Many details surrounding the spill in the Gulf remain a mystery. We don't yet know how much oil is freely gushing through the ocean floor; the extent of the damage to affected wildlife; or how long fishermen and other communities dependent on the Gulf will suffer. But there is one thing we do know: Unless President Obama intervenes now, it could happen again on another BP deep-sea oil platform called Atlantis.
BP's Atlantis platform became active in October 2007. Located over 150 miles off the coast of Louisiana in "Hurricane Alley" at a water depth of more than 7,000 feet, Atlantis is one of the deepest moored semi-submersible oil and gas platforms in the world and it poses a serious, immediate and potentially irreparable threat to the Gulf of Mexico's marine environment, oil workers and communities.
In June 2009, a BP whistleblower named Kenneth Abbott informed Food & Water Watch that BP was operating the massive Atlantis platform without proper up-to-date and engineer-approved safety documentation. We began writing and calling the Minerals Management Service (MMS) to urge them to take action. It took the agency six months to agree to meet with us.
10 days after the Horizon spill on April 20, MMS responded to our most recent information request, but it appears that the agency has done nothing and it plans to continue doing nothing. It is clear that the cozy relationship between BP and MMS is resulting in irresponsible and dangerous practices.
Food & Water Watch filed a lawsuit last Monday against the Department of the Interior (DOI) because it has failed to enforce its own safety regulations regarding oil drilling in the Gulf.
The Deepwater Horizon explosion was not a freak accident, but a result of a history of negligent behavior, and Atlantis is no small threat: An internal BP email characterized the situation as having the potential for "catastrophic Operator errors." A worst-case scenario spill from Atlantis would be many times larger than the spill from the Horizon explosion.
President Obama must take immediate action to shut down BP Atlantis until it can be proven safe. We have announced our Spill the Truth Campaign, which includes a TV ad that will air soon in the Gulf region.
It's not enough that Chris Oynes, the head of MMS's oil and gas drilling program, announced his departure. And, while the President's move to split the MMS into three new agencies with oversight on leases, environmental protection, and revenue collection, respectively is a small step in the right direction, it is insufficient to address the lack of regulatory oversight of the industry.
There are more than 100 industry standards that are currently incorporated into MMS regulations. The DOI must institute a review process of the regulations for permitting oil drilling and, based on a public rulemaking process, make them more stringent and binding. Safety and environmental programs should be mandatory for all platforms and subject to strict oversight. Verification of platform design and construction should be done by the agency, not paid verification agents. All engineer approved mandated drawings should be submitted to MMS, not kept on file by the company. Finally, there must be a mandatory environmental whistleblower office.
President Obama can and must act now to prevent another accident and order the immediate shutdown of BP Atlantis. He must also require an independent review of safety documentation and procedures for all operating deep-sea platforms, beginning with those operated by BP.
Go to www.spillthetruth.org to learn more and tell President Obama to shut BP Atlantis down now.
Christine Pelosi: Time for a BP Summit
The BP disaster is the oil company's responsibility -- and it is Barack Obama's moment. There is no better time and place to unequivocally assert the President's voice than now in the Gulf with a BP summit.
Atlantis should be shut down but the failure to do so is another artifact of the deregulatory state of affairs and the corruption of money in the system.
Offshore drilling poses an existential threat to thousands (if not millions) of people's livelihoods and no discount at the gas pump is worth our continued intransigence on the issue.
We must move forward with radical changes on our energy needs and systemic change of our government to limit the powers of large corporations to control the system.
Even if they don't care about the crew, those spreadsheets should care about the $.
If they can't top kill the current mess, by August the threat will be moot.
Boy, now, you'd see some sh!tt!ng and gitting and that problem getting solved right quick.
And once again, let the taxpayers eat the cost for the repair and the damages.
I know, I know, BP isn't fixing it, but it's not like the gov't has the means to do that.
And I'm not sure I understand how the gov't can force British Petroleum to use one method over another.
And, furthermore, although this is not aimed at you, nunzia, but who names their platform after a city that may have suffered awful disaster?
Why them over other appointees? Get over your political bias and recognize incompetent bureaucrats in the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama administration. They aren't excused by their political affiliation.
Here's some reality! Keeping exploratory wells from blowing out is much harder than it might sound, because the exact conditions that exist in a new field cannot be, and are not known until the oil bearing formation is actually punctured. There's some sophisticated guess work that can be used to make an "informed" decision but the number of unknowns is staggering even under the best of circumstances. Formation size and structure, pressures, composition of the eventual recoverable compounds are only known for certain when a hole is completed and testing is conducted.
Until the first one goes, no one really knows anymore than anyone else, and it's all always trial and error from there. Any oil company claiming otherwise is simply being dishonest, and it is this universal truth that argues against letting greed get ahead of prudence.
Deep water drilling will be a far safer enterprise after this mess gets fixed (assuming it's even fixable, and even that is still not known) but given the stakes involved, we really need to have an intelligent discussion regarding whether this is even a gamble that we can afford to take.
Point to BP, for sure. They obviously cut corners, sacrificing safety for profitability. . .
Point to Halliburton. They’re just evil, anyway. . .
Point (using a specific finger) to Dick Cheney. . .
Point to the entire oil industry. They have little regard for the environment, for conservation, for the sanctity of life. . .
Point to the EPA, and all governmental agencies involved. They allowed this to happen, granting permits that never should have been granted and waiving safety provisions that should should have remained in place. In fact, virtually every member of congress has some political debt to repay the oil industry. . .
Point to the auto industry. They’ve kept us addicted to petroleum, fighting alternatives to gas-powered vehicles and standards for emissions and efficiency. For that matter, point to nearly all manufacturing industries. . .
Point to the US citizenry. We’ve stayed addicted to oil, although we’ve been warned for decades what would happen. . .
Point to me. I buy somewhat fuel-efficient cars and walk/bicycle whenever practical, but I make few personal sacrifices of convenience. I have habits yet to be changed involving plastic bags and bottles, and thermostats, and lightbulbs, and recycling, and, and, and. . . I was even (until last year) a stockholder in an oil company. . .
Point to yourself. Ask yourself a few painful questions. Invite yourself (and your family and friends)
You sure got it right when you said, point to the US citizenry.
But you're right; we're one of the most numb and brain-dead populace of any nation.
You forgot a sentence ... "Nearly everything I buy is brought to me on either truck, ship, or plane ... so my self-righteousness is hypocritical."