U.S. begins criminal investigation into oil spill
hesouttamylife
Posts: 5,393
http://us.cnn.com/2010/US/06/01/gulf.oil.spill/index.html
U.S. begins criminal investigation into oil spill
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 1, 2010 4:24 p.m. EDT
BP attempts new procedure
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Robots try to stem Gulf oil flow
Tar balls, puddles of oil from the spill reach Alabama's Dauphin Island
Spill makes a third of Gulf off-limits to fishing
BP puts cost of spill response at $990 million
(CNN) -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that the Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into the massive oil spill spreading through the Gulf of Mexico.
Holder said the investigation would be comprehensive and aggressive. He promised that the federal officials will prosecute anyone who broke the law.
Holder, who made the announcement during a visit to the Gulf, called early signs of the spill heartbreaking and tragic. The attorney general was in the Gulf to survey the BP oil spill and meet with state attorneys general and federal prosecutors from Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, according to the Justice Department.
In May, a group of senators -- including Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California -- sent Holder a letter expressing concerns "about the truthfulness and accuracy of statements submitted by BP to the government in its initial exploration plan for the site," and asking Holder to investigate possible criminal and civil wrongdoing.
In a reply to that letter last week, a Justice Department official did not say whether a criminal investigation had begun.
"The Department of Justice will take all necessary and appropriate steps to ensure that those responsible for this tragic series of events are held fully accountable," Assistant Attorney General Ronald Welch wrote.
Holder said in May that the Justice Department would "ensure that BP is held liable."
BP began its latest attempt to curtail the flow of oil from an underwater well in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, using robot submarines to cut into a damaged pipe a mile down.
The operation carries the risk that the flow of crude from the ruptured well, already the largest oil spill in U.S. history, will increase. But if successful, the company says it will be able to catch most of that oil with a cap it plans to place over the severed lower marine riser pipe.
"Even with an increased flow rate, this cap will be able to handle this," BP Managing Director Bob Dudley told CNN's "American Morning."
While the engineering has never been attempted at a depth of 5,000 feet, Dudley said Tuesday the latest attempt is "more straightforward" than previous, unsuccessful efforts.
A mechanical claw began squeezing the heavy riser pipe late Tuesday morning, the first step in a series of planned cuts. After that, a diamond-cut saw will be used to make a "clean cut," preparing the way for the custom-made cap to be fitted over the package.
Tar balls and puddles of oil from the oil spill reached the shores of Alabama's Dauphin Island on Tuesday, residents and researchers involved in cleanup efforts reported.
Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said authorities were investigating reports that the outer sheen of oil was reaching coastal waters off Mississippi and Alabama earlier Tuesday, but those reports had not been confirmed when he spoke to reporters in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration had warned earlier this week that the spreading slick was heading toward the Alabama and Mississippi coasts. Tar balls associated with the Gulf spill had hit Dauphin Island, about 35 miles south of Mobile, in early May.
Video: Obama unveils oil spill commission Video: Gulf Coast oil disaster response Video: Oil could hit Alabama by Wednesday Video: Capping the leak
RELATED TOPICS
Gulf Coast Oil Spill
BP plc
Louisiana
Oil has been gushing from the undersea well since April 20 when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and later sank. Government estimates are that up to 19,000 barrels (798,000 gallons) of oil a day are flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. Dudley said that could increase by up to 20 percent -- nearly 160,000 gallons -- when the pipe is cut, but he said the company has learned lessons from its earlier attempts that it is applying to the new process.
Warm water and methanol will be pumped into the cap to limit the growth of gas hydrate crystals that thwarted an earlier attempt to cap the spill, he said. And a second line is planned to draw more oil off the well's blowout preventer, a critical piece of safety equipment that has so far failed to shut down the well, using equipment involved in last week's failed "top kill" operation.
BP's handling of the spill and its statements regarding the status of operations have been sharply criticized by some in recent weeks. The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it would no longer hold joint news briefings with the company and that Allen, its point man on the spill, will now become the face of the government's response effort.
Allen told reporters in New Orleans, Louisiana, that his job is to speak "very frankly with the American public."
"I think we need to be communicating with the American people through my voice as the national incident commander," he said.
Rear Adm. Mary Landry, who has been the Coast Guard's on-scene coordinator for five weeks, will be returning to her duties as chief of the service's New Orleans district office. Coast Guard Commandant Robert Papp said the plan always has been for Landry to resume that role in preparation for the Atlantic hurricane season, which began Tuesday.
Allen praised Landry's work leading "an anomalous and unprecedented response" to the spill, but said Landry now needs to focus "on the larger array of threats" to her district, which includes the U.S. Southeast and Midwest.
The oil spill has spread across much of the northern Gulf of Mexico, washing ashore in the environmentally sensitive marshes along the Louisiana coast that serve as the cradle of the region's fishing industry. Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said crude has fouled 24 miles and about 2,965 acres of the state's coastline, and the start of hurricane season raised new worries that a storm could drive more oil ashore.
"We don't want to scare anybody, but we need to be realistic about it," Nungesser said. "If a storm does top out levees, it will probably bring oil with it." He said residents who evacuate ahead of a hurricane might return "not to a flooded home, but to a home that is completely contaminated with this oil."
"I don't know how to soft-pedal that," he said.
Tuesday also marked the start of the recreational fishing season for red snapper, a big draw for sport anglers in the region. But the season opened with a new blow to the region's fisheries industry as the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration extended its restrictions on fishing to nearly a third of the Gulf.
The latest closures extend southward to a point about 240 miles west of the tip of Florida and eastward to federal waters off the Alabama-Florida state line.
Dudley said BP has agreed to make other changes to its containment plan, including a system that will allow a quick disconnect in case of a hurricane. But the the long-term solution is to drill two relief wells, a process expected to be complete in August.
BP, rig owner Transocean Ltd. and oilfield services company Halliburton have blamed each other for the disaster, which left 11 workers dead, but BP is responsible for cleanup under federal law. BP said in a statement Tuesday the cost of the response to date amounts to about $990 million.
White House energy adviser Carol Browner said the administration has always hoped for the best, "but we are preparing for the worst." If attempts to capture more of the leaking oil fail, she said, "we would be in a situation where it is conceivable that there would be oil leaking at a rate of something on the order of 12,000 to 20,000 barrels a day until the relief wells are dug."
Some scientists have said they believe large plumes of oil are under the water's surface. However, scientists have not found evidence of the plumes, Dudley said. "They have found evidence of small decreases in oxygen levels," he said, which is expected when bacteria consumes the oil.
"The science of the plumes hanging in the water doesn't feel right," he said. "... We're absolutely taking these ideas seriously and looking at them. We haven't found them yet, and neither has the government."
U.S. begins criminal investigation into oil spill
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 1, 2010 4:24 p.m. EDT
BP attempts new procedure
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Robots try to stem Gulf oil flow
Tar balls, puddles of oil from the spill reach Alabama's Dauphin Island
Spill makes a third of Gulf off-limits to fishing
BP puts cost of spill response at $990 million
(CNN) -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that the Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into the massive oil spill spreading through the Gulf of Mexico.
Holder said the investigation would be comprehensive and aggressive. He promised that the federal officials will prosecute anyone who broke the law.
Holder, who made the announcement during a visit to the Gulf, called early signs of the spill heartbreaking and tragic. The attorney general was in the Gulf to survey the BP oil spill and meet with state attorneys general and federal prosecutors from Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, according to the Justice Department.
In May, a group of senators -- including Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California -- sent Holder a letter expressing concerns "about the truthfulness and accuracy of statements submitted by BP to the government in its initial exploration plan for the site," and asking Holder to investigate possible criminal and civil wrongdoing.
In a reply to that letter last week, a Justice Department official did not say whether a criminal investigation had begun.
"The Department of Justice will take all necessary and appropriate steps to ensure that those responsible for this tragic series of events are held fully accountable," Assistant Attorney General Ronald Welch wrote.
Holder said in May that the Justice Department would "ensure that BP is held liable."
BP began its latest attempt to curtail the flow of oil from an underwater well in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, using robot submarines to cut into a damaged pipe a mile down.
The operation carries the risk that the flow of crude from the ruptured well, already the largest oil spill in U.S. history, will increase. But if successful, the company says it will be able to catch most of that oil with a cap it plans to place over the severed lower marine riser pipe.
"Even with an increased flow rate, this cap will be able to handle this," BP Managing Director Bob Dudley told CNN's "American Morning."
While the engineering has never been attempted at a depth of 5,000 feet, Dudley said Tuesday the latest attempt is "more straightforward" than previous, unsuccessful efforts.
A mechanical claw began squeezing the heavy riser pipe late Tuesday morning, the first step in a series of planned cuts. After that, a diamond-cut saw will be used to make a "clean cut," preparing the way for the custom-made cap to be fitted over the package.
Tar balls and puddles of oil from the oil spill reached the shores of Alabama's Dauphin Island on Tuesday, residents and researchers involved in cleanup efforts reported.
Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said authorities were investigating reports that the outer sheen of oil was reaching coastal waters off Mississippi and Alabama earlier Tuesday, but those reports had not been confirmed when he spoke to reporters in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration had warned earlier this week that the spreading slick was heading toward the Alabama and Mississippi coasts. Tar balls associated with the Gulf spill had hit Dauphin Island, about 35 miles south of Mobile, in early May.
Video: Obama unveils oil spill commission Video: Gulf Coast oil disaster response Video: Oil could hit Alabama by Wednesday Video: Capping the leak
RELATED TOPICS
Gulf Coast Oil Spill
BP plc
Louisiana
Oil has been gushing from the undersea well since April 20 when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and later sank. Government estimates are that up to 19,000 barrels (798,000 gallons) of oil a day are flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. Dudley said that could increase by up to 20 percent -- nearly 160,000 gallons -- when the pipe is cut, but he said the company has learned lessons from its earlier attempts that it is applying to the new process.
Warm water and methanol will be pumped into the cap to limit the growth of gas hydrate crystals that thwarted an earlier attempt to cap the spill, he said. And a second line is planned to draw more oil off the well's blowout preventer, a critical piece of safety equipment that has so far failed to shut down the well, using equipment involved in last week's failed "top kill" operation.
BP's handling of the spill and its statements regarding the status of operations have been sharply criticized by some in recent weeks. The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it would no longer hold joint news briefings with the company and that Allen, its point man on the spill, will now become the face of the government's response effort.
Allen told reporters in New Orleans, Louisiana, that his job is to speak "very frankly with the American public."
"I think we need to be communicating with the American people through my voice as the national incident commander," he said.
Rear Adm. Mary Landry, who has been the Coast Guard's on-scene coordinator for five weeks, will be returning to her duties as chief of the service's New Orleans district office. Coast Guard Commandant Robert Papp said the plan always has been for Landry to resume that role in preparation for the Atlantic hurricane season, which began Tuesday.
Allen praised Landry's work leading "an anomalous and unprecedented response" to the spill, but said Landry now needs to focus "on the larger array of threats" to her district, which includes the U.S. Southeast and Midwest.
The oil spill has spread across much of the northern Gulf of Mexico, washing ashore in the environmentally sensitive marshes along the Louisiana coast that serve as the cradle of the region's fishing industry. Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said crude has fouled 24 miles and about 2,965 acres of the state's coastline, and the start of hurricane season raised new worries that a storm could drive more oil ashore.
"We don't want to scare anybody, but we need to be realistic about it," Nungesser said. "If a storm does top out levees, it will probably bring oil with it." He said residents who evacuate ahead of a hurricane might return "not to a flooded home, but to a home that is completely contaminated with this oil."
"I don't know how to soft-pedal that," he said.
Tuesday also marked the start of the recreational fishing season for red snapper, a big draw for sport anglers in the region. But the season opened with a new blow to the region's fisheries industry as the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration extended its restrictions on fishing to nearly a third of the Gulf.
The latest closures extend southward to a point about 240 miles west of the tip of Florida and eastward to federal waters off the Alabama-Florida state line.
Dudley said BP has agreed to make other changes to its containment plan, including a system that will allow a quick disconnect in case of a hurricane. But the the long-term solution is to drill two relief wells, a process expected to be complete in August.
BP, rig owner Transocean Ltd. and oilfield services company Halliburton have blamed each other for the disaster, which left 11 workers dead, but BP is responsible for cleanup under federal law. BP said in a statement Tuesday the cost of the response to date amounts to about $990 million.
White House energy adviser Carol Browner said the administration has always hoped for the best, "but we are preparing for the worst." If attempts to capture more of the leaking oil fail, she said, "we would be in a situation where it is conceivable that there would be oil leaking at a rate of something on the order of 12,000 to 20,000 barrels a day until the relief wells are dug."
Some scientists have said they believe large plumes of oil are under the water's surface. However, scientists have not found evidence of the plumes, Dudley said. "They have found evidence of small decreases in oxygen levels," he said, which is expected when bacteria consumes the oil.
"The science of the plumes hanging in the water doesn't feel right," he said. "... We're absolutely taking these ideas seriously and looking at them. We haven't found them yet, and neither has the government."
Comments
The latter was responsible for the process of installing cement layers of the newly drilled hole, and suspect that's where it could be the cause of the explosion that killed 11 workers. For his part, Tim Probert, Halliburton chairman, said that BP was responsible for managing the operations of his company in the platform.
But perhaps more troubling to some is that the disaster also revealed close relationships between Big Oil and Washington.
BP is a benefactor of many politicians, including President of the United States. Together with its partners donated more than 3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, benefited only some 80 lawmakers in the 2008 election cycle, including the largest political donation for all to Obama, during his stay in the Senate at the beginning of his presidential campaign (about $ 77,000), in 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, nonpartisan center that specializes in the subject of money and elections. Others on the list include Senator John McCain and Hillary Clinton.
Also, BP invests millions (16 million in 2009) in its lobbying efforts in Washington, is among the 20 companies that spend more money at this, where he has promoted, along with other oil companies permission to expand its exploration and exploitation oil resources in increasingly deep waters. Only in 2009, the branch of industry, energy and natural resources had 780 lobbyists and spent $ 169 million in these activities.
Many politicians today questioned executives were among those served by these companies. The open secret was revealed now, once again, with this disaster is that the oil produced by these companies helps to lubricate the cogs of politics in Washington.
<!-- s:? -->:?<!-- s:? -->
Deepwater Horizon broke my heart in a massive way.
Goldman Sachs sold $250 million of BP stock before spill:
<!-- m -->http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0602/month- ... -bp-stock/<!-- m -->
BP stock: <!-- m -->http://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:BP<!-- m -->
U.S. State Dept. bans importing shrimp from Mexico on 3/30/10:
<!-- m -->http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/ ... 2010-03-30<!-- m -->
^
quote below:
April 20 is the end of Mexico's shrimping season, so this ban won't place any immediate hardship on fishermen, and the U.S. has already pledged to work with the Mexican government to improve its turtle-protection plan "within the shortest period of time" possible.
Former Halliburton employee quoted: They could have stopped it on the first day.
<!-- m -->http://www.opednews.com/Diary/Halliburt ... 1-592.html<!-- m -->
The Dick Cheney/Halliburton/Gulf connection:
<!-- m -->http://vodpod.com/watch/3558563-is-hall ... -oil-spill<!-- m -->
Halliburton/BP oil spill is the latest false flag? <!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xuy2rC-dIA<!-- m -->
Did Halliburton take lessons from Larry Silverstein? <!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLK0c-pgJBQ<!-- m --> and
<!-- m -->http://www.thestreet.com/story/10722752 ... coots.html<!-- m -->
Larry Silverstein took out insurance on his World Trade Center properties not long before 9/11
BP using Google to manipulate public opinion? They sure are.
<!-- m -->http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacquelin ... 98677.html<!-- m -->
BP was one of the biggest contributors (mainly through its employees, of course <!-- s;) -->;)<!-- s;) --> ) for the Obama presidential campaign:
<!-- m -->http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/36783.html<!-- m -->
BP has no intention to cap this well. They only want to salvage what they can:
<!-- m -->http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea ... p-the-flow<!-- m -->
Well, let's follow the money here, too. Whoever ends up "saving" BP, (read buying them out if/when this company goes belly-up from this catastrophe, or ends up being the financial "savior" that keeps the company afloat or financially reorganized) will be the one to really point the finger to.
Food for thought: Could HAARP have been used to find out that this is actually a subterranean volcano, and drilled accordingly, knowing that this would be the end result? Hmmm.
And it seems that Halliburton is in dark business features, such as contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq
A contract for 7,000 million dollars awarded without bidding to the Halliburton oil services company, which is executive vice president Dick Cheney, blood money.
<!-- m -->http://www.cheriepriest.com/2010/06/04/ ... oil-spill/<!-- m -->
This is why we are upset: <!-- m -->http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill ... spill.html<!-- m -->
quote:
Well, according to the New York Daily times, the truth is.........
Carol Browner, the head of the Whitehouse Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy informed Obama the explosion would result in a never-before-seen disaster. And she told him shortly after the leak began. What did Obama do? He dithered.
He played golf, he threw a few hoops, had some people call other oil companies to see if they had any boom (because his Homeland Secukrity Department had none, and then entertained Press night guests as he laughed and joked around.
Then...... a couple or so weeks later, with the liberal press screaming, "Where's the President?" - he decided he had better make appearance. Not do anything, but say BP has to payi for everything and left.
Meantime, back in Louisiana at the scene of the spill, our governor and Billy Senator Vitter are begging for permission to do what is necessary.
Now, who is a major player in "The DEBACLe?". This is the no spin zone. endquote
We are upset because he took his sweet time getting to the Gulf. Weeks. <!-- s:evil: -->:evil:<!-- s:evil: -->
<!-- m -->http://cdn2.ash1.k-srv.info/camelotprod ... ox2010.mp3<!-- m -->
This has given me a bad feeling from day one. First, they tried downplaying the severity of the incident, and then our government went on to point fingers at BP acting like it was "their problem".
Two things come to mind: DIVERSION and POWER.
I think this oil spill is meant to take American's minds off everything else that is wrong in our country. Also, it gives the government a big chance to take advantage of our overall state of mindlessness - there will be more taxes on the way for sure, just a matter of time. In fact, that's probably what they are working on instead of cleaning up our earth.
The really sad thing about this is that the majority of Americans won't speak up and when the new taxes and control tactics come underway, we will comply. They have total control of us and most people are completely blind to it.
This hoax has awakened me to these things, that is for sure. I can only imagine how PISSED Michael is because of this oil spill. Sorry for my language, but it pisses me off too. He is 100% right by saying THEY DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT US! And it starts with US or it shall NEVER be done. The most we can do right now is spread the truth to our friends and family, make our army bigger, and fight this until the end. Can you think of anything more important to do with your time? I can't. Why mind our own business in a world where everything we accept as truth is a big fat LIE? To me, that takes the meaning out of life. Life is all about love, and if you don't know truth you simply cannot know what love really is.
THIS HAS TO STOP!
Well, if you thought THAT was scary, check out this interview with Griffith. Just highlight the link and hit play. <!-- m -->http://www.veritasshow.com/veritasplayer.html<!-- m -->
In addition, today we received confirmation that this 'spill' may be way worse than we have been lead to believe. This was an MSNBC interview with Andrea Mitchell, so it's seeping into the mainstream. MJ better get back quick!!!!
Oil and gas may be leaking from the seabed surrounding the BP Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida told Andrea Mitchell today on MSNBC. Nelson, one of the most informed and diligent Congressmen on the BP gulf oil spill issue, has received reports of leaks in the well, located in the Mississippi Canyon sector. This is potentially huge and devastating news.
<!-- m -->http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/ ... -be-blown/<!-- m -->
If Nelson is correct in that assertion, and he is smart enough to not make such assertions lightly, so I think they must be taken at face value, it means the well casing and well bore are compromised and the gig is up on containment pending a completely effective attempt to seal the well from the bottom via successful “relief wells”. In fact, I have confirmed with Senator Nelson’s office that they are fully aware of the breaking news and significance of what the Senator said to Andrea Mitchell.