BP – Bad People

BP: British Petroleum – Big Profits, Bad People.

Brazen Plutocrats. Brain-damaged Petrol-sniffers. Borehole Punked, Bungling Propellerheads.

Beastly Patricians. Bastante Pooheads. Bigus Prickus. Benefiting Plastics. Base Parasites. Borderline Psychotics. Black Pudding. Befitting Panic.

Broken Planet.

Op-Ed Columnist – An Unnatural Disaster: “Where I was wrong,” said President Obama at his press conference on Thursday, “was in my belief that the oil companies had their act together when it came to worst-case scenarios.”… (via NYTimes.com.)

A few more ledes and links below…

Why is BP trying to stop the Gulf of Mexico oil leak with golf balls?: The Macondo well has released more than 5 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and continues to spew at least 200,000 gallons per day. A mile-long straw inserted into the well is now directing 40 percent of the flow into tankers, but BP is still looking for a permanent fix. They may try clogging the faulty blowout preventer with shredded tires, knotted rope, and golf balls in a process known as a ‘junk shot.’ Wait, golf balls?… (via Slate Magazine.)

18 May

White House to Create Commission to Study Gulf Spill: Oil from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico is moving toward a current that could carry it into the Florida Keys and the Atlantic Ocean, scientists said on Monday…. (via NYT.)

NOAA – Oil Tendril ‘Likely’ Headed Into Loop Current: “A thin stem of oil stretching east from BP PLC’s spill is increasingly likely to enter the Loop Current, a powerful Gulf of Mexico flow that runs past the Florida Keys and up the Atlantic Seaboard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief said today… (via NewsTrust.)

19 May

Salazar Admits Lapses in Gulf Spill: “Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that weaknesses at his agency might have contributed to the disaster…. (via NYT.)

20 May

Arctic Drilling Proposal Advanced Amid Concern: A proposal to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean received initial permits from the Minerals Management Service office at the same time federal auditors were questioning the office… (via NYT.)

Gulf oil ‘reaches major current’: The first oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill has reached a powerful current that could drag it to Florida, scientists say…. (via BBC News.)

Some Oil From Spill Reaches Current: Officials reported plans for a large-scale effort to stop the oil as some of the sheen has entered a loop current… (via NYT.)

While BP’s Oil Gushes, Company Keeps Information to a Trickle: BP hasn’t yet been able to stop the flow of oil, but it’s been more successful at controlling the information coming out about the Gulf disaster. McClatchy reported on Tuesday that BP has been withholding the results of ‘tests on the extent of workers’ exposure to evaporating oil or from the burning crude over the Gulf.’ The data is important to determining whether current conditions are safe for workers in the Gulf, researchers told McClatchy. BP said it’s sharing the data with ‘legitimate interested parties,’ but would not release it publicly: ‘Why would one do it? Any parties with a legitimate interest can have access to it,’ BP spokesman Toby Odone told McClatchy. That’s not the only instance in which the company has restricted the media’s access to information. CBS News reported that one of its news teams was filming on an oil-tarred public beach when Coast Guard officials and BP contractors came by and threatened them with arrest. The incident was caught on tape… (via NewsTrust.)

In Spill’s Aftermath, Conflict of Interest Worries – NYTimes.com: “Local environmental officials throughout the Gulf Coast are feverishly collecting water, sediment and marine animal tissue samples that will be used in the coming months to help track pollution levels resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake, since those readings will be used by the federal government and courts to establish liability claims against BP. But the laboratory that officials have chosen to process virtually all of the samples is part of an oil and gas services company in Texas that counts oil firms, including BP, among its biggest clients… (via NYT.)

21 May

Agency Orders Use of a Less Toxic Chemical in Gulf: Citing concerns about the chemical the company is using to break up the oil in the gulf, the E.P.A. gave BP 24 hours to start using alternative dispersant…. (via NYT.)

In Spill’s Aftermath, Conflict of Interest Worries: Officials are expressing concern that the laboratories doing the testing have ties to BP and other oil firms… (via NYT.)

Rand Paul: WH criticism of BP sounds ‘un-American’: Associated Press – By Associated Press – May. 21 (News Report) – Kentucky’s Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul is criticizing President Barack Obama’s handling of the gulf oil debacle as putting ‘his boot heel on the throat of BP.’ Paul says Obama’s criticism of the oil company sounds like an attack on business and ‘really un-American.’… (via NewsTrust.)

Oil from ruptured rig spreads toward Florida: “Bobby Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana, witnessed the first signs of devastation on Wednesday, as thick globs of oil clung to plants in an area known for its biodiversity and delicate ecosystem. ‘This wasn’t tar balls. This wasn’t sheen,’ he said. ‘The oil is here and the time to act is now.’…(via digg.com.)

22 May

Surprise, Surprise! BP Has Connections With Lab Testing Oil: The laboratory that officials have chosen to process virtually all of the samples is part of an oil and gas services company in Texas that counts oil firms, including BP, among its biggest clients…. (via digg.com.)

24 May

BP Prepares Complex “Top Kill” Bid To Plug Well: Government and BP officials are hopeful after extensive preparations, but are not guaranteeing that a complex attempt early this week to cap an uncontrolled underwater oil spill from a well in the Gulf of Mexico will be successful. The so-called ‘top kill’ procedure that oil major BP is tentatively scheduled to attempt on Tuesday involves plugging up the well by pumping thick ‘drilling mud’ and cement into it. While it had been attempted on above ground wells, it has never been tried at the depths involved with this spill, nearly 5,000 feet below the surface… (via Slashdot.)