Deepwater Trial Phase One Concludes. . .

Phase one of the first major trial to come of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe has concluded. Almost 3 years following the events that led to the historic levels of pollution and damage to the Gulf of Mexico as well as those who depend on it, some answers may finally be building. We can hope.

The first phase was to apportion blame among BP and its contractors, including Halliburton, which made the cement used to seal the Macondo well; and Transocean the owner of the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

Phase two is where they will look at more technical questions such as how much actually released into the environment during the uncontrolled gusher.

The trial was brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, Gulf Coast states and private plaintiffs.
After attorneys for BP rested their case Wednesday, plaintiffs' attorneys declined rebuttal, and the trial came to a close. There were no closing arguments.

This is a busy time all around for the filing and pursuing of lawsuits to BP and those related to this disaster. Deadlines and cut off dates have loomed and by the time of this post, have now passed. All those with reason to sue had better have filed them ...or forever hold their peace on this, it seems.

Hundreds of new lawsuits against BP, Transocean, Halliburton and other contractors were filed in Federal Court this week as the deadline to file-oil spill lawsuits approached. Many were from people or businesses that do not want to participate in the settlement, do not qualify, or who presented claims to BP and were ignored or rejected. Their statute of limitations expires tonight.

Source

As the story concludes by saying, BP was found guilty of criminal charges related to the event in a separate and unrelated legal proceeding last year where they were forced to accept a $4 Billion Dollar cost for what they've done. Here is hoping that is only the start and much more will follow for their accountability. As one of the worst (and by the time all is known, I believe, THE WORST) man made environmental disaster in history?

$4 Billion shouldn't even cover the down payment when calculating the true cost and loss is almost absurd for the sheer scale of it.

For some added context, this is a gallery of public domain imagery recorded and hosted by the U.S.G.S. of what phases of the event looked like.

Deepwater Horizon - What It looked like in 2010

I heard from an inside source that the BP engineer in charge of that well decided to go to dance lessons instead and told the guy on the rig via email that he would look it over after dance class...
by then it was too late, BOOM!


I hope he gets plenty of "dance lessons" in prison !

The Deepwater disaster has to be the worst one yet.

Wasn't that the highest pressure well ever breached? and it was leaking for a LONG time after. I have heard that the sea bed in the gulf is practically dead.


I did have a conspiracy theory on the matter though, not concrete enough to make a thread over but the thought did occur to me: The warm water that flows through the gulf and up the Atlantic to meet the cold water coming down from the north is what causes a lot of weather patterns and such in the Atlantic and temperatures as well.

Could the Corexit that was used to clean the spill or even the oil itself mix with water that is flowing north, and would that make a difference in the way the two systems clash. (the north atlantic current is what i think im talking about)

Is it possible that the Deepwater disaster was another desperate attempt to control global temperatures or an experiment to see if it could be done?

Sounds outrageous and i am sure most here will say so. But so is so many checks and balances being stepped aside for a little oil with so much safty and investment at stake.

reply to post by FirstCasualty

That is an interesting theory and I've wondered myself about currents and just what impact it's having as the corexit and other chemicals are carried clear out of the original area, into open ocean currents.

This is a video NASA developed to show the "Living Earth" as ocean currents exist around the world. The opening half minute or so pans to the Gulf and then back away from it, giving a fairly good view of the overall currents and more complex localized ones.



Of course it changes over time and these aren't anything like real time views, but I understand the overall flows change over great spans of time and nothing short term for the degree which would matter for this thread. Indeed...Where has it all gone, aside from the Gulf floor? That is said to be quite a mess, thousands of feet down.