The news from the disaster this fine Sunday is that BP has declared scientists will not be allowed access to the accident site because measuring the rate of oil flow is...well, here, read it for yourself:
BP has resisted entreaties from scientists that they be allowed to use sophisticated instruments at the ocean floor that would give a far more accurate picture of how much oil is really gushing from the well.
"The answer is no to that," a BP spokesman, Tom Mueller, said on Saturday. "We're not going to take any extra efforts now to calculate flow there at this point. It's not relevant to the response effort, and it might even detract from the response."
That's right, actually getting a solid estimate of the amount of poison that is currently geysering into the waters of the Gulf is not desirable, or even really that important. No need to know how much oil boom we should deploy, how many volunteers we might recruit, how much of the coastline is at risk...none of that is in any way connected to the amount of oil being vomited up.
With this little ditty, the very last drop of BP's credibility as the contrite corporate giant trying to make good has vanished into the muck of its actions on the ground. From trying to get employees of the doomed drilling rig to sign waivers to their abysmal blame fest before congress last week, the British energy giant has pretty much proven what everyone except for Sarah Palin already knew: BP doesn't give a rat's ass about the Gulf, the people that live there, or the absolute disaster they have inflicted through sheer greed. The company is in full damage control mode, which means denial, cover-ups, and massive amounts of bullshit.
The US should respond with subpoenas, charges and jail sentences if warranted, and a host of new regulations that will permanently outlaw deep water drilling. As the continually more hideous debacle unfurling before us proves, this kind of extraction is beyond our ability to perform safely.
[UPDATE 5-19]
60 Minutes has released an excellent documentary, speaking with one of the survivors of the rig explosion, who has laid serious charges of negligence on BP's shoulders. It's must see viewing.
Watch it here:
http://www.fancast.com/tv/60-Minutes/97707/1496069406/60-Minutes%2C-05.16.10/videos
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