[StBernard] BP ready for a Gulf oil spill?

[Westley Annis]

I'm pulling this from an online Vanity Fair article, linked from another
site.

Newsweek has done
<http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/28/why-wasn-t-there-a-better-plan.html>  a
close reading of B.P.'s plan to contain oil spills should they occur in the
Gulf Coast, a strategy outlined in a report approved by the Minerals
Management Service last year. As you may have guessed, judging by the
reaction to an actual oil spill in the Gulf, its emergency-response
preparations are lacking, to say the least. According to Newsweek, "The plan
mentions the need to protect walruses, sea lions, sea otters, and seals-all
animals that do not actually exist in the gulf. This suggests that at least
parts of the gulf plan could have been cut-and-pasted from response plans
for other regions, like Alaska." 

The report, which includes little information about how to attend to
deep-sea spills and is riddled with broken hyperlinks. Overall, the strategy
report does not exhibit "much serious thought," according to the magazine.
Skeptics, do not take Newsweek's word for it. The 583-page document
<http://info.publicintelligence.net/BPGoMspillresponseplan.pdf>  is
available online, for free, and this weekend's a long one! 





http://info.publicintelligence.net/BPGoMspillresponseplan.pdf

I don't think anyone can say that we in SELA are anti-oil or anti-drilling,
but it's become evident that BP had **no** plans on how to handle any type
of disaster when it's a mile below the water.

JY