Thursday, July 8, 2010

Dept. of the Interior erases BP from finalist list for safety award/Coast Guard gives BP 24 hours to provide updated containment plans

A nice juxtaposition from the Houston Chronicle's NewsWatch Energy blog:
You've probably already forgotten that BP was a finalist for the Minerals Management Service's "Safety Award for Excellence" this year. Well, it looks like the Interior Department is telling BP to forget it,too.
Greenwire reported that as the Interior revamped the website for the now-renamed MMS, it also deleted BP as a finalist from the site.

The ceremony to announce the winner of the SAFE award was supposed to be announced at the Offshore Technology Conference held in May. But the awards ceremony was canceled because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico....MORE
And:
In a letter sent to BP today, Ret. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is overseeing oil spill response effort, demanded updated information explaining the company's timeline and plans for stanching the flow from the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Allen said he needs to know the "steps and decision points" for when certain efforts will be implemented and any contingency plans the company has if those efforts fail. He noted that this is a critical stage in the response, as hurricane season is already affecting response efforts.
 
The letter gives BP 24 hours to respond to its requests for specific information, including a timeline for the Helix Producer, a contingency plan if mounting the capping stack fails and a detailed timeline for the estimated completion of the relief wells.
Read the full letter below....MORE