details on what is to be forthcoming as yet. A White House spokesman
told the Times an “escrow” account would be required to insure that BP
met all of its obligations.
“The
president will use his legal authority to compel them." Robert
Gibbs, White House spokesman.
This is the kiss of death for the dividend. This may mean that BP’s US
assets are encumbered in some way. Should it work out that there is a
form of conservatorship in the works it would be without precedent.
Like everyone else I am freaking out over the Gulf BP spill. The short
and long term environmental impacts are frightening. The consequences to
the country’s energy base are also frightening. While I am not
concerned with the fate of BP or its dividend, this too is going to have
a horrendous cost. It is clear that the gutting of this company is
going to have far reaching impacts to investors and pensioners.
It looks like the Coast Guard is going to take over operations this
week. That will be the beginning of the “big blank check
“for BP.
A curious announcement comes this weekend from Dredging
News. This site has had several articles bringing attention to the
fact that foreign flag oil cleanup resources are not being employed in
the Gulf. They blame it on the Jones Act.
Flanders
Today reports that Belgian dredging companies DEME and Jan De Nul are
"struggling to understand" why BP and the US authorities have not called
on them in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico.The
companies say that the fact that the Americans have not accepted their
proposed assistance is down to two reasons - that the US authorities are
reluctant to admit that somebody else has better equipment and the
protection of the American market through the protectionist 1920 Jones
Act, prohibiting foreign dredging companies from operating in US waters.
The Jones Act (1920) protects union jobs in the US. It was waved after
Katrina. It looks like it is going to waived again soon. From the same
source: (Dredging News. Go figure?)
“The
American maritime industry (MCTF) has not and will not stand in the way
of the use of these well-established waiver procedures to address this
crisis."
I read this statement as being a public acceptance (in advance) that
foreign vessels will soon be in the Gulf. A welcome development should
it happen. One has to ask why the suspension of the Jones Act was not
done sooner. We can only hope that pressure from (or fear of) unions was
not part of the reason.
Thad Allen, the Coast Guard Admiral who seems to be running things, had
this to say regarding the Jones Act during a Q and A on Friday:
"If it
gets—if it gets to the point where there's a Jones Act required, we're
willing to do that, too. Nobody's come to me with a request for a Jones
Act waiver, but any skimming capability we can bring in, we're looking
for."
Nobody’s come to you Thad? What have you been waiting for? It's well
past the ‘point’.
We don’t know how much is leaking into the Gulf. Assume an estimate of
40,000 barrels a day. Hopefully it is smaller than that. The following
is a picture of the reservoir in Central Park NYC. The leak is pumping
crude into the Gulf sufficient to fill this lake every ten days. If you
run around it you know it's pretty big.
The amount of oil spilled in the last 55 days is equal to about 8 hours
of average US consumption. It is equal to .06% of our annual usage. We simply use too much. How
quickly can we change this? A generation if we’re lucky.
link
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6593#comment-648967
Time to make this viral folks.
Unfortunately, what this poster says on TOD is also verified by further information:
The 'official' estimate of the amount of leaking oil is something on the order of 40000 Barrels per day.
Yet BP just submitted a plan to the government saying they will get their capacity up to 80000 BPD by mid-July.
In other words, BP is planning to capture twice the amount of oil they admit is leaking.
Sounds like the poster's reference to a 'race' is right on.
ex VRWC
And it explains so many things.
I had wondered why the administration gave every appearance of being complicit with BP in a coverup. The Coast Guard and BP's hired thugs are denying news cameras access to public lands and scientists access to federally-owned US territorial waters.
I'd been thinking of this first as Obama's Katrina, then his Chernobyl. Now I view it as his Iranian Hostage Crisis. He doesn't want to wake, trapped helplessly in the White House, every day until *at least* August to increasingly-horrific images of dead life. They know that it will only get worse for weeks and weeks on end. If they were straight about it, the entire GoM would be a Forbidden Zone. For at least a generation, no one would consider eating anything that came from there, going on vacation, buying a house or a building, starting a business.
Florida is the US's 4th largest economy. He cannot allow the reality of how screwed it is to become part of the public consciousness.
You know how history rhymes. This is the equivalent of the Dust Bowl that exacerbated GD1. I would bet, though, after all the knock-on effects, far more than 3000 people die or have their lives shortened in consequence.
Very interesting article you posted there, Nate. If what the writer says is true, 2 to 2.5 billion barrels will eventually leak into the Gulf. Can anyone say what the likely impact of this would be, without just saying "game over"?
It's probably a good thing--if it had to happen--that it happened in our back yard. If something similar happened in the waters off Nigeria, we would never hear about it.
Nate,
Perhaps the most sobering thing I have ever read. Sort of like one of those asteroid movies playing out in real life, only there is no hero to ride in and save the day.
Don't you believe in Hope and Change?
Nate - Thanks for great link.
truly scary
Jesus, I am going to have nightmares tonight. Thx for the link; I hadn't seen that comment yet on the oildrum.
Okay, summary:
BP and gov't know it cannot be contained [doing a good job of maintaining general public complacency]. The whole rig is tipping over, the seafloor may/will collapse, racing to get relief wells before collapse, it can only get worse - worst event in written human history.
Some interesting quotes:
---
Flight over BP Oil disaster Day 52 with Marine Biologist, Dr. Carl Safina:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBPIPWqOziw
If BP wanted a Jones Act Waiver I suspect that there would someone other than Thad Allen who would be responsible for issueing it.
What particular legal authority does Obama have to "compel them" to do what?
Obama was declared the magic negro when running for office. Did he use up all of the wishes getting to the office?
" Did he use up all of the wishes getting to the office?"
He's been golfing a lot, so I'd guess he used em all up on that.
And now Gibbs is trying lines from the Exorcist:
"The power of Christ/The Won compels you!!!"
BP doesn't ask for a Jones' Act waiver. The Obama administration makes the executive decision. But then, that's something Obama has no experience doing, making executive decisions.
He would if Jamie Dimon told him it was OK.
There are no streets or communities to organize out in the Gulf of Mexico.
LMAO!
Every drill rig in the country should be drilling into that reservoir right now in order to relieve pressure and shorten the time this well will be dumping oil into the Gulf if the intercept wells fail. If the casing is damaged to not use every possible drill rig available to stop the flow would be insane. Probably would cost too much though!
The US Government's commandeering of a private corporation's assets is going to have far, far more negative effects on our way of life than any amount of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. This administration has been itching for a showdown between the State and private entreprise, and they are going to cross the Rubicon. This is what is going to be truly catastrophic...
no no, you have it all wrong. it is not the government that will be taking over bp. that will be the owners of the government. the banks.
what kind of logic are you using? Money is of no value or importance as it pertains to the gulf. The oil may cause a mass migration of people from the eastern seaboard due to air quality, fires and car wrecks once the rains and hurricanes bring it.
More over this finishes our tottering economy. Consider the gulf economy more than half a trillion dollars combined.
Refugee relocation and fire hazards due to oil on fields roofs etc.
Crop losses due to chemical rain
A power struggle ? who gives a shit, we are dying here!
So is Liberty.
Well Said!
Seizing a cooporations assets as escrow for making the gulf a cespool is prudent to prevent them from hiding assets and claiming bankruptcy.
Remember this company much to the governments inability to protect the people of this nation, allowed this company to continue to operate after killing 16 in the Texas City Explosion.
THEY SIMPLY SHOULD NOT HAVE A CHARTER TO OPERATE.
You are missing the big picture here and that is we know have 40% less seafood on the horizon due to what has occured that will not be comming back possibly ever. These effects are far reaching and it might possibly halt production and drilling in the gulf due to the unsafe nature of ambient air having 14% combustible material contained. You sir are missing the big picture and not understanding the severity of the hour.
BP will declare bankruptcy. It is just a matter of time. This is an attempt to get some assets before they do so.
+ 40,000 barrels
I agree, the "corporate death penalty" should be applied to companies that are found to have misbehaved. I'm personally getting a little sick and tired of completely negligent firms, whether it be coal mines, or BP, doing stuff, and getting away with it only suffering a mere slap on the wrist.
Severe penalties (ie: the corporate death penalty) should also apply to the technology firms who lie about the need for H1-B visas when hundreds of thousands of best and brightest American citizen engineers are unemployed.
Move to China then my friend . Japan CEO's have the decency to commit hari kari
One bit of lawlessness does not excuse another. Particularly for a truly lawless Administration.
Mitchman, this is not a civil arrangement. This is shooting a mad dog -- PETA be damned.
Although in general I would agree with you, you seem to forget that BP is operating this FEDERAL lease in FEDERAL waters under US law.
The Government has the right to terminate the lease for law violations.
I don't like Obama either, but the Government still must function.
I agree, however I still sense that there is an expectation that some sense of normalcy will return to the Gulf Coast region and BP's assets being pledged as collateral is whats greater at stake. Let me make it clear in saying that the well pressures experienced during the accident have never been seen before @ 20,000 to 70,000 PSI of which there is no commercial well equipment which can function without failing in that environment.
With that being said we cannot stop the flow as it is beyond our technological capabilities. There are 3 huge open fissures withing 7-20 miles of the well site that is also leaking from the SAME formation. So forgive me if i don't weep at the fact the corporate apple cart has been upset by suggesting seizing of assets. I mean really do you think we have any rule of law left at this point anyway?
So we sieze them. What then? The govt has no idea how to organize a cleaup operation. Look at Katrina. Their only skills lie in destruction. Hmm...back to the nuke idea.
Ignored through all of this are the regulatory road block, and moral hazard that govt caused in the first place. Thanks to this articlle, I will now add to my list protection of unions (yet more moral hazard). How about repeals the Jones Act?
Biblical plague for sure. We need to get on our knees and ask God to intervene.
Riot Dog doesn't have a passport. Handle it yourself.
Jake, NO we need to stand up and make ourselves be heard. We are ceding our authority as citizens when we remain on our knees. We are at war against greed and the bankers who embodie it. We have been taught to be fools and been fooled for many years. If you dont believe me look for "Meltup" on the net. Its a beginning for all of you who think you are free and believe the economy will recover.
and he aint gonna do shit cause he aint
'expect nothing and you won't be disappointed', 'cayce'.
HE is developing a plug for the well as we speak.
How quickly can we change what?
So far this leak is equal to only .06% of our consumption just means we use to much. More things will go wrong. Wars etc. That is what has to change. impossible.
There's not a damn thing wrong with the consumption of energy.
I'll have you know this is ALL the fault of the corporations. They literally ship crap all over the world, assemble it in factories at slave labor rates and ship it ALL the way back to fucking sell it. During the peak in 2006 they were shipping so much crap that they wasted tons of fuel just by moving it too fast of a rate. They mine nickle, ship it 8000 miles turn it into batteries and ship it 26000 miles to dozens of markets.
They mine iron, smelt it into steal, ship it to places loaded with iron, turn it into all kinds of crap and then ship it all back thousands of miles to various markets.
It's the most rediculous thing this planet has ever seen and it can only happen when you put too many resources in too few hands. We are living in a centralied planned economy that's centralized and planned by total freaking retards.
People living in caves didnot fight over oil or money. Then it was probably food. That has changed, except in areas where the governments have screwed up the farming system.
If it was not for governments actions in controlling energy supply I don't believe we would be having this problem either.
According to Lindsey Williams who claims to have a high level insider informant the deep water well drilled into a high pressure strata which produces well head pressures of 35,000 to 75,000 psi which, if true, is beyond our current technological capabilities to contain. He said that the current estimate of flow is 4 million gallons/day. He further claims that the EPA has measured extremely high levels of benzene and other volatile organic compounds that have the capacity to poison much of the Eastern portion of the US.
http://freeviewdocumentaries.com/2010/06/11/lindsey-williams-gulf-oil-gu...
From the beginning this has sounded like "lets poke a hole in the earth's crust and see what happens"
The survivor of the rig explosion that was interviewed on 60 Minutes a couple of weeks ago said that the safety cap had been compromised during a pressure test but they continued to drill anyway. Weather true or not, the technology to deal with this type of pressure apparently does not exist yet.
Obama needs to mandate the use of bicycles by every American. Drop energy consumption and get Americans into healthier lifestyles.
Carriers by rowing marines will be a true sight all over the world oceans!!
Waterworld shows the way.
How is your bike shop biz doing these days?
And reduce obesity and reduce the cost of medical care by a substantial margin!
Ok, ok, it can't be mandated, but it should sure be encouraged!