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In its emergency plans in the event of an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP made clear it knows how to save "seals, sea otters, and walruses" in the Gulf waters. The only problem is, no such animals live in the Gulf.
Indeed, it appears BP literally copied and pasted emergency response plans to apply to any spill in the world, regardless of the reality of the local ecosystems. While "seals, sea otters, and walruses" are a concern for oil spills in colder waters, there are none of those animals in the Gulf.
Homeland Security Wire noticed the errors after a report from USA Today highlighted other aspects of BP’s total lack of preparation in the event of a disaster as catastrophic as that in the Gulf.
BP’s 582-page emergency-response never anticipated an oil spill as large as the one now gushing on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico; a closer reading shows the document was not much than a boilerplate, cut-and-paste job used by BP from region to region; in a section titled "Sensitive Biological & Human-Use Resources," the emergency plan lists "seals, sea otters and walruses" as animals that could be impacted by a Gulf of Mexico spill — even though no such animals live in the Gulf; the plan was approved in July by the federal Minerals Management Service (MMS), a toothless agency accused by lawmakers of being in the pocket of the oil industry.
As HSW notes, as reckless and unprepared as BP was to copy and paste emergency response notes without a real plan for how to tackle a massive oil spill in the Gulf, the real problem rests with the complete failure of regulators to not only notice this problem, but act on it.
Any reasonable person whose job is to ensure the safety of offshore drilling – as is the task of MMS – should know that "seals, sea otters and walruses" do not live in the Gulf of Mexico. That alone should have been a red flag to inspect every word of BP’s supposed readiness plans, if not put a halt to offshore drilling operations until MMS was 100% satisfied with the readiness of industry to go after a spill.
Instead, MMS winked and nodded to BP and the rest of the industry, and pretended walruses bask on the shores of Florida. MMS went right on ahead and issues 27 approval for offshore drilling in the two weeks after the disaster.
It should be no surprise no one has any idea how to stop the disaster in the Gulf, if these are the jokers who were supposed to be ready.
24 Comments
*facepalm*
Did anyone do a text search on the document for “mermaid”?
LOL. Honestly not a bad idea.
Nice catch Michael, thanks.
I would posit that the cover up of this huge disaster is becoming as toxic as the event itself for BP/Halleybutt/TransOcean and sadly, our President, Dept Of Commerce, and MMS.
And before this event and its aftermath run their course it’s likely to reveal further Congressional maldoings and other state and local political figures and their involvement in the culpability of enabling and creating this mess.
Because I can’t think of ONE reason (aside from profit) for Obama and NOAA and MMS to behave like they have during all of this.
This appears to be a MAJOR cover up of complete and utter corruption and malfeasance at all levels, in both private and public sectors.
Why was Napolitano allowed to go out there yesterday and say what she did? It was an dmission of incompetence! Or complicity depending on what one reads into her admission. It took this incident FAR beyond Bushie, Brownie, and Katrina.
As has been said by others, this is a Chernobyl level of a clusterphuck, both for enviro/human considerations but also for political impact.
EPA is up to their eyeballs in looking the other way. It would be curious to know what our Federally mandated Environmental Protection Agency has been tasked by it’s Administrator. i.e. What teams are in place, what studies are being performed, what monitoring is on-going, where water quality is being monitored on a constant periodic basis.
Maybe Lisa Jackson is on a Sabbatical, to BP.
you rock!…your description is spot on
Seals, Sea Otters and Walruses sort of look like Manatees don’t they? Honest mistake.
I see a big upswing in sales of seal, sea otter, and walrus costumes.
LOL Comment of the Day! (so far)
BP “cut and paste”
BP must have been thinking about this line in the Beatles
“I Am the Walrus”
I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.
I’m crying.
Sitting on a bench, waiting for the bus to come.
Corporation t-shirts, stupid bloody Tuesday.
You’ve been a naughty boy, you let your hair grow long.
I am eatting eggs, they are eatting eggs, I’m John Lennon,
Goo goo ga joob.
Generalized answer: Yes, Empire. No, regulation!
There will be no regulation of the Global Empire — financial, ecological, social, military, legal or otherwise.
The Global corporate/financial/militarist Empire that controls ‘our’ country does not want, and will not suffer, regulation of any kind to get in its way!
Best luck against this Empire,
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
Maybe the regulators didn’t know there were no seals, otters or walruses in the Gulf, having never been gifted with an extended “fishing” trip to these parts.
Or maybe, they were extra impressed with how thorough BP’s plan was. I mean, to have a complete set of contingencies, on the shelf, ready and waiting, just in case one or two arctic mammals inadvertantly just happened to find themselves in the Gulf.
Yeah, that’s the right answer. Hey team, here’s how we deal with this fuck-up.
Does anyone know if those waivers are still good. Is Obama being clear about a moratorium on off shore drilling or not?
Obviously the “contingency” plan for when they destroy ANWR. They just dusted it off and pulled it off the shelf.
The Jazi oil spill figures to reach the Florida Keys this weekend.
Cleanup volunteers my sign in at KeysSpill.com.
Christ, this is turning into a Marx brothers movie day by day.
One thing for sure, all this crap is more revelatory of how this country really conducts it’s affairs than any hamster-wheel primary elections, no matter how oddball the results.
What we have here is a real-time civics lesson beyond compare. I can remember no time in my life when the difference between the standard rhetoric on how the US is supposed to work, and how it really works, has been so starkly illuminated. The Vietnam era briefly perhaps, for a short while.
We had to get our heads busted back then to get any traction at all. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out this time.
Thanks for the educational post. The more this info gets out there, the better. Citizens really need to *get it* that this country is broken, and that cutting taxes to the excessively wealthy and handing over the running of our affairs to big corporations simply doesn’t work.
It’s really frustrating that so many citizens can be so blind to how poorly everything is being run anymore. It’s NOT because the govt is “too big.” It’s bc the gov’t is filled with corporate cronies out to make a buck offa the back of middle and lower class taxpayers.
And now this! Really pathetic. Keystone cops on steriods. and somehow citizens are supposed to just accept this as “business as usual.” Gah.
Well, I dunno… will citizens awaken from their complacency and distraction long enough to really realize how screwed they are? One can only hope so.
Emptywheel is upstairs!
Sheldon Whitehouse Lists the NEPA Exclusions
Oh Lord, that’s bad.
Did they also have a section titled, “Lions and Tigers and Bears” that discussed using Ruby Slippers?
Oh I am going with they are finally starting to admit this is going to be a worldwide catastrophe before they are done. And therefore, all oceans will be affected, seals, sea otters, and walruses too…
Well they know how to deal with sea life that doesn’t actually inhabit the Gulf just in case they are found there. Doesn’t that mean that they have gone over and above the studies that they needed to do?
Seals and Walruses??? These corporations have no respect for anything except a desire for profit, at life’s expense?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
“In 1951 with near unanimous support of Iran’s parliament, Mosaddegh nationalized the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC).”The 1933 agreement under which it was operating was widely regarded as exploitative and an infringement on Iran’s sovereignty.[5][6] Iran’s oil was the British government’s single largest overseas investment.[7] Moreover, the AIOC had consistently violated the terms of the 1933 agreement and was reluctant to renegotiate, even as Iran’s movement for nationalization grew in the late 1940s.[8] Even though AIOC was highly profitable, “its Iranian workers were poorly paid and lived in squalid conditions.” The AIOC, which was 51 percent owned by the British government, bankrolled disruptive tribal elements in Iran, some politicians and clergy with the purpose of bringing down the government. Iranians blamed Britain for most of its problems and public support for nationalization was strong.[9] Despite Mosaddegh’s popular support, Britain was unwilling to negotiate its single most valuable foreign asset, and instigated a military blockade of Iran and worldwide boycott of Iranian oil to pressure Iran economically.[10)""
"Initially, Britain mobilized its military to seize control of the Abadan oil refinery, the world's largest, but Prime Minister Attlee opted instead to tighten the economic boycott.[11] With a change to more conservative governments in both Britain and the United States, Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to overthrow Iran’s government.[12]”
Americans must understand as did Jefferson the immoral nature of corporations who control governments There is no doubt the Iranian “right to self determination” was thwarted then obliterated by BP, Britain and America, whose lone goal was control of another nation’s resources? Sounds familiar when you put America’s addiction to oil, instilled then monopolized via collusion, in some historical context. Corporate Servitude is not Liberty! Some right to self determination, wasting .75 cents of every American dollar spent on gasoline. This is the epitome of natural selection retardation. It is a recipe for extinction! Now IMO, polluting the gulf with oil by negligent foreign corporations should be considered, an act 0f war! Look what corporatist did to Iran, for oil? Look what they are doing to the Gulf! Look what they did and have done to America by driving the cost of energy up to $147.00 per barrel, extracting wealth then betting Americans who could afford $4.00 per gallon gas while wasting $3.00 of that four dollars, out the tailpipes, WOULD GO BELLY UP AND NOT HAVE MONEY TO PAY FOR MORTGAGES AFTER ALL THE LIBERTY HAD BEEN SUCKED UP???????
FUCK THE OIL WHORES, not the Seals, Walruses and America!!!!!!
I had a comment on a different diary regarding Nationalizing BP for the crimes they have committed and are continuing to commit.
“BP has perpetrated an attack against the United States, against our National Security, against our environment and ecosystems. The argument could even be made for ‘crimes against’ humanity.”
“Nationalize BP, a foreign corporation. Cap the Well. Sell their assets to pay for clean-up, reclamation and reimbursement.”
“We’re going to need the money.”
A comment well worth posting again!!! You are correct!