Re-reporting, editing, comment by Carolyn Bennett
Michigan Representative John Dingell says he wants answers. “This is not [British Petroleum’s] first time appearing before the Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee, Dingell said at the opening of his committee’s hearing on Wednesday.
In 2007, a hearing focused on “corrosion in pipeline leading up to the Alaska Pipeline [resulting in] one million liters of oil leaking in Alaska’s North Slope. [But] The North Slope disaster is only one example of BP being before this subcommittee.
“We also investigated BP’s Texas City operations. Back in 2007, BP and its subsidiaries agreed to pay $50 million in criminal fines because of the 2005 explosions at its Texas City refinery. … This fine is equal to less than a day’s corporate profits. …
“A little more than a year ago, in April 2009, the Minerals Management Service exempted BP’s lease at Deepwater Horizon from an environmental impact statement as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. BP called the prospect of an oil spill ‘unlikely’ and stated that ‘no mitigation measures other than those required by regulation and BP policy will be employed to avoid, diminish or eliminate potential impacts on environmental resources.’
“This is outrageous. NEPA is the law of the land for a reason. I know because I wrote it.…
“… Like the explosions at BP’s Texas City refinery, we not only have an environmental disaster [in the Gulf of Mexico], we have the tragic loss of lives.…
“Since BP’s effort to get the containment dome in place didn’t work, the company has resorted to golf balls, knots of rope and other miscellaneous materials to try and plug the hole. … It strikes me as odd that with all the technology we have, golf balls are our best hope. … It is critically important that we understand what happened to the Deepwater Horizon rig and well and what additional precautions we need to take to prevent anything like this from happening again…
“The Gulf Coast is one of the most environmentally sensitive areas in the country. There are more than 400 species, including rare birds, waterfowl and sea turtles that are at very serious risk from this disaster. The coastal wetlands are a very fragile ecosystem that deserves protection.”
Presenting yesterday before the Subcommittee Briefing on “Sizing up the BP Oil Spill: Science and Engineering Measuring Methods,” Purdue University professor Steve Wereley gave evidence that the BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico is leaking 95,000 barrels of oil (or four million gallons) a day ─ an estimate 19 times the 5,000-barrel-a-day estimate reported by British Petroleum.
Steve Wereley is an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, author of the book on optical flow measurement with 18 years experience in flow measurement using image analysis. He has “no involvement with the petroleum industry.” Wereley’s “Oil Flow Rate Analysis (and comparative data of) the Deepwater Horizons Accident” that reportedly began April 20, 2010 was:
Surface analysis BP: 5, 000 bbl/day
Comparison: All outsider estimates higher than BP’s
MacDonald (FSU): 25, 000 bbl/day
Video analysis Chang (UCB): 20,000-100,000 bbl/day
Crone (Columbia): 20,000-100,000 bbl/day
Wereley (Purdue): 56,000-84,000 bbl/day
Sources and notes
Representative John Dingell has spent years investigating BP – between the Texas City incident and Prudhoe Bay pipeline closure due to corrosion in pipelines leading up to the Alaska Pipeline which led to one million liters of oil in Alaska’s North Slope. In a hearing in 2007 regarding Prudhoe Bay, Dingell said:
“‘Workers were often forced to forgo safety measures to save money and to ultimately increase BP’s profits’ and ‘yet these [safety] programs in many cases appear to have been halted or cut due to budgetary reasons. This is the core of what we’ve learned about the way BP managed Prudhoe Bay. Until BP fully acknowledges the role cost cutting and budget pressure played in creating this mess, I fear other problems, like this, may be [occurring] at other BP facilities throughout the United States.’”Member of the U.S. House of Representatives John D. Dingell is Chairman Emeritus of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, “one of five ‘exclusive’ committees in the House. John Dingell is an avid conservationist and outdoorsman; senior member on the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission; and he has successfully passed legislation to create North America’s first international wildlife refuge, protecting thousands of acres of natural habitat in Southeast Michigan and Canada. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Nature Conservancy of Michigan, http://www.house.gov/dingell/bio.shtml
Britannica: “Prudhoe Bay is a small inlet of the Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean, indenting the northern coast of Alaska, U.S. It is situated about 200 miles (320 km) east-southeast of Point Barrow. The bay has been the center of drilling activities since the discovery of vast petroleum deposits on Alaska’s North Slope in 1968. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline links the area to Valdez, an ice-free port on Prince William Sound (Pacific Ocean) 800 miles (1,300 km) to the south. Deadhorse, located near the bay, is the center of much of the area’s oil production. Working conditions in the desolate Arctic Circle are severe, particularly in winter when crews face subzero temperatures.”
Britannica: Texas City is a city in Galveston County, Texas, U.S; part of the Galveston–Texas City complex on Galveston Bay. Texas City is a deepwater port on channels to the Gulf of Mexico. After World War II, its industrial activities have expanded considerably to include the production of petrochemicals, tin smelting, and oil refining.
Britannica: The Gulf of Mexico (Spanish Golfo de México) is a partially landlocked body of water on the southeastern periphery of the North American continent. It is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Straits of Florida, running between the peninsula of Florida and the island of Cuba, and to the Caribbean Sea by the Yucatán Channel, which runs between the Yucatán Peninsula and Cuba. Both of these channels are about 100 miles (160 km) wide. The gulf’s greatest east-west, north-south extents are approximately 1,100 and 800 miles (1,800 and 1,300 km), respectively; it covers an area of some 600,000 square miles (1,550,000 square km). To the northwest, north, and northeast it is bounded by the southern coast of the United States, while to the west, south, and southeast it is bounded by the east coast of Mexico.”
The Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, Subcommittee Briefing on “Sizing up the BP Oil Spill: Science and Engineering Measuring Methods, Wednesday, May 19, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building
Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing “Inquiry into the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Coast Spill”: Dingell Statement from BP Oil Spill Hearing Wednesday, May 12, 2010, http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/mi15_dingell/20100512bpoilspill.shtml
http://energycommerce.house.gov/documents/20100519/Wereley.Presentation.05.19.2010.pdf
http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=868&catid=67&Itemid=58
“BP Oil Spill Enters Loop Current as Leak Estimate Rises,” May 20, 2010, http://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/20/headlines#1
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