Don’t Try Contacting BP’s Wildlife Expert: He’s been dead for five years

[Hannah Bell]

BP PLC’s 582-page regional spill plan for the Gulf, and its 52-page, site-specific plan for the Deepwater Horizon rig vastly understate the dangers posed by an uncontrolled leak and vastly overstate the company’s preparedness to deal with one, according to an Associated Press analysis. The lengthy plans were approved by the federal government last year before BP drilled its ill-fated well…

Among the glaring errors in the report: A professor is listed in BP’s 2009 response plan for a Gulf of Mexico oil spill as a national wildlife expert. He died in 2005. The plan lists cold-water marine mammals including walruses, sea otters, sea lions and seals as “sensitive biological resources.” None of those animals live anywhere near the Gulf.

Also, names and phone numbers of several Texas A&M University marine life specialists are wrong. So are the numbers for marine mammal stranding network offices in Louisiana and Florida, which are disconnected.



http://harpers.org/#hbc-90007203

[KamaAina]

1. I'm going to guess they cut 'n' pasted their plan from Alaska

rather amateurishly, it appears.

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. They have been rubber stamped for decades

No one actually READS this shit. They just check off the box that says "emergency plan filed" and move on.

[Catherina]

2. I heard Anderson Cooper talking about that last night

I couldn't believe my ears.

"walruses, sea otters, sea lions and seals"


But they got permission to drill :shrug:

[hatrack]

3. Now, now, Hannah . . . . all that cutting and pasting probably took an intern HOURS

I mean, hours and hours.

[Mimosa]

4. MMS and Dept of Interior probably never read it

This gushing geyser is the wake-up call.

[izquierdista]

6. Is he back from the taxidermist yet?

I'm sure they would keep him on staff; he won't be cashing his paychecks.

[whyverne]

7. I seem to recall Obama telling us all that the pro-business

Congress passed a law saying that if you wanted to question the drillers, you had only 30 days to prepare a complete environmental statement. Which is not enough time.

So, yes, nobody reads the boilerplate because Congress made it clear that they didn't want anyone questioning big oil.

So why so shocked?

[blondeatlast]

8. And I heard on The CBS Evening News last night that the oil industry as a whole spent a whopping

$40K in environmental impact research last year.

Now tell me that that BP PR isn't true...

(Do I need the sarcasm thingy--REALLY?)

[eppur_se_muova]

9. No problem, MMS relies heavily on these already ...

[Starry Messenger]

10. What a horrible farce.

Why are they in charge again?