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Witnesses told Palast they were evacuated from BP's platform as it filled with dangerous methane. They confirmed:
"(T)here was mud (drill-pipe cement) blown out all over the platform." The cement cap couldn't hold high-pressure gases. They "engulfed the entire platform in methane gas."Palast learned that "BP failed to notify the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) about the failure of the cement....Notification would have alerted Gulf cement contractor Halliburton that the process of adding nitrogen to cement posed unforeseen dangers."
Cement casing cracked apart in the Caspian. BP promoted "Blow-Out Preventers (BOPs) as a last line of defense in case of a blow-out. But if the casing shatters, the BOPs could be useless."
BP went to "extraordinary lengths" to conceal the first incident. Revealing would show replicating it in the Gulf was "not an unexpected accident but could be considered negligent homicide."
BP buys politicians. It also intimidates employees. An atmosphere of fear prevails. Speaking out ends careers. Few dare.
EcoWatch editor Stefanie Penn Spear said BP negligence caused the "biggest oil spill in US history. It entirely turned the Gulf Coast economy upside down and threatened--and continues to threaten--the health and livelihoods of the people in the Gulf region."
How can something this major be concealed, asked Palest. He cites "pay-offs, threats, political muscle and the connivance of the Bush Administration's State Department, Exxon and Chevron." Obama officials bear equal guilt.
New York Times contributor Abrahm Lustgarten's op-ed calls BP's Gulf disaster "A Stain That Won't Wash Away," saying:
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