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Factbox: Developments in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill
(Reuters) - Here are developments in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the largest in U.S. history:
SPILL CONTAINMENT EFFORTS
* After BP Plc said the complex "top kill" maneuver to plug its Gulf of Mexico oil well had failed on Saturday, it is moving to the next option -- the lower marine riser package cap, which will capture oil from the well rather than plug it.
* The company will know by the end of the week whether the new containment effort has worked, BP Managing Director Robert Dudley said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
* Government scientists estimated that cutting the riser pipe coming out of the blowout preventer to prepare for the next containment option could result in a temporary oil flow increase of up to 20 percent.
* The ultimate solution may be the drilling of two relief wells began in May and to be completed in August, an expensive but more reliable way to intercept and cap the leaking well.
OIL SLICK THREAT
* The huge oil slick from the gushing well could threaten the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this week, driven by moderate southerly and southwesterly winds, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
* Louisiana's wetlands and fishing grounds have been the worst hit so far by the spill, while Mississippi and Alabama have had only scattered tar balls and oil debris reaching their coasts.
* The NOAA forecast was a sober reminder that oil from the unchecked spill, broken up and carried by winds and ocean currents, could threaten a vast area of the U.S. Gulf Coast, including Florida, as well as Cuba and Mexico.
POLITICS
* President Barack Obama met on Tuesday with the co-chairs of a commission he set up to investigate the spill, former Senator Bob Graham and former Environmental Protection Agency chief William Reilly. Obama vowed to overhaul U.S. laws and regulations governing offshore drilling to prevent a repeat of the catastrophe.
* Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department has launched a criminal and civil investigation into the spill and rig explosion that killed 11 workers. The FBI is taking part.
* Democratic lawmakers stepped up their calls for action. Representative Ed Markey called the spill an "environmental crime" and Senator Mary Landrieu demanded BP invest $1 billion in wetlands protection.
* On Sunday, the president ordered government and contractor clean-up resources in areas affected by oil be tripled.
COMPANY NEWS
* Dudley said that he does not think BP Chief Executive
Tony Hayward, who has faced heavy criticism, should resign.
* BP's total financial cost of the response to the disaster now stands at $990 million, and is rising.
MARKETS
* BP shares plunged on Tuesday after the top kill strategy failed, and the company has now lost more than a third of its market value, or about 46 billion pounds ($67 billion), since the leak started six weeks ago.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"We have begun both a criminal as well as a civil investigation as is our obligation under the law," Holder said. "If we find evidence of illegal behavior, we will be forceful in our response."
(Writing by Mary Milliken; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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Thanks to true leaders and advocates for public safety like Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado, there will soon be legislation introduced to force these drilling companies to disclose the lists of toxins they are injecting all over the US into YOUR water supplies. What kind of liability will they bear when we find out they are killing people?
BP’s management has destroyed $70 Billion of market cap so far, most of it due to the cover-up.
This is not rocket science. It is a leaking pipe. If BP would stop trying to sweep this under the rug and come clean, the problem can be solved.
Why try to cover up? The jig is up. Nobody believes BP anymore. You are not going to sweep this under the rug.
When you cut corners and have a accident, you get sued. But when you willfully cover up and thereby purposely prevent the problem from getting fixed, that’s when judges and juries start adding a few more zeroes onto the judgement.
I think the root of the problem is that BP has been getting bad legal advice. Stonewalling works in some cases, but here it is killing our Gulf and killing BP.
It was willful negligence to cut corners and although bankers are getting away with white collar crime as people suffer from their greed, this kind of crime was murderous as 11 people were killed due to negligence.
Soon we will see the impact on the environment, marine life, fishing and food sources and of course the monetary impact which will be significant. Yes heads should roll and people should be held criminally responsible.
Right now the focus has to be on the immediate effects and stopping the flow and the impact. if BP’s effort to stop it are also environmentally unsafe they should be further charged. They are to blame and there is no way they should be able to skirt ANY of the problems THEY caused.
If they are not made fully culpable, there will be more quite willing to copy this same scenario … to get us the oil we ummmmmm need…
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