BP Oil Spill – Compensation Claims Process for Those Adversely Affected Along the Gulf Coast

American citizens living along the gulf coast, many of whom have been directly affected by the recent BP gulf oil spill, are being hired in ever increasing numbers by the British oil giant to perform much of the necessary cleanup and boom-setting operations there.  Many of these responders are fishermen who would normally be working the rich waters of the Gulf of Mexico to bring in a vital portion of the nation's seafood supply.  Unfortunately for these folks, federal officials have had to shut down most of the fishing and harvesting activities.  This is due to the still uncontrolled well-head gushing unprecedented amounts of crude oil into the heart of America's fragile wetlands, beaches, and estuaries.  In addition, a recent six-month ban on offshore drilling in response to the BP oil rig disaster threatens to put even more gulf coast residents out of work at a time when the unemployment rate is already sky high.

BP has promised to pay all "legitimate" claims by people and businesses affected by the April 20th spill.  At this point, the financial claims payment process is nowhere near as efficient as it needs to be.  This is mainly because BP's policy of waiting for books to close each month is not efficient enough.  As well, demands placed on fishermen and business owners to prove their losses by producing financial statements, is further complicating this issue.  As the fishing and tourism industries in these states are seasonal and often short-lived, it can be extremely difficult to prove losses when there is no consistent paper trail to follow.  This has understandably led to a lot of confusion and frustration between British Petroleum and the local businesses and individuals affected by the crisis.

Unfortunately, we are probably closer to the beginning of this crisis than we are to the end of it.  Most of the toughest work remains, as the real oil spill cleanup efforts haven't even started yet.  This is mainly because only a small percentage of the millions of gallons of spilled crude oil have yet to come ashore.  Already though, we are hearing an alarming number of reports concerning oil spill cleanup workers complaining of unsafe working conditions adversely affecting their health.  Consistent and prolonged exposure to extremely high concentrations of raw hydrocarbons (crude oil) has been proven to be a potentially deadly and hazardous work environment.

The   symptoms   now   being   reported   by  some   of   the   BP  oil   spill  crews   are  eerily  similar  to  those  experienced   by  individuals   who  participated    in    the  Exxon   Valdez  oil   spill  cleanup  in  1989.  For  this   reason,  oil   rig   personnel,  cleanup   crews,    boom  layers,   etc.  are   likely   to   experience  serious   health   problems   down   the   road. Any  legitimate workers compensation, accident compensation,  and or accident  injury claim  associated   with  this   disaster  is  sure  to  trouble  both  British  Petroleum and  the US government forthe  foreseeable  future.  (ArticlesBase SC #2634170)

BP oil spill planet killer

By Michael Webster: Syndicated Investigative reporter.  

Millions of listeners heard on the popular Coast to Coast Am radio show recently that the BP oil spill is a planet killer. Talk show host Ian Punnett welcomed two guests, Jim Bell during the second hour and Minister Lindsey Williams in the 3rd hour, for a discussion on the Gulf oil crisis as well as alternative energy. In the second hour, Minister Lindsey Williams, who once served as a chaplain for the oil companies operating in Alaska, shared what he claimed to be the "real story" behind the Gulf oil crisis. He explained that, in the 1970's, Russia drilled over 40,000 feet into the ground and discovered abiotic oil, i.e. oil which replenishes itself via an as-yet-unknown natural chemical process. The off-shore drilling done by BP in the Gulf of Mexico, Williams said, was their attempt to create a similar super-deep well and access this same abiotic oil. However, according to his sources, BP insiders and U.S. Government officials the pressure from this pocket of abiotic oil in the Gulf was so great that it burst all the safety valves on the floating platform.     According to writer Jose Lugo i

Williams went on to allege that oil industry insiders believe that the only method to stop the flow of oil in the Gulf is via a nuclear device and even that has potential for catastrophic results. Bell, who rejoined the conversation in the fourth hour, agreed with Williams about the potential danger of using a nuke to thwart the spill because it could "pop the bubble" and cause all of the underground oil to emerge simultaneously. On the potential long term effects of the crisis if the flow of oil is not stopped, Bell speculated that it could reach Europe within three years through the Gulf Stream. Additionally, Williams observed that the overwhelming amount of dangerous gasses, which are also being released from the disaster, could be swept along the East Coast should a hurricane arrive in the Gulf. Williams stated that those same dangerous pollutants are in the air in alarming amounts and getting more dangerous everyday. He further indicated that the oil pressure coming up the oil deep water pipe was running between 20,000 and 70,000 PSI. Last night on the Coast to coast Am show Science Advisor Richard C. Hoagland commented on the oil spill in the Gulf. He warned listeners that an even worse catastrophe could be looming if a giant gas bubble that has formed at the site of the leak on the ocean floor should blow. Hoagland said the pressure in the pipe is 100,000 or more lbs of pressure per square inch or PSI. Both agreed that BP nor anyone else knows how to shop this amount of pressure coming from the largest and deepest underwater oil well on earth.

Williams said "that the dangers from this run away well is a planet killer and we may not be able to stop it." Mankind could be doomed.

Bell, who calls himself an "ecological designer," blamed the oil spill on a corporate culture which focuses on making a profit by way of "taking short cuts" that, ultimately, result in situations such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico. He put forward the notion that the ideal scenario to break free of corporate controlled energy is to aggressively pursue efficient solutions which would make the transition away from oil easier and faster. Using solar power as an example, he theorized that, with good leadership, it would take about 40 years for such a transition to take place.

n the movie Armageddon, there was a scene where Steve Buscemi who played the part of a reluctant-hero-astronaut and while sitting and waiting for liftoff, he uttered a profound philosophical statement;   "Hey Harry, you know we're sitting on 4 million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder, makes you feel good doesn't it"?   In the movie, this statement was made by an oil drilling roughneck to other roughnecks; but it says so much about the oil business and today's corporate culture. It's the reckless, do it quick, cheap and dirty routine.   Lugo went on to say that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster is a case in point. The disaster started with an explosion that nobody was ready for. Then the oil companies (BP and Transatlantic) discovered that they had absolutely "NO PLANS" to handle the unfolding disaster, they had to think things up as they went along. They had only one shut off station in one location, that malfunctioned! Reckless, quick, cheap and dirty!   Williams said that the amount of oil gushing from the well is much greater than BP and the amount the Government is reporting as only one million gallons a day. Both guests surmised that the more accurate amount gushing from the well is in the millions of barrels. Why didn't they have shut off valves along the pipe line?  They did but all the system was overwhelmed by the great pressure of the blow out.   But the most anguishing question remains, "Why didn't they have a back-up plan?" Things happen in the ocean--hurricanes, sinking ships, equipment breakdowns, Murphy's Law etc.. Why didn't they have plans for these possible disasters? Because no commercial company has ever drilled that deep before this is a super-deep well with a mile of sea water on top of it. The pressures alone at those depths are enormous and may have contributed to the failures.   During the program it come out that there are multiple holes in the pipe and that more oil is gushing from fissures as far away from the well head as 20 miles.

Hoagland said that at the sea bed at the well for miles around it is a bubble and it is growing, believed to be pressure from a huge natural gas build up that could blow at any time and kill many there and in the general area working to stop the rush of the largest out of control oil leak that man has ever known.

Michael Webster's Syndicated Investigative Reports have been read worldwide, in 100 or more U.S. outlets and in at least 136 countries and territories. He publishes articles in association with global news agencies and media information services with more than 350 news affiliates in 136 countries. Many of Mr. Webster's articles are printed in six working languages: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. With ten more languages planed in the near future.

Mr. Webster is America's leading authority on Venture Capital/Equity Funding. He served as a trustee on some of the nation's largest trade Union funds. A noted Author, Lecturer, Educator, Emergency Manager, Counter-Terrorist, War on Drugs and War on Terrorist Specialist, Business Consultant, Newspaper Publisher. Radio News caster. Labor Law generalist, Teamster Union Business Agent, General Organizer, Union Rank and File Member Grievances Representative, NLRB Union Representative, Union Contract Negotiator, Workers Compensation Appeals Board Hearing Representative. Mr. Webster represented management on that side of the table as the former Director of Federated of Nevada.   (ArticlesBase SC #2642727)

BP has begun an operation

BP has begun an operation to fit a tighter cap over its blown-out oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. An underwater robot has taken off the existing dome to make room for the new sealing cap.

But the operation may last between four and seven days - meaning oil will flow unimpeded into the sea.

Another system is also being linked up and may start collecting crude on Sunday, BP says. It is drilling two wells to intercept and block the leak.

BBC reports that BP estimates the first of these wells will be finished in the first half of August, enabling the company to intercept the damaged well "and kill operations performed".

The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig in April killed 11 people. President Barack Obama has called the leak the biggest environmental disaster in US history.

BP's submersible robots are preparing to remove the current containment cap from the ocean floor.

The new sealing cap - similar to a smaller version of the damaged blow-out preventer - has three devices that are designed to shut the flow, the closing rams, and multiple ports for connecting pipes to collect crude.

According to BP, the new cap "creates the potential to increase oil and gas containment capacity to greater than 50,000 barrels per day and should improve containment efficiency during hurricane season by allowing shorter disconnect and reconnect times".

The company said that "there can be no assurance that the sealing cap will be successfully installed or installed within the anticipated timeframe", given it has never been attempted at this depth before.

It added that contingency caps like the existing one are at the ready on the seabed, should the replacement operation fail.

The company also said that favourable weather conditions had made it possible to begin another operation in tandem - connecting a new ship to the blow-out preventer.

Known as the Helix Producer, it will begin collecting oil and sending it to a third ship being used for the purpose.

BP says this could begin "ramping up containment operations as early as Sunday".

The containment dome currently collects about half the amount of oil gushing out of the damaged well.

On Friday, the Coast Guard commander overseeing the response, Adm Thad Allen, said the flow of leaking oil could be shut off by Monday. But in that time hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil could flow unabated into the ocean.

"We have a significant chance to dramatically reduce the oil that's being released into the environment and maybe shut the well in altogether in the next week," he said.

"I use the word 'contained'," said Adm Allen. "'Stop' is when we put the plug in down below."

At the moment it is believed that BP is siphoning off only around half the leaking oil.

Current US government estimates of the spill range from between 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day.

On Thursday BP said its operation to drill a new relief well to stop the Deepwater Horizon leak was ahead of schedule.

BP's bill so far has been more than $3.1bn - and it has agreed to set up a $20 billion fund to deal with compensation claims and clean-up costs.     (ArticlesBase SC #2818374)

Environmental Impact Gulf of Mexico oil spill

Crude oil continued to spill into the Gulf of Mexico after a rig explosion (used in offshore drilling) at a horrible rate (1000 barrel/day). The U.S. Coast Guard said there was an area 42 miles by 80 miles with a rainbow sheen of emulsified crude located less than 40 miles offshore. An oil rig 10 miles away from the Deepwater Horizon was evacuated as a precaution.

The Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean and leased to BP, caught fire April 20 after an explosion and sank. Eleven oil rig workers are missing and presumed dead. The rig, with a platform bigger than a football field and insured for $560 million, was one of the most modern and was drilling in 5,000 feet of water.

Fig: Gulf of Mexico

Although BP and U.S. Coast Guard vessels rushed to contain the spill. A similar spill off the Western Australia coast last year took 10 weeks to bring under control and Environmentalists are afraid about that though the sunken rig's distance from shore gives oil companies more time to keep the spill from reaching U.S. coastlines, the water deeper maks it harder to get the spill under control.

BP is trying to drill two relief wells to intercept the oil flow and divert it to new pipes and storage vessels. It said it was also working to fabricate a dome to cover the leak area and channel it into a new pipe to storage facilities. Such a technique has been used in shallower water but not at these depths, Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, said in a conference call. The company continued to try to activate the blowout preventer, a 450-ton piece of equipment on the sea floor that is supposed to seal the well to prevent the type of accident that took place.


A marine scientist, Jacqueline Savitz said that The Gulf of Mexico is host to four species of endangered

-sea turtles



-bluefin tuna




- snapper




-grouper.

Turtles have to come to the surface to breathe and can be coated with oil or may swallow it." And, she added, the Gulf is one of only two nurseries for bluefin tuna, more than 90 percent of which return to their place of birth to spawn. Oil spills are extremely harmful to marine life when they occur and often for years or even decades later. Spills could coat sea birds and limit their flying ability and damage fisheries by injuring marine organism's systems related to respiration, vision and reproduction.