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US Government Demands Immediate Answers On BP Oil Spill Containment
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Tightening its clutches on oil giant BP plc. (BP: News ,BP.L: News ), the U.S. government has demanded an immediate report detailing plans to improve its containment and clean-up efforts on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who is coordinating the government response to the Gulf oil spill, sent a letter on Thursday to BP's Managing Director Bob Dudley asking the company to submit within 24 hours "detailed plans and time-lines" on containing the 80-day-old major oil leak.
The information is sought as the government is concerned over the risks involved in BP's plans to change caps on the oil well.
This is the second letter sent to British Petroleum recently reflecting the Obama administration's stringent scrutiny on the oil major over the oil spill.
In a June 23 letter to BP's General Counsel Rupert Bondy, the Department of Justice sought advance information about any major asset sales, merger deals, or significant cash transfers if the company plans to do so.
Despite growing anger over its inability to stop the leak, the oil giant has only managed to capture and flare about 22,750 barrels of oil a day through two containment systems placed over the wellhead last month.
The British behemoth had earlier said that it could raise the capture rate to at least 40,000 barrels by early July and could handle a flow of 60,000-80,000 barrels per day by mid-July.
At-sea oil cleanup idled by poor weather in Gulf
Gulf of Mexico
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Across a wide stretch of the Gulf of Mexico, the cleanup of the region's worst-ever oil spill has been essentially landlocked for more than a week, leaving skimmers stuck close to shore.
Last week, the faraway Hurricane Alex idled the skimming fleet off Alabama, Florida and Mississippi with choppy seas and stiff winds. Now they're stymied by a succession of smaller storms that could last well into this week.
"We're just lying in wait to see if we can send some people out there to do some skimming," said Courtnee Ferguson, a spokeswoman for the Joint Information Command in Mobile, Ala.
Officials have plans for the worst-case scenario: a hurricane barreling up the Gulf toward the spill site. But the less-dramatic weather conditions have been met with a more makeshift response.
Skimming operations across the Gulf have scooped up about 23.5 million gallons of oil-fouled water so far, but officials say it's impossible to know how much crude could have been skimmed in good weather because of the fluctuating number of vessels and other variables.
Jerry Biggs, a commercial fisherman in Pass Christian, Miss., who has had to shut down because of the spill, is now hiring out his 13 boats and 40-man crew to BP for cleanup. He said the skimming operation is severely hampered by the weather.
"We don't even have the equipment to do the job right," Biggs said. "The (equipment) we're trying to do this with is inoperable in over 1 foot of seas."
From Louisiana, where skimming resumed after a three-day halt last week, to Florida, there are about 44,500 people, nearly 6,600 boats and 113 aircraft enlisted in the cleanup and containment effort, according to BP PLC.
The British company has now seen its costs from the spill reach $3.12 billion, a figure that doesn't include a $20 billion fund for damages the company created last month.
For many involved in the cleanup effort, nagging storms have whipped up choppy seas and gusty winds that make offshore work both unsafe and ineffective, stranding crews on dry land.
"We have to send our guys out every day and look at the weather and ask, 'Can we do this?'" said Courtnee Ferguson, a spokeswoman for the Joint Information Command in Mobile, Ala., which oversees operations in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.
In the absence of offshore skimming, efforts in the three Gulf states east of Louisiana have turned largely on containment boom, about 550 miles of which has been deployed along the entire Gulf, and shoreline efforts to clean tar balls and other oily debris from beaches.
"We're operating 24 hours a day on the beaches, and anything that washes ashore we're able to get," Ferguson said.
It may be days before those beach crews are aided by skimming vessels, though, according to weather forecasters.
Heavy rain and scattered thunderstorms are predicted throughout the region into Wednesday, National Weather Service meteorolgist Tim Destri said Monday. The National Hurricane Center is also watching a low pressure system in the Caribbean Sea that has a low chance of becoming a tropical depression in the next two days.
If it does develop, it would more likely head toward northern Mexico or southern Texas, Destri said. But it's too early to predict its path with certainty.
The storms have not affected drilling work on a relief well that BP says is the best chance for finally plugging the leak. The company expects drilling to be finished by mid-August.
As it works to both clean up and contain the spill, BP is billing partners Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Japan's Mitsui for their shares of the cleanup. BP has billed Anadarko, a 25-percent stakeholder in the blown-out well, for more than a quarter billion dollars so far. It also has reportedly billed Mitsui, a 10-percent partner, for $111 million.
Biggs, clearly angry over the situation, said the hurricane season will just further hurt the cleanup effort, saying one big storm will push the oil everywhere.
"This isn't going away. This isn't a sneeze or a hiccup. This is diarrhea for a long time," he said. "My lifestyle is screwed. It's over. The thing that I love the most I'm not going to be able to do anymore."
British Court Grant Extradition in US Bribery Case
Haliburton Nigerian Oil Bribery Case
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A Westminster magistrate has ruled that, like his co-accused Jeffrey Tesler, above, Wojciech Chodan should be extradited to the US to face charges in connection with a Nigerian gas contract. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA A second Briton accused of being involved in a huge international bribery scheme should be sent to the US to stand trial, a judge ruled today.
District judge Caroline Tubbs decided at Westminster magistrates court that the 72-year-old retired sales executive, Wojciech Chodan, should be extradited to Texas to be tried.
US prosecutors accuse him and a 61-year-old London lawyer, Jeffrey Tesler, of conspiring with others to pay bribes of $132m (£86m) to Nigerian officials to secure a $6bn contract to construct liquefied natural gas plants at Bonny Island, on the coast of Nigeria.
The duo, who face up to 55 years in jail if convicted, have the right to appeal to the higher courts if the Home Secretary also decides that they should be extradited. There has been disquiet that the British government has been too willing to allow its citizens to be flown to the US to be prosecuted for a range of crimes. Tubbs rejected Chodan's attempt to stop the extradition proceedings. It follows her ruling last month that Tesler should be extradited.
Chodan worked for a firm owned by the US oil services group Halliburton, which led the consortium seeking the Nigerian contract.
The US alleges that Chodan, who lives in the Somerset village of Nunney, was on a committee that devised plans to bribe the Nigerians. He had "numerous discussions" with Tesler and others to ensure that the bribes were paid over a 10-year period, the court heard.
The cash is alleged to have been laundered through Switzerland and Monaco.
Tubbs ruled that Chodan's alleged conduct had "sufficiently substantial connection" with the US to justify the extradition.
She decided that KBR, the US firm he worked for, "received considerable financial benefit from the corrupt scheme" and that executives of the firm "committed acts in furtherance of the corrupt bribery scheme in Houston, Texas". Tesler and Chodan are alleged to have conspired with Jack Stanley, the Texan chief executive of KBR, who has already pleaded guilty to his involvement in the bribery scheme, as a result of the investigation by the US prosecutors.Chodan declined to comment.
Obama's New Nuclear Strategy Is Intended as a Message to Iran and North Korea
WASHINGTON
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At the heart of President Obama’s new nuclear strategy lies a central gamble: that an aging, oversize, increasingly outmoded nuclear arsenal can be turned to the new purpose of adding leverage to the faltering effort to force Iran and North Korea to rethink the value of their nuclear programs.
The 50-page “Nuclear Posture Review” released on Tuesday acknowledged outright that “the massive nuclear arsenal we inherited from the cold-war era” is “poorly suited to address the challenges posed by suicidal terrorist and unfriendly regimes seeking nuclear weapons.”
Nonetheless, the new strategy aims to use the arsenal to do just that, despite considerable skepticism that any new doctrine or set of White House announcements is likely to change the calculus for North Korea or Iran.
Mr. Obama’s new strategy makes just about every nonnuclear state immune from any threat of nuclear retaliation by the United States. But it carves out an exception for Iran and North Korea, labeled “outliers” rather than the Bush-era moniker of “rogue states.” The wording was chosen, Mr. Obama’s senior advisers said, to suggest they have a path back to international respectability — and to de-targeting by the United States.
Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates made the choice explicit. “There is a message for Iran and North Korea here,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
Nonnuclear states that abide by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty would not be threatened with nuclear retaliation by the United States — even if they conducted conventional, biological or cyber attacks. But, he added, “if you’re not going to play by the rules, if you’re going to be a proliferator, then all options are on the table in terms of how we deal with you.”
A number of analysts argued that by publicly painting a target on Iran and North Korea the administration could, perhaps unwittingly, bolster hard-liners in those countries, who have made the case that nuclear weapons are the only way to ensure their safety against American plotting.
The opposite critique came from two senior Republican Party national security experts — Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl, both of Arizona — who contended that the pressure was not direct enough.
“We believe that preventing nuclear terrorism and nuclear proliferation should begin by directly confronting the two leading proliferators and supporters of terrorism, Iran and North Korea,” they wrote. “The Obama administration’s policies, thus far, have failed to do that, and this failure has sent exactly the wrong message to other would be proliferators and supporters of terrorism.”
To Mr. Obama and his aides, the “outlier” approach is all part of a broader strategy of adding to the pressure on both countries. Over the past year, they have aided the interception of North Korea’s shipping. They have sought to develop new sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and to undermine its nuclear program with a program of covert action.
Robert S. Litwak, vice president for programs at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said that Mr. Obama had expanded an effort begun by President George W. Bush to globalize the effort to contain the nuclear aims of both nations.
Under Mr. Obama’s strategy, he said, “It is the United States and the world versus Iran, not just the United States versus Iran.” (Mr. Bush’s former aides note that during their time in office, they pushed through four United Nations Security Council resolutions against Tehran, though to little effect.)
The new strategy takes that effort one step further, warning both countries that the United States could still use its nuclear arsenal to counter any effort to sell or transfer the country’s nuclear technology to terrorists.
“The United States will continue to hold accountable any state, terrorist group or other nonstate actor that supports or enables terrorist efforts to obtain or use weapons of mass destruction,” Mr. Gates said on Tuesday, “whether by facilitating, financing, or providing expertise or safe haven for such efforts.”
The problem Mr. Obama faces is that the Bush administration used virtually identical language to warn North Korea soon after it conducted a nuclear test in 2006. The next year, however, North Korea was caught helping Syria build a nuclear reactor. Israel destroyed the site in a nighttime raid in 2007. But North Korea paid little price for what is widely regarded as its most audacious attempt at nuclear proliferation.
Mr. Obama, asked on Monday whether that episode harmed American credibility, said, “I don’t think countries around the world are interested in testing our credibility when it comes to these issues.
“The message we’re sending here,” he said, was that countries that “actively pursue a proliferation agenda” would not be immune from any form of American retaliation, including nuclear.
The reality is more complex. If a backpack nuclear bomb went off in Times Square or on the Mall in Washington, the Pentagon and the Department of Energy would race to find the nuclear DNA of the weapon — so that the country that was the source of the material could be punished. But the science of “nuclear attribution” is still sketchy. And without certain attribution, it is hard to seriously threaten retaliation.
The nuclear review also details a larger set of tools to shape the behavior of Iran and North Korea. By reducing the size of America’s own stockpiles, and assuring nonnuclear states inside the nonproliferation treaty that they are exempt from any nuclear attack, the administration hopes to bolster its credentials to close huge loopholes in the treaty that both North Korea and Iran have artfully exploited.
“We think we now have credibility Bush never did,” one of Mr. Obama’s aides said, “to tighten the noose. But it will be a very, very slow process.”
Leaders of Nigeria's Oil Rich Region Meet in USA
To Consider Options On The Nation's Current Leadership Crisis
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Washington DC ,February 28th, 2010 - Leaders of the Niger Delta region residing outside Nigeria, are holding an emergency meeting in the USA to consider their options in the current stalemate leadership crisis in Nigeria. Reports from sources close to the group says the pressure to support current bid to break from the Nigeria Union is quite strong, however many see the current disregard of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan by the ailing President Yar'Adua Cohorts as the tipping point that has called for such serious option in the consideration of the South South leaders. Enough is Enough is the theme of our meeting says the SSNDC spokesman who opted to remain undisclosed because he has not been officially voted as the spokesman until the emergency meeting is concluded this weekend.
The group hopes to release a statement on their weekend meeting and enumerate demands for their continued support of the present administration, which is expected to include an unequivocal clarity and statement from the Nigerian government on the current Acting President Goodluck Jonathan or the ability of Yar'Adua to resume his office so the country can have a specified leader. Many in the South South leadership group believes the Acting President have simply been side tracked by the Cohorts of the ailing President and the security of the Vice President is even in question. To this effect, we are ready to break away from Nigeria and start our republic of the Niger Delta, enough is enough.
Chinese University Students May Have Orchestrated Google Cyber Attack
US Security Experts Traced Origins To Shanghai Jiatong University
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US computer security experts have traced some of the attacks to computers at the Shanghai Jiaotong University, which boasts one of China’s most competitive computer science programmes, and the Lanxiang Vocational School in Shandong Province, following last month's Google attacks that resulted in a huge diplomatic tension between the US, China and Google Corporation.
Both institutions said they did not know the US investigation had implicated their systems, but one is believed to have ties to the Chinese military while the other has in the past been linked to the successful hacking and disabling of the White House website.
When Google accused China last month of trying to steal its software and hacking into human rights activists’ email accounts the company threatened to pull out of the country unless Beijing stopped censoring the web content that Chinese users can access. Tracing the attacks farther back to computer networks on the Chinese mainland represents a technical breakthrough but leaves Washington no nearer to knowing whether Beijing was ultimately responsible. “Students hacking into foreign websites is quite normal,” a professor at Jiaotong University told the newspaper, adding that the attacks could have been by “one or two geek students who are just keen on experimenting with their hacking skills”, or by an unknown third party who might have hijacked the university’s computers. In 2001 a hacker from Jiaotong identified by US experts as Peng Yinan took down the White House website for more than two hours in an attack that bore similarities to others on Yahoo and the CNN website the previous year.
6.5 Quake Strikes Northern California
Some Injuries Report With Lots Some property Damage So Far
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A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California Saturday afternoon, shaking buildings south of the Oregon border and knocking out power in several coastal communities.The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit at about 4:27 p.m. about 27 miles from Eureka, a city of about 26,000.The state's warning center had received no reports of injuries or major damage, California Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Lori Newquist said.
Sandra Hall, owner of Antiques and Goodies in Eureka, said furniture fell over, nearly all her lamps broke and the handful of customers in her store got a big scare. She said it was the most dramatic quake in the 30 years the store has been open. It was shaking for a very long time," Hall said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said there was no threat of the quake generating a tsunami. In November 2006, an 8.3-magnitude temblor in Japan sent waves that hit the region for eight hours, causing $9 million damage. The quake was felt as far south as Capitola in central California, and as far north as Roseburg in central Oregon, USGS geophysicist Richard Buckmaster said.
The earthquake knocked out the power in Arcata, a small town that's home to Humboldt State University, and one resident said many people had objects knocked off walls and televisions tumble. "It was huge — one of the biggest earthquakes we've had up here in 20 years," said Judd Starks, the kitchen manager at a bar and restaurant known as The Alibi. "The whole town is kind of freaked out right now. All the power is out, people are out walking around.
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China, Brazil, India and South Africa Emergies As Key Nations On Climate Change Accord
U.N Intergovernmental Panel Now Accepts New Emerged Roles
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The head of a United Nations panel on climate change, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the emergence of India, China, Brazil and South Africa as new established leaders on the global change scene is the most important and significant change in the climate change for now. It is certain now that developed nations will not be able to craft an agreement without these nations taking a leadership role.
The next global meeting on climate change is scheduled for next year in Mexico. Indian in the meantime has intensified its communications with the other important partner in the group of four China. The Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi by phone to discuss continued cooperation on climate change. India has expressed their satisfaction with the outcome of the Copenhagen summit, partly because the gathering failed to reach a legally binding agreement on specific targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases.
Mayon Volcano About To Erupt in the Philippines
Last Eruption Was in 2006
A major explosive eruption could occur at any time as the Mount Mayon volcano located in Central Philippines. Officials are bracing for a major disaster."The likelihood of an explosive eruption is high. The closest large city to the volcano is Legazpi City.
On Tuesday Mayon sprayed volcanic ash over a wide area Tuesday, raising new health fears for thousands living around the volcano.The main problem of the eruption from a distance is the fine ash which is being generated by the collapse of rock fragments from the lava flow.Volcanic ash from Mayon has proved extremely deadly in the past. During the volcano's last eruption in 2006, the volcano oozed lava and vented steam and ash for two months and a powerful typhoon later dislodged tons of volcanic ash creating an avalanche of mud and boulders that crushed entire villages, leaving more than 1,000 people dead.
Global Warming Deal or Climate Change Cooling
Obama Got Something Out of Copenhagen Anyway?
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The conference in Copenhagen today approved a deal to tackle global warming, after an accord Barack Obama brokered with China, India, Brazil and South Africa paved way for the agreement. The non-binding agreement at the conclusion of the American-led Copenhagen Accord, sets the reference to the global temperature rise to just 2C - but the plan does not specify greenhouse gas cuts needed to achieve the 2C goal.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said: "We have a deal" and described the agreement as an "important beginning" in the fight against climate change. It will allow a provision for $30 billion of climate aid for poorer countries over the next three years to become operational. There will also be a further $100 billion a year from 2020. Many critics say the accord is weak and just too cool to effect any meaningful global warming changes. Among the most vocal opponents are delegates for poorer countries led by Sudan, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela. They complain there is not enough funds coming from richer nations to assist the effects of pollutions dumbed on the backs of poorer nations from the many years of industralization of the richer nations. UK Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband, who spent the night in talks after Gordon Brown had left the conference, said the failure to secure a stronger agreement showed the difficulty world leaders faced in tackling climate change. Barrack Obama of the US, other European leaders and leaders of China, Brazil, India and South Africa along with Secretary General Moon are glad to come out with something they called an agreement and plan to work away from here to improve on it.
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