at the most...not this rubbish they have been trying
GOODBYE fellow eBlah's .....it sure has been nice meeting yo'all here and I will miss everyone of you
Totally agree Candy. Did they think... it wont happen to us? Sorry.... plan for everything, even a disaster of monumental proportions! FOOLS.
BP boss Tony Hayward passes baton after horror week By Allen Johnson From: AFP June 19, 2010 7:22am
EMBATTLED BP boss Tony Hayward is handing over the daily management of the complex operation to cap the Gulf of Mexico spill, a day after a public mauling by US lawmakers.
The news capped a nightmare week for the British energy giant that has left its public image in tatters, seen its shares rocked on the stock market and its top executives hauled to the White House.
BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said chief executive Hayward, a Briton, was handing over the running of the containment efforts to another top official, Bob Dudley, an American, on Friday.
"Right after the explosion, (Hayward) went out there and he has been leading the response ever since," Mr Svanberg told Sky News. "I think everyone believed it to be something we could deal with faster, then he would come back.
"And now he's been around for eight weeks, he's now handing over the daily operations to Bob Dudley, and he will be more home, and be there and be here," he told the British broadcaster.
The handover had been announced earlier this month, but no timing had been given, and Mr Svanberg's announcement came a day after Mr Hayward was pilloried by US lawmakers investigating the April explosion, which destroyed a BP-leased rig off Louisiana.
To the frustration and anger of a House of Representatives panel, Mr Hayward repeatedly refused to be drawn on the causes of the explosion and whether there had been any negligence on BP's part, drawing lawmakers' ridicule and scorn.
US experts believe between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels is spewing into the Gulf every day from the ruptured wellhead, and creeping ashore in four southern US states, shutting down the fishing industry and sullying tourist beaches.
BP executives agreed after talks with US President Barack Obama on Wednesday to set up a $US20 billion ($23 billion) escrow fund to help pay for the clean-up and compensation claims from Gulf residents facing economic ruin.
In a sign of some progress, officials said BP was now containing more of the spill as it works towards to capping it for good.
"In the 24-hour period ending at midnight last night, we were able to recover 25,000 barrels of oil," said Thad Allen, the US Coast Guard admiral coordinating the US response.
Mr Allen said experts estimated the flow to be "right now, the mid-30s - I think is the most probable - and as high as 60."
He stressed the first of two relief wells, seen as the only way to permanently cap the spill, was closing in on the original well.
"The first relief well is now 10,677 feet (3235 metres) below the sea floor (and) starting to close in on the well," Mr Allen said, without providing a time frame for when it would be completed.
On Thursday, Mr Allen said engineers were ahead of their mid-August target date for completing the drilling of the first relief well.
But in more bad news for BP, a third top credit agency slashed its creditworthiness because of the "worsening impact" of the disaster on its finances.
Moody's Investors Service cut BP's credit rating by three notches to A2 from Aa2 following a similar move by Fitch and Standard & Poor's this week.
"The rating agency believes that uncertainty over the ultimate cost for massive litigation claims and other contingent liabilities will be an overhang on BP's creditworthiness that will persist for years to come," it said.
Meanwhile, the intergovernmental International Energy Agency (IEA) warned against following the US lead and imposing a moratorium on offshore drilling.
Global oil output could slide by up to 900,000 barrels a day from projected levels for 2015 if oil producing countries take their cue from the six-month moratorium imposed by Obama in the wake of the disaster.
"If other countries like Angola, Brazil and the North Sea (countries) put on hold new offshore development and there is also one or two years of delay, the impact on global oil output might be 800,000 barrels a day to 900,000 barrels a day by 2015," IEA executive director Nobuo Tanaka told Dow Jones.
London investors, however, shrugged off BP's nightmare week sending shares soaring to end up 4.09 per cent to 374.3 pence in late trading, having already gained 6.74 per cent on Thursday.
BP fails to cough up on Gulf oil victims' claims From: AP June 19, 2010 7:05am
THE US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee says data it has collected shows BP has paid less than 12 per cent of claims submitted by people and businesses arising from the Gulf oil spill.
The committee said only $US71 million ($81.76 million) out of an estimated $US600 million ($690.93 million) had been paid as of Tuesday.
BP did not make any payments in the first two weeks following the explosion and oil spill, the panel said.
Democratic Representative John Conyers said he's concerned that BP "is stiffing too many victims and shortchanging others".
The committee said BP hasn't made a single payment for bodily injury or diminished home property value. BP officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Robots remove cap from BP oil well so plug can be installed From: NewsCore July 11, 2010 6:56AM
BP said overnight that a containment cap had been successfully removed from the gushing Gulf of Mexico oil well, paving the way for a better-fitting plug to be installed.
Workers used underwater robots to cut away the existing cap. Live video feed of the spill showed remote controlled submarines carrying out the delicate procedure.
BP spokesman Mark Proegler confirmed that the cap had been fully removed, clearing the way for its replacement, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The development means that, in the short term, oil will gush into the Gulf waters unimpeded. But BP chiefs hope the improved, tighter dome will funnel more oil to its collection ships if it can be fitted successfully.
The new cap could be in place as soon as Monday but a permanent solution is still some way off, AFP reported.
"This new sealing cap has not been deployed at these depths or under these conditions, and there can be no assurance that the sealing cap will be successfully installed or installed within the anticipated timeframe," BP warned in a statement.
BP senior vice president Kent Wells said other options remained at the ready, including a new "top hat" containment system, if necessary.
"We always have backups for our backups," he told reporters.
Engineers nearly a mile above on the surface were manipulating undersea robots, which were expected to start work "within hours," Mr Wells said during a midday briefing.
Crews were rushing to take advantage of about a week of expected favorable weather conditions in the spill area for the new operation, expected to last between four and seven days, AFP said.
The existing cap, which sucks up to 25,000 barrels (one million gallons) of oil a day, was installed over a month ago but it allowed some of the hydrocarbons to escape because it was loosely fitted over a jagged cut of the well pipe.
BP is also working to connect the Helix Producer containment ship to another portion of the blown out well. The ship should be up and running by Sunday, officials said.
Government estimates for the disastrous spill, unleashed when the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig sank nearly three months ago, range between 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil (1.5 million to 2.5 million gallons) spewing into Gulf waters each day, based on interpretations of a live video feed of the leak.
The new cap and containment ship will raise containment capacity to 60,000 to 80,000 barrels (2.5 million to 3.4 million gallons) a day - in effect halting the spill that has imperiled fragile coastlines and wildlife across the Gulf Coast, according to officials.
An estimated 2.9 to 4.9 million barrels of oil have gushed into the Gulf waters since the spill began, and on day 82 of the spill only 755,900 barrels have been recovered.
BP 'tried to silence scientists, academics on oil spill' From correspondents in London From: AFP July 23, 2010 3:16PM
THE head of the American Association of Professors accused BP of trying to buy the silence of scientists and academics to protect itself after the Gulf oil spill, in a BBC interview.
"This is really one huge corporation trying to buy faculty silence in a comprehensive way," said Cary Nelson.
BP is facing lawsuits after the oil spill, which has destroyed the livelihoods of many people along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
A copy of a contract offered to scientists by BP, which the BBC said it had obtained, said scientists are not allowed to publish the research they do for the oil giant.
They are also not allowed to speak about the data for at least three years or until the US Government gives final approval for the company's restoration plan for the whole of the Gulf, said the British broadcaster.
BP said it had hired more than a dozen scientists "with expertise in the resources of the Gulf of Mexico," according to a statement given to the BBC.
Bob Shipp, the head of marine sciences at the University of South Alabama, said BP's lawyers had approached him and wanted his whole department.
"They contacted me and said we would like to have your department interact to develop the best restoration plan possible after this oil spill," he said.
"We laid the ground rules - that any research we did, we would have to take total control of the data, transparency and the freedom to make those data available to other scientists and subject to peer review.
"They left and we never heard back from them."
Nelson warned BP's actions could be "hugely destructive".
"Our ability to evaluate the disaster and write public policy and make decisions about it as a country can be impacted by the silence of the research scientists who are looking at conditions," he said.
"It's hugely destructive. I mean at some level, this is really BP versus the people of the US."
BP said it "does not place restrictions on academics speaking about scientific data," according to the BBC.
The environmental disaster began on April 20 when the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers.
The rig sank two days later rupturing the pipe that connected it to the well.
Logged
@ PB Spills Coffee....right on the mark with that skit 
