Published Wed, Nov 10, 2010 02:47 PM Modified Wed, Nov 10, 2010 09:48 PM APNewsBreak: Rig owner complains of BOP delays

NEW ORLEANS — The owner of the rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico has told federal investigators that the now infamous blowout preventer is in danger of corroding and its value as a key piece of evidence may be compromised.

Transocean lawyer Steven Roberts said in a Nov. 3 letter to the federal investigation team that forensic testing had not yet begun on the device even though it’s been sitting at a NASA facility in New Orleans for two months. He said it may be corroding because of inadequate preservation.

The blowout preventer, which Transocean was responsible for maintaining while it was being used on BP’s well, was raised from the seafloor on Sept. 4. It was taken to the NASA facility a week later.

Investigators agreed to flush the control pods with fluid on Sept. 27 to prevent corrosion. But Roberts said in his letter that there have been no further preservation steps on the blowout preventer since then. Read more at www.newsobserver.com

Public carbon trading dead in the USA

The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) announced on October 21, 2010 that it will cease carbon trading this year. However, Steve Milloy reporting on Pajamasmedia.com (November 6, 2010) finds this huge story strangely unreported by the mainstream media.

To some key analysts the collapse of the CCX appears to show that international carbon trading is “dying a quiet death.” Yet Milloy finds that such a major business failure has drawn no interest at all from the mainstream media. Milloy noted that a “Nexis search conducted a week after CCX’s announcement revealed no news articles published about its demise.”

Barack Obama was a board member of the Joyce Foundation that funded the fledgling CCX. Professor Richard Sandor, of Northwestern University had started the business with $1.1 million in grants from the Chicago-based left-wing Joyce Foundation enthusiastically endorsed by Obama. When founded in November 2000, CCX’s carbon trading market was predicted to grow anywhere between $500 billion and $10 trillion. Fortunately before its collapse Sandor was able to net $98.5 million for his 16.5% stake when CCX was sold. Read more at wattsupwiththat.com

Gulf oil spill commission counsel: No evidence of ‘decision to favor dollars over safety’

WASHINGTON – The general counsel to the federal oil spill commission said today that their investigation of the causes of the Deepwater Horizon blowout had not found any evidence that BP, Transocean, Halliburton or any of the other companies involved with the Macondo well had cut corners on safety to save money.

“To date we have not found a single instance where human beings made a conscious decision to favor dollars over safety,” said Fred Bartlit early in his presentation at the start of a two-day hearing of the National Commission of BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. He said that, so far, the commission had not found any situation where, “a man had a choice between safety and dollar and put his money on dollars. We haven’t seen it.”

Co-Chair Bob Graham, a former Democratic Florida senator and governor, said their missions was to help the American public “understand the causes of the worst oil spill in the nation’s history,” and that he believed Bartlit would provide “the clearest presentation the American people have received to date on what led to this tragedy.”

William Reilly, a Republican former EPA administrator who co-chairs the commission, said he the accident had undermined confidence in the energy industry and government, and he hoped their work would help “restore public trust.”

“To those few senators who blocked this commission form having subpoena power. I hope that you are pleasantly surprised and not disappointed” by their findings,” said Reilly. Read more at www.nola.com