Investigator Warned MMS in 2009 About Deepwater Gas Blowouts in Gulf of Mexico

Investigator Warned MMS in 2009 About Deepwater Gas Blowouts in Gulf of Mexico

solveclimate.com

A sixty-page memorandum addressed to Renee Orr, the chief of the leasing division of the Minerals Management Service (MMS), was sent in September 2009 by an environmental investigator, warning of potential disaster in offshore drilling operations and the particular dangers posed by gas hydrates.
It was written as a public comment to the federal government's proposed rule for oil and gas leasing between 2010 and 2015 on the outer continental shelf, and offers a wide-ranging compilation and analysis, based on meticulously documented scientific, industry and government sources, of many accident

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is a very interesting read, and points once again, to a failure in the FEDERAL government and it's agencies to handle it's business competently.

The response the author of the report received from the MMS on this detailed report highlighting concerns and possible dangers of the methods of deep water drilling?

An automated email acknowledging receipt of the report..



solveclimate.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I agree.

I view this as a failure of our government. This just feels like it has "Corruption" written all over it.

And I have this gut instinct that someone was taking some bribes.

Call it a hunch...

Originally posted by muzzleflash
And I have this gut instinct that someone was taking some bribes.

Yeah, like maybe this guy....

MMS -Minerals Management Services Head -Resigns

US Government heads and Directors are also at fault for allowing BP Oil to drill in this manner, without safety precautions without backup plans for emergencies at 5000 foot depths. The Associate Director who just resigned or retired is Chris Oynes who has been in charge and a part of MMS head executives for the past twelve years.

The Minerals Management Services is the government body that is responsible for all offshore drilling on the outer continental shelf. The head of this organization namely Chris Oynes who in 2007 almost 4 years ago was made the Director of the Offshore Energy and Minerals Management Program.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9df00defaa04.jpg[/atsimg]
Fat Cats at MMS Got Bribed by BP Oil- Chris Oynes-Resigns Before Investigation- Head of MMS and OffShore Drilling


This is the man who just resigned from his position because he was the person responsible for administering the gas and oil programs and oddly enough the same person connected with developing new sources of energy.Mr. Oynes has been the Regional Director of MMS for the Gulf of Mexico region for 12 years and would be a central figure in the negotiations between BP Oil and the US government in obtaining leases for off shore drilling.

Mr. Chris Oynes has also negotiated 30 lease sales for drilling as well he had the responsibility of a fifty percent rise in oil production in the Gulf. It would not take a brian surgeon to figure out this guy was on the take. Oynes even gave Horizon a certificate award for safety last year. Mr. Oynes is the key man for the government and he knew the ins and outs of offshore drilling leases, operational safeguards, resources, environmental reviews and is considered the expert during the Bush administration.

reply to post by mythatsabigprobe


Well, isn't that an eyeopener...

If you would please, give up the link I am dying to see the article

I think the report is well researched.

Pun intended.

It kinda reveals the fact that offshore rigs like Deepwater should have already had a secondary drill in place just as an emergency backup plan B. It still surprises me Big Oil doesn't haven't any primary strategies ready to be deployed at a moments notice to handle these situations.

reply to post by dzonatas


I think BIG oil was too focused on discovery.. and securing the potential, rather than focusing on dealing with setbacks..

I know, setback is a mild term, which probably reflects the concern that they had in the first place..

Flagged.

Honestly sad to see all this happening. This isn't the first time the governments been warned of acts that could be potentially stopped or fixed.

Maybe this all just falls into the master plan and will make sense soon...I hope not

A couple more articles on MMS and their failures in regards to deep water drilling in the Gulf:

www.washingtonpost.com

The federal agency responsible for regulating U.S. offshore oil drilling repeatedly ignored warnings from government scientists about environmental risks in its push to approve energy exploration activities quickly, according to numerous documents and interviews.

Minerals Management Service officials, who can receive cash bonuses in the thousands of dollars based in large part on meeting federal deadlines for leasing offshore oil and gas exploration, frequently changed documents and bypassed legal requirements aimed at protecting the marine environment, the documents show.

This has dramatically weakened the scientific checks on offshore drilling that were established under landmark laws such as the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, say those who have worked with the MMS, which is part of the Interior Department.

This one focuses on blowout preventer concerns that go back to 2002:

www.alaskadispatch.com

Years before the Gulf of Mexico became witness to the nightmare scenario of an unstoppable volcano of crude oil gushing from an unplugged oil well deep beneath the ocean, both the oil industry and the federal agency charged with monitoring seabed drilling off America's coasts knew the last-ditch "failsafe" technology intended to prevent just this sort of catastrophe might not work.

A 2002 mini-study of so-called shear rams -- devices designed to cut and seal oil wells in the event of a cataclysmic blowout -- found that in real world tests, two out of seven (nearly 30 percent) of the rams didn't work. The study further warned that "when operational considerations were accounted for, shearing success dropped to three out of six."

reply to post by JacKatMtn


Puts into perspective the remaining risk to be found across the globe at other drilling sites.