BP Says Top Kill A Failure

A sign protesting BP and President Barack Obama is seen in Grand Isle, La., Saturday, May 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

BP has announced that "Top Kill," their attempt at plugging the Gulf of Mexico oil leak by pumping mud into the busted pipe, has failed. BP PLC Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said at a news conference last night that after three days, the company determined the method wasn't working, and said, "This scares everybody, the fact that we can't make this well stop flowing, the fact that we haven't succeeded so far." Most of the mud and junk used to plug the hole ended up escaping out of the pipe, and the company made the decision with the government to stop the attempt. Next plan: BP will use robot submarines to cut off the damaged pipe and then attempt to cap it, which could take at least four days.

Protesters also may have more fuel for their rage thanks to some revealing numbers. Federal records show that BP is one of the top Capitol Hill spenders, dropping $20 million since last year to lobby Congress and over $14,500 to New York congressional candidates alone. Charles Rangel raked in $8,500 from the oil giants, but Chuck Schumer got just $250. Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, told the Daily News, "If they could afford to spend tens of millions on lobbying, the question is, were they acting responsibly as a corporation?" She also said that members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee were among the top recipients for BP's cash.

Obama called the Top Kill failure "as enraging as it is heartbreaking," and mentioned that the robot submarine procedure "is not without risk and has never been attempted before at this depth. That is why it was not activated until other methods had been exhausted." Even if it works, oil could continue to flow all summer. Presidential adviser Carol Browner told CBS, "American people need to know that it is possible we will have oil leaking from this well until August when the relief wells will be finished." It could also get worse, as cutting the pipe in order to cap it could release up to 20% more oil over a few days.

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By Jaya Saxena in News on May 30, 2010 12:55 PM

Comments [rss]

Amanda Harletsch

The before, the after, and the long after... all part of a comprehensive plan by some "free enterprise":

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/05/03/dick_cheney_halliburton_oil_spill

inoyourider

Fuck BP.

Put these bastards out of business.

It's their fucking mess, and they have the money.

'Nuff said.

philosophy

Ideas on where we're at after the "Top Kill" FAIL:

http://rense.com/general90/analy.htm

ed_Extinct

GIANT CORK!

http://tinyurl.com/2uclg34

Mr Mel

Only way out of this, the Corps of Engineers handles the fix. The Gov't immediately freezes BP assets in the US and uses them to pay for the clean up. The next step is to ban BP from doing business here. The final step is to add a $1 tax to each gallon and use that money to find solutions to the fossil fuel situation that has too much of our wealth leaving the country. Lets go Barack do what you have to do.

Amanda Harletsch

As always the dark lord is involved:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2010/may/03/usa-dickcheney

gawkthis

well now it all makes sense: BP's resistance to drilling multiple vents was and is part of an intentional effort to cause an increase in the price of domestic oil by causing it to spill into the gulf rather than into tanks, resulting in an oil shortage due to moratorium in off-shore drilling.

the cyborg ex VP strikes again.

Spirit of 76

I don't think the Army Corps of Engineers has that much expertise working a mile down in the ocean. Their responsibilities are on land, not underwater. And some would say that the way the levees they constructed in New Orleans failed when Katrina hit, they're not experts on that, either.

Mr Mel

The Army Corps of Engineers is the go to for dams, canals, flood control and other harbor related issues. They've got the know how and expertise to handle most maritime situations. This disaster is a first and there are no experts.

Spirit of 76

Uh, you do realize that dams, canals, flood control and others are on land, not in deep water? Even the Navy's SeaBees wouldn't be able to handle this. The Navy doesn't have submersibles that can work at that depth. Even their NR-1 nuclear research submersible could only go to 3000 feet, and that's been decommissioned. The DSRVs might be able to get down there, but they're rescue vehicles and not equipped with any manipulators so there's no point in sending them down. It's so easy for people to say, "The Army can handle this. The Navy can handle this," when they don't don't know the limits of military technology.

gawkthis

the problem isn't that this is in deep water. the problem is that BP has consistently resisted any attempts to reduce the pressure in the well. the current administration wants BP to drill multiple vents but BP insists on drilling only one vent.

being totally without experience i would ask a simple question: why not drill multiple vents (as the current administration wants) to divert the flow of the main well and reduce the pressure flowing into each vent to an acceptable level and then cap each vent simultaneously?

nicemarmot

Yeah, go talk to the people in New Orleans about the Army Corps' expertise.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

Not unsurprising since both the BP and the Administration are half-heartening in this stop effect. They each want the other to fix the problem.

Stevennnn

I find this hard to believe. You're telling me with all the technology we have we cannot stop a hole?

Spirit of 76

And what technology would that be? The wellhead is about a mile down. The pressure at that depth is well over 2000 psi. Even with the most advanced hard diving suits available, you can't send a man down more than half a mile. All of this has to be done with remotely operated vehicles, which aren't the most capable machines.

That said, it astonishes me that BP is doing this so piecemeal. For them, it's try one idea then move onto the next only when it fails. For a disaster of this caliber, anybody with a brain would have immediately thrown everything but the kitchen sink at the problem. BP has some very incompetent engineers and even more incompetent managers on their payroll.

unretrofiedforu

You sure it's employee incompetence? Perhaps its management COMPETENCE in throwing some bones at it until it goes away and/or the public stops caring and/or they make the Discovery channel special. Wake up man.

Spirit of 76

Yeah, sure. People are going to forget about this any day now. It's on the front page of newspapers and leads the evening news every day – and getting worse by the day. It's not going away any time soon.

longacre

What's amazing is that the government would allow them to do it without a plan to stop the flow in the event a catastrophic failure.

Spirit of 76

That's not true. All of the companies had plans. Or claimed to. It's just that they're nowhere near as smart as they thought they were and Mineral Management Service had been running under the "drill, baby, drill" oil-friendly policies of Dubya and Cheney for eight years.

gawkthis

BP will be announcing their new, surefire, can't miss, method to stop the oil leakage: BP plans to plug the well with a combination of salt water taffy and matzoh balls.

the taffy is expected, due to its perceived affinity to salt water, to swell up and seal the matzoh balls, which by virtue of their high density, are expected to permanently seal the leaks.

matzoh balls has at least as much credibility as mud, if not more, since as everyone knows matzoh balls, like fruit cakes, are impervious to all manner of damage and are everlasting.