Evening Buzz: BP's Worst-Case Scenario
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/US/06/21/oil.spill.okaloosa.county/t1larg.ganet.jpg caption="Stephanie Neumann holds a Northern Gannet on Okaloosa Island, Florida." width=300 height=169]
Maureen Miller
AC360° Writer
Tonight on 360°, another internal BP document raising questions about the company's response to the Gulf oil disaster. It shows BP believes under a worst-case scenario that up to 100,000 barrels, or 4.2 million gallons of oil per days, could leak into the Gulf. Remember when this crisis began BP said the leak was just 1,000 barrels per day. Then it raised the estimate to 5,000 barrels. They've continued boosting that number, as we've been telling you for weeks. Though they've never said publicly that the spill could be as high as 100,000 barrels a day. We'll talk this over with Rep. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, who released the BP worst-case scenario document over the weekend.
There's also the new gaffe by BP CEO Tony Hayward. The embattled leader won't attend Tuesday's meeting of the National Oil Companies Congress in London. A company spokesman cited Hayward's "commitment to the Gulf of Mexico relief effort" for the reason why he won't be there. Commitment? If he's so committed, why did he attend a yacht race off the coast of England over the weekend. Hayward was spotted relaxing in sunglasses and a hat at the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race off Britain's Isle of Wight. His own 52-foot yacht "Bob" was part of the event. Weeks ago, Hayward came under fire for saying he'd “like to have his life back”. Seems he got his "life back" over the weekend.
At one point, Hayward realized his weekend retreat was coming under fire. He ended up tweeting this message: "Gulf response efforts remain my top priority. To assure continued focus, Bob Dudley will support me on this full-time to make it right." Again, we have to question his choice of words: a "top priority"?
Meanwhile, we're tracking the amount of money linked to this disaster. BP announced today the cost of the response to the disaster to date is about $2 billion. That estimate includes the cost of the spill response, containment, grants to Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs. As for that federal price tag, BP received a third bill from Washington today for $51.4 million. That brings the total to $122.29 million billed to date by the federal government.
BP also says it has paid $104 million to Gulf residents affected by the spill. But some are still left in limbo and are frustrated by all the red tape. We'll bring you the story of one man who runs a charter fishing boat business. He's having a tough time getting all the money he says he's owed by BP.
If you're looking for a way to help those impact by the spill. Don't miss Larry King's star-studded telethon tonight on CNN. To donate call 1-800-491-GULF. The phone lines will be open until 2am ET. Actor Robert Redford took part in the telethon. He'll talk with Anderson for tonight's big 360° interview.
Hope you can join us for our live coverage from Louisiana starting at 10 p.m. ET.
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Filed under: Maureen Miller • The Buzz |
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I wish everyone would calm down and get on with their job.
The environmental disaster has been exacerbated by everyone involved for the President of the USA all the way down to the Federal regulators and the clean up contractors. Baying for Obama's blood, BP's virtual nationalization or whipping up anti-British racism helps nobody. Fortunately the USA is a responsible nation and will have to bend to the discovery of the actual facts in respect to corporate culpability before it is discovered what the appropriate legal response should be. Meanwhile let British Petroleum and the US Coastguard resolve the taming of the wild well and the essential clean up operation. The MMS will bow to Federal Pressure and upgrade the Deep-water Exploration Drilling Regulations that the industry has awaited for nearly a decade.
The more I hear about BP, the more I am convinced they are Satan.
This IS the worst-case scenario. This is not a 'leak'. The scientifically correct term is a GUSHER. The pocket of fossil fuels (gas & oil) that was tapped is collapsing in on itself (being under water & in sand) & the hole is therefore getting increasingly BIGGER. I personally don't think it will be stopped until the well literally runs dry. By then, the entire ocean system (75% of the surface of the Earth) will be contaminated by oil. This is THE worst disaster in the history of humankind.
The worse case scenario is what is already been happing, and B.P. possibly, our own goverment have known all along. These guys are engineers and before they even dug the well they knew the specks on the size of the pipe and what could flow through it. The entire thing is a sham just like all the corporate lies. The problem is that we keep letting them all get away with this behavior ,no one goes to jail, the rich stay rich, the politicians all still have there jobs,apparently in America if you are rich you can do what ever you want,if you are poor you fill up the jails and keep the lawyers and Judges with lots of work.
I'm wondering why nobody is screaming about the natural gas wells mostley owned by Dick Chaaney that are poisining our entire water system across America, making everyone and everything sick and dead in there path, we are killing our COUNTRY acre by acre, The Gulf, the land ,the rivers,soon we will all be so sick we won't be able to pay them anymore and then maybe this madness will stop.
First of all, let's get our people down in the Gulf doing something NOW, not this summer! Take action.
No more fossil fuels that cause pollution, cancer, greed. The government and oil companies have patted each other's back long enough!
We voted for Obama to create jobs with CLEAN ENERGY and new technology to rid us of oil dependency. NOW we see it is necessary.
On the drilling, NO! Can't you see that if we destroy the earth, money and jobs and oil will be the least of our worries?
We need to care for this planet and it's creatures!
I bought bio-degradable trash bags the other day and wondered why we still sell the plastic?! OBAMA for CHANGE!
I am a dissenting voice here I feel. I Generally concur on all the other comments. I think this disaster is a tragedy and BP has to pay dearly. Much as I think Tony Hayward has been totally ineffective, the man can gave a day off. Perhaps one a bit less obvious would have been more in order. As for the President no matter where he is, he is never off duty. People need to regenerate so they can be in a clear mental state to make the wisest decisions for the gulf.
Everybody is so busy tracking the president and tony. If everybody doing this would devote just 10 minutes on ways to clean it up or find a DIFFERENT SOLUTION to stop the leak, we would be further ahead then waiting on the president or tony hayward. Money wont fix this but action will.
We should make B.P.Executives go out & take part in the cleanup Let's see the suits with oil on their hands or cleaning up the birds, Tony "Wayward" is not the only one responsible & nobody else is being mentioned @ B.P. to take the hit. Why is that., Who is next in line for responsibility
Why they don't get the Army engineer to stop this. It's seems that BP don't know what there are doing. This need to be stop God Please help us before it to late
The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR, Title 30-Mineral Resources, Chapter II, Part 254) required BP to file a Spill-Response Plan in advance. Part 254 is titled, "Oil-Spill Response Requirments For Facilities Located Seaward Of The Coast Line". Subparagraph 254.47 is titled, "Determining The Volume Of Oil Of Your Worst Case Discharge Scenario". Particular to the current blow out, it requires "The daily production volume from an uncontrolled blowout of the highest capacity well associated with the facility". I guess this is where the 100,000 gallons per day came from but I would like to have BP's Oil-Spill filing made public in its entirety. The Spill-Response plan is required to address, "Emergency Response Action", "Worst Case Discharge Scenario", "Dispersant Use Plan", "In-Situ Burning Plan", etc.
It dont take a rocket scientist to see what BP is doing the reason they will not stop the oil flow is they are making millions of dollars at the expense of our beautiful gulf. If BP stoped the oil flow the first week how much profit do they make none. I think the first hurricane of the season should be named hurricane HAYWARD.
I wonder how this catastrophe would be handled by BP if it was located off the coast of England, rather than the United States.
The problem is NOT the leak, it's the fact that everybody is dependant on getting this stuff out of the ground as cheaply as possible. We are ALL to blame for this mess!
"We will make this right" This phrase makes me want to vomit. It is nothing more than a slogan – it is vague and smacks of ambiguity. Nothing more than BP's latest marketing campaign.
Sickening.
EVERYbody wants cheap gas!!!
Why is this ONLY BP's fault???
Oh how it saddens my heart to watch the world continue to slide into the hands of greed. The injustice to the people that suffer to fill the pockets of the greedy BP CEO's. Why do we continue to allow our enviroment be destroyed for money, we can't get the enviroment back.
When are we going to learn,we never seem to care until its too late.
Money will make the people happy for short term,however long term the eco systems are lost and we forget until the next disaster occurrs.
Its unfortunate for the children living today seeing there world being taken apart,disaster after disaster due to greed. What will they see in ten to 20 years from now,what will be left to enjoy...very sad!!
i expect the worst case will occur. Industry should act now to manufacture machines that will help clean the oil up. They should modify tractors and the machines they pull so they can clean up the oil. maybe a street sweeper could be modified to clean up oil. I don't think we have the manpower to clean it all up with paper products. I know that the oil BP is getting is probably worth about 70$ per barrel. That money should go towards the damages and the clean up. We will still travel to Louisiana and Florida by next year but I know the economy has already damaged because of the oil spill.
We need to change the way we live as a society.
We do not need any oil drilling.
There are engines that have been tested that run on h20 and compressed air aswell.
Why are we not producing cars or auto's with these types of engines?
Some people say drilling is safe if the ban .I say no change and learn a Green technology type job .
Oil is not the solution at all.
Its time to learn a new trade in the Gulf so the fisherman can fish in clean water not oil.
I hope Anderson you will look into the alternative technologies that can now replace oil .
My husband just brought up a good point. If BP is losing a minimum of 60,000 barrels of oil from this well per day...with a possible worst case scenario being an estimated 100,000 barrels of oil PER DAY....FROM THIS ONE WELL.....why in the world are we purchasing the majority of our crude oil from Saudi Arabia???
Anderson, please tell the coorespondent at the wildlife rescue that sea turtle are more that cute.
Here's whats amazing: Their mom drags her body across the beach to lay eggs in the dunes and returns to the sea. If the eggs survive racoons the baby tutlesand hatch struggle to cross the sand past predators to get to the sea. Once in the water, a very small percent survive predators there to live to adulthood. A female turlte is 30 years old before she can lay her nest of eggs. And guess where she goes-she goes back to the very beach that she was born. These are very remarkable survivors-tell their story!
Anderson, first of all you do a great job!
This entire situation in the gulf is sickening to say the least. Does BP think that the oil will just stay put in the gulf? What will happen to the precious marine life in our oceans everywhere? What about the plankton? This will ride up the food chain and destroy everything that is precious. Also, the people that live in the gulf shore states. How incredibly heart breaking, Tony Hayward doesn't care, he is very wealthy, he only cares about himself and his greedy life. This is beyond words to describe. I watch you every night and each night it confirms BP just lies one right after the other. We are destroying our planet and it seems it's all in the name of money, big oil and big money. When we have no planet to live on anymore, we won't have to worry about oil.
Stop useing the despersant NOW from day one thank you
we should not be shocked at a 100.000 barrels a day. from the start of the spill Janet Napolitano and Chad Allen spoke of "we are acting and preparing for the worst case scenario" They knew about the possible 100.000 barrels.
If I was the president I would have a little more shame than him. Going golfing when the worst man made disaster in history is taking place, as I laugh and joke in the club house?
Why haven't we tried more ideas on ways to stop this oil before the other well is dug in August, and why isn't Anderson bringing up the subject? Why was BP allowed to use shears after the saw failed to cut the pipe leaving a jagged uneven cut. Why didn't our government demand they use another saw so the job could be done correctly ? It would have probably kept a lot more of this oil from being released.
Even if Bp lies there way out of how much oil is leaking, there should be criminal charges for intentionally and knowingly making false statements that they had adequate equipment for containing a large oil spill when they did not have the capability. Why didn't our government inspect them and find this failure. Lots of questions and few answers. Like always, great job Anderson for honest fair accurate reporting.
At 100,000 barrels per day, it will taked over 4 years to empty.
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How many thousands of gallons leak out of every well that is drilled in the Ocean? There needs to be video archives of all wells from drilling through closing. If the US government can have multiple video cameras on every corner in the US that are archived, they can have multiple videos with archived feed on every drilling rig.
.
This leak needs to be classifed as the largest oil spill in the history of the world.
Why have we stopped talking about ways to stop this oil ? I know BP probably doesn't want to spend any more money, but I'm positive that we have engineers in this country that have some good ideas that could at least slow it down more before the other wells are finished being drilled.
you got to be kidding me, Anderson....Tony Hayward was out yachting??...i guess he decided to "get his life back"....i hope the bum is in shark infested waters and his boat sinks!!!!
We are all outraged at Tony's yatching event. How would you feel if he played Golf every weekend, taken two vacations(NorthCarolina and Chicago), frequent parties, baseball and basketball games..all the last 63 days Mr. President.
i love u goverment but do the right thing please!!!!! :):)
Just tell the city to buy and hold U S Dollars! Go big Oil and drill drill drill baby!
Hello Maureen,
I understand that BP's estimate of oil release per day changes and are not telling us accuracy. I get that. I also have heard that the president turned down offers from 13 countries to help with the spill and all were turned down. So what is the reason for that?
Also, yes the BP CEO went to a personal outing back in Europe, but Obama also did many personal outings during this crisis. His response to this crisis is even worse than Bush's response to Katrina.
Thank you for your time in reading my comment. Have a nice evening.
Sincerely,
Shane
Everyone talks about how much money ... BP was in financial distress BEFORE the spew!
The value of their "reserves" had dropped tremendously in just the past year, dating from BEFORE the explosion in the gulf.
Sure, there's revenue – they are an oil company, but NOT billions in profits to be able to afford a future of clean-up costs...
The President needs to declare "a national state of emergency" and SEIZE all BP assets in the US immediately, including all off-shore oil leases and operation of the Alaska pipeline. NOW, do it NOW, before BP declare bankruptcy!
If worst case is 4.2 million gallons a day – how many days would it take to empty the well? I'm hopeful that the worst case scenario does not happen – we may find that the number for it is not accurate either.
BP wasn't very smart about this spill – first of course they cut too many corners and sacrificed safety. But in dealing with the US government and what they told the press, they should have started with the worst case scenario and then given an accurate estimate of what was spilling – the difference between the worst case and what was actually happening would seem encouraging to some. And BP would not be viewed as the biggest liars on the planet.
Looking forward to the show tonight. Thanks for all the hard work and keeping the Gulf foremost in our thoughts.