Recently in Energy Category

From my friend, Christa Rock, shot in Plaquemines Parrish, Louisiana last week:I'm very disappointed in the Obama administration and the happy talk they're putting out from the White House how everything is okey dokey, and the all the oil just disappeared.  After BP put 5 million barrels into the open ocean?  Don't think so.  This video asserts that the oiling of the beaches is getting worse, not better.  Dead fish everywhere, right on the beaches.Serious...

At 1 am today, we got the "everything is fine" press release from BP proclaiming that the well, after the "textbook" static kill, is static.  They studiously avoided the words "dead" or "killed".  Per usual, they also provided no further information.  I was watching the feeds of the worsening leak coming from the lower flex joint flange at the moment I got the press release.  Odd.  If the well is static, then why is the...

I was on Countdown tonight with Keith talking about the "static kill" and the looped video feeds that BP is running on its website.  Have a look:Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy...

Updated for Kent Wells McBriefing:  Adm. Allen just finished his morning briefing by telling everyone that, even though the BOP is leaking, BP is going ahead with the "injectivity test" prior to pumping the top kill.  I guess in BPworld, pumping on a damaged and leaking wellhead, likely exceeding rated pressures for some of the components in that wellhead, somehow lowers risk.  I have now been listening to both BP and government representatives for 2...

I was on Countdown tonight with guest host, Lawrence O'Donnell, talking about BP being called out for blacking out the ROV video feeds that showed that the capping stack and old blowout preventer are leaking, contrary to what they are saying.  Have a look: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy...

Yesterday in his daily presser, Adm. Allen said that all is well with the well, and that BP may be ready to pump the Static Kill (Top Kill II) to cover up the evidence as early as Sunday.  The problem is, if everything with the Well Integrity Test (translation: Shut-In-Until-We-Can-Get-Mud-Pumped-in-to-Keep-from-Measuring-the-Flow-Test) is going so well, how come they cut off the ROV video feeds of the well 3 days ago?  Our pals over at Daily Kos,...

Dr. Susan Shaw, a marine toxicologist and President of the Marine Environmental Research Institute, gave a TED talk in June about BP's unprecedented use of dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico.  After going to the Gulf and seeing the effect of dispersants on oil itself, she has determined that the combination is actually more toxic than just leaving the oil alone, and that dispersed oil kills more sea life faster.  Her talk confirms all our worst fears,...

Updated for New CNN Video:  During testimony before the Joint Investigation Committee last week, Mike Williams, Chief Electronics Technician on the Deepwater Horizon, testified that the well at Mississippi Canyon Block 252 that BP had struggled with since October 2009 was dubbed "The Well from Hell" by the rig crew.  The well had been trouble from the start; drilling was actually started by Transocean's Marianas semi-submersible, but had to be shut down in November 2009...

CBS is now reporting that Tony Hayward, embattled yacht racing CEO of BPplc, will be stepping down in October, moving to take a job at the company's joint venture in Russia, TNK-BP.  I guess they figure he can't screw that up much, or else the Ruskies will ship him off to Siberia for a little ice dancing and potato peeling.  Bloomberg is also reporting that American Bob Dudley will replace Hayward.  Brought in on the...

Today Chelsea Green Publishing introduced my new book, Disaster on the Horizon, an industry insider's investigative look at the blowout of BP's Mississippi Canyon 252 Well, and the aftermath.   Release date is October 15.  Here's a look at the cover:...