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Feds open criminal probe of Gulf oil spill

 
The Prof said:
responsibility?

LOL!
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The responsibility that Obama has already been taking in his efforts to clean up the oil spill? Considering all he has done (which is a lot, no matter how you try to spin it), it's not really a laughing matter.
 
danarhea said:
I believe that I am about to take a very unpopular position here, but I take this position because of logic, not emotion.

OK, civil investigations? I can go with that. BP cut a lot of corners, misled the public, and in general, acted like complete douche bags. Sue them.

But for the criminal investigations, I have some questions. Which laws of the land did BP violate? Did they commit perjury by lying under oath? Did they offer any kind of hush money to keep the extent of the spill secret? Doesn't look like it to me.

I have a strong feeling that this is not so much about finding out if BP broke the law, but to mitigate the political damage to Obama over this incident, and also to have a scapegoat to point at. Yes, BP needs to be held accountable for the damage they caused, and made to pay a price, but a witch hunt of any kind is going to be detrimental to finding a solution that will keep this from ever happening again.

I will follow the discussion here, as I put on my flame proof suit. :mrgreen:

Article is here.
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Criminal neglience resulting in environmental disaster, loss of economic and ecological resources, the death of workers, etc.

I do agree that this is political spin but if they wanted to charge BP there are ways to do it. I personally would just be satisfied with BP being sued and their stocks dropping until they are in the poor house. The fact that the oil is still spilling out after all this time is a complete travesty and someone has to pay.
 
Pensacola Beach officials said their request for about $150,000 from BP to buy sifting machines and a tractor to help remove oil from the beach's famous white sands has lingered unanswered for more than three weeks. BP has promised it will pay any expenses, but Panhandle officials say the bureaucracy has been slow. Some think the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be running the cleanup operation, not BP.

"We need the sifters and we haven't gotten them approved yet," said W.A. "Buck" Lee, Santa Rosa Island Authority's executive director. "It's been three weeks and the oil is coming. In my opinion, this entire thing should have been a FEMA project all along. If a hurricane blows the roof off your jail, you shouldn't have to wait and send a letter to BP to replace the roof on your jail."

Lee said the bureaucratic process set up at the federal staging centers in Alabama and Louisiana have also made it difficult to get information about his pending request.

Coast Guard Chief Peter Capelotti, spokesman for the Mobile, Ala.-based command center, did not have an immediate answer late Tuesday about the delay in approving Escambia county's request for the tractor and other equipment.
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Oil could hit Florida Panhandle by Wednesday
 
All I see is you posting stories that have nothing to do with your allegations, or with the thread topic for that matter.
 
pensacola...

3 weeks...

nothing...

waiting...

42 days, 11 hours, 14 minutes, 38 seconds...
 
The Prof said:
pensacola...

3 weeks...

nothing...

waiting...

42 days, 11 hours, 14 minutes, 38 seconds...
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What exactly are you waiting for, a magic fairy to wave it's wand and all of the worlds troubles to just dissapear?

An oil spill this size could take decades to clean up no matter what anyone does.
 
all the more reason to escalate our efforts now

instead of looking for someone (other than the epa and mms) to sue

Frustrated Louisianans took the oil cleanup into their own hands Sunday, heading out in boats to lay protective booms around a bird sanctuary threatened by a black tide.
"We're going out to Cat Island right now where a thousand pelicans are breeding," Billy Nungesser, president of the coastal Plaquemines Parish told AFP.

"Our crews are out there laying the absorbent boom," he said, adding that he couldn't understand why BP and the Coast Guard weren't doing more to protect his coastal parish.

In neighboring Jefferson Parish an emergency manager commandeered all 40 boom-laying boats hired by BP which were sitting idly at Grand Isle as oil sloshed onto beaches.

Bloggers and callers to a radio talk show cheered the dramatic action late Saturday night, promising the official their votes if he sought elective office.

Earlier in the day, WWL-AM radio station repeatedly replayed a taped interview in which a Coast Guard official in Terrebonne Parish took the blame for not ordering BP to do more, then flippantly said: "I guess I'm just slow and dumb."
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Louisianans take oil cleanup in own hands as frustration mounts
 
The president and the government ARE taking action, even if your little news site (which isn't even big enough to get a Wikipedia Article) says otherwise.
 
afp is little?

LOL!
 
ScottD said:
The president and the government ARE taking action, even if your little news site (which isn't even big enough to get a Wikipedia Article) says otherwise.
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ScottD said:
It is French. Not exactly the place you want to go to find a story on AMERICAN issues.
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Er...

Agence France-Presse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters.

...

AFP is based in Paris, with regional centres in Washington, Hong Kong, Nicosia, São Paulo, Montevideo and bureaux in 110 countries. It transmits news in French, English, Arabic, Spanish, German, and Portuguese.
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I'd say AFP is more than "little" and fairly qualified to report on American issues.
 
sure, the prez of plaquemines was mistranslated

by the french

With oil sloshing ashore along the state's barrier islands and seeping into marshes around the mouth of the Mississippi River, state and parish leaders want to use dredges to close channels between the Gulf and the coastal estuaries.

They said those plans have been held up by the Army Corps of Engineers and the agencies in charge of the spill response, including the Coast Guard and BP, the company responsible for the spill.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry, the federal on-scene coordinator for the response effort, told reporters the barrier island project was still under review. Environmental and wildlife officials "are weighing in on the impact to endangered and threatened species and other impacts this large-scale project could have," she said.

But Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser pointed to pictures of an oil-covered pelican nesting ground and asked reporters, "Is it affected now?"

Mayors and parish presidents were critical of both the government and BP's handling of the cleanup, recounting stories of misdirected protective booms or skimmers that sat on trucks ashore. And a visibly angry [st bernard parish president craig] Taffaro said the delays threatened his parish's ecosystem and the livelihoods of his people.
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Louisiana demands federal action on dredge plan - CNN.com)
 
ScottD said:
So the millions of dollars America has spent so far on clean-up seem to not actually exist if AFP is to be believed.
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Can you link me to the part of the story that says that? I don't see it.
 
RightinNYC said:
I would be very surprised if actual criminal charges resulted from this.
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Aren't you the dude who didn't think it was important to measure the flow rate of the leak? :roll: When it's the amount of oil that got spewed into the gulf that will determine one of their fines, and punitive damages.

That being said, it's a great political move to divert criticism away from Obama and make him look tough.
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Like Obama had anything to do with this. :doh

Truth is, BP is ****ed!

The #1 cause for the explosion, that killed eleven men, was BP's decision to use sea water instead of mud when placing the three cement plugs over Halliburton's objections. Halliburton was hired to do the cementing. Why did BP demand the use of sea water? It would get them to the next step faster. i.e. Stop losing $$ for BP on that rig, which was costing them $1 million per day up to that point. This is gross negligence and will be the reason that manslaughter changes will be filed against BP.

They damaged the BOP twice and did not stop work to fix it, or test it thoroughly, either time. Since the BOP's failure was the last safety feature (on this rig it was the only safety feature!) that could have prevented the oil flow this will rain fines on top of fines on BP's selfish, irresponsible head.

On top of all that, when their gross negligence is proved their fines from breaking the Clean Water Act could top $10.7 billion!

If I truly thought BP was big enough not to fail (where have I heard that phrase before?) and would survive this, I'd be gathering a bunch of dough to grab a bunch of their stock when it goes thru the basement. Sadly, I don't have my crystal ball with me.

BP is sooooo ****ed!
 
ADK_Forever said:
Aren't you the dude who didn't think it was important to measure the flow rate of the leak? :roll:
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No, I'm the guy who said things that you repeatedly failed to comprehend. I never said it was not important to measure the flow rate of the leak. I said that preliminary estimates re: flow rate are largely irrelevant to the eventual calculation of damages.

Like Obama had anything to do with this. :doh
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Yea, why would anyone think that the head of the executive branch had something to do with a decision made by an executive agency.

Truth is, BP is ****ed!

The #1 cause for the explosion, that killed eleven men, was BP's decision to use sea water instead of mud when placing the three cement plugs over Halliburton's objections. Halliburton was hired to do the cementing. Why did BP demand the use of sea water? It would get them to the next step faster. i.e. Stop losing $$ for BP on that rig, which was costing them $1 million per day up to that point.
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You should give Obama a call, I'm sure he could use your valuable insight on the issue. Just yesterday, he introduced a commission that would try to discover the cause of the spill in a report to be published six months from now. I guess he should just cancel that, now that you've figured it all out.

This is gross negligence and will be the reason that manslaughter changes will be filed against BP.
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Link?

On top of all that, when their gross negligence is proved their fines from breaking the Clean Water Act could top $10.7 billion!
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Link?

If I truly thought BP was big enough not to fail (where have I heard that phrase before?) and would survive this, I'd be gathering a bunch of dough to grab a bunch of their stock when it goes thru the basement. Sadly, I don't have my crystal ball with me.

BP is sooooo ****ed!
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Oh, well so long as you said so.
 
RightinNYC said:
No, I'm the guy who said things that you repeatedly failed to comprehend. I never said it was not important to measure the flow rate of the leak. I said that preliminary estimates re: flow rate are largely irrelevant to the eventual calculation of damages.
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And in your world, what does "preliminary" mean? Before the leak is stopped:confused: :roll:

Yea, why would anyone think that the head of the executive branch had something to do with a decision made by an executive agency.
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Please tell us, what decision pal?

You mean the decision to not repair the BOP? Twice?

You mean the decision to take short cuts that caused men to be killed?

You mean the wink and nods that went on between MMS and BP, that Obama and everybody outside of those two groups would have no idea was going on?

Are those the decisions you're talking of? :doh

You should give Obama a call, I'm sure he could use your valuable insight on the issue. Just yesterday, he introduced a commission that would try to discover the cause of the spill in a report to be published six months from now. I guess he should just cancel that, now that you've figured it all out.
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It's got to be done. Unlike you, I can read what eye witnesses have said happened. Unlike you, I can say, without any partisan prejudice, that BP is ****ed. Why can't you:confused:

Link? Link?
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Plenty of "links" have already been provided. I guess you missed them, ehh? I'm sure it was an honest mistake. :lol:
 
ScottD said:
The government can multitask. They can clean up the oil and bring BP to justice at the same time, and they ARE doing both.
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No wonder "Conservatives" do such a lousy job of governing when they are in office. They can't seem to figure out that it's possible to do more than one thing at a time.
 
ScottD said:
What exactly are you waiting for, a magic fairy to wave it's wand and all of the worlds troubles to just dissapear?

An oil spill this size could take decades to clean up no matter what anyone does.
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You are grasping at straws. Liberals will defend anything, I swear.

Obama has done absolutely nothing. Nada. Zilch. He's managed two vacations, a ton of golf, a little basktball, and a very rare appearance on TV or a 3-hour stop in Louisiana to "look concerned." (Geez, it takes four hours to play golf if you're hauling ass.) It took him two weeks to even mention the spill publicly.

When the national media, on every station, has to go to GREAT lengths to repeat over and over that "Obama does care", that should tell you something.

It's a damn good thing 9/11 didn't happen on his watch. Obama has no clue what he's doing, but then again, he's never been in charge of anything in his life.
 
Erod said:
You are grasping at straws. Liberals will defend anything, I swear.

Obama has done absolutely nothing. Nada. Zilch. He's managed two vacations, a ton of golf, a little basktball, and a very rare appearance on TV or a 3-hour stop in Louisiana to "look concerned." (Geez, it takes four hours to play golf if you're hauling ass.) It took him two weeks to even mention the spill publicly.

When the national media, on every station, has to go to GREAT lengths to repeat over and over that "Obama does care", that should tell you something.

It's a damn good thing 9/11 didn't happen on his watch. Obama has no clue what he's doing, but then again, he's never been in charge of anything in his life.
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You seem to have missed the documentation earlier this thread that shows a great deal has been done to clean up this spill. Funny that.
 
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