U.S. lays out examples of "gross negligence" by BP

Isaac must have stirred up a little more, for this to be going down

The U.S. Justice Department is ramping up its rhetoric against BP PLC for the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, describing in new court papers examples of what it calls "gross negligence and willful misconduct."

The court filing is the sharpest position yet taken by the U.S. government as it seeks to hold the ,giant largely responsible for the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

Gross negligence is a central issue to the case, slated to go to trial in New Orleans in January 2013. A gross negligence finding could nearly quadruple the civil damages owed by BP under the Clean Water Act to $21 billion.

The U.S. government and BP are engaged in talks to settle civil and potential criminal liability, though neither side will comment on the status of negotiations.

"The behavior, words, and actions of these BP executives would not be tolerated in a middling size company manufacturing dry goods for sale in a suburban mall," government lawyers wrote in the filing on August 31 in federal court in New Orleans.

The filing comes more than two years after the disaster that struck on

BP sued 'for hiding truth over safety' in Gulf oil disaster

Why should the Supreme Court be able to decide that if you're foreign you can't sue. This isn't the first time this type of decision was made.
How does one approach justice for compensation due, if the Supreme Court denies the right in which to do it in?

The company’s shares more than halved – wiping billions of pounds off the value of the group – in the wake of the April 2010 disaster, which killed 11 men and caused the worst offshore spill in US history.

Six investors who bought shares in BP in London prior to the accident or in its immediate aftermath claim that they would not have done so at the price they did “had they known the truth”. They include the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, Skandia Global Funds and GAM Fund Management.

The funds allege that they lost “substantial sums as a result of BP’s misleading statements”, and are suing under Texas law for common law fraud and negligent misrepresentation, and for statutory fraud. The US Supreme Court blocked foreign investors seeking damages in federal courts.

The claimants are seeking damages “in an amount to be proved at trial” but

Fed panel: Oil spill evidence tests need to stop

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fed-panel-Oil-spill-evidence-apf-3159413613.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=3&asset=&ccode=

I'm inclinded to believe the Chemical Safety Board is having a hard time investigating. Especially since the Companies inolved tried to shut them out in the first place.
I agree with the Board that a third party independant needs to moniter the proceedures.
We really cant afford to be wrong or to hear any more half truths that these companies would like us to believe.
The Gulf is still in crisis now.


A federal board allowed to monitor the testing of a key piece of Gulf oil spill evidence -- the blowout preventer -- is demanding that the analysis stop until representatives of the companies that made and maintained the device are removed from the process.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board said in a letter Thursday that having the companies involved hands-on in the forensic analysis that began more than a month ago undermines the investigation's credibility

Safety board denied the right to do their job over Corporate concerns,

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703848204575608840149762562.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird

Where is the governments priorities point to here kids?
It certainly isn't in the direction of public safety, it once again is putting Corporate concerns before the realization of truth.
The Chemical Safety Board should have full access to investigate, before the Corporate concerned are allowed anywhere near the evidence.
Their priority status ended the day the accident happened, because had they showed safety concern in the first the accident more than likely never would have happened!

A tiny federal agency that investigates deadly chemical accidents said it was being thwarted in its probe of the Deepwater Horizon disaster by other federal agencies.


The Chemical Safety Board is acting in character. With a tiny staff of 40 people and $10 million budget, it is a Chihuahua-sized federal agency. Independent of large government departments, it often has to fight for access to witnesses and evidence.

Starting last summer, safety board investigators met with representatives of the joint team, demanding equal standing. The safety board says it was largely ignored when test procedures were developed. Others involved in talks say the safety board was too confrontational.

The conflict has devolved into a squabble in recent days over who will be present when the blowout preventer is tested—and where they will sit. The four-story blowout preventer, pulled from the ocean floor, currently rests on a National Aeronautics and Space Administration dock in Louisiana.

There were five seats in the blowout preventer test area. The joint team decided the seats would go to five blowout-preventer experts representing companies that face legal action for the disaster—well owner BP, rig owner Transocean Ltd., blowout-preventer maker Cameron International Corp.—and the Justice Department and plaintiffs in a spill-related class-action lawsuit.

Unhappy, the safety board complained to members of Congress, and a sixth seat was added. But the board remained upset that the joint team gave the seat to a particular safety board consultant. Mr. Holmstrom said his agency has a right to send whomever it wishes to the test

Halliburton's Flawed Cement May Seal Legal Fate: Commentary by Ann Woolner

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-05/halliburton-s-flawed-cement-may-seal-legal-fate-commentary-by-ann-woolner.html


Criminal negligence anyone?
Some boundaries where never meant to be pushed


Halliburton Co. probably meant no irony when it named its annual report last year, “Pushing Boundaries.”



Last week a commission investigating the disaster reported that the Houston-based company had reason to suspect from its own work that the kind of cement similar to that which it used at the well wouldn’t hold. The material had failed three out of four stability tests, and Halliburton didn’t test the final formula used.

If it had, it might have found what experts at Chevron discovered when testing that formula at the request of investigators. Nine times they tested the formula used, and nine times the stuff was unstable.

Toxicologist now dealing with at least three autopsies in Gulf — “People who’s esophaguses are dissolving.. these people have oil in their bodies” (VIDEO)

http://blacklistednews.com/Toxicologist-now-dealing-with-at-least-three-autopsies-in-Gulf-%E2%80%94-%E2%80%9CPeople-who%E2%80%99s-esophaguses-are-dissolving..-these-people-have-oil-in-their-bodies%E2%80%9D-%28VIDEO%29/11193/0/6/6/Y/M.html

People the Gulf States are worse off than ever.
The government can ignore it, but the health costs for BP's well thought out decisions in cost cutting, is just as bad if not worse, than the on going environmental disaster that is still being dealt with.
Oh you were under the impression that it was all cleaned up and every thing is fine now?
No that's just MSM not reporting again, because their masters pay them to look the other way.



Riki Ott on the Gulf: “These people have oil in their bodies”, roseaguilar3, October 21, 2010:


(Full video at bottom of post)

Transcript Summary

Worker on Grand Isle dropped over dead.

I am dealing with about 3 or 4 autopsies right now.

I know of people with 4.75% of lung capacity and with an enlarged heart.

I know people who’s esophaguses are dissolving and disintegrating.

All these people have oil in their bodies, upper 95th percentile.

White House squelched release of BP oil spill estimates

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/10/06/101697/white-house-squelched-release.html

Why would the government need to keep you from knowing the truth?


Government scientists wanted to tell Americans early on how bad the BP oil spill could be, but the White House denied their request to make the worst-case scenarios public, a report by staff for the national panel investigating the spill said Wednesday.

The allegation by unnamed government officials, contained in a staff working paper released Wednesday by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, is certain to fuel controversy over why the government lowballed flow rates throughout much of the spill, even as independent scientists offered vastly higher — and ultimately more accurate — estimates.

The staff paper does not assign any motive to the administration’s moves but says the underestimating of flow rates “undermined public confidence in the federal government’s response” by creating the impression the government was either incompetent or untrustworthy.



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/10/06/101697/white-house-squelched-release.html#ixzz11c1J5wy4

Blue Flu Cases Spreading around Gulf Region-Dr. Scott Johnson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7wBMA3B99s

BP has already stated that it is "not responsible" for any long-term effects from its dispersant experiment.

http://worldvisionportal.org/wvpforum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=940#p2272

BP contactor Drilling for oil on Alabama beaches

http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/bp-contractors-drilling-oil-alabama-beaches-finding-tourist-amazed-buried-crude-video

oops, looks like they found some of that oil that went missing.

ORANGE BEACH – Drilling for oil on Alabama beaches. “We’re looking for sub surface oil,” says team leader Jason Howes with Polaris Applied Sciences. His team is drilling for oil and finding it.

“We start at the low water line and work up beyond the high tide line into the back shore. Over the crest of the berm is where we find some real thick accumulations,” says Howes.

Curiosity got the best of a family vacationing from Kentucky. “We were just wondering what in the world they were doing and they were cordial [possibly 'core drilling'] and were trying to find out how deep the oil had gone.” At first glance Jimmy Blackwell says he would not think there was any oil here. “You walk out here and you wouldn’t have no idea what’s going on. You think yeah theres a few tar balls on the edge of the water but after seeing the core drill oh yeah that was about a foot down. I’m amazed.” …

BP disaster response plan didn't include hurricanes

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/30/bp-oil-spill-cleanup-did_n_630859.html

No hurricane disaster plan
Somehow I'm not surprised
Common sense says one was required
So how many other offshore drilling companies haven't got one either since it doesn't seem to be a requirement in obtaining a drilling permit?


Rep. Edward Markey says BP's disaster response plan for an oil spill doesn't mention hurricanes or tropical storms.

Markey says the omission is yet another example of what the oil giant was not prepared to handle.