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Gov. appears confused over whether BP is capable of handling oil spill

RightinNYC

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US warns it may 'push BP aside' on Gulf oil clean-up

Oil firm BP may be "pushed out of the way" if it fails to perform in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster clean-up, a top US official has warned.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the British company had missed "deadline after deadline" in its efforts to seal a blown-out oil well.

BBC News - US warns it may 'push BP aside' on Gulf oil clean-up

vs.

Only BP has expertise to stop spill, top U.S. response official says

The U.S. official leading the response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill said Sunday that only BP had the expertise to plug the gaping hole in its deepwater well and that he trusted the oil company was doing its best.

The comments by Adm. Thad Allen, the commandant of the Coast Guard, signaled that the U.S. government wouldn't take a larger role in stopping the five-week-old spill even as frustration along the Gulf Coast grows over the Obama administration's policy of letting BP run the effort.

Only BP has expertise to stop spill, top U.S. response official says - Politics AP - MiamiHerald.com
 
Do you have a point here?

There seems to be two issues, cleaning up the leak and plugging it. The gov't may take over the cleanup but, obviously not the plugging. I think the gov't should have people right in there with BP following their decisions to plug this thing. They need to be much more accountable to the gov't on their progress, actions and successes/failures.

So far, all BP seems concerned with is avoiding providing accurate estimates of the flow of the leak, to minimize judgements in future lawsuits and to break up the oil before it reaches shore so black beaches from New Orleans to Key West don't show up on the news... to also minimize judgements.
 
Do you have a point here?

There seems to be two issues, cleaning up the leak and plugging it. The gov't may take over the cleanup but, obviously not the plugging. I think the gov't should have people right in there with BP following their decisions to plug this thing. They need to be much more accountable to the gov't on their progress, actions and successes/failures.

If you read the first article, it's clear that that's not limiting its discussion to cleaning up the spill.

Mr Salazar said the government had sent a team of scientific "all-stars" to BP's headquarters in Houston. "They have pushed BP in every way that they can to kill the well and they have pushed BP in every way that they can to stop the pollution," he said. "If there is a way to kill this well, they will find it. If there is a way to stop this pollution from spreading, they will find it."

He said the best option at the moment was to proceed with a "top kill" which involves injecting heavy drilling fluids into the ruptured pipe. Mr Salazar added that there was "no question" that BP was doing its utmost to resolve the situation "because this is an existential crisis for one of the world's largest companies". "Do I have confidence that they know exactly what they're doing? No, not completely."

So far, all BP seems concerned with is avoiding providing accurate estimates of the flow of the leak, to minimize judgements in future lawsuits

That's not how litigation works.

and to break up the oil before it reaches shore so black beaches from New Orleans to Key West don't show up on the news... to also minimize judgements.

Also not really how litigation works.
 
If you read the first article, it's clear that that's not limiting its discussion to cleaning up the spill.

Even better. If the gov has all stars with that kind of experience, they should be in there "encouraging" BP to git 'er done. They can also monitor what BP is not doing.

That's not how litigation works.
Also not really how litigation works.

I'm referring to fines, damages and punitive penalties all of which will take into consideration just how much oil was leaked, how bad it made the beaches look, on TV, as well as all that lost revenue to businesses and localities. It is in BP's best interests to try to minimize the amount of oil leaked. BP is obviously doing all they can with that in mind.
 
Even better. If the gov has all stars with that kind of experience, they should be in there "encouraging" BP to git 'er done. They can also monitor what BP is not doing.

Which is entirely irrelevant to the fact that we have two of the highest ranking government officials offering completely contradictory evaluations of whether BP can do this and whether the government is capable of stepping in.

I'm referring to fines, damages and punitive penalties all of which will take into consideration just how much oil was leaked, how bad it made the beaches look, on TV, as well as all that lost revenue to businesses and localities. It is in BP's best interests to try to minimize the amount of oil leaked. BP is obviously doing all they can with that in mind.

Their liability will indeed rely in part on the amount of oil actually leaked. The eventual calculation of how much oil was leaked will have nothing to do with our current estimations, nor with how bad people think it looks right now. That's my point.
 
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