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MisterE
Social climber
Across Town From Easy Street
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Topic Author's Reply - May 3, 2010 - 09:37am PT
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Thanks for the link Apogee - that's a real eye-opener.
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Bob D'A
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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BP is getting off the hook for peanuts.
NYT: 1990 law limits BP's damage liability to $75 million
by Jed Lewison
Mon May 03, 2010 at 06:46:15 AM PDT
Matthew Wald of The New York Times reports the details of the previously obscure Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, a $1.6 billion fund financed by a minuscule tax on oil -- eight cents per barrel, which Wald says is roughly 0.1%. According to Wald, the fund is designed to pay damage claims resulting from oil spills, though not cleanup and containment costs. But that's not all it does. It also limits the liability of oil companies like BP.
Under the law that established the reserve, called the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, the operators of the offshore rig face no more than $75 million in liability for the damages that might be claimed by individuals, companies or the government, although they are responsible for the cost of containing and cleaning up the spill.
The fund was set up by Congress in 1986 but not financed until after the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska in 1989. In exchange for the limits on liability, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 imposed a tax on oil companies, currently 8 cents for every barrel they produce in this country or import.
The tax adds roughly one tenth of a percent to the price of oil. Another source of revenue is fines and civil penalties from companies that spill oil.
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lostinshanghai
Social climber
someplace
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“This is a tragic occurrence, BP will pay, Transocean will pay, Insurance companies will pay and then we'll drill more.”
Sure Fattrad.
Did you get rid of your stock just in time to not take a hit? And since BP is downplaying the extent of the spill and our government the one you disagree with is correcting that figure to five times as much. Again Obama interfering must make you and your party pissed off again.
As for the statement above: Sure they will get fined, pay legal costs, law suits [they are in a couple from last endeavors already], No eating fish from there for a while. $$$$$$$$. They’re covered or will benefit from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund which was established after the Valdez crash. Actually they gain a couple of bucks.
But?
Wondering if you plan to spend/send some of your earnings or winnings from your then profitable stock to help out or give it back to our/your Government and fishing industry and volunteers, Coast Guard........
When do you plan to send a check? Have you told your clients as well that they help out as well?
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lostinshanghai
Social climber
someplace
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Fattrad.
“BP said Monday it would compensate people for "legitimate and objectively verifiable" claims from the explosion and spill, but President Barack Obama and others pressed the company to explain exactly what that means”
Since you have RIG stocks or ask your buddy Cheney exactly what does it mean?
AND
Who's to blame for the oil spill? Dick Cheney
BY ALEX PAREENE
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill could end up being the worst American man-made environmental catastrophe of this generation. With the oil still spilling and investigations into the causes yet to come, it's too early to neatly assign blame to any one person. But for now, let's hold Dick Cheney personally responsible for the whole thing.
Here's the evidence: The Wall Street Journal reports that the oil well didn't have a remote-control shut-off switch. The reason it didn't have a thing that it seems every single offshore drilling rig should have? According to environmental lawyer Mike Papantonio, it's because Dick Cheney's energy task force decided that the $500,000 switches were too expensive, and they didn't want to make BP buy any.
Is that not enough reason to blame the former Dark Lord of the Naval Observatory? Guess what: Halliburton is involved, too! The Los Angeles Times reports that BP contracted Dick Cheney's old company to cement the deepwater drill hole. Cementing the hole was, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service, "the single most-important factor in 18 of 39 well blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico over a 14-year period." And Hallburton is already under investigation for faulty cementing in an Australian well last year.
The spill will very likely destroy the fragile economies of at least five states and it could even plunge the nation back into a recession. So thanks, Dick. Nice work.
Source: www.salon.com Monday 03 April 2010
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Mimi
climber
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I was wondering when the Cheney accusations would surface.
The only two countries that currently require the acoustic sensor are Norway and Brazil.
They cost $500,000 each. I'm sure that they will be required for offshore drilling facilities from now on.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
Will know soon
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I heard that BP would need alot of workers in a variety of areas to handle this whole gig. Paying jobs ...... anyone heard anything ?
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Mimi
climber
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If it's anything like the Valdez, they'll be 'cleaning up' for at least ten years. There may be certain jobs but you'd have to be specifically trained or if you're scrubbing wildlife, you may be able to volunteer.
From the direction it's heading, which could change with how long this thing goes and the weather and currents, the Florida beaches will get it. That is a very mixed blessing. Beaches can be cleaned up, marshes not so easy.
Here's a report from someone in the know down there. I think you'll find it informative. I'm not able to capture the photos that go with the text. They're embedded in a pdf. Feel free to email for the file.
The Report:
You may have heard the news in the last two days about the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig which caught fire, burned for two days, then
sank in 5,000 ft of water in the Gulf of Mexico. There are still 11 men missing, and they are not expected to be found.
The rig belongs to Transocean, the world’s biggest offshore drilling contractor. The rig was originally contracted through the year 2013 to
BP and was working on BP’s Macondo exploration well when the fire broke out. The rig costs about $500,000 per day to contract. The full
drilling spread, with helicopters and support vessels and other services, will cost closer to $1,000,000 per day to operate in the course of
drilling for oil and gas. The rig cost about $350,000,000 to build in 2001 and would cost at least double that to replace today.
The rig represents the cutting edge of drilling technology. It is a floating rig, capable of working in up to 10,000 ft water depth. The rig is
not moored; It does not use anchors because it would be too costly and too heavy to suspend this mooring load from the floating structure.
Rather, a triply-redundant computer system uses satellite positioning to control powerful thrusters that keep the rig on station within
a few feet of its intended location, at all times. This is called
Dynamic Positioning.
The rig had apparently just finished cementing steel casing in place at depths exceeding 18,000 ft. The next operation was to suspend the
well so that the rig could move to its next drilling location, the idea being that a rig would return to this well later in order to complete the
work necessary to bring the well into production.
It is thought that somehow formation fluids – oil /gas – got into the wellbore and were undetected until it was too late to take action. With a
floating drilling rig setup, because it moves with the waves, currents, and winds, all of the main pressure control equipment sits on the
seabed – the uppermost unmoving point in the well. This pressure control equipment – the Blowout Preventers, or ‘BOP’s” as they’re called,
are controlled with redundant systems from the rig. In the event of a serious emergency, there are multiple Panic Buttons to hit, and even
fail-safe Deadman systems that should be automatically engaged when something of this proportion breaks out. None of them were aparently
activated, suggesting that the blowout was especially swift to escalate at the surface. The flames were visible up to about 35 miles away. Not the
glow – the flames. They were 200 – 300 ft high.
All of this will be investigated and it will be some months before all of the particulars are known. For now, it is enough to say that this
marvel of modern technology, which had been operating with an excellent safety record, has burned up and sunk taking souls with it.
The well still is apparently flowing oil, which is appearing at the surface as a slick. They have been working with remotely operated
vehicles, or ROV’s which are essentially tethered miniature submarines with manipulator arms and other equipment that can perform work
underwater while the operator sits on a vessel. These are what were used to explore the Titanic, among other things. Every floating rig
has one on board and they are in constant use. In this case, they are deploying ROV’s from dedicated service vessels. They have been
trying to close the well in using a specialized port on the BOP’s and a pumping arrangement on their ROV’s. They have been unsuccessful
so far. Specialized pollution control vessels have been scrambled to start working the spill, skimming the oil up.
In the coming weeks they will move in at least one other rig to drill a fresh well that will intersect the blowing one at its pay zone. They will
use technology that is capable of drilling from a floating rig, over 3 miles deep to an exact specific point in the earth – with a target radius
of just a few feet plus or minus. Once they intersect their target, a heavy fluid will be pumped that exceeds the formation’s pressure, thus
causing the flow to cease and rendering the well safe at last. It will take at least a couple of months to get this done, bringing all available
technology to bear. It will be an ecological disaster if the well flows all of the while; Optimistically, it could bridge off downhole.
It’s a sad day when something like this happens to any rig, but even more so when it happens to something on the cutting edge of our
capabilities. The photos that follow show the progression of events over the 36 hours from catching fire to sinking.
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tomtom
Social climber
Seattle, Wa
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Thank God that Obama wants to open up the rest of the US coastline for drilling.
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corniss chopper
Mountain climber
san jose, ca
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The 'only' real question that when answered will make or break our light
in the heels Administration is why the seafloor BOP was not activated during the 2 whole fracking days the rig was burning before it sank?
..as long as there is only deafening silence from the companies in charge,
it's all speculative about why the BOP wasn't shut in at the first sign of
a kick and especially why the shear rams won't close now. So far, we've
heard everything from BP disabling the software that shuts in the shear rams (which I don't understand or believe),..
http://dailyhurricane.com/2010/05/bp-and-transocean-still-silent-about-why-bop-failed.html
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apogee
climber
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"If this happenned on Bush's watch, and 6 days into it..."
Katrina.
'nuff said.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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If it's anything like the Valdez, they'll be 'cleaning up' for at least ten years
As I stated some pages back half those fishermen will be dead and buried before their widows see their pitiful checks. The younger lawyers will have put their kids through college before the last lawyer buys a new Benz with some poor working stiff's settlement money.
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apogee
climber
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Mimi, that article seems to have more empathy for the failure of a (supposedly) wondrous technology than it has for the 11 people missing, and the ecologic and economic disaster that is currently unfolding. In fact, it mentions the 11 missing persons exactly twice, but waxes poetically about how this amazing this platform is (was), and how unfortunate it's loss.
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corniss chopper
Mountain climber
san jose, ca
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Seafloor Blow out Preventer systems BOP have to work. The only way they stay open is if you want them to stay open. The shear rams pinch off
the pipe and shut off the oil.
They can't fail but Deepwater Horizon's did evan when activated
by an ROV on the seafloor pulling the Shear Ram Close control.
What's that tell us?
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apogee
climber
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They can't fail but Deepwater Horizon's did evan when activated by an ROV on the seafloor pulling the Shear Ram Close control.
What's that tell us?
Any self-respecting FauxNews Teabagging Repug droid knows the answer to that question.
It's Obama's fault.
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Jingy
Social climber
Nowhere
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Just one of the reasons I cannot trust a corporation and why America should de-personhood corporations..
Or just treat this crime (eco-crime) as any other crime, and slap the cuffs on the leaders of the rig, send them to jail after 3 strikes, retroactively (because they had been fined many, many times for numerous violations brfore this break....
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Here's an excerpt from a Greg Palast email sendout today. See http://www.truthout.org/slick-operator-the-bp-ive-known-too-well59178 for the full story:
.........This just in: (Louisiana lawyer Daniel Becnel Jr.) tells me that one of the platform workers has informed him that the BP well was apparently deeper than the 18,000 feet depth reported. BP failed to communicate that additional depth to Halliburton crews, who, therefore, poured in too small a cement cap for the additional pressure caused by the extra depth. So, it blew.
Why didn't Halliburton check? "Gross negligence on everyone's part," said Becnel. Negligence driven by penny-pinching, bottom-line squeezing. BP says its worker is lying. Someone's lying here, man on the platform or the company that has practiced prevarication from Alaska to Louisiana.
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