Topic: Robert Bea

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Majority of blame for Gulf oil spill lies with BP, two US agencies find

The US agencies' exhaustive report on the Gulf oil spill said complacency and cost-cutting led BP to make a series of decisions that complicated operations and added risk before the rig exploded.
Remembering the audacity of the twin towers

The soaring twin towers of the World Trade Center became an affirmation of the American value of dreaming big. To the engineer who designed them, their loss on 9/11 remains heartbreaking, but he's found the resilience to keep dreaming.
In the end, did huge Gulf oil spill underwhelm oil-hungry Americans?

Predictions of 'Obama's Katrina,' millions of fish belly up on beaches, and an end to deep-water drilling all came to naught. High gasoline prices now seem more pressing to Americans than the Deepwater Horizon disaster that led to Gulf oil spill.
Gulf oil spill: Why raise the faulty blowout preventer? It's evidence.

Drilling on the relief well has stopped while BP prepares to raise the failed blowout preventer from the sea floor. The effort is not just a safety precaution. The equipment is also evidence that may reveal how the Gulf oil spill happened.
Joe the Plumber (not that one) says he helped stop Gulf oil spill leak

A Kansas man says he's the 'mystery plumber' who influenced the BP containment cap design that stopped the Gulf oil spill leak. BP says Joe Caldart's sketch may have been one of many it's used.
Gulf oil spill: As gusher stops, response playbook is being rewritten

Three months of poking and prodding in the Gulf oil spill have recast how companies will respond to future deep-sea accidents. On Friday, a new containment cap appeared to be holding steady, with no signs of oil leaking.
BP oil spill: 'Mystery plumber' may be brains behind containment cap

An anonymous plumber provided sketches of a flange and seal design six weeks ago that is almost identical to the containment cap lowered onto the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. It's the latest effort to stop the BP oil spill.
Offshore drilling moratorium: US cites blowout preventers' weak spot

The Obama administration on Monday cited control systems on subsea blowout preventers as one reason for its offshore drilling moratorium. But more than a year before the BP oil spill, authorities learned that balky control systems were the most common cause of blowout preventer failure.
Six lessons from the BP oil spill

What the tragedy of the BP oil spill has taught us about regulations, technology, and how our energy diet must change.
Studies suggest MMS knew blowout preventers had 'critical' flaws

Government regulators have said that the failure of the Deepwater Horizon's blowout preventer April 20 was unforeseeable. But studies conducted for federal regulators in MMS or with their participation show that blowout preventers were known to have 'safety critical' vulnerabilities.
BP oil spill: an accounting of its impacts after 39 days

Corporate behavior, drilling methods, regulators’ roles, and the search for oil alternatives all are reexamined in the wake of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Gulf oil spill no closer to being contained as tar hits land

The large container meant to cap the leak that has caused a massive Gulf oil spill did not succeed this weekend. Meanwhile tar has begun washing ashore in Alabama.