Oil spill latest: BP still the company to clean up mess

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has become a catastrophe of epic proportions. The riser pipe, that was severed after the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig caught fire and sank last month, is still spewing untold amounts of crude oil into the extremely delicate Gulf eco-system, has accounted for the death of 11 rig workers, and as it continues to pollute the sea, thousands of marine animals as well.

BP has taken the brunt of the attacks from the government and environmentalists, and so they should, as they are responsible for the lack of safety aboard the rig and responsible for not installing a remote shut-off trigger on the sea-bed, a mile below the surface. BP, like other oil producing organizations have been forced to drill deeper underground as oil reserves dwindle, despite a peak in demand. This has meant oil excavation with smaller room for error, and as those witnessing the nightmare in the Gulf can attest, makes shutting off breakages in riser pipes that much more challenging.

Oil spill latest - previous failed attempts

Oil has now been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for 37 days, at a rate somewhere between 5,000 barrels a day to 80,000 barrels a day, depending on which report you read. BP has so far been unable to contain the leak, although in the last week they have successfully (depending on how you define successfully) been able to extract oil from the leaking riser pipe via a RITT, up to a containment vessel at the surface.

The oil is now in large parts of the Gulf, now the size of Maryland and Delaware combined and growing, and would have been on more coastlines in Florida and Cuba had it not have been for good weather and lucky breaks with wind direction, but it is reaching the precious wetlands and marshlands, and with it soaking pelican nesting areas.

"We need more boom, more skimmers, more vacuums, more jack-up barges that are still in short supply. Let's be clear: every day that this oil sits and waits for cleanup is one more day that more of our marsh dies," Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said.

BP has tried several methods to stem the flow of oil, from using robotic submarines, a 100-ton dome designed to siphon the oil to the surface, skimming the surface and is currently in the process of drilling a relief well, which should take three months; a period of time that would set the Gulf eco-system back several decades.

Kevin Costner to the rescue?

Even actor Kevin Costner has put forward his company, Ocean Therapy Solutions, who have designed and built several surface skimming machines that can siphon oil from water at around 200 gallons a minute. The machines will be tried out in the Gulf in the next few days.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has been the most vocal, criticizing BP and its inability to stem the flow of oil, claiming the British oil company has missed "deadline after deadline" in sealing the riser pipe.

"If we find they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, we'll push them out of the way appropriately," Mr Salazar told reporters after visiting BP's US headquarters.

Scientific "all-stars" sent to investigate leak site

The reason for the outburst is due to the murky nature of the crisis, and the enfolding information about the leak coming mainly from BP itself. Indeed, BP claimed that only 1,000 barrels of oil was leaking a day, a figure that was grossly inaccurate according to scientists viewing the leaking pipe using underwater cameras.

Mr Salazar claimed that the government has sent a team of scientific "all-stars" to investigate the catastrophe in more detail.

"[The scientists] have pushed BP in every way that they can to kill the well and they have pushed BP in every way that they can to stop the pollution," Mr Salazar said. "If there is a way to kill this well, they will find it. If there is a way to stop this pollution from spreading, they will find it."

The issue of course, is that if BP aren't capable of stopping the spill, it seems unlikely that the government will be in a better position to try and do so.

"We will keep our boot on [BP's] neck until the job gets done." Mr Salazar said. "Do I have confidence that they know exactly what they're doing? No, not completely."

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Oil spill latest: The cost of clumsiness | Gulf oil spill latest: Containing the spill | US oil rig sinks and causes oil spill off US coast | Oil spill latest: Senators knuckle wrap oil execs | Oil spill latest: oil leaking at catastrophic levels | Oil spill latest: BP make strides to contain the spill | Gulf oil spill latest: Still no answer three weeks on | BP - Still no answers for oil spill

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