1 Rock on, Bobby.

2 Monty was...disappeared?

"We can either fight battle -- we can fight this oil -- on the Barrier Islands 15 to 20 miles off of our coast, or we can face it in thousands of miles of fragmented wetlands,"

Love it!  It's the Bush doctrine ("fight them there so we don't have to fight them here) for oil spills, oh noes!  But it's one even the enviro-tards should endorse. 

/btw, is there a technical definition for "wetland"?

3
Reagan just called me and said, "I think this Jindal kid has a bright future in politics."

4 Obama is going slow because he needs a visual disaster, not a solution -- he need crisis.

5 is there a technical definition for "wetland"?

Any area the Feds want to control.

6 It is good to take control rather than waiting on the feds, or somebody else for that matter, to do something.

7 Gulf shrimp...  now with extra flavor!

8 Didn't barry already send a strongly worded letter and condem the oil for it's stupid actions?

9
If you're like me, you think the worst about Obama and his admin.

Obama is happy this happened. Obama is happy that BP can't stop it and crude is washing up on the our shores.

BUT I got news for Obama: this is gonna backfire on you and you won't be able to use this accident to advance your 'green/red' agenda. Here's why...

If anything, this oil spill has shown the American people we have BOATLOADS of domestic crude at our disposal.

10 Is it fair to point out that our stuttering, jugeared incompetent clusterfuck of a miserable failure is stuck on stupid?

11 "...without the approval of the Army Corps of Engineers, which is weighing the ecological impact of the construction of more sand booms."

Hey, that's terrific. And when they're done with that study, maybe they can start an ecological impact study of an acute accumulation of petroleum in the wetlands. Clearly they the government via the Corp of Engineers is prioritizing appropriately.

The administration's academics have suffocated common sense. Obama should form a blue ribbon panel on figuring out how to pull its head out of its ass.

12

This is so upsetting to me. 

Most upsetting is that the oil in the Gulf is not half as oily as the President. 

Keep the pressure ON. 

13

You're doing a heckuva job, 'bammy.

14 Stanton: “Well, I guess I’m just slow and dumb.”

Yes, you are.  Of course, you were trying to weasel out of responsibility and instead you Kinsley'd yourself.

15
Bobby Jindal made one mistake.

He should've tried to mentioned the extravagant party Obama threw for Calderon while Louisiana fishermen were losing their livelihoods.

16 Barry: How will fixing the problem help my finger pointing and political grandstanding?

17 The sarcastic 'I'm slow and dumb, lol' reaction is aggrivating.

Our feds know there's nothing normal people can do when they refuse to do their job.  They still get to tax us and spend our kid's money too, and they don't actually have to provide service with any measure of effectiveness or accountability.

The politically strong, like SEIU or even BP, can get rules bent, but the common people can't even get a fair shake.

'Is that really important?' they ask, because to them, of course it isn't.  Not really a partisan problem... Bush's cronies had a similar attitude, if not as extreme and flagrant.  And what would they do if there were a disaster in Arizona (I suppose there already is one)?  They would mock.

It's time for this country to become two countries, peacefully if possible, perhaps united fr common defense and separate for domestic purposes.

18 If Jindal wanted to be An Hero, he would just forge ahead as much as possible, deliberately without any fucking federal permits. Who could say "No" to stopping an oil spill? And defiance in the face of DC and the Boy King would make him a star. OTOH the materiel he needs to actually do the boom work may not be available solely within Louisiana.

19 What happened to Colonel (?)   Honore?

20

We'll use illegal aliens to clean all the birds and fish. Jobs Americans won't do, and all.  Hey, it's a win-win.

21 Later this morning on Face The Nation, White House flack Robert "Baghdad Bob" Gibbs, upon hearing this, ignored Governor Palin's point and quickly changed the subject, claiming she needs to "get slightly more informed as to what's going on in and around oil drilling in this country". No, I didn't make that up. Robert Gibbs thinks the former chair of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, chair of the National Governors Association (NGA) Natural Resources Committee, head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and Governor of a huge energy producing state needs to study up on the oil industry. Presumably if she does so, she'll be as knowledgeable on this topic as...Gibbs? This from a guy who, along with his boss, knows less about the oil industry than I know about 8th century Mongolian basket weaving techniques. Do you really want to plant your flag there, Bob?

22

Ace,

I've uncovered the BP Stand Operating Procedures in case of Rig Explosion

1.Rig Explodes breaking pipe

2.??????

3. Leak Fixed

23 1. oil booms: proof that borders are useful for something after all

24 Can you say KATRINA boys and girls?

25 If they're made out of sand, how do they get those sand booms to float?

26 When we will be treated to racial inequality and cannibalism stories?? Are thought that these were part of the show?

27 Nice, Bobby, but I don't think Chris Christie would be asking permission. Hell, he'd probably drill three more wells just to slow down the one that's leaking and send Obama an ear of corn to fuel the Presidential Prius.

28 Republican President (Bush/Bush) to Democrat Governor (Chiles/Blanco): "There's a disaster coming your way, is there anything at all we can do to help?  We can't help if you don't invite us!"

Democrat Governor: "No, that's OK, we'll just let the people suffer and blame you when it's over."

Democrat President (Obama) to Republican Governor (Jindal): "We heard you had some problems down there.  Don't worry, we'll blame the evil corporate fatcats.  We've heard of some doings in Tennessee, too, but we can't find any corporate fatcats to blame."

Republican Governor: "Look, if you'd just let us get to work, we could fix the problems ourselves.  Never mind, just get out of the way, dammit."

29
who will save the pelicans?

Think of the fucking pelicans!

Pelicans, save them.

30 There are reports that wildlife in the delta marshes has been forced to resort to cannibalism!

31 If they're made out of sand, how do they get those sand booms to float?

Posted by: Sandbagger at May 24, 2010 03:22 PM (PCUu5)

If Guam can float, so can some sand booms.

32 If it was not for radical leftists who deny us drilling on shore and in more shallow water, we would not need this deep drilling platforms. It is so deep that we cannot go down there and fix it. It is harder working down there than it is working on the moon literally. I am pro drilling as most of you are, but of course when dangerous endeavors like this are undertaken that put entire coastlines at risk, there should be basic oversight to make sure all safety measures are being taken. IE, Sarah Palin not begrudging the oil companies their profits, but if they are going to be allowed to drill everywhere they will be inspected to exacting standards by people who actually know the business and how it works thus reducing the chances of a terrible accident. She has the right idea. She told Greta Van Susteren that she in fact has spoken to the same oil CEO's that testified in front of congress. She spoke to them many times right in her office as Alaska Governor and basically told them whats what. You can make your billions, but not we are not going to be screwed in the process and you will have the highest safety standards!

33
You gotta love how Shell, Sunoco, ExxonMobil, etc. are stepping up to help.

They're swell.

34
Obama is going slow because he needs a visual disaster, not a solution -- he need crisis.

Jean is absolutely correct.   He needs oil-covered pelicans and bottlenose dolphins dying on camera.  Can't let this crisis go to waste, after all.

35 How quickly will the Feds spring into action when oil starts slicking the coast of Calderone's Yucatan Peninsula?

36 Sock off.

And while I'm at it, note the irony of environmental regulations preventing environmental cleanup.

Ironic, meaning completely predictable and planned as such.

37

"It is so much better for us. We don't want oil on one inch of Louisiana's coastline, but we'd much rather fight this oil off of a hard coast, off of an island, off of an island, off of a sandy beach on our coastal islands, rather than having to fight it inside in these wetlands," Gov. Jindal said, making the case for sand booms.

Govenor Jindal, channeling his inner Churchill.

38 The Blog Fu is strong, today, Ace.

39 Think of the fucking pelicans!
That's a load off my mind!

40 but I don't think Chris Christie would be asking permission. Hell, he'd probably drill three more wells

Probably not.

I like the guy, but he's short-sighted here.

41 Stanton: “Well, I guess I’m just slow and dumb.”

Add "unemployed".

42

Jean is absolutely correct.   He needs oil-covered pelicans and bottlenose dolphins dying on camera.  Can't let this crisis go to waste, after all.

 

Yup.  True dat.  Obama's only promise without an expiration date:  Never let a good crisis go to waste.

43 This from a guy who, along with his boss, knows less about the oil industry than I know about 8th century Mongolian basket weaving techniques.


Then again, we really don't know what's in JugEars' college transcripts. Judging by the quality of there recent graduates, I'm sure that Harvard has quite the basket-weaving curriculum.

44 41 Stanton: “Well, I guess I’m just slow and dumb.”

Add "unemployed".

I wish.  He'll probably be given a promotion after this fiasco.

45

Something I have not heard discussed yet is the possibility that this oil find was much bigger tham anyone ever expected. They just weren't prepared to handle such a huge quantity of oil and gas that came rushing at them when the well came in. Look at the numbers they're talking about! Thousands of barrels a day! This is a huge well, Saudi Arabia-like.

 

If this is any indication of what is just beyond the continental shelf, we have a new huge reserve to tap (if we're now alloed to.

46

They need to nuke the fucking thing.  The Russians have been doing it for years.  Admittedly an extreme action, but no one else seems to be coming up with a goddam solution.

47 Please don't call me a socialist when I say that if a company is engaging in an inherently dangerous activity, there should be laws requiring them to have the equipment necessary to contain a disaster.

Such laws exist. BP is exempt from them—and so is any other company that's big enough to cause a disaster big enough to give a shit about. They buy exemptions, and we cover the cost.

So what's the real law? What's always the real law?

Why didn't Lindsay Lohan go to prison today for repeatedly violating the terms of her non-sentence for two DUIs and two coke charges (one a felony), when any one of us would already be down for ten on the same beefs?

Deduce.

48 Fuck the Pelicans!

49 Oh, no! A Rand Paul reference makes it looks like I spoke too soon about the pelicans. Crap.

Get the lube.

50

OT, KC Star editorial kicks Holder's and Napolitano's collective asses.

http://tinyurl.com/333btov

51

The dolphins love the oil. It's just free lube.

52 I wish.  He'll probably be given a promotion after this fiasco.


The DNI post is vacant.....

53 Send Michael Moore down there in a diving bell and tell him the ocean floor is gushing Porterhouse steak fat.

54 There are reports that wildlife in the delta marshes has been forced to resort to cannibalism!

Posted by: shep smith

 

Thank you. I've been waiting for that. I'm happier now

55

The Soviets used  Nucs to seal underwater wells 5 times... it worked 4 of them...

And heck... these are the Soviets we're talking about... I'd wager the US Navy would have an even better chance to plant a Subteranean Nuc and use it to seal the multiple leaks... but even 80% chance is MUCH better than the non solutions they are trying now...

Of course, BP would loose their investment, which they are still trying to save... note they are Pumping or drilling relief wells, not talking sealing it off...

And a Nuc would be used for somthing productive in the West... somthing Bambi does not want...

And it would SOLVE the problem... another thing Bambi does not seem to want...

But then again... I'm a throwback... someone who believes that there are very few problems that cannot be solved by the proper application of enough explosive force...

56

Oh, no! A Rand Paul reference makes it looks like I spoke too soon about the pelicans. Crap.

Get the lube.

Phil saw his shadow, it looks like we are going to have 6 months of Paul

57

In an administration full of juvenile punks, Gibbs towers over them all.

At the very least, I hope to see him an extended and thoroughly humiliating exit from the national stage.

58 I am down with Brown!  Go Bobby!

59

Let's punching down on Oil Suppuration Good Times.

It has what most pleasant challenge will be.

60 IllTemperedCur: "The DNI post is vacant..."

Out of the frying pan and into the fire. If your boss is The Precedent, your best bet is to retire.

61 It's pretty clear if Obama had handled the economy differently, it would have been a better economy.  And he probably knew it.  He didn't want to pass the agitated community opportunity.

He wants the problem of Iran with nukes, illegals kidnapping hundreds, the economy destroyed, and the environment threatened.  He thinks it's to his advantage, so he's happy to slowly and obnoxiously 'study' the situation.

62 4 Obama is going slow because he needs a visual disaster, not a solution -- he need crisis.

Exactly! This is a teaching moment. You, the American people will learn how bad oil really is. You'll be begging for green-only energy once this mess is all said and done.

63

_{The dolphins love the oil. It's just free lube.}

Lube makes Gang Rape go much smoother for all parties involved!

64 And so is the government, for not having inspected to make sure those extinguishers were present

In a sane world sure I would agree, but this government we have now (and I mean the 21st century nanny state, not just Obama and company) is almost certain to mandate that you remove the correct extinguishers and replace them with an inappropriate kind.

65 Of all of the things that I couldn't bring myself to imagine, it would be the jugeared genius ordering the use of nuclear weapons on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. it's like him being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the same day that NASA bombed the Moon. No fiction is outlandish enough to conceive of such things.

66 Ace, I hate the idiot Pauls and their ilk with the white-hot anger of 1000 suns.  (FGS, you're a major-party Senate candidate now, people are listening to you other than Alex Jones and two dozen basement-dwelling potheads.)

However, the "boot on the neck" isn't holding BP responsible but trying to exact revenge.  It's Obama thinking like a lawyer.  Don't solve the problem, find someone to blame.

67 "Something I have not heard discussed yet is the possibility that this oil find was much bigger tham anyone ever expected." --- My understanding is that it has high pressure gas mixed in. Why it didn't act like this when drilled initially is an unknown. Remember they weren't drilling when the accident happened. They were installing a cap so that a later method of off loading the oil could be built.

68 I hate Sheppie Smith and I wish he would STF up.

69

I've seen pictures of that brown oil mucking up stuff down there.

Since it's brown and stuff, it's obviously racist to try and stop the oil.

70

 _{Of all of the things that I couldn't bring myself to imagine, it would be the jugeared genius ordering the use of nuclear weapons on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. it's like him being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the same day that NASA bombed the Moon. No fiction is outlandish enough to conceive of such things.}

You better believe they'd be Unionized Nukes!

71

Apparently Plan A for this was "the well will not explode." Period. End of sentence, end of file. There was no Plan B in case it did explode because... see Plan A: The well will not explode. How many times do I have to tell you? There will not be a disaster -- that's our plan for containing a disaster.

Really? That's what happened? You know this absolutely, positively, with 100% certainty? Don't tell me -- you believe this because this is what the press has told you, right?

The reality is there was likely not just one failure, but multiple low-probability failures that, combined, overwhelmed every plan they had. 

72 Honestly, sooner or later some State authority will have to defy Federal authority if the cancerous spread of Obastard dirigisme and bureaucratic tyranny is to stop. Ignoring legally required Federal permissions is as good a place to start as any, given that we are talking about lassitude and red tape over a HUGE FUCKING OIL SPILL. And the issue has an environmental burnish for our side. Since Little Barry arrived we've rapidly approached a state where the only solutions to his predations and incompetence will be drastic measures, such as large municipalities declaring bankruptcy to address insolvency of cities and states due to public unions and pensions. This is not a case of "Mad Max" scenarios, but serious extremities may be needed to check Federal power, to "reset" what people think the Feds may be permitted to do. Jindal could demonstrate the sclerotic, oily, suffocating nature of our bloated Federal Leech by defying DC and going ahead without permission... in order to prevent a literal oily suffocation of Louisiana.

73

Gibbs fired back that the former Alaska governor needs a lesson in how the oil industry works.

Really? Oh dear.

 

74
There are reports that wildlife in the delta marshes has been forced to resort to cannibalism!

Well played, sir.  Well played indeed.

75  BTW: I think Rand Paul's response to this -- whining about the "boot on the neck" of BP -- is both horrible policy and even worse politics.

BTW -- I think any politician who talks about a "boot on the neck" of anything should be stood against a wall and shot. Followed by anyone who thinks criticizing that is worse than making the statement in the first place.

76 Second look at his SOTU response!

77 Axelrod (on FOXnews) is talking out of his ass. Shep Smith is making him look worse than usual. Axelrod keeps scanning his brain as he trots out appeals to all this authority he claims is on the job and pumping out useful analysis but is unconvincing. Axelrod is flummoxed.

78

67

FGS, you're a major-party Senate candidate now, people are listening to you other than Alex Jones and two dozen basement-dwelling potheads.

Hey man, don't throw us in there with Alex Jones and Rand Paul!

79 "We're getting reports of Dolphin's Being Raped up and down the Coast!"

80 77 Second look at his SOTU response!

He tanked it on purpose!  It was part of his master plan, so that nobody would see him coming!

81 I remember when Obama was on his podium with his teleprompter getting all pissy that BP hadn't cleaned this up yet thinking:  "This fucker is just going to wait for somebody else to clean up a mess in our waters?

Yes, if it scores him points, apparently he will.

Expect Obama on TV in less than 2 days again insisting this is BP's responsibility.

You know, the 'uniter' could have made a huge impact by getting up and saying "This is a huge problem and everyone is going to work to fix it."

But no.  Instead Precedent Juvenile Delinquent IMMEDIATELY uses this as a means to punish capitalism again.

"This is BP's responsibility!"

Right on there Preznint Douche tool.

82 And if the guy blowing up a building doesn't have fire extinguishers handy when he pushes the button -- Yes, he's to blame. (And so is the government, for not having inspected to make sure those extinguishers were present.) "And so is the government," which, in this case, is talking commie smack about keeping "a boot on the neck" of BP as if the government can be trusted with anything. You are way off on this attempt, once again, to get on Rand Paul's case. The government is more responsible than the company if the government is the overseer and did not bother with any oversight - mostly because the government was too busy overseeing things it has NO BUSINESS overseeing and keeping salt and trans-fats out of the hands of individuals. Whatever you think of BP and BP's responsibility, the federal government has performed far worse in its job and should not be talking about keeping boots on anyone's neck, other than their own. Salazar, the pathetic retard, spoke again today of "keeping a boot on the neck" because this feral government is that out of control and insane. Even after their pathetic display over the past month, they are still acting as if they can be trusted with anything. They cannot. The government is feral and needs a boot on its neck.

83

73

We may eventually look back on the Obama Administration as the best thing that happened to the balance of federal vs. state power - as the beginning of states taking back their power and telling the feds to F off.

First, though, the Repubs need to do their job in 2013 and repeal ObamaCare with a conservative prez signing the repeal.

84
When I defend Wal-Mart when the Left attacks and sues them, am I sympathetic to Wal-Mart?

No. I am defending the rights of Wal-Mart because after the Left goes after Wal_mart, they're coming after me.

85 >>A big question I have is why wasn't there, already present in the Gulf, the equipment needed to contain or plug a leaking well?<<

Why wasn't there a plan for evacuating New Orleans in case of a levee breach?  It's no secret that much of the city was below sea level. 

On the other hand, if the oil was headed to Mexico, Obama would be all over this thing.

OT:  Sheppard Smith, bless his liberal commie pinko heart, is giving David Axelrod a hard time on Fox right now.  For once.  He went to Ole Miss, he can't help it.

Ever notice how David Axelrod has to stop right in the middle of what he's saying so he can swallow. 

86 Palin is right you can be pro oil drilling and still make the oil companies responsible, for example testing the blowout preventer. Oil companies drill in much worst areas, North Sea for one, North Sumatra, Nigeria etc. You don't see spills there and if you do the oil companies pay dearly, perhaps for every barrel of oil they lose. So did Obama get paid off by BP to look the other way on testing the rig?

87 Just a quick interjection- BP has a solid history of key contributions to state and federal officials, ostensibly to avoid inconvenient regulations. That's not to excuse the administration's finger-pointing- plans exist on the state and federal level for this sort of thing, and one of my bros (scene CO of the 2225th Engineers, LA Guard) has been telling me in exquisited detail how the plans have interfered with one another. In the meantime, the BP plan appears to be (from the perspective of the troops) to let the feds and state guys handle it. With that in mind, the thing that makes me most happy about Jindal's response is that there's less emphasis on finding someone to blame and more emphasis on FIXING THE FUCKING PROBLEM.

88

Apparently Plan A for this was "the well will not explode." Period. End of sentence, end of file. There was no Plan B in case it did explode because... see Plan A: The well will not explode. How many times do I have to tell you? There will not be a disaster -- that's our plan for containing a disaster.

Was there really no law requiring a ready-to-be-deployed cap to be present in the theater, in case a well exploded?

The problem may have been compounded by the very fact that there WERE multiply-redundant systems in place to prevent or control a blowout. When there are multiple "fail-safe" systems in place to prevent a catastrophe, system operators -- in all areas of technology, including flying commercial airliners or operating nuclear power plants -- tend to completely discount the possibility that a chain of minor failures can lead to the total failure of the "fail-safe" system. It happened at Three Mile Island, it happened countless times in crashes of commercial airliners, and it happened with the BP well in the Gulf.

BP reveals key safety system disabled

Internal documents point to "a calamitous series" of failures, lawmakers said.

By H. JOSEF HEBERT and FREDERIC J. FROMMER Associated Press

Last update: May 12, 2010 - 11:31 PM

WASHINGTON - Bad wiring and a leak in what's supposed to be a "blowout preventer." Sealing problems that may have allowed a methane eruption. Even a dead battery, of all things.

New disclosures Wednesday revealed a complex cascade of deep-sea equipment failures and procedural problems in the oil rig explosion and massive spill that is still fouling the Gulf of Mexico.

A litany of worrisome events and findings that were at play was described in internal corporate documents, marked confidential but provided to a House committee by BP and by the manufacturer of the safety device. Lawmakers released them at a hearing.

A senior BP executive, Lamar McKay, cautioned, "It's inappropriate to draw any conclusions before all the facts are known." But the documents established the firmest evidence to date of the sequence of catastrophic events that led to the explosion and worsening spill, a series of failures more reminiscent of the loss of the shuttle Challenger than the wreck of the Exxon Valdez.

Like the 1986 Challenger disaster, the investigation into the Gulf spill may well show that complex and seemingly failproof technical systems went wrong because of overlooked problems that interacted with each other in unexpected ways. In the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, a captain simply ran his ship onto a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound, spilling nearly 11 million gallons of oil.

The April 20 BP rig explosion 40 miles off Louisiana killed 11 people. Over the past 21 days more than 4 million gallons of oil has been released into Gulf waters, threatening wetlands and the region's fishing industry.

Congressional investigators grilled industry executives for nearly six hours, revealing that a key safety system, known as the blowout preventer, used in BP's oil-drilling rig had a hydraulic leak and a failed battery that probably prevented it from working as designed.

They said that BP documents and others also indicated conflicting pipe pressure tests should have warned those on the rig that poor pipe integrity may have been allowing explosive methane gas to leak into the well. "Significant pressure discrepancies were observed in at least two of these tests, which were conducted just hours before the explosion," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., citing documents from BP.

Asked about the tests, Steven Newman, president of rig owner Transocean, and Lamar McKay, president of BP America, said the pressure readings were worrisome. They indicated "that there was something happening in the well bore that shouldn't be happening," said Newman. McKay said the issue "is critical in the investigation" into the cause of the accident.

But Waxman said important elements of what went wrong were beginning to surface.

"This catastrophe appears to have been caused by a calamitous series of equipment and operational failures," he said. "If the largest oil and oil service companies in the world had been more careful, 11 lives might have been saved and our coastlines protected."

'Four significant problems'

It appears clear that there were problems with the blowout preventers before the accident and confusion almost right up to the time of the explosion over the success of a process in which cement is injected into the well to temporarily close it in anticipation of future production.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing was the third this week at which executives of BP, Transocean and contractor Halliburton were questioned by lawmakers.

The committee produced one document from BP that provided the most detailed information to date on what led up to and may have caused the explosion and why equipment designed to stop a spill failed to do the job.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said there were at least "four significant problems with the blowout preventer" -- or BOP -- including evidence that it had a significant hydraulic leak and a dead battery that was supposed to activate a so-called "deadman" trigger.

In Kenner, La., where a separate hearing is being held as part of a U.S. Coast Guard and Interior Department investigation, Michael Saucier of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) testified the government isn't required to inspect the BOPs as they are built or installed. Operators are required to test the devices every two weeks, and Saucier said the MMS monitors those tests. He said the agency relies on drillers to ensure the device is working properly.

'260 failure modes'

A 2001 report by Transocean, which bought the BOP from manufacturer Cameron, indicated there can be as many as 260 failure possibilities in the equipment, which is supposed to be the final safeguard against a well blowout by clamping down and sealing a gushing oil well, said Stupak, chairman of the panel's investigations subcommittee.

"How can a device that has 260 failure modes be considered fail-safe?" asked Stupak.

He said when an underwater remote vehicle tried to activate the blowout protector's devices designed to ram through the pipe and seal it, a loss of hydraulic pressure was discovered in the device's emergency power component.

When dye was injected "it showed a large leak coming from a loose fitting," said Stupak, citing BP documents. He said officials at Cameron had told the committee the leak was not believed to have been caused by the blowout because other fittings in the system were tight.

Stupak also questioned why the BOP had been modified. Transocean's Newman said that, indeed, the BOP had been modified in 2005 at the request of BP and with approval of the MMS.

Stupak said the committee had been told that one of the BOP's ram drivers had been changed so it could be used for routine testing and was no longer designed to activate in an emergency. He said after the spill BP "spent a day trying to use this ... useless test ram," which no longer was configured for emergency use.

The New York Times contributed to this report.

89 Ever notice how David Axelrod has to stop right in the middle of what he's saying so he can swallow.

Rodents don't go down so easy.

90 2 /btw, is there a technical definition for "wetland"?

Unless they've updated it since the 1990's, it's any place with a standing body of water.

Even if it's a man-made roadside ditch where a drainpipe got clogged by debris from an unusually violent storm and the ditch therefore filled with water.

It took my grandpa over a decade to clear that shit up with the EPA, and they still come out for "inspections' every once in a while to make sure he's not continuing his wanton destruction of the pristine environment

91 Send Michael Moore down there in a diving bell and tell him the ocean floor is gushing Porterhouse steak fat.

Posted by: EC at May 24, 2010 03:33 PM (mAhn3)

Screw that.  Just jam Moore's fat ass into the gusher.  He'll plug it up.

92

Since it's brown and stuff, it's obviously racist to try and stop the oil.

When the oil starts flooding New Orleans, some people are going to be very confused about what to think...

(the school buses will still sit in a parking lot because there was no gas for them or something)

93 Yo SlaveDog- There was and is a plan to evac New Orleans in the event of a hurricane. Problem is, it's a local plan, and my former boss Ray Nagin couldn't be bothered to put it into effect. Believe you me, what you saw there was almost a century of Louisiana corruption delivered up for the nation to see.

94

'Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said '

 

Oh now I'm serene in the knowledge that this guy's on the job.

95

Oil's gonna hit New Orleans? I know what I have to do.

Vegas, baby!

96 So let me get this straight, we are going to dump on Rand Paul (who would be a reliable vote in the Senate for the GOP), and help get a Democrat elected in a red state??  I thought the idea was to get rid of the D's??? 

97 Oil companies drill in much worst areas, North Sea for one, North Sumatra, Nigeria etc. You don't see spills there and if you do the oil companies pay dearly, perhaps for every barrel of oil they lose. So did Obama get paid off by BP to look the other way on testing the rig?

Posted by: lions at May 24, 2010 03:49 PM (02X2/)

In 1988, the Piper Alpha gas production platform in the North Sea blew up, killing 167 men.  It's an inherently hazardous industry.

98

I can't believe that a professional U.S. Coast Guard Officer at the Captain level would offer such a crappy, stupid response.  I would have his ass at a courts martial.  Either that, or he was instructed to fall on this administration's sword.  Ugh.

 

99 Can't I just finish my wagyu-flavored waffles?

100 in all areas of technology, including flying commercial airliners or operating nuclear power plants -- tend to completely discount the possibility that a chain of minor failures can lead to the total failure of the "fail-safe" system. It happened at Three Mile Island,

Let's leave Nuclear Power out of this. The TMI accident and this have zero in common. The TMI accident involved much more than a chain of "minor" failures.

As far as this accident and its causes, if I am not mistaken there hasn't been a damn root cause determination made yet so went DON'T know what happened.

As for inadequate government regulation and oversight; government  regulation very seldom does a lot of good in preventing or event mitigating ANY event.  In fact, it is usually the opposite.

Government regulation is like a lock on an isolated exterior building; it only keeps honest people honest. 

101 It's obvious... Obama hates black people.

102 Unless they've updated it since the 1990's, it's any place with a standing body of water.

Even if it's a man-made roadside ditch where a drainpipe got clogged by debris from an unusually violent storm and the ditch therefore filled with water.

The "man-made" ditch part of that was shoved up the EPA's ass a few months ago by SCOTUS.  That is why the commies in congress are trying to get the "navigable waterway" term out of the law.

As for the standing water, it is worse than that.  All it takes is any of a variety of plants that sometimes grow in the wetland.

103 Since it's brown and stuff, it's obviously racist to try and stop the oil. Posted by: Dack Thrombosis at May 24, 2010 03:41 PM (P33XN) "when brown can stick around..." -- Noted racist and retard Joseph Lowery at The Precedential inauguration sticking up for spilt oil.

104

No, Kayne, he hates white pelicans.

105 Kanye's concerned that Obama and BP hate gay fish.

106 Rand Paul!

107 There was and is a plan to evac New Orleans in the event of a hurricane. Problem is, it's a local plan, and my former boss Ray Nagin couldn't be bothered to put it into effect. Believe you me, what you saw there was almost a century of Louisiana corruption delivered up for the nation to see.

Yo: tmi3rd

Hurricane yes, but how about a levee breach. No?

At any rate, Nagin's implementation would still have been:  "You're on your own."  And yes, Louisiana corruption.  That's why I don't live there any more.  But I still like to visit. 

108 >>>"And so is the government," which, in this case, is talking commie smack about keeping "a boot on the neck" of BP as if the government can be trusted with anything. >>>You are way off on this attempt, once again, to get on Rand Paul's case. The government is more responsible than the company if the government is the overseer and did not bother with any oversight - mostly because the government was too busy overseeing things it has NO BUSINESS overseeing and keeping salt and trans-fats out of the hands of individuals. He was the one who said Obama was too meeean to BP. Whether the government is inspecting or dropping the ball, a corporation should, if prudent and adverse to catastrophe, have a back-up plan when engaging in an inherently dangerous activity. They didn't. You can blame the government -- I sure do! - -but BP could have had its OWN PLan B without being required to do so. Plus, who are we kidding, companies lobby lawmakers to have their hands tied as little as possible. It's a dumb idea -- not just in terms of politics, which are wretched, but in terms of sound policy -- to take the bizarre position that corporations can do whatever they like because jeeze they must have our best interests at heart. They don't; of course they don't. That's not to slight them. It's just -- why would they? That's basically what Rand Paul is saying. Look, take government out of the equation. Assume there were NO LAWS about this at all. Shouldn't BP have pooled money with other drillers to create an emergency-response company? I don't get these guys who are basically claiming that a business can be trusted to act in its own self interest, but that's fine, because *public pressure* will keep its interests aligned with ours, no laws needed, and then, when someone criticizes the company -- bringing that public pressure to bear -- they also want to shield the company from that. The very thing they always say will keep people from doing things that hurt other people. Even if there were no laws at work, here, BP should have had a capping dome -- or two, really -- ready for deployment in the Gulf, and this stuff should have all been tested at these depths, etc. I don't like this bullshit where a company's profit is private but the risks -- the externailties -- and the costs of clean up are socialized.

109 46 They need to nuke the fucking thing. The Russians have been doing it for years. Admittedly an extreme action, but no one else seems to be coming up with a goddam solution.
______________

Even if it doesn't work, glowing oil would be easier to track on the satellite photos. Win-win.

110 Vic: do you have any more info on that case? Cause I've got a couple of miles of man made ditch and would be interested in reading the case. Thanks!

111

Apparently Plan A for this was "the well will not explode." Period. End of sentence, end of file. There was no Plan B in case it did explode because... see Plan A: The well will not explode. How many times do I have to tell you? There will not be a disaster -- that's our plan for containing a disaster.

Was there really no law requiring a ready-to-be-deployed cap to be present in the theater, in case a well exploded?

I'm assuming there was supposed to be some kind of disaster-preparedness going on here, required by law -- but there wasn't.

Ahem... Three Mile Island? Any airplane crash? 9-11 response? All three of those things are "man made accidents" and they didn't have any contengency plans past the first level. The reason for that is that every thing that works at the first level, in BP's case the blowout preventor, is it assunes that things aren't going right. However, no one has a plan for when things are just royally fucked sideways. That's when you imporvise and adapt.

If you don't want to cut them any slack, that's fine. However, there are failures and then there are catastrophic failures and you can't really plan for the "the whole rig burns to the ocean floor after exploding and dumping oil all over the place" kind of mechanical failures. Those types of backup's don't exist.

112 I don't like this bullshit where a company's profit is private but the risks -- the externailties -- and the costs of clean up are socialized.

I don't see that anyone has advocated that or that it has occurred much at all in the past except when the company went bankrupt.

Even IF there were no regulations involved in one of these types of events the company is STILL responsible for the cleanup and the consequences.

We have had private and civil law for that for centuries.

113

I can't believe that Bobby Jindal is trying to keep the black man down.  I mean, Bobby's a white man's name right?  And he doesn't speak with a slight Indian accent or work at a 7/11 so he can't possibly be another colour, right?

Dang.

Seriously, I love Bobby Jindal.  He's a huge nerd, but that's the kind of person you need as governor.  Someone who, like knows how to do stuff and be an effective leader.  Not like someone else we know.

114 Vic: do you have any more info on that case? Cause I've got a couple of miles of man made ditch and would be interested in reading the case. Thanks!

Not handy, there was a review of the case on SCOTUS BLOG after the ruling.  I'll check around and see if I can find the ruling.

115

Interesting point regarding Rand Paul's statement about the Government's Boot on BP's neck.  On one hand, I think it's a fair critique, of Paul's position if, in fact, the reason BP was not prepared is not the fault of some other, conflicting Government regulation.  In that case, the private business responsible for harm should be the one bearing the cost (simple tort theory).  Of course, this administration  specifically and the administrative state more generally have been attempting to insert itself between the private entity causing the harm and the public as a "neutral" arbiter/guarantor of what it characterizes as our interests.  This is the central tenet of a positivist view of government, that the almighty Government provides and protects rights of its citizens, not the other way around.  The fact that the Government/Administrative state that was put in place to prevent or mitigate the harms that BP might cause has not helped is the most strident argument against granting it more power over our lives and economy.  All the Government has succeeded in doing in the past 15 months is confuse the signals regarding who should bear the cost of a harm. For example, strongarming of creditors in the Chrysler and GM bankruptcies to grant the government and unions greater rights than they deserved in contravention of established statutory bankruptcy law. 

On the other hand, you don't provide a full quote of Rand Paul or the context of his remark, so I question whether your critique is made in good faith, especially considering prior critical remarks about him. 

116 Whether the government is inspecting or dropping the ball, a corporation should, if prudent and adverse to catastrophe, have a back-up plan when engaging in an inherently dangerous activity. They didn't. You can blame the government -- I sure do! - -but BP could have had its OWN PLan B without being required to do so. Posted by: ace at May 24, 2010 04:12 PM (66DVY) I hold BO liable for what they missed, but you have missed a very important fact - when oversight of an activity is TAKEN by an organization, that organization becomes the responsible party for insuring that that oversight is exercised correctly, not the one being overseen. That is the whole point of responsibility. You cannot demand oversight of some activity of mine, taking my choice out of the process, and then blame me for your lack of oversight - no matter what I missed. You have taken the responsibility (with the government, including the threat of governmental action to enforce it) and are, thus, the responsible party for everything that you taken oversight responsibilities for. If you tell me, "You have to do exactly what I say with regard to A, B, and C" and then you fall down on the job, you cannot blame me for not having done A, B, or C - no matter how much you think it's common sense. Your desire to assume responsibility does not mean that you can reject it after it has been proven that you failed in your task. And then, if you say that you are going to "keep your boot on my neck" because of your lapse, that is intellectually offensive, not to mention plain un-American with regards to private business. If the government can't oversee offshore wells, then it should never have TAKEN that responsibility. We see the government trying to assume all sorts of responisibilites, these days, and the obvious result of that is that those who previously held those responsibilities (such as parents, in many cases) are now absolved of it and will be understood to act as such - which is why so many of us are against the government assuming any responsibilities that it should not have and has no business trying to get. The responsibilities that the government should have - such as insuring that offshore rigs have working failsafes and cleanup plans for emergencies - they can't do, but they want to control everything else.

117 I meant "BP" above, not "BO". I hold BO responsible for all the rest of the crap he's done and that he should currently be sitting trial trying to defend himself from.

118 Vic: I found it!

119 Here is a link to the Cornell copy of the case:

http://tinyurl.com/5wtwa6

Keep in mind what I said about the definition of a "wetland" when reading this. As I understand the real event it was a plain field that had a drainage ditch cut into it. It was 25 miles (???) from the nearest river.

BTW, if you do a search on this case the Wiki thing will come up at the top. It is 90% BS.

120

“No other state has taken such bold steps to make sure the operators of oil and gas facilities are properly maintaining their own equipment,” Palin said.

Ha! What's the opposite of a smoking gun? That's like a smoking bulletproof vest or something that shows she was more prepared than some other people.

121 89

Sounds like the problems with the digital conversion boxes for the brake controls that made my dad ground the entire C-141 fleet twice in the 1980's, heh.

122 Fuck all you Ron Paul haterz! He's been the leading force in Congress pushing for term limits! _{for more than thirty years}

123

Disclosure: Haven't worked in the oil field in thirty years. But when I did, one of my jobs was as a drilling foreman for a major oil company.

The biggest problem, it seems to me, was the failure of the BOP. Every well, no matter the depth, that I was ever on in West Texas, had a BOP installed on it as it was being drilled. Most of them, if not all, were not remotely operated, but were supposed to be closed by turning long handles on the gears that closed the BOP. Since the first rule is a blowout is to run in the opposite direction of the well as fast as you can, this might turn into a big problem.We had constant safety meetings with drilling crews about how to handle a problem if it developed.

The Deepwater Horizon's BOP was 5000 feet down, so closing it manually was not an option. Therefore, the remote hydraulics MUST work, or you are screwed. Never been on a deepwater rig, but I believe I read that Cameron Iron Works (it used to be called), manufactured the BOP, and if the failure was a mechanical malfunction of the BOP, and not negligence on the part of BP or Transocean, then Cameron has a big problem on their hands.

Something happened in the well bore that I have not been to ascertain by reading accounts of the accident. Something that was not supposed to happen  under normal operating circumstances. One thing is for damn sure, the BOP did not do its job.Why it didn't will end up being the subject of a very expensive lawsuit, I would bet my bottom dollar.

124 Let's leave Nuclear Power out of this. The TMI accident and this have zero in common. The TMI accident involved much more than a chain of "minor" failures.

Posted by: Vic at May 24, 2010 04:00 PM (6taRI)

The catastrophic failure at Three Mile Island could have been prevented very simply if any one of a number of coincidences had not occured, or if the operators had been able to see all of the indicators, or if they had not made some basic but incorrect assumptions about how the plant's valves were configured and behaved.

The first coincidence was a misconnection of an air hose from the instrument panel to another air system.  The second was that when the routine method of clearing a stuck water pipe with compressed air from the second system was used, water ran through the misconnected hose to the instrument panel -- flooding the valve controls and causing the main water valves for the reactor to trip shut.

When emergency pumps activated to provide cooling water to the reactor, the operators didn't realize that another set of water valves were closed: they had been closed for maintenance a week before, and their indicator lights were hidden by yellow paper "trouble tags" on other instruments on the panel.

At the same time, an emergency pressure relief valve tripped.  It was supposed to open for a time, relieve pressure, and then close again.  And the indicator light on the control panel showed that it did just that -- but unfortunately, the indicator light only showed the status of the control command to the valve, not its actual position... which was stuck open.

Because of the conflicting, incomplete and wrong information the operators were getting, they misdiagnosed the situation and started pumps to take cooling water OUT of the reactor core, thinking that was necessary to prevent boiling and subsequent meltdown.  Only when the situation continued to deteriorate after this step did the operators re-check all the valves and discover the ones hidden behind the trouble tags.

And so on, and so on... a cascade of minor issues creating a cumulative catastrophic failure.

125

I do not know what else Rand Paul said but if he was complaining about the government employee who said he was going to keep his boot on the neck of BP them I am with him.

Just who do these people think they are.

Just remember, since the Obama Administration came to power they have been acting as if much of the private market place deserves to have boots on their necks to keep them in line.

126 Why were BP given a PASS on proper permits.???????

Why did BP receive and "award" from O.????


Why isn't Saudi Arabia mentioned in connection with BP?????

127 Posted by: stuiec at May 24, 2010 04:41 PM (7AOgy)

You obviously have the wrong event. I have studies that event to death and it happened NOTHING like you just described.

128 Ace, In fairness, I have a lot of sympathy for poor BP. Maybe it's just because I'm from Houston, where almost all of the BP upstream engineers are for the Gulf of Mexico (and for the rest of the world, too.) Maybe it's because I have personally met a lot of those people. Maybe it's because I worked for BP (IT dept.) and have seen how safety-conscious they appeared to be. I admit I'm biased. But it's not like *nobody* has sympathy for BP.

129 SlaveDog- In popint of fact, yes, both Jefferson and Orleans Parish have their levee breach plans, and I'll post a link to the JP one if you like- the City of NO plan was conveniently scrubbed from their website a couple of weeks after the storm. I think we're arguing the same point, though- plan or no plan, if nobody does their job (I.e., Uncle Ray or Auntie Blanco), it doesn't matter how failure-proof your plan is- everyone loses. I think the end result of this situation historically is going to be that too many people got caught unprepared for this and fell back on regulations (I.e., the Corps of Engineers telling Plaquemines Parish they had to study the dredging sandbars idea before they could approve it). Thus, nothing happened with any speed.

130 Did anyone use the word "pull"?

If so, INSIDE JOB.

131 The governor said he has been forced to protect Louisiana without the approval of the Army Corps of Engineers...

I have heard a bit in the news op/ed & commentary - why does not the military get involved in fixing this, "Surely they have the means".

Here is a hint, Army Corps of Engineers.

The District Engineer is most likely an O-6, whose Commander in Chief, is ???.

So, yes President Nero is ultimately personally responsible... for delays in mitigating the effects of this engineering disaster... probably some culpability on the EPA, OSHA, and other fronts as well.

(unlike Katrina which was NOT an engineering diaster, nor was response in any way the Federal Government's responsibility, nor did the Fed delay local response).

132 The Question still remains how Captain Fantastic, Mr. The most Brilliant POTUS Ever, blames this one on Bush. Well Little man-child we are waiting !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

133 I think the Gulf of Mexico is racist towards Hispanics. This why the oil spoil has not been contained yet. We must have the Congress pass a bill to stop this racism immediately. So as a result I am setting up a comission to study the racism involved and appointing Senator Byrd from West Virginia to lead up the study. He is the best one in Congress to investigate the racism invovled. I rely on his expertise to find Bush, The Jews, BP, Cheney, and Rand Paul all part of the problem. They will report back to me in 22 years or until The Grand Dragon of the KKK , I mean the Honorable Senate Pro-Temp of Senate passes on. I have spoken and consider this crisis over.....

134 As a resident of the Gulf Coast, I've been watching, reading and blogging about this event since it happened.  Mikeylsaw has it about 95% right in post #125.

When they finished cementing the well, they were supposed to pump in mud and then cap it with a cement plug before filling the riser with seawater.  This procedure, for some reason, was done backwards on this well. According to people on the platform itself, it was done with the approval of BP execs and MMS. 

But, Ace's question about why adequate equipment wasn't on site is dead on.  Federal thumb-twiddling made this disaster worse.  It has gone from a manageable, but damaging incident to a near historic disaster.  They didn't have the right kind of boom anywhere near the whole damned state of Louisiana.  They didn't have any kind of pre-positioned response crews on stand-by, like FEMA and the Corps does with hurricanes and other cleanup operations.  It took the Obama regime a solid 7-10 days before they realized that they had a problem, and there was no, single authority in charge until Thad Allen was appointed by teh one.

To put this in the right perspective, BP is Mrs. O'Leary, but the Obama regime is the Chicago Fire Dept.  These idiots couldn't manage a grade school cookie sale, and we have them "managing" the response to the biggest environmental disaster since Ixtoc in 1989.

135 Here's a video of Plaquemines Parish Prez Billy Nungesser, going off on BP, Mary Landrieu, the Corps, and pretty much anyone with federal ID badges (language suitable for Morons^_TM only). 

From 2007 through 2009, I ran four construction projects in Plaquemines, rebuilding the Parish's floodfighting pump stations.  Nungesser is 100% coonass and he doesn't care who he pisses off.

136 So let me get this straight, we are going to dump on Rand Paul (who would be a reliable vote in the Senate for the GOP), and help get a Democrat elected in a red state??  I thought the idea was to get rid of the D's??? - Opus

No, we don't need to dump on him, he's doing a fine job of making a fool of himself.

I agree we would like to win Kentucky, but not at the expense of turning the entire Republican Party into a joke.

Put him in the locker where they kept the Gimp; let him out for parades.

137 I don't like this bullshit where a company's profit is private but the risks -- the externailties -- and the costs of clean up are socialized.

This. 

138 I sure am glad the government is taking over health care. roflmao

139 Yeah.  Only Rand Paul. Sure.

I think we can discern a new way of doing business here:

Your house is burning.  The Fire Chief rolls up in his car.
A frikkin' car.  And what he does is, he stands out in front of your burning house, and tells the gathered crowd: that you had damned well better put the fire out.

"And you will pay fines.  And clean it all up.  And be a patsy forever.  And let that be a warning to the rest of you assholes that only perfect planning and prefect, pre-pre-planning will be tolerated.

Accidents?
Mistakes?

I don't think so, Bub. And you people in the crowd sweating heavily don't look to healthy to me.  If you want healthcare, you'd better lose a few pounds."

That's what we get in a country run by lawyers. And that's the reason we deserve to lose our lead in all facets of exploration and development.

140

I don't like this bullshit where a company's profit is private but the risks -- the externailties -- and the costs of clean up are socialized.

On a pro-TARP blog, too.

141 I'm getting a message here.....the lack of federal leadership creates a crisis which the proposed solution will be...

142

Piyush seems addicted to Other People's Money to clean up his state. I suggest that Piyush get Grover Norquist (if he isn't in Mecca plotting against the US) and Newt Gingrich (if he isn't committing adultery) to get some mops and bucketts and start cleaning up this mess.

Washington is the Problem Not The Solution!

Drill Baby Drill!

 

 

143

"A big question I have is why wasn't there, already present in the Gulf, the equipment needed to contain or plug a leaking well? Why are we so far behind, scrambling, after the disaster has been ongoing for 33 days?"

Yes. That is the big question. It was derelict on the part of somebody. 

"Please don't call me a socialist when I say that if a company is engaging in an inherently dangerous activity, there should be laws requiring them to have the equipment necessary to contain a disaster."

I won't call you a socialist. Just woefully uninformed. Which is how the Obama administration gets away with its crap. The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Contingency Plan makes it abundantly clear: it's the Federal government's job as the first-responder to have the materiel on hand to contain the spill.

CFR Title 40, Chapter I, part 300. Read it.

Nobody knows who's wells gonna crap the bed. They can't all have the material and equipment on-hand sufficient to contain a spill of this size. So, it's the Fed's job. And they fell flat on their faces.

And BP did pay to have the "Fire Department" on hand. They at least  had a representative on hand from the Minerals Management Service to oversee the capping of the test well. He's the guy who gave them authorization to execute the process of plugging the well out of sequence.

144 Uhh, that would be the "National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan."

145
The question Ace asked about a cap being in place should a disastrous event take place (and isn't such a thing mandated on every well) is a good one.  The answer is yes and yes;  it is called a B.O.P. or Blow Out Prevent-or and there is one on every well that is being drilled anywhere in the US.  When this disaster first happened I seem to remember some news reports saying that the BOP failed to be activated 3 times-mechanically, by remote switch, and by sonic switch.  The BOP sits directly at the point that the pipe enters the ground and it will "pinch the pipe" when activated.  And by "pinch the pipe" I mean it will literally crush the casing or drill pipe (depending on the situation) to restrict further flow and to isolate the event down hole.
The better question now would be why haven't they activated the BOP in the 33 days since the event?  Something hinkey, as I believe people in Chicago would say, is going on with this whole situation. 

146

All this Pollution Control Act talk is by pinko commie socialists who most likely would have voted for the Civil Rights Act.

People, there is nothing in the U. S. Constitution that says that the federal government is responsible for oil spills!  That most sacred document makes no mention of booms, berms, etc. Therefore under the 10th Amendment, this is clearly a state issue.  Let us purge our minds of socialism.

More I think about it, the Lousiana Purchase would most likely be ruled uncostitutional by a Supreme Court that believed in strict constructionism.

Someone has to pay for those boom and berms. Let's tell Piyush to keep his hands off Other People's Money.

Drill Baby Drill!

 

147 I can guarantee that heads will quietly roll at BP because of this disaster, if only because of all the profits that are being lost. Of course, the heads will probably belong to some poor schlubs way down the food chain. As for Obama's response to the disaster... good grief, do we really want that bumbling fool to do something?

148 You obviously have the wrong event. I have studies that event to death and it happened NOTHING like you just described.

Posted by: Vic at May 24, 2010 04:55 PM (6taRI)

Say what?

The preamble to the linked article:

On March 28, 1979, as the sun rose over Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a series of mechanical, electrical, and human failures led to what has been described as the worst nuclear power plant accident in the history of the United States. News of the accident rocked the nation, and its effects were keenly felt by those who lived in the shadow of the great concrete towers of Three Mile Island.

Coverage of the accident and its repercussions by the mainstream media was confusing at best. Unfamiliar with nuclear technology, and often openly afraid of it, few journalists managed to impart to the public a clear, coherent picture of the evolution of the crisis. Despite the best efforts of many experts to relate the true situation, most coverage has suffered from some form of bias, ranging from anti-nuclear paranoia to pro-nuclear propaganda. Facts, related by people with the time to gain a full understanding of their meaning, have been scarce. Many of us are still in the dark as to exactly how TMI happened, and why.

Since my early teen years, I've had a keen interest in nuclear technology, and became even more curious after hearing about the TMI crisis as a high school student in 1979. The technology, human factors, and political and economic pressures that brought about the accident seemed beyond understanding by any one person.

I am neither strongly pro-nuclear nor strongly anti-nuclear. I see the advantages as clearly as the disadvantages, the dangers as vividly as the benefits. From my position, sitting solidly on the fence between the two extremes, I see a more balanced picture. Over the years, while searching for information, I hit upon the idea of sharing that balanced view, in the form of a clear, detailed description of the crisis, uncolored by any biases, and undistorted by the misunderstandings of non-technical journalists.

Research for a software project in the mid 1980's brought me into contact with most of the factual information, and gave me a more refined undetstanding of the underlying technology. Armed with this, my curiosity, and a strong background in physical science, I set out to make myself an expert on the subject, in the hope of gaining the knowledge to write the aforementioned description.

This narrative is the result of that effort. Based on interviews, extensive research, and review of the testimony of those involved, this web site will attempt to fill in the missing details. What you are about to read is a complete account of what took place inside the walls of TMI on that tense spring evening in 1979.

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