Its time for BP’s CEO Tony Hayward to go. His is clearly not capable of stopping this spill. BPâs latest efforts at a “top kill” have failed badly. It may be August now before the spill is stopped. He has lost the confidence of investors. Shares in the oil giant have plunged as much as … Read More
Gulf of Mexico
BP: Biggest Polluter
So now it is official. What everyone has suspected for the last month, we now know to be true. The Deepwater Horizon spill is now the largest in US history. Yesterday President Obama attacked BP over Americaâs âworst oil disasterâ, after new estimates put the amount of oil spilt at anything from 30 to 39 … Read More
Deja Vu as Oil Spill Workers Get Sick
One of the ongoing tragedies of the Exxon Valdez oil spill is that thousands of people who worked on the cleanup are sick, have gotten sick, and continue to die from inhaling the lethal cocktail of oil and dispersant. The tragedy is that, like the oil spill itself, the illnesses and deaths were preventable. Move … Read More
Its Top Kill or a $70 Billion Bill
Today, its Top Kill or bust. Never have the stakes for BP been higher. Latest estimates are that the company could face up to $70 billion in penalties and pay-outs for the Gulf oil spill if todayâs attempts to stem the flow of oil fail. Today BP will attempt a âTop Killâ â pumping heavy … Read More
Dispersant Row Intensifies
This is now becoming a comedy of tragic proportions. Last week the EPA ordered BP to find another dispersant after repeated warnings from scientists that its dispersant Corexit was untested on the sea-bed and too toxic. But BP is just ignoring the government and continuing to use the chemical. So far the company has poured … Read More
âInto the abyss of deathâ
Out of sight and out of mind. That is what dispersants do to oil. Repeatedly on this blog for the last month, we have warned about the dangers of using dispersants, especially at depths where the technique was essentially untested. Finally we are finding out what the use of disperants has done beneath the surface.
Donât Worry – Be Happy
âDonât Worryâ – be happy â that is Tony Haywardâs birthday message to his staff. Hayward has returned home to London to chair a crisis board meeting, trying to give his staff an upbeat message. Hayward has emailed staff saying that âI know that many of you have questions about how this incident will impact … Read More
Could the Spill Sink BP?
First it was a question, said more like a whisper. Surely BP will survive the spill? The concept that such a corporate giant could be felled by one outrageous irresponsible act would have been unthinkable even a few weeks ago. But more and more people are asking could the spill sink BP? Already the future … Read More
Donât Worry: Itâs only a drop in the ocean
BPâs CEO Tony Hayward has come up with the ultimate excuse for the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, claiming it is “relatively tiny” compared with the “very big ocean”. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Hayward tried to claim that the spill should be put into context. “The Gulf of Mexico is a … Read More
Unanswered Questions
Itâs now been over three weeks since BPâs oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded, burned and sank in the Gulf of Mexico. These have been hectic weeks for all concerned, no doubt, but the paucity of information available to the public is at best, discouraging. How much oil is flowing / has flowed into the Gulf … Read More