BP Knew of Problems Hours Before Blast

Source: CNN

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- BP knew of problems with an offshore well hours before it exploded last month, spilling millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, a House committee chairman said Wednesday.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the oil company told the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight privately that the well failed a key pressure test just hours before it exploded on April 20.

The test indicated pressure was building up in the well, which could indicate oil or gas was seeping in and could lead to an explosion, said Waxman.

"Yet it appears the companies did not suspend operations, and now 11 workers are dead and the Gulf faces an environmental catastrophe," he said, asking why work wasn't stopped on the well.

Witnesses before the panel, which included executives from the three primary companies working on the well - BP, Transocean, and Halliburton - said the course of events and actions leading up to the explosion is still under investigation, and will come to light over time.

more: http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/12/news/companies/bp_house_hearing/

Company executives were coming to the platform for it.

If they would have dealt with the problem when they noticed it, they might have looked bad in front of their bosses. It might have even screwed up their plans for the party!

These morons must pay, and pay, and pay for their arrogance.

and sweep all information like this under the rug.

What are Thom Kean and Lee Hamilton doing right now?

He says they are trying to keep the public outrage in check by keeping a cover on the stories of the people who died.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=464298&mesg_id=464298

I have outrage fatigue from this.

I am so beyond angry as hell..I am sputtering and shaking...

they just don't really follow it.

...lovely, just lovely.

Criminal charges are needed here. We need to go get these bastards.

and Int Dept knows of the current problems with BP's Atlantis project.....

Deepwater Horizon Accident Foreshadows a Potential Disaster Waiting to Happen in the Gulf
Food & Water Watch and Safety Engineer Warn of Consequences of a Lack of Critical Safety Documents, Fear Disaster Possible for BP Atlantis
Washington, D.C.—Following Tuesday’s explosion on the Deepwater Horizon Platform, leased and operated by British Petroleum (BP) in the Gulf of Mexico, the national consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch is warning of the possibility of a similarly tragic disaster involving the company’s Atlantis Project— one of the world’s deepest semi-submersible oil and natural gas platforms, located 150 miles south of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico.

Last year, a whistleblower and former company contractor alleged that the Atlantis platform has been operating without a large percentage of the engineer-approved documents needed for it to operate safely. An independent engineer later substantiated these concerns, concluding that a BP database showed that over 85 percent of the Atlantis Project’s Piping and Instrument drawings lacked final engineer-approval, and that the project should be immediately shut down until those documents could be accounted for and are independently verified.

“The tragic explosion on the Deepwater Horizon platform is an urgent reminder of the calamity that could occur if BP’s Atlantis platform is operating without the approved documents necessary for ensuring its safety,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “This accident and the recent Massey mine disaster in West Virginia underscore a complete lack of regulatory oversight over the operations of the fossil fuel industry.”

BP has denied the whistleblower’s assertions regarding Atlantis, going so far as to write a letter to Congressional staff saying that they are “unsubstantiated,” even though internal documents show that in August 2008, BP management was aware of the problems and believed that the document deficiencies “could lead to catastrophic Operator error.” An investigation conducted by the company’s Ombudsman in April 2009 seems to substantiate the charges, although the investigation’s results did not become known until this month. BP has never acknowledged that the Ombudsman conducted an investigation of the project’s document deficiencies.

“BP’s recklessness in regards to the Atlantis project is a clear example of how the company has a pattern of failing to comply with minimum industry standards for worker and environmental safety,” said Mike Sawyer, an Engineer at Apex Safety Consultants, who verified the contractor-turned-whistleblower’s concerns about the company’s lack of proper documents.

In March 2010, the Minerals Management Service (MMS), the agency charged with overseeing the nation’s offshore oil and gas platforms, announced that it would investigate these allegations in response to a letter from Representative Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and 18 of his colleagues calling for an investigation and a report on the findings issued to Congress. Food & Water Watch brought the situation to Representative Grijalva’s attention in October of 2009.

Last week, Food & Water Watch submitted a letter to MMS detailing the key issues that need to be addressed with MMS’s investigation, highlighting the recently-surfaced information about BP’s own Ombudsman investigation. The organization called on MMS to conduct a thorough investigation of the situation, including interviewing the contractor-turned whistleblower who unearthed these potential safety hazards, and to penalize BP to the fullest extent of the law.

“The accident on the Horizon platform further highlights the importance of MMS’s investigation of the Atlantis Project, as well as its regulation of offshore drilling activities in that area. As energy companies push to open more of the Outer Continental Shelf, MMS needs to make sure that companies like BP are operating safely and adhering to the law. If the agency does not adequately do so with its investigation of the BP Atlantis Project, the House Natural Resources Committee needs to hold oversight hearings and ensure that the explosion and mishap of the Horizon platform is not replicated,” said Zach Corrigan, Food & Water Watch’s senior staff attorney.

there was a problem? Unbelieveable. Tells how much concern they have for them.

they probably always have these problems, and have always gotten away with it. Well they ran out of luck this time. And their employees paid with their lives. Along with the Gulf of Mexico.

I think Waxman and Stupak have just made sure any liability caps will be irrelevent, what with the criminal negligence, manslaughter/homicide, etc. etc. etc.

before it kills us?

This says more about the profit motive than it does about the technology, though that certainly bears the closest scrutiny too.

k&r

:mad:

:shrug: