Posts Tagged ‘oil’

December14

If the BP disaster was an “incident,” then Katrina was a little rainstorm

By: Angela Bradbery

You just can’t make this stuff up.

The government announced today that it is going to let BP do exploratory deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Yes, BP — the oil giant that in April 2010 was at the helm  of the worst environmental catastrophe in our history. That BP. It was awarded $27 million of leases by the Interior Department.

This happened on the same day that the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council said in a report that more needs to be done to prevent another Gulf drilling catastrophe. I am not making this up.

The National Journal story about this development quoted Michael Bromwich, the former head of the main offshore energy regulator, as saying in October that the BP disaster was just “one incident” that did not justify “the administrative death penalty.”

As Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, said in a statement  released today, calling the BP disaster an “incident” is like calling Katrina a little rainstorm.

Yes, the federal agency charged with overseeing offshore oil drilling got an overhaul after the BP spill, but Congress never acted on the package of measures developed after the disaster to boost environmental and worker safety in the Gulf. Those were critical to helping stave off further oil gushers. God forbid lawmakers should anger the big oil giants.

Read Slocum’s full statement here.

 

 

Posted in: Energy, Regulation0 comments

March30

Obama misses the point on energy security

By: Tyson Slocum

President Barack Obama should rethink his definition and strategy of energy security.

While Obama touted lofty goals about cutting our dependence on foreign oil in his address today, he missed the point.

Energy security is not just about reducing oil imports. It’s also about addressing how we get energy here at home. The crisis following last year’s BP oil spill showed us that domestic drilling is not a pathway for security. It shut down the Gulf economy for months, and the fishing industry may never rebound. Energy security starts and ends with curbing our oil addiction – period – not just cutting off oil imports.

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Posted in: Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Nuclear Power, Regulation0 comments

March24

Blowout preventers – the last line of defense isn’t much of one

By: Angela Bradbery

Oil rig

flickr photo by sjorford

So after nearly a year, we have an answer to the question that has baffled so many who have studied the BP oil disaster: Why did the blowout preventer – the piece of equipment that the oil industry claims is THE THING that will absolutely stop gushers no matter what- fail?

Turns out that the force of the oil and gas coming from the ocean floor was simply too much for the equipment. Joel Achenbach of The Washington Post explains:

[T]he violent surge of oil and gas up the well — caused the drillpipe to buckle and move slightly off center. That fouled the operation of the blind shear rams, the blades designed to close on the drillpipe and shut in the well.

Wow. Simple as that. The piece of machinery that the oil industry has represented as the fail-safe, foolproof backup system when all else fails, is pretty fallible.

“Blowout preventer is a misnomer,” said an engineer who assisted in the probe and who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for the investigation. “People have been thinking of this as a fail-safe device, and it’s more of an operating device.”

Said Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.):

This report calls into question whether oil industry claims about the effectiveness of blowout preventers are just a bunch of hot air.

Meanwhile, this week, the Obama administration granted a fourth permit for deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf.

Posted in: Energy0 comments

March2

Department of Interior poised to issue deepwater drilling permit to benefit BP

By: Tyson Slocum

Talk about short-term memory.

For the first time since 2010’s oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the Department of Interior has granted the first deepwater drilling permit for a well in which BP has the largest financial stake. To do so without imposing stronger environmental and safety standards is a recipe for disaster. The agency must be naïve to think this is about Noble Energy, the applicant.

The Interior Department must start evaluating financial partners in its assessment of whether to grant drilling permits and should not be granting application status to minority interest partners.

By considering this drilling permit a venture of Noble Energy, which has a 23.25 percent financial stake in the operation, the Interior Department has its head in the sand. BP, the corporation responsible for 4.9 million barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, has a financial interest double that of the application’s namesake. A 46.5 percent share is nothing to scoff at.

Although Noble’s name is on the application, BP could have twice the say on safety or environmental matters – and we’ve seen how that plays out.

If the Obama administration is really as serious as it claims about reforming the deepwater drilling industry, it must uphold the standards it has proposed. This is no time to be waiving the new stringent regulations, particularly when the involved corporation has a history of environmental and worker abuses.

The tougher permitting process has not led to the $100 barrels of oil we are seeing today. It is not the cause for panic at the pump.

Going forward, the Obama administration must subject deepwater well applications to tougher scrutiny and take into account all financial partners in an application. In the future, a minority partner cannot be allowed to be the applicant. The Obama administration should consider the track record and financial partners of applicants before approving a permit.

Note: take a moment to call upon Obama to reconsider.

Tyson Slocum is the director of Public Citizen’s energy program

Posted in: Energy, Uncategorized0 comments

February21

Layer of oil and death

By: Rachel Lewis

Scientists have confirmed what many suspected– a layer of oil and death at the bottom of the ocean courtesy of BP. As reported by BBC News this morning,

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill “devastated” life on and near the seafloor, a marine scientist has said. Studies using a submersible found a layer, as much as 10cm thick in places, of dead animals and oil, said Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia . . . Organisms on the seafloor stimulate the activity of micro-organisms and oxygenate the sediments, two tasks at the bottom of the aquatic food chain that will inevitably have longer-term effects on species nearer the surface – including the ones we eat.

These findings come as no surprise to Public Citizen. We were engaged in the battle against offshore before the spill and we continue to use every means possible to push for better regulation and smarter energy policies. Currently, we are engaged in a campaign to demand Congress take action on the Jan 11 recommendations of the oil spill commission. Please join our efforts and urge you representatives to do their part to ensure that the work of the commission was not done in vain.

Posted in: Midmorning Refill0 comments

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