Today the New York Times has a somewhat detailed look “behind the scenes” highlighting the tension between BP executives and government employees as they tried to cap the well.
But interviews with BP engineers and technicians, contractors and Obama administration officials who, with the eyes of the world upon them, worked to stop the flow of oil, suggest that the process was also far more stressful, hair-raising and acrimonious than the public was aware of.
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Looking back, administration officials said that they became concerned that BP could not handle the crisis and that at crucial junctures the company made serious errors of judgment. “There was an arc of loss of confidence,” said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. “I was not comfortable they knew what they were doing.”
Those on the industry side saw it differently. “The only benefit I see is they actually challenged us to a level of detail and communication,” Mark Mazzella, BP’s top well-control expert, said of the government scientists who stepped in to supervise the effort. “They didn’t offer anything that changed anything we actually did.”
A decision by Energy Secretary Steven Chu to turn to BP’s competitors for advice was viewed as an insult by many at the company, said a technician who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter.
I expect as time passes we’re going to see more and more of these type of stories and I expect it was much, much worse then this initial story indicates.
In a deal negotiated last month, BP officials promised President Obama the company would pay $5 billion annually over the next four years into an escrow account for damages. Ken Feinberg, who was appointed to administer oil spill claims out of the escrow fund, has said he “hasn’t been able to start writing claims checks” because BP PLC hasfailed to deposit any money into the $20 billion fund it promised to create:
Feinberg, who was appointed to administer oil spill claims out of the fund, said he doesn’t have the authority to force BP to deposit the money, but his hands are tied until it does. “I don’t want the checks to bounce,” he said.
The day after the escrow account’s establishment in June, BP CEO Tony Hayward told Congress that BP is “unwavering in our commitmentto fulfill all our responsibilities” and the company “won’t stop spending until the job is done.”
Last week the House near-unanimously passed legislation giving the commission that power, but yesterday, Senator Jim DeMint infuriated Democrats by putting a block on the legislation when a Dem brought it to the floor for a voice vote.
DeMint claimed he was doing this on behalf of unnamed GOP Senators in his caucus, prompting Dems to charge that Republicans were shielding Big Oil from a real probe.
But the Senate GOP leadership has informed DeMint’s office that it has no objections to the legislation, and it will proceed, DeMint spokesman Wesley Denton tells me.
According to Sargent, DeMint’s office says they never had any objections to the concept of subpoenas, but put a hold on the legislation because a number of other senators had not had time to read it yet.
There is a Republican meme that continues to circulate on the on the 24/7 news networks about the Federal response to the BP oil spill gusher that is not only wrong, but it’s pointless.
On “Fox News Sunday” yesterday, Liz Cheney sought to prove in her “unique” way that President Obama isn’t doing everything possible to address the disaster in the Gulf.
“[The president] doesn’t say that he’ll allow foreign carriers to come in, [he] doesn’t then move to do anything possible, [and he] won’t grant a waiver for the Jones Act.”
Former half-term Gov. Sarah Palin said something similar, ranting on that the administration:
Should have [....] accepted the assistance of foreign countries.
Glenn Beck told his minions on radio that Obama:
Needs to explain why we haven’t—why we turned down all the international help. They offered it within a couple of days. We said no.
There are two important things to keep in mind when you hear this talking point. The first is that Cheney, Palin, Beck, and others who keep repeating we are not accepting foreign help are just flat out wrong. Foreign governments have offered assistance and we have accepted it— including skimmers and boom from Mexico, three sets of Koseq sweeping arms from the Dutch, eight Norwegian skimming systems, and 3,000 meters of containment boom from Canada.
Should we have accepted more international help? Maybe, but as Obama has already explained much of the offered assistance is redundant and unnecessary.
The second point to keep in mind, and maybe most important, is that the White House hasn’t granted a waiver for the Jones Act because there’s been no need to. There have been “15 foreign-flagged vessels” involved in the response. How many needed a waiver to participate? None. Zero. How many vessels have been turned away because of the Jones Act? None. Zero.
Eugene Robinson, writing in the Washington Post, nails it on the problem Obama is facing:
The issue isn’t what Obama is feeling, it’s what he’s doing. Why haven’t skimmers been brought in from around the world to scoop up more of the oil? Why isn’t the defense of the coastline being run like a military campaign, with failure not an option? Why is the answer to every question essentially the same—”We’ve repeatedly asked BP to get that done”—when we’re dealing with a crisis that has to be seen as an urgent matter of national security and the public welfare?
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The Post reported Monday that the administration has received offers of assistance from 17 nations. Sweden has volunteered to send three ships that can each collect about 15,000 gallons of oil an hour. Norway has offered to send nearly a third of its oil-spill response equipment. Japan has offered to send some boom, which authorities on the scene complain is in short supply.
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Every available piece of equipment in the world that can vacuum, skim, scoop or sop up oil ought to be in the gulf by now, deployed under a central —probably military—command structure. The beaches should be defended as if from a threatened enemy invasion. This is a time for overkill, for the Powell Doctrine, for “decisive force.”
I think I, like most Americans know there isn’t much we can do. But it just seems like there is a lot of stuff we could at least try. And we’ve been hearing for a long time other nations have offered us assistance. Why have we not taken it? Are we too darn proud of a nation? I really wish I knew.
If I’m reading this correctly, the newly installed containment device is working better then planned and sucking up a large amount of oil. But according to new data, we’re finding out that the amount still going into the ocean is as much and perhaps much more than we thought last week. As the AFP puts it:
A containment device fitted last week is now capturing 15,800 barrels a day, but the latest data suggests at least 4,200 barrels and possibly up to 25,000 barrels—more than a million gallons—are still spewing into the sea each day. At least 40 million gallons of crude have already poured into the Gulf, and perhaps double that. That is roughly four times as much as the Exxon Valdez spill off the Alaskan coast in 1989.
This is a perfect example of why not “owning” up to the flow rate from day one was so stupid on the behalf of BP. Equally as much that the White House allowed it to happen. Of course BP wanted to low-ball the numbers, cause each barrel means up to a $4,300 fine. But this should be seen as a success, one of the few the White House can claim. But since now the oil from the well is going onto a ship, and it is stupid simple to measure, there is no longer anyway BP can hide the full extent of the problem. What should be a success and a good news story for Obama, is actually an epic fail. Ugh!
Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed today in the New York Times is spot on today.
The national campaign to get President Obama to emote, throw crockery at oil executives and jump up and down in fury has failed. But here’s a long-term solution: Let’s anoint a king and queen.
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How should we choose a king and queen? Frankly, we already have royalty: Hollywood celebrities. And they are well trained to emote and explode on demand. Just imagine the Nielsen ratings for an Academy Awards-type evening in which Americans would choose a royal family for the first time—live!
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What? You say that this would be un-American? It’s not who we are as a country?
Well, rage isn’t President Obama either. It’s not who he is any more than a monarchy is America.
So maybe we should just accept that we’re stuck with a presidential system—and with a ruminative and slightly boring president who tries to solve problems rather than fulminate about them.
President Barack Obama unveiled plans Tuesday for a fourth visit to the Gulf of Mexico next week, with his three-state tour reflecting the widening footprint of the US oil disaster zone. Obama will visit Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, all of which have coastlines, fishing industries and tourist beaches threatened by the massive oil slick spawned by the April 20 explosion on a BP-operated rig.
President Obama sat down with NBC’s Matt Lauer for a “Today Show” interview. Last night the network released some brief excerpts. One showed the President where he appeared visibly angry, and anxious to defend the White House’s handling of the disaster.
I was down there a month ago, before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the Gulf, a month ago, I was meeting with fishermen down there, standing in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be. And I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar—we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick.
It should be interesting to see how the various “talking heads” response to this interview. For weeks they wanted Obama to appear “mad” and “outraged.” How he has, even if in a pretty mellow tone, I assume they will find fault with it.
Project Katrina is my historical record of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. You’ll find posts about general news, government procurement, the rebuilding of the levees, links to government reports, book reviews, videos, photos, and of course commentary.
