Oil Spill Activities-May 15, 2010

Events May 15, Day 26 of a Gulf of Mexico oil spill that began with an explosion and fire on April 20 on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean Ltd. and leased by BP PLC, which is in charge of cleanup and containment. The blast killed 11 workers. Since then, oil has been pouring into the Gulf from a blown-out undersea well at about 210,000 gallons per day.

CAPPING THE LEAK

BP PLC expressed confidence that its latest attempt to capture much of the oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico will succeed despite a setback late Friday. Engineers trying to connect a lengthy tube to framework on the bottom of the ocean had to bring equipment back to the surface, but have returned it to the depths near the well. They hope to begin sucking oil to the surface Saturday night.

UNDERWATER CHEMICALS

BP began spraying chemical oil dispersants beneath the sea Saturday and said the technique appears to be reducing the amount of surface oil. Louisiana officials have expressed reservations because spraying has never been done underwater, but the Environmental Protection Agency still approved the move. Fishing groups also protested the underwater chemical use.

DAMAGE COMPENSATION

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano asked BP to make clear in public if the company will limit how much it will pay for cleaning up the spill and compensating people hurt by it. In a letter to BP's CEO Tony Hayward, she noted that he and other executives have said they are taking full responsibility for cleaning up the spill and will pay what they call "legitimate" claims. Napolitano asked BP to say clearly if will ignore the current $75 million cap set by law for liability in some oil-spill cases.

BP SAFETY

Records and interviews show that BP also owns another rig that operated in the Gulf of Mexico with incomplete and inaccurate engineering documents. In February, two months before the Deepwater Horizon spill, 19 members of Congress called on the agency that oversees offshore oil drilling to investigate a whistle-blower's complaints about the BP-owned Atlantis. A former federal judge whose law firm served as BP's ombudsman — Stanley Sporkin — 2007 said that the allegation "was substantiated, and that's it."

Source yahoo news .