BP and Feds Withheld Videos Showing Massive Scope of Oil Spill

[Kevin and 10]

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/bp-feds-withheld-videos-showing-massive-scope-oil/story?id=10819367

New videos show more clearly than ever how BP, with little resistance from the Coast Guard or other federal agencies, kept the public in the dark about just how bad things were beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

With an apparently complicit Coast Guard, BP held oil spill videos for weeks.

On May 1, 11 days after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, and nine days after oil began spilling into the Gulf, the Coast Guard had still only released a single image of oil leaking a mile beneath the surface -- a fuzzy photograph of a broken pipe spewing oil.

But inside the unified command center, where BP and federal agencies were orchestrating the spill response, video monitors had already displayed hours of footage they did not make public. The images showed a far more dire situation unfolding underwater. The footage filmed by submarines showed three separate leaks, including one that was unleashing a torrent of oil into the Gulf.

BP officials said they made all the video available to federal officials.

"The video has been available to the unified command from the very beginning," said Mark Proegler, a BP spokesman. "It's always been here from the beginning. They had it."

[one...two...tree 2,762]

A bird mired in oil on East Grand Terre Island. La., Thursday.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Mother Earth says, "If you want oil I'll give you oil." Now what happens if a hurricane comes and puts that oil on land and lightening strikes? The earth is going to burn. The environmental costs are coming out and we may be seeing the death of the Gulf of Mexico. If this isn't a wake up call for those who are awake to step forward now, then what is it going to take?

[mawilson 2,133]

A bird mired in oil on East Grand Terre Island. La., Thursday.

That looks like a dog.

Edited June 4, 2010 by mawilson

[William33 110]

A total freakin fail on the "latest" cap procedure.....Although some morons have claimed success, look at the live leak man.....

http://edition.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream/3&hpt=T1

No improvement noted to date....

Your thoughts?

I have sympathy for BP, because they will fold over this issue.

[Kevin and 10]

A total freakin fail on the "latest" cap procedure.....Although some morons have claimed success, look at the live leak man.....

http://edition.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream/3&hpt=T1

No improvement noted to date....

Your thoughts?

I have sympathy for BP, because they will fold over this issue.

They don't know what to do and it looks like they have never had a plan in place in case something like this happens. It appears BP bypassed one of the safety tests on the cement work.

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/costly_time-consuming_test_of.html

I wouldn't feel bad for BP if they fold.

[mendeleev 68]

A total freakin fail on the "latest" cap procedure.....Although some morons have claimed success, look at the live leak man.....

http://edition.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream/3&hpt=T1

No improvement noted to date....

Your thoughts?

I have sympathy for BP, because they will fold over this issue.

This wasn't the first time that BP ignored safety issues and bad things happened. Remember the explosion in 2005 in Texas City where over a dozen workers were killed? BP had argued, successfully, with a government agency that wanted that 50s-era, decrepit reactor replaced back in the early '90s.

Or remember the BP pipeline in Alaska that ruptured, spilling 200,000 gallons of crude because BP hadn't bothered to keeps its pipeline repaired? They didn't even know the pipeline was leaking until a week into the spill!

BP has the worst safety record of any major oil company. They should fold.

And drilling leases going forward should take careful account of an applicants record in health, safety, and environment.

[ScottThuy 140]

The newest cap has allowed them to partially recover some of the spewing oil.. Approx 255,000 gallons of oil recovered from the leak on Friday... Wow.. 255,000 was only a portion? that means there has likely been far in excess of 10 million gallons lost in the sea since it happened...

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

My thoughts are that I feel some sympathy for BP as well because of their company attempting to have the green image and the hypocrisy of that marketing lie being exposed through their oil leak. Off shore drilling is dirty, dangerous and devastating to the lives of the people working with it and to the environment when spills like this happen, as we've seen when safety measures are not kept up. There is an environmental cost that is not seriously calculated by the companies because of their greed for oil that has been over done by man.

There are over 4,000 of these off shore oil wells in the Gulf and this is just one of them leaking. What would happen if there was a major earth quake there and all 4,000 of them were leaking like this one?

It is said necessity is the mother of invention and it's time for the people getting the oil and the people dependent on the oil to wake up and shift to alternative clean energies. There is a creative side of the coin to this destruction. It seems the time is ripe to come up with new ways to live and get what we need that is in balance with our environment. With the financial crisis the car industry is failing in America and coincidently this oil spill is happening in the gulf area devastating the environment, the local tourism industry and fishing industry.

It also shows the impotence of our government and our country to act in the face of a major corporation who also doesn't have a handle on shutting down the problem. 17 countries with knowledge on the matter have offered their help and only 2 countries help has been accepted. First they attempted to work with the corporation and nearly 6 weeks later and 3 site visits they are filing civil and criminal lawsuits? From day 1 the President should have called it a National Crisis and got FEMA involved again for their second preparation with the Gulf devastation and they should have taken over handling of the matter an had the help of those 17 countries on the table and the best scientists and volunteer clean up crews. Then sent BP the check. Where we are now is seriously no laughing matter.

There needs to be some disaster planning done on a national level in preparation for all kinds of situations that will need viable solutions.

[mendeleev 68]

The newest cap has allowed them to partially recover some of the spewing oil.. Approx 255,000 gallons of oil recovered from the leak on Friday... Wow.. 255,000 was only a portion? that means there has likely been far in excess of 10 million gallons lost in the sea since it happened...

The high end estimate (which may be lower than the true amount that has been leaking) is that 855,000 gallons of crude have been leaking for 20 April. That's 45 days -- 38.5 million gallons.

[ScottThuy 140]

they are working on a second wave of payouts to those directly affected by the spill.. it breaks down to an average of 6k for each person or business paid...

One must wonder if BP has an insurance policy when it comes to things like this.. or if they are totally selfpay..

[mendeleev 68]

If the subtext of OP is that the federal government is being a little to friendly or accommodating to BP, I tend to agree. Let's keep in mind that since 1980, Republicans of a quite conservative brand have controlled the Executive Branch. For a generation, bureaucrats who wanted to rise in responsibility had to tow the line toward that free-wheeling capitalist, deregulation-is-good, government-is-bad ideology.

It is not so surprising, especially down at the Gulf where some might think the politics are even a little more conservative than the norm, that government folks are too cozy.

That needs to change.

But to change it amounts to rolling back the Reagan Revolution. Do you think that just one oil spill, even if incredibly nasty, will produce the political will to do that?

I am encouraged that the Justice Department and the FBI have opened criminal investigations.