http://www2.wkrg.com/news/2012/dec/13/more-oil-leaking-deepwater-horizon-well-ar-5162349/
Is More Oil Leaking from Deepwater Horizon Well?
Credit: Associated Press
Photo from July 2010 as Oil continued to gush from Deepwater Horizon well, Gulf of Mexico
By: | WKRG-TV
Published: December 13, 2012
Published: December 13, 2012
LOUISIANA --
CBS News has learned that BP is set to embark Thursday on the fifth day of a little-known subsea mission under Coast Guard supervision to look for any new oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
The BP oil rig exploded in 2010, killing 11 workers and sending more than 7 million gallons of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for three months before it was capped.
In September, a new oil sheen was spotted about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast. Tests confirmed the oil came from the infamous Macondo well underneath the Deepwater Horizon. BP's underwater vehicle observed oil seeping from the well's containment dome and, after a remote operation, declared the leaks plugged on October 23. The company and the Coast Guard said it wasn't feasible to clean up the slick, and that it didn't pose a risk to the shoreline.
But more oil continues to surface. Slicks and sheens of varying sizes and shapes have been documented by satellite photos, as well as aerial video recorded by the non-profit environmental group "On Wings of Care." It's suspected that an unknown amount of oil trapped in the containment dome, and in the wreckage and equipment from 2010, could be seeping out.
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., helped lead the original investigation of BP after the Deepwater Horizon exploded, and says it's deja vu: BP is not turning over videos and information requested by Congress.
"My concern is that substantial amounts of oil could still be leaking from the wreckage," Markey told CBS News.
Last month, BP pleaded guilty to more than a dozen felonies from the 2010 disaster, including lying to Congress about how much oil was really pouring into the water.
Markey says BP is now repeating its stonewalling behavior of two years ago. For more than two months, Markey and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., have been asking BP for underwater video and information such as the size of the slicks and how much oil could be trapped, but BP has said it will not provide the information due to pending investigations and litigation.
"Back in 2010, I said BP was either lying or incompetent. Well, it turns out they were both," says Markey. "This is the same crime scene, and the American public today is entitled to the same information that BP was lying about in 2010 so that we can understand the full dimension of the additional environmental damage."
BP spent a fortune after the 2010 disaster -- on ads to improve its image. It also spent $18 billion on cleanup and victims, and $4.5 billion more to settle criminal charges.
The Coast Guard canceled an interview with CBS News at the last minute on Wednesday. BP also declined to be interviewed but told us in a statement, "The Macondo well and its associated relief wells are secure." BP also says it will work with the Coast Guard "on any further steps, as needed, to address the results" of this week's survey of the wells and wreckage where oil from 2010 could still be trapped.
and.......
http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/12/12/internal-bp-emails-could-expose-corporate-cover-up-gulf-oil-disaster
Internal BP Emails Could Expose Extent Of Corporate Cover-Up Of Gulf Oil Disaster
Attorneys for Kurt Mix, a former engineer for BP, claim that a spate of previously unreleased emails will “exonerate” their client in the current criminal case being pursued against Mix. Mix is the first person in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and leak to be brought up on criminal charges for his role in the cover-up of the extent of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice formally charged Mix with obstruction of justice for allegedly destroying evidence, specifically text messages, relating to how much oil was flowing from the broken wellhead in the Gulf. The amount of oil flowing into the Gulf waters determined the size of the fines that BP would face from the federal government, so the company could have benefited substantially from under-reporting the true volume of the flow rate.
The new emails that will be released during Mix’s criminal trial allegedly show that Mix repeatedly warned his superiors at BP that they were under-reporting the true scope of the spill to the government and the media, undermining the federal government’s case against Mix. While these emails could show that Mix did the right thing in one arena, it is unlikely that it will “exonerate” him, as his attorneys claim. After all, the charges against Mix are for deleting text messages related to the disaster, which were evidence.
The one thing that is almost guaranteed from these emails, assuming they exist in the form that Mix's attorneys are claiming, is that they could expose the cover-up by BP executives, and tell the story of how they intentionally misled everyone about the nature of their oil geyser. And given what we already know, it seems incredibly likely that the oil giant's leadership knew from the start how much oil was flowing from the broken wellhead.
During the initial days of the oil leak, BP was constantly updating their estimates of how much oil was flowing out of the broken pipeline. In spite of their advanced camera, computer, and other data technologies, they were somehow never able to give an accurate, or even close to accurate, account of what was happening beneath the water’s surface.
But it is hard to believe that BP couldn’t get an accurate count of what was coming out of that broken pipe, or even a reasonable rough estimate. After all, the company boasted in 2008 that they had developed technology that was capable of determining the flow rate of oil through a broken pipe – the very situation that was happening in the Gulf. They invented the technology, bragged about it, but when it would have actually been useful to deploy, BP claimed they couldn’t accurately measure the flow rate, and thus the scope of the disaster.
In November of this year, BP pleaded guilty to numerous criminal charges, one of which involved obstruction of justice for misleading Congress about the flow rate of the wellhead. The new emails could help shed light on who knew what, and how high up the corporate ladder the cover-up actually went.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-11/cover-e-mails-show-bp-lied-authorities-deepwater-horizon-spill
( What other email might set up stooge for BP have up his sleeve - seems like Kurt Mix doesn't want to play the Oswald / Sirhan Sirhan role )
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-11/cover-e-mails-show-bp-lied-authorities-deepwater-horizon-spill
Former BP engineer Kurt Mix is being charged by federal prosecutors with obstructing the law. They believe that he deleted thousands of emails and text messages tied to the company’s efforts to measure the size of the underwater leak.
The emails that Mix’s lawyer is set to release in February will supposedly prove his innocence by showing that he deleted nothing, and at the same time show that BP in fact knew about the size of the flow rate long before they advised the US authorities. BP always claimed that they didn’t learn of the spills full extent until after April, when in fact they knew almost immediately.
The emails show that just two days after the explosion occurred Mix sent in an estimation of the flow rate to his supervisor of between 62,000 and 146,000 barrels a day. BP executives told the coast guard that their best estimates held the leak at 1,000 barrels a day.
Then in May an executive at a Norwegian energy consulting firm analysed the videos and suggested that “it can be ruled out that the flow at seabed is in the order of 40,000.”BP’s current chief executive, Bob Dudley, then decided to state on MSNBC that the new flow rate estimates were around 5,000 barrels a day. Still way below the estimates supplied to BP’s management.
If BP is indeed found guilty of deceiving the federal prosecutors, then they could find themselves with a much heftier fine than before.
Report: BP Deepwater Horizon Leaking Oil Again
Thursday, 13 Dec 2012 10:39 AM
The rig’s owners, BP, are setting out Thursday on the fifth day of a top-secret search to find the leak, according to CBS News, which said the Coast Guard is supervising the mission.
CBS said a new oil sheen was spotted 50 miles off the Louisiana coast in September and tests showed it came from the well beneath the Horizon platform. BP said a leak was plugged on Oct. 23.
But now CBS says more oil is surfacing. “Slicks and sheens of varying sizes and shapes have been documented by satellite photos, as well as aerial video recorded by the non-profit environmental group ‘On Wings of Care,’ " the network reported.
“It's suspected that an unknown amount of oil trapped in the containment dome, and in the wreckage and equipment from 2010, could be seeping out.”
Democratic Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts told CBS that BP is refusing to hand over vital documents related to the search.
"Back in 2010, I said BP was either lying or incompetent. Well, it turns out they were both," said Markey. "The American public today is entitled to the same information that BP was lying about in 2010 so that we can understand the full dimension of the additional environmental damage.”
BP told CBS the wells are “secure,” and it is cooperating with the Coast Guard’s investigation.
The Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010 killed 11 workers on the platform and resulted in more than 7 million gallons of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico over a three month period.
and......
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