from: razvlekatsa zabavlatsa
http://oilprice.com/Environment/Oil-Spills/White-House-Covers-Up-Mena… White House Covers Up Menacing Oil “Blob” \
Friday, May 21, 2010
Written by Wayne Madsen

In an exclusive for Oilprice.com, the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR) has learned from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sources that U.S. Navy submarines deployed to the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast have detected what amounts to a frozen oil blob from the oil geyser at the destroyed Deep Horizon off-shore oil rig south of Louisiana. The Navy submarines have trained video cameras on the moving blob, which remains frozen at depths of between 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Because the oil blob is heavier than water, it remains frozen at current depths.

FEMA and Corps of Engineers employees are upset that the White House and the Pentagon remain tight-lipped and in cover-up mode about the images of the massive and fast-moving frozen coagulated oil blob that is being imaged by Navy submarines that are tracking its movement. The sources point out that BP and the White House conspired to withhold videos from BP-contracted submersibles that showed the oil geyser that was spewing oil from the chasm underneath the datum of the Deep Horizon at rates far exceeding originally reported amounts. We have learned that it was largely WMR’s scoop on the existence of the BP videos that forced the company and its White House patrons to finally agree to the release of the video footage. The White House is officially stating that it does not know where the officially reported 10 miles long by 3 miles wide “plume” is actually located or in what direction it is heading. However, WMR’s sources claim the White House is getting real-time reports from Navy submarines as to the blob’s location.

We have learned that the blob is transiting the Florida Straits between Florida and Cuba, propelled by the Gulf’s Loop Current, and that parts of it that is encountering warmer waters are breaking off into smaller tar balls that are now washing ashore in the environmentally-sensitive Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas. Corps of Engineers and FEMA officials are also livid about the cover-up of the extent of the oil damage being promulgated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its marine research vessel in the Gulf, RV Pelican. NOAA stands accused by the aforementioned agencies of acting as a virtual public relations arm for BP. NOAA is a component of the business-oriented Department of Commerce. Similarly, the Coast Guard, which takes its orders from the cover-up operatives at the Homeland Security Department, is denying the tar balls washing up on the Florida Keys are from the oil mass.

WMR has been told the Coast Guard is lying in order to protect the Obama administration, which has thoroughly failed in its response to the disaster. The White House’s only concern is trying to limit political damage to its image in the electorally-important state of Florida while the Pentagon has spent between $25 and $30 billion on oil spill operations in the Gulf and the Atlantic to date. WMR sources also report that the oil mass has resulted in dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico that have cut off oxygen and killed massive numbers of marine creatures and plant life. Seafood wholesalers from the Gulf Coast to New Jersey and New York have been told that the supply of shrimp, oysters, and other seafood from the Gulf is severely in short supply and that they can expect a possible total cut-off as the situation worsens. The shortage will also affect the supply of seafood, especially shrimp, to national seafood restaurant chains like Red Lobster and Long John Silver’s.

There is also evidence that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean sank a drill to a depth of 35,000 feet at the Deep Horizon site some six months ago without the required permits from the federal government. WMR has learned from U.S. government sources that the drilling at 35,000 feet caused a major catastrophic event that required the firms’ oil rig personnel to quickly pull up the drill and close the drill hole. However, the Deep Horizon re-sank the drill some six months after the unspecified “catastrophe,” resulting in another, more destructive chain of events following the explosion that destroyed the rig, killing eleven workers. When the Deep Horizon blew up, WMR has been told it also “blew down,” cracking the the sub-seabed pipe that may have been re-drilled to a depth of between 25,000 to 30,000 feet, again, without a government permit. Government sources also report that BP is intent on recovering as much oil as possible from the undersea geyser rather than simply plugging and capping the well, which would then place it off-limits to further drilling.

The Corps of Engineers reports that BP is playing a game with Obama, convincing him of the feasibility of “shooting junk” into the subterranean pipe, which would stop up the pipe with a manufactured chemical compound called “MUD.” However, WMR has been informed that BP actually intends to shoot cement into the pipe in an attempt to cap the well with the later intention of digging a trench for side drilling from the pipe to recover as much oil as possible. The technology that would be employed by BP is the same technology that was used by Kuwait to conduct slant drilling of Iraq’s Rumallah oil field — an event that helped trigger Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

Corps of Engineers and FEMA sources also give a failing grade to both Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who stands accused of being woefully incompetent in handling the disaster, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. Government sources say both secretaries should immediately step down or be fired.

Read Wayne’s first breakthrough article on the Oil Spill and other interesting pieces: The Cover-up: BP’s Crude Politics and the Looming Environmental Mega-Disaster http://oilprice.com/Environment/Oil-Spills/The-Cover-up-BP-s-Crude-Po… 8 Long Term Economic and Environmental Effects of the Gulf Oil Spill http://oilprice.com/Environment/Oil-Spills/8-Long-Term-Economic-and-E… Could There Be A Bright Side To the Gulf of Mexico Disaster http://oilprice.com/Environment/Oil-Spills/Could-There-Be-A-Bright-Si… 10 Geopolitical Predictions for 2010 & Short Term Strategic Outlook http://oilprice.com/Geo-Politics/International/10-Geopolitical-Predic… By. The Wayne Madsen Report for Oilprice.com http://oilprice.com/Environment/Oil-Spills/White-House-Covers-Up-Mena…

Special thanks to Dave Curtis

ttp://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20006874-503544.html

June 4, 2010 6:30 PM
Posted by Brian Montopoli
CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.
With oil continuing to stream into the Gulf, a majority of Americans – 51 percent — say the costs and risks of increased offshore drilling are too great, according to a new CBS News poll.

That’s ten points higher than one month ago and an increase of 23 points from a poll taken in August 2008, when Republican rallies regularly broke out in chants of “drill, baby, drill.”

In the new poll, 40 percent said they favor increased offshore drilling. That’s a drop of five points from last week and 22 points from August 2008.

Most Americans believe that BP will ultimately be successful in stopping the flow of oil – 56 percent say yes, while 29 percent say no. They do not, however, expect it to happen anytime soon.

Among those who expect BP to stop the oil flow, just 32 percent expect it to happen in the next few weeks. Roughly half say it will be in the next few months, while 14 percent way it will take longer than that.

Americans increasingly see the oil spill not as an isolated incident but rather part of a broader problem with offshore drilling. Last month, 51 percent saw the spill as an isolated incident. That figure has now dropped to 45 percent. The percentage that see the spill as part of a broader problem, meanwhile, has increased ten percent to match that 45 percent figure.

Most Republicans see the spill as an isolated incident, while most Democrats see it as part of an overall problem.
Americans are paying attention to the spill: Two in three say they have heard or read “a lot” about the incident, up from 56 percent last month.

As Hotsheet reported this morning, the poll also found that 63 percent of Americans believe the Obama administration should be doing more to clean up the spill. Just 28 percent say it is doing all it can.

Seventy percent, meanwhile, say BP should be doing more.

Thirty-eight percent approve of the Obama administration’s handling of the spill, up slightly from last week. Forty-four percent disapprove. BP’s approval rating on handling the spill has also improved slightly, but it stands at just 21 percent.
________________________
Read the Complete Poll
Poll: Obama, BP Should be Doing More on Gulf Spill
This poll was conducted among a random sample of 960 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone June 1-3, 2010. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.

This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.  Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.fpif.org/articles/gulf_oil_spill_americas_chernobyl
Foreign Policy In Focus
A project of the Institute for Policy Studies
A think tank without walls
Issues / Financial Flows
Gulf Oil Spill: America’s Chernobyl
By Alejandro Nadal, June 3, 2010
A version of this FPIF commentary will also appear on the Triple Crisis Blog, global perspectives on finance, development, and the environment.

The Deepwater Horizon disaster has the familiar ingredients of deregulation, deception, and destruction that characterize the relations between governments and multinational corporations. It was a man-made disaster, like Chernobyl.

And like the global financial crisis, it all started with the explosion of a bubble, this time of methane gas.

The Wages of Deregulation

In 2008 the Bush-Cheney duo lifted the executive order banning offshore drilling, and the House of Representatives agreed to let a 26-year-old moratorium on offshore drilling expire. Deregulation was moving full speed ahead.

Monitoring agencies were unable to keep pace with British Petroleum’s (BP) operations. Marine biologist Rick Steiner, an expert on oil spills from the University of Alaska, has documented how BP cut corners in its hurry to disconnect and prepare for a production rig. In addition Steiner reveals the blowout preventer (BOP) was not built as designed, included some demonstration parts, and had a failed battery.

Offshore drilling operations in Norway and Brazil use acoustic triggers and remote control cut-off devices to enhance the capacity of BOPs to work adequately. But a report commissioned by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) stated “acoustic systems are not recommended because they tend to be very costly.” Was former vice president and oil man Dick Cheney behind the Department of Interior’s decision not to mandate the valve for off-shore oil rigs? Nor did the U.S. government mandate the simultaneous drilling of relief wells, as required in Canada’s Arctic. Only now, with the failure of the “top kill” technique, is BP drilling these wells, and they won’t be functional before August.

The MMS also routinely overruled its staff of biologists and engineers, who had raised concerns about the safety and environmental impact of certain drilling proposals in the Gulf and in Alaska. The U.S. government permitted BP and other oil companies to drill with cutting-edge technologies without the usual permits.

Were the government regulators doing their job of regulating, or were they in bed with the industry?

Parallels to Financial Crisis

British Petroleum bragged about being at the frontier of technology. Goldman Sachs and the other behemoths of the financial world also claimed to be at the cutting edge of financial innovation. They all lied, hid information, and speculated behind a facade of corporate professionalism built through their advertising campaigns.

Just like the derivatives that took junk assets into every balance sheet of financial institutions, the Deepwater Horizon disaster has no frontiers. The gushing oil will eventually threaten not only Cuba and Mexico, but it will end up reaching the Gulf Stream. It might even make it to England and several world financial centers.

Many are the scams concocted in the financial world, from structured investment vehicles carrying subprime mortgages to credit default swaps and short-selling. They call it business on Wall Street, but it’s really weapons of mass financial destruction. British Petroleum also has a long list of accidents and incidents, all leading to the loss of life and oil spills (including the explosion in its refinery in Texas City in 2005 that cost 15 lives). There will probably be no bailout for BP, but there already exists a liability cap of $75 million.
That cap is invalid in cases where criminal negligence exists. The U.S. Attorney General has already launched a criminal investigation. Already there is circumstantial evidence that BP’s technicians altered the sequence of events and ordered the removal of drilling mud before the cement cap was put in place in order to gain time. This was done in spite of the fact that BP was already working with a damaged blow-out preventer. If this is confirmed, BP will have a hard time convincing authorities that this was just an accident
Who’s in Charge?

BP has used more than 800,000 gallons of oil dispersant Corexit on the surface and underwater. Corexit is manufactured by Nalco, whose board includes at least one BP executive. Because Corexit is less efficient and more toxic than other dispersants, the Environmental Protection Agency requested that BP use another dispersant. BP quickly overruled this request, showing who’s in charge.

As he came into the White House, Obama became a hostage of the financial system and essentially gave Wall Street a free hand in solving “its” problems. For weeks after the rig exploded, BP appeared to be the main entity in charge of the response to the oil spill.

Obama’s lack of firm leadership has prompted comparisons with Katrina. But in fact, the similarities with Chernobyl are stronger. Katrina was a natural disaster, while the Deepwater Horizon is a man-made catastrophe related to greed and cost minimization.

Just as the global financial and economic crisis is entering its most dangerous phase, the oil spill is now developing into a catastrophe that will affect ecosystems and livelihoods for decades. It is more like Chernobyl than anything else.
When Unit 4 in Chernobyl exploded on April 26, 1986, it not only caused the worst disaster in the history of nuclear technology. It also shattered the technological prestige of the Soviet Union, boosted concerns about the nuclear safety of the remaining plants and forced Soviet authorities to be less cryptic. Ultimately, Chernobyl ushered in the demise of the Soviet Union. Perhaps the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon will open the way for a new era of accountability and the end of corporate capitalism in the United States.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

Cost to BP should not be a factor in implementing precautions

 By Linda L. Young

 I live in the Florida Panhandle, about 200 feet from the Gulf of Mexico.  Soon I will lose track of the number of times that I’ve smelled the  growing mass of oil that looms out past the southern horizon.  When I go for my evening walk these days, I’m already conditioned to check the air first to make sure that “the smell” is not back.  I learned that lesson a few weeks ago when, after walking in it for over an hour, I returned home with a splitting headache.

It’s been almost six weeks since the BP oil well exploded and took 11 lives.  There has been a lot of criticism of the federal government’s handling of this unprecedented disaster, but my expectations are much closer to home.  I’ve waited and watched for encouraging signs that my state and local governments are gearing up to provide maximum protection for our waters.  I do see a few oil booms stretched out here and there along shorelines and I was able to get a copy of my county’s protection plan, which completely relies on these few booms..  However, the county initially wanted more extensive protections for our fairly pristine, highly productive estuaries, bayous, marshes and rivers, but those plans were scaled back by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).  What???  Why would the state agency that is tasked with protecting our environment ask a county to take fewer precautions?

Could it have anything to do with the fact that FDEP signed a no-bid contract with a consulting firm called WRSCompass, which was hired to work with Florida cities and counties in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster?  This North Carolina-based company’s chief executive is Kathleen Shanahan, a former chief-of-staff to Jeb Bush and former vice-president Dick Cheney. Cheney’s former company, Halliburton, conducted repairs on the Deepwater site hours before the April 20 explosion which triggered the massive oil spill. Records show that on May 8^th, FDEP awarded the contract, which is worth as much as $250,000 to the company.  General Counsel for WRSCompass is Greg Munson, whose most recent position was General Counsel for the Florida FDEP.  That may sound appropriate for a consulting firm now advising counties as they prepare for the onslaught of toxic oil, but Mr. Munson’s litigation strategies for the Bush administration were often much more friendly to the state’s polluters than to clean water and air advocates.

While I am no expert on keeping oil off of our beaches and out of the intercoastal waterway, I can see from my research that we are not doing anywhere near all that we can do to prepare and protect our waters from the oil that is sure to come.  Additionally, what plans are in place to move people who can’t live in their homes when the oil moves closer and the fumes are overwhelming?  I have heard nothing of these plans so far.

On May 20^th, I served a verified complaint on Mike Sole, Secretary of the Florida DEP.  My complaint reminded Secretary Sole that he is obligated by Florida law to protect Florida’s air, water and land from unlawful pollution.  Our air has already been impacted by BP’s disaster and soon our waters will, as well.  It has been six weeks since this disaster began and our state has not taken enforcement action against BP.  Is this overly-slow reaction further related to the appointment of former Attorney General Jim Smith as a key strategizer for the state’s potential litigation against BP?  Mr. Smith was a registered lobbyist for BP for several recent years.

Whatever the reason, time is wasting and we, the taxpayers of Florida, want assurances that our state officials are doing everything in their power to protect our resources.  As citizens we have the authority to hold the Florida DEP accountable when it fails to enforce our environmental laws.  My verified complaint to Mr. Sole gives him notice that legal actions may result if his sluggish response to this disaster continues, and any citizen of Florida can join me in this effort.  For more information go to my organization’s website: www.cleanwaternetwork-fl.org.

Linda Young is the director of the Clean Water Network of FL, a non-profit environmental organization with 300 member groups and thousands of individuals that are working together to protect Florida’s waters.