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Guest Post: The Cover-up: BP's Crude Politics And The Looming Environmental Mega-Disaster
Submitted by www.oilprice.com
The Cover-up: BP's Crude Politics and the Looming Environmental Mega-Disaster
We have been informed by sources in the US Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Florida Department of Environmental Protection that the Obama White House and British Petroleum (BP), which pumped $71,000 into Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign -- more than John McCain or Hillary Clinton, are covering up the magnitude of the volcanic-level oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and working together to limit BP's liability for damage caused by what can be called a "mega-disaster."
Obama and his senior White House staff, as well as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, are working with BP's chief executive officer Tony Hayward on legislation that would raise the cap on liability for damage claims from those affected by the oil disaster from $75 million to $10 billion. However, WMR's federal and Gulf state sources are reporting the disaster has the real potential cost of at least $1 trillion. Critics of the deal being worked out between Obama and Hayward point out that $10 billion is a mere drop in the bucket for a trillion dollar disaster but also note that BP, if its assets were nationalized, could fetch almost a trillion dollars for compensation purposes. There is talk in some government circles, including FEMA, of the need to nationalize BP in order to compensate those who will ultimately be affected by the worst oil disaster in the history of the world.
Plans by BP to sink a 4-story containment dome over the oil gushing from a gaping chasm one kilometer below the surface of the Gulf, where the oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and killed 11 workers on April 20, and reports that one of the leaks has been contained is pure public relations disinformation designed to avoid panic and demands for greater action by the Obama administration, according to FEMA and Corps of Engineers sources. Sources within these agencies say the White House has been resisting releasing any "damaging information" about the oil disaster. They add that if the ocean oil geyser is not stopped within 90 days, there will be irreversible damage to the marine eco-systems of the Gulf of Mexico, north Atlantic Ocean, and beyond. At best, some Corps of Engineers experts say it could take two years to cement the chasm on the floor of the Gulf.
Only after the magnitude of the disaster became evident did Obama order Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to declare the oil disaster a "national security issue." Although the Coast Guard and FEMA are part of her department, Napolitano's actual reasoning for invoking national security was to block media coverage of the immensity of the disaster that is unfolding for the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean and their coastlines.
From the Corps of Engineers, FEMA, the Environmental Protection Agency, Coast Guard, and Gulf state environmental protection agencies, the message is the same: "we've never dealt with anything like this before."
The Obama administration also conspired with BP to fudge the extent of the oil leak, according to our federal and state sources. After the oil rig exploded and sank, the government stated that 42,000 gallons per day was gushing from the seabed chasm. Five days later, the federal government upped the leakage to 210,000 gallons a day.
However, WMR has been informed that submersibles that are monitoring the escaping oil from the Gulf seabed are viewing television pictures of what is a "volcanic-like" eruption of oil. Moreover, when the Army Corps of Engineers first attempted to obtain NASA imagery of the Gulf oil slick -- which is larger than that being reported by the media -- it was turned down. However, National Geographic managed to obtain the satellite imagery shots of the extent of the disaster and posted them on their web site.
There is other satellite imagery being withheld by the Obama administration that shows what lies under the gaping chasm spewing oil at an ever-alarming rate is a cavern estimated to be around the size of Mount Everest. This information has been given an almost national security-level classification to keep it from the public, according to our sources.
The Corps and Engineers and FEMA are quietly critical of the lack of support for quick action after the oil disaster by the Obama White House and the US Coast Guard. Only recently, has the Coast Guard understood the magnitude of the disaster, dispatching nearly 70 vessels to the affected area. WMR has also learned that inspections of off-shore rigs' shut-off valves by the Minerals Management Service during the Bush administration were merely rubber-stamp operations, resulting from criminal collusion between Halliburton and the Interior Department's service, and that the potential for similar disasters exists with the other 30,000 off-shore rigs that use the same shut-off valves.
The impact of the disaster became known to the Corps of Engineers and FEMA even before the White House began to take the magnitude of the impending catastrophe seriously. The first casualty of the disaster is the seafood industy, with not just fishermen, oystermen, crabbers, and shrimpers losing their jobs, but all those involved in the restaurant industry, from truckers to waitresses, facing lay-offs.
The invasion of crude oil into estuaries like the oyster-rich Apalachicola Bay in Florida spell disaster for the seafood industry. However, the biggest threat is to Florida's Everglades, which federal and state experts fear will be turned into a "dead zone" if the oil continues to gush forth from the Gulf chasm. There are also expectations that the oil slick will be caught up in the Gulf stream off the eastern seaboard of the United States, fouling beaches and estuaries like the Chesapeake Bay, and ultimately target the rich fishing grounds of the Grand Banks off Newfoundland.
WMR has also learned that 36 urban areas on the Gulf of Mexico are expecting to be confronted with a major disaster from the oil volcano in the next few days. Although protective water surface boons are being laid to protect such sensitive areas as Alabama's Dauphin Island, the mouth of the Mississippi River, and Florida's Apalachicola Bay, Florida, there is only 16 miles of boons available for the protection of 2,276 miles of tidal shoreline in the state of Florida.
Emergency preparations in dealing with the expanding oil menace are now being made for cities and towns from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Houston, New Orleans, Gulfport, Mobile, Pensacola, Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater, Sarasota-Bradenton, Naples, and Key West. Some 36 FEMA-funded contracts between cities, towns, and counties and emergency workers are due to be invoked within days, if not hours, according to WMR's FEMA sources.
There are plans to evacuate people with respiratory problems, especially those among the retired senior population along the west coast of Florida, before officials begin burning surface oil as it begins to near the coastline.
There is another major threat looming for inland towns and cities. With hurricane season in effect, there is a potential for ocean oil to be picked up by hurricane-driven rains and dropped into fresh water lakes and rivers, far from the ocean, thus adding to the pollution of water supplies and eco-systems.
Source: http://oilprice.com/Environment/Oil-Spills/The-Cover-up-BP-s-Crude-Politics-and-the-Looming-Environmental-Mega-Disaster.html
By. The Wayne Madsen Report for Oilprice.com who offer detailed analysis on Crude Oil, Geopolitics, Gold and most other Commodities. They also provide free political and economic intelligence to help investors gain a greater understanding of world events and the impact they have on certain regions and sectors. Visit: http://www.oilprice.com
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I agree with the "b to m" senario (shall we throw in a d and an s for the Caligolas that are at the top of the pyramid structure?)
So with that, I think this was the "M"arket "M"akers flexing nuts. They are saying, "If you do not debase your currentsea, we will wreck your pensions." Stand up to these bullies. Buy silver and gold bullion.
I think it was real selling combined with an algo orgy of great proportion! But now that the NASDAQ has cancelled all trades in that 20 minute period, so much for those that caught that bounce. Assholes. I AM MAD AS HELL AND NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!
PREACH!
Mad As Hell ...:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMBZDwf9dok
Anarchist would not be adverse to aiding in the cleanup. Only if the PTB ordered it would we decline.
Yeah, Like a Classic Duncan Yo Yo , around the world and then pulled that thing right back in in a nano sec......
Don’t be blinded or focus too much on what happens in one single day. Especially if you’re focused on stock markets. Try to recognize the longer trend.
an excellent discussion board (technical) on the BP Trans Ocean rig fire and subsequent leak
http://drillingclub.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=wellcontrol&action=dis...
Another excellent technical discussion board covering the Deepwater Horizon oil spill:
http://www.theoildrum.com/
Recommend reading this entry to get technical background on deep water oil drilling:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6421#more
Continuously updated wiki on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill
The "Mt. Everest size cavern" claim sounds like misinformation.
Refer to these links:
http://coastalmap.marine.usgs.gov/gloria/index.html
http://coastalmap.marine.usgs.gov/ArcIMS/Website/usa/GoMex/gloria/viewer...
The above viewer link (GLORIA Internet Map Server for U.S. Gulf of Mexico) can be used to view the bathymetric imagery and side scan sonar mosaics. Deepwater Horizon was drilling in Gulf of Mexico OCS Lease Block MC252 (Mississippi Canyon block 252).
Bring on the Volcanoes ,let's just get it over with
Maybe we can call Uncle Kim and order some more torpedoes. There's still a few hundred oil rigs still standing.
Reality Check:
Compared to the 1979 Ixtoc I blowout, this is peanuts..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc_I
Ixtoc was light sweet crude
<200 million gallons (Exxon Valdez was 11 million gallons (heavy crude)
significant evaporation and burn off (light sweet is volatile)
Bay of Campeche currents minimal
hit Texas barrier islands (two months after the spill) and was contained
versus
BP oil spill a heavier grade of crude (not light)
Louisiana coastline up to 40% of America's wetlands (complex and fragile coastline)
Potential for loop current to carry the spill rapidly to the South FL and its fragile ecosystem
Big question on quantity being leaked with estimates from 5,000 to 100,000 gallons per day
Finally the first Gulf war saw oil spills/leaks into the Persian Gulf estimated at 2 billion gallons much of which was recovered and or burned.
Seriously,
ZH writers have nothing to say about the days activities? Anyone clear on what's going on w/ ZH?
Maybe they know something we don't and headed for the hills while they still can.
Surprisingly subdue atmosphere. Bring Joe Saluzzi, at least.
Interviewing some algos would be even better.
NASDAQ has cancelled all trades from 60% swing:
By Michael P. Regan
May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. said it will cancel all trades of stocks at prices that were 60 percent above or below the last price at 2:40 p.m. or immediately prior.
The exchange operator said in a statement it will cancel all trades "greater than or less than 60 percent away from the consolidated last print in that security at 14:40:00 or immediately prior."
Nasdaq said it coordinated the decision with all other exchanges.
ISN'T THAT SPECIAL!
So, algos that sold at the lows are redeemed? Old pirates...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc5dg6oVXq0
And buyers that bought at the lows got squat. Nothing goes down in a straight line and this was vicious but a bounce off 10000 was inevitable--at least for today.
Slow and steady wins the racy. However, I am eagerly awaiting Tyler's analysis...
The real question is, Where is Harry Wanger!?!?!??!
Hopefully in his troll cave.
Better than "The Pelican Brief".
Harry Wagner accidentally pressed the "B", instead of the "M". He's being held at the FRBNY's facilities in lower Manhattan. Shortly, he will have the story down pat... the story about accidentally pressing the damned B...and will be released. He will appear on Mad Money, recite this explanation and plug two GE products. He will be allowed to trade 'on the House' all day Friday.
I would find a story like "Greek hackers' doing" more credible. Geek Greeks.
By ERICA WERNER (AP) – 2 days ago
WASHINGTON — To hear Obama administration officials tell it, they've been fully engaged on the Gulf Coast oil spill since Day One, bringing every resource to bear and able to ensure without question that taxpayers will be protected.
Not quite.
Take President Barack Obama's repeated claims...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gLiUWM39KjSOCwqEl9nZDV...
Obama's degree of whoreness is relatively high:
BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Obama apparently also got more contributions from Exxon and Chevron than McCain.
And Obama had the most political contributions ... See Morefrom Goldman Sachs in 2008 of all senators. And Goldman gave more to Obama than any other presidential candidate, and was Obama's second-largest contributor.
In addition, Obama was the top congressional recipient of defense industry contributions for the 2008 election cycle.
Obama was also the top recipient of money from the healthcare giants in the presidential election.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-recipient-of-political-cash-from-bp.html#comments
Big Banks, Big Loans, Big Corporations, Big Oil Wells... I am slowly coming to the realization that TBTE is a sorely needed acronym: Too Big to EXIST.
to be or not to be
I'll store that for my next acronym festival when I create something for the store. Check out my Audit the Fed bumper sticker at the zazzle store for ZH and you will see all the acronyms from QE and more.
http://www.zazzle.com/audit_the_fed_bumper_sticker-128330584287806412
howard i left a message with miles for you. couldn't find you, but your back!
i think it would be funny if you had a vibrator in your store. (a girls bestfriend)
what do you think? could be a big seller even as a joke. put acronym of wit and humor on it.
i still haven't spent my $50.00 gift certificate.
Don't forget big gov't!
Maybe most important of all.
I have no doubt these marxist d-bags are going to try to nationalize the oil industry at some point. But last time I checked isn't BP a british company? I don't think we want to invade Britain just yet. Maobama may want to seize a few assets in Amerika though. Put on a good show for the proletariat and stuff. you know, because "I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money".
Wayne Madsen eh? You guys never learn. Put your money where Madsen's mouth is. I challenge you.
Interesting BP whistleblower article
http://www.truthout.org/whistlelower-bps-other-offshore-drilling-project-gulf-vulnerable-catastrophe59027
Bernie Sanders caved in on the audit the fed bill. Teethless, still allows for opacity, no investigation of conflicts of interest etc. Let him know that he is a sell out. Ron Paul does NOT support the watered down amendment.
Pass it on. This is a feckless piece of legislation and how can you tell bc Dodd and White House support it. Bernie, what was your price, a new log cabin museum in Stratton Mountain. We had the momentum and the people were behind you and you SOLD OUT.
Sad day for america - Lucy has pulled the footbal away from us yet again.
Any time you find out Senator Chris Dodd is in support of something - watch out.
According to our sources on the Hill, Senator Bernie Sanders caved to pressure from the White House and Chris Dodd and stripped out the Paul-Grayson language from his Fed transparency amendment.
What Sanders is now proposing is essentially the Watt amendment we all opposed last year in the House. In addition, it supports just a one-time audit.
Talking Points Memo reports that, "In order to allay some of the White House's and the Fed's concerns, Sanders has agreed to limit the scope of what the Government Accountability Office would be allowed to audit--but his plan will still require thorough review of all the Fed's emergency lending, beginning December 1, 2007."
Call Senator Sanders' office at (202) 224-5141 and tell him how you feel about this last-minute sell out.
This whole thing makes no sense. How does someone hit a button and make all types of stocks go down in some cases to $0.00 or a penny. This was done by the exchange. There is no way one fat finger made stocks go down to zero, sure you could have a huge run but not like this. This was done on the exchange side.
If it were a fat finger well then the trades are legit. Doesn't sound like a fat finger to me. Sorry something else is going here.
Regional Economic Outlook: Western Hemisphere
Taking Advantage of Tailwinds
May 2010
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/reo/2010/WHD/eng/pdf/wreo0510.pdf
Actually the opposite is happening, the damage is being highly overrated as well as it was in the Exxon Valdez where the actual economic damages were pretty small, it was the litigation that was the real "disaster".
Ya some people will claim the herring collapse was caused by Valdez but herring collapsed everywhere from overfishing-as well as lots of other species where there was no spill, all the other species actually came back stronger from the Valdez fishing moratorium in Pince William Sound, every fishing area should be lucky to get a spill induced fishing moratorium.
Crude oil leaking from the sea floor is pretty common, there are hundreds of "seeps" off Santa Barbara CA and for the most part mother nature breaks it up pretty quickly, in fact by the time oil reaches the surface its already encapsulated in a community of natural oil eating bacteria, with the primary damage being surfers having to scrape tar off their booties. http://www.bubbleology.com/seeps/SeepMapFrame.html
In fact "Volcanoes" of asphalt have recently been discovered in the area from oil seeps leaking for thousands of years which coincidently are located in CA's offshore "marine sancturary". http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100426-asphalt-volcanoes-domes-california-underwater/
If leaking oil was toxic hazard they wouldn't have put a marine sanctuary there, and the asphalt wouldn't be full of life (as it is).
If anything Obama is hyper-escalating the damage claims as he gets 10000X more money from trial lawyers than from BP.
In fact I bet they called their cadre of attorneys first to consult how to maximize damage claims and political donations rather than calling the coast guard to "mitigate" the oil spill.
I'm surprised SEIU hasn't been contracted to wipe clean Lousiana yet.
I've already received 2 emails from 2 different lawfirms asking if I've had damage and I LIVE IN CA.
This "disaster" will be the "mother of all environmental lawsuits".
Crude oil leaking from the sea floor is pretty common, there are hundreds of "seeps" off Santa Barbara CA and for the most part mother nature breaks it up pretty quickly
The Santa Barbara 1969 spill was the cause of all of those "seeps" as you call them.
but but but Obama's enviromentally friendly carbon credits made for making Goldman Sachs money shows he cares about the environment pfft.......this is a mess, I thought my brother would get a job cleaning up this shit but the job hunt place told him the advertised 500 jobs were really 50 and they were already filled and this area boast of one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation due to it's oil field.....
Hey, what if one could connect BP's recent safety record directly to Goldman Sachs' boardroom? Wouldn't that be something almost too crowd-pleasing to be true?
Note that the article actually underplays the drama of Sutherland's first gig at Allied (note: not Anglo) Irish Bank[s]. At this time AIB was running a tax-evasion scam for a good proportion of its retail customers, and Sutherland was involved with the departure of the bank's internal whistleblower. In addition, FitzGerald was the man who, just a few years earlier, had as Taoiseach (ie. prime minister) authorised the then-most-recent panic bailout of AIB. (Again, Ross has the story if you're curious; see the linkdump.)
What tail will wag the dog next?
It's funny but have anyone seen actual video of the pipe spewing oil other than that white PVC pipe picture which shows oil coming out of it (which I don't believe because one the light looks like it's coming from the surface and light doesn't penetrate that far and two, they wouldn't be using white PVC plastic pipe in a drill hole).
This article is a bunch of hokum. he obviously never heard of Ixtoc 1 which did none of the things he's so scared of happening.
Funny how the Ixtoc incident now casts a deep shadow over how well the oil companies -- and the administrations from Reagan to Obama -- were truly prepared for this latest blowout -- in water half as deep! You would have thought that in the ensuing THIRTY YEARS, someone would have figured out an emergency system capable of being rapidly deployed to minimize the impact of such blowouts -- whatever it may turn out to be.
Listening to all the corporate and govt talking heads, the magnitude of the disaster was all such a surprise!!! Of course, since they were all there since "Day One", they couldn't have possibly known that since they were so hard at work doing -- well -- something!
Ixtoc is just another manifestation of the history our corporate and political leaders continue to ignore at OUR peril.
Fire the bastards. Each and every one of them.
MAY 1st:
"The weekly DOW chart shows an expanding wedge indicating a significant move is probable... this remains an overbought bear market rally and the uptrend could falter at any time.
http://www.zerohedge.com/forum/latest-market-outlook-0#comment-326767
Posted May 1st - a week before the crash.
'11,250 / 300 is an area of significant resistance and if this level can’t be breached it should signal the end of the March 2009 bear market rally - the weekly DOW chart shows an expanding wedge indicating a significant move is probable - this remains an overbought bear market rally and the uptrend could falter at any time - the VIX index continues to give bullish warnings which is bearish for equities - long term charts of key equity indexes continue to give bearish warnings and the March 2009 lows will be breached in my opinion - USD Index bullish warnings since 2009 on the weekly and monthly chart have not changed and further USD strength and thus EURO weakness is still expected '
http://www.zerohedge.com/forum/latest-market-outlook-0
http://stockmarket618.wordpress.com
It's funny but have anyone seen actual video of the pipe spewing oil other than that white PVC pipe picture which shows oil coming out of it (which I don't believe because one the light looks like it's coming from the surface and light doesn't penetrate that far and two, they wouldn't be using white PVC plastic pipe in a drill hole).
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