The Daily Glob

"Interior Inspector General: White House Skewed Drilling-Ban Report"

"The White House rewrote crucial sections of an Interior Department report to suggest an independent group of scientists and engineers supported a six-month ban on offshore oil drilling, the Interior inspector general says in a new report.

In the wee hours of the morning of May 27, a staff member to White House energy adviser Carol Browner sent two edited versions of the department report's executive summary back to Interior. The language had been changed to insinuate the seven-member panel of outside experts – who reviewed a draft of various safety recommendations – endorsed the moratorium, according to the IG report obtained by POLITICO.

"The White House edit of the original DOI draft executive summary led to the implication that the moratorium recommendation had been peer-reviewed by the experts," the IG report states, without judgment on whether the change was an intentional attempt to mislead the public."

Dan Berman reports for Politico November 10, 2010.

SEE ALSO:

"Govt's Handling of Science on Oil Spill Questioned" (AP)

"White House Changed Report, Implying Experts Supported Deepwater Drilling Moratorium -- IG" (Greenwire)

"White House Editing Caused Drilling Ban Dispute" (Green/New York Times)

"BP Oil Spill: White House Rewrote Drilling Ban Report" (Guardian)

"Senior Republican: Questions 'Need To Be Answered' Following Interior Drilling Report" (E2 Wire/The Hill)

Text of Nov. 9 Interior IG Report

"Experts, Rivals Blast BP Practices"

"Monday was a relatively good day for BP in the glare of oil spill inquiries. Tuesday was a bad day.

Drilling experts and corporate rivals testifying before a presidential oil spill commission blasted BP Tuesday for decisions about the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that might have removed obstacles to the April 20 blowout that led to the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

"Shell Presses for Drilling in Arctic"

"HOUSTON — Eager to win approval for its stalled plan to drill for oil in the Alaskan Arctic, Royal Dutch Shell is beginning a public lobbying campaign, including national advertising, on Monday. As part of the effort, the giant oil company is promising to make unprecedented preparations to prevent the kind of disaster that polluted the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year.

"'Shadow' of Oil Spill Seen in Gulf of Mexico Plankton"

"It is possible to trace oil from the BP spill as it moved through the first several levels of the Gulf’s food chain, starting with the microbes that broke the oil down, according to a scientific paper released today.

That paper, 'Oil carbon entered the coastal planktonic food web during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,' suggests that a faint 'shadow' of the oil can be seen in the Gulf’s smallest creatures — plankton and copepods. Those tiny animals ate the microbes that ate the oil.

What’s present in the creatures is not oil. Instead, it is a unique form of carbon typically associated with oil and not otherwise seen in the Gulf creatures, researchers found. Carbon is the primary building block of all life, so it is present in bacteria, copepods, fish and all other creatures."

Ben Raines reports for the Mobile Press-Register November 8, 2010.

Scientists Find Dead and Dying Coral Near BP Spill Site

"A brown substance is killing coral organisms in colonies located 4,600 feet deep about seven miles southwest of the failed BP Macondo oil well, according to scientists who returned Thursday from a three-week cruise studying coral reefs in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

The finding is the first case in which researchers have found evidence that living organisms in the deepwater area near the well site might have been killed by oil from the spill.

"Criticism Runs Deep for Spill Commission Findings"

"NEW ORLEANS -- Critics of a presidential commission's preliminary findings that largely supported BP's internal probe of the Gulf oil spill questioned Monday how anyone could suggest money wasn't put ahead of safety in the days before the disaster.

'Why cut corners if it is not for money?' said Billy Nungesser, the president of oil-soaked Plaquemines Parish, La.

Nungesser also challenged the statement from the commission's chief investigator, who said he agreed with about 90 percent of what BP said in its internal report released in early September.

'I really feel for the families of these 11 victims,' Nungesser said. 'Here they are hoping and praying that their loved ones lost would set some fundamental change and protection so things would be different. If we are gonna not be honest with everybody, including the American public, about what happened and why — then these people died in vain.'

Daniel Becnel, a Louisiana lawyer suing BP and others over the oil spill, said the commission's findings about money not being a factor are 'absolutely absurd.'

'The reason is it so absurd is because BP is known to paste over safety, especially if it involved money and downtime,' Becnel said. 'They couldn't afford any more downtime on that rig.'"

Harry R. Weber reports for the Associated Press November 8, 2010.

"Criticism Runs Deep for Spill Commission Findings"

SEE ALSO:

"Oil Spill Panel: BP Didn't Sacrifice Safety for Costs" (AP)

"Factbox: Oil Spill Commission Findings" (Reuters)

"Well Acts ‘Plain Wrong’ or ‘Difficult to Explain,’ Reilly Says" (Bloomberg)

Petroleum Chemicals Found in Blood of Gulf Cleanup Workers

Lab tests have found that the blood of Gulf oil spill cleanup workers has elevated levels of several chemicals that are characteristic components of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon well.

The blood was collected in early August from 8 cleanup workers, 5 men and 3 women, ranging in age from 30 to 59. Samples were analyzed by Metametrix Clinical Laboratory in Pensacola, Florida. The tests found levels above the 95th percentile for ethylbenzene and m,p-Xylene in all 8 workers. Three of the workers had levels of 2-Methylpentane above the 80th percentile.

The results were reported in the Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper blog on October 25, 2010, by Dr. Wilma Subra. Subra,  Louisiana chemist, is a MacArthur Fellows genius grant recipient and advisor to the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health

"Halliburton and BP Knew of Cement Flaws"

The chief investigator of the presidential commission investigating the gulf oil spill says that Halliburton and BP knew of flaws in the cement used to seal the oil well weeks before the spill. Here is his letter to the full commission. John M. Broder reports for the New York Times October 28, 2010.

"Louisiana Oystermen: Out of Work, Out of Options"

"Elton 'Hambone' Encalade is one of the first oystermen to greet me as I pull into Beshel’s Boat Launch in Pointe-a-la-Hache, Louisiana. He’s sitting on a plastic milk crate that seems too flimsy to support his muscular frame. Hambone has high cheekbones, a beard flecked with gray, and a gaze that is unrelenting. He wears his red baseball cap backward and a tight matching T-shirt. When I arrive at 1 p.m., he and his friends have already emptied a considerable number of beer cans, which lie crushed on the ground amids the oyster shells." Barry Yeoman reports for onearth October 28, 2010.

"For Chevron, 2 Giant Gulf Drilling Ventures"

"Just nine days after the Obama Administration lifted the deepwater
drilling moratorium, Chevron announced on Thursday that it was going
forward with a $7.5 billion project to develop two giant deepwater
fields in the gulf." Clifford Krauss reports for the New York Times
October 21, 2010.

SEE ALSO:

"East Timor Forges Ahead on Deepwater Oil Drilling" (New York Times)