Oil Blowout Means Obama Administration is Now Finished

June 20, 2010 (LPAC)—An ominous report on the Gulf of Mexico oil blowout, which Lyndon LaRouche commented "has the hallmarks of accuracy," has been posted on the oil geologists' and engineers' blog, "The Oil Drum," reproduced on "Science Blogs" with the comment, "very knowledgeable," and finally posted on Mother Jones' website under the headline, "Is the BP Gusher Unstoppable?" The implications of this report, also echoed in a BP internal engineers' report discovered on Sunday by Rep. Edward Markey's committee, are, LaRouche emphasized, that the Obama Administration is now finished, for what it has done, and for what it has not done in this critical matter.

LaRouche has said — most recently in a June 16 public statement — that the President should have been making preparations for the use of peaceful nuclear explosions (PNE) to stop the gusher if necessary, including getting an emergency exception to the Test Ban Treaty cleared with its signator nations. The engineers posting on "The Oil Drum" do not discuss using PNEs. But they chillingly forecast that everything else will fail because the substrate under the broken wellhead is filling with leaks and breaking up, and the blowout is "evolving" toward a monster geyser of 150-200,000 barrels a day which will cover the Gulf and soon the Atlantic, reaching the shores of Europe and Africa. And, they comment, both BP and the U.S. government know this, as shown by the shifts in BP's strategies in attempting to contain the oil.

In one section of their report, the engineers note that when BP abruptly abandoned its "Top Kill" strategy, "To those of us outside the real inside loop, yet still fairly knowledgeable, this was a major confirmation of what many feared. That the system below the sea floor has serious failures of varying magnitude in the complicated chain, and it is breaking down and it will continue to.... It means they will never cap the gusher after the wellhead. They cannot ... the more they try and restrict the oil gushing out the bop [blowout preventer] ... the more it will transfer to the leaks below. Just like a leaky garden hose with a nozzle on it. When you open up the nozzle? ... it doesn't leak so bad; you close the nozzle?... it leaks real bad; same dynamics. It is why they sawed the riser off.... Contrary to what most of us would think as logical to stop the oil mess, actually opening up the gushing well and making it gush more, became the direction BP took after confirming that there was a leak. In fact, if you note their actions, that should become clear. They have shifted from stopping or restricting the gusher to opening it up and catching it. This only makes sense if they want to relieve pressure at the leaks hidden down below the seabed ... and that sort of leak is one of the most dangerous and potentially damaging kinds of leak there could be. It is also inaccessible...."

Next steps, they warn, with continuing erosion of the ocean floor sand, stone, and well casing by rushing oil and gas, can include the collapse — falling over — of the five-story, 400-ton blowout preventer and the pumping rig sitting next to it on the sea bed. And eventually, the collapse of the subsurface area beneath them, which has the well casing — undoubtedly leaking from numerous places — driven down through it. The blowout can evolve into a monster blowing up 150-200,000 barrels a day, more than any producing oil/gas well in North America.

The BP document released yesterday by Representative Markey, called a "worst case," refers to this obliquely but clearly by stating that as much as 100,000 barrels per day could leak into the ocean "if the blowout preventer and wellhead were removed," a higher worst-case scenario than previously reported. Rather than being "removed," the "outside" engineers are warning, these structures are becoming unstable and can and will collapse.

The staff of "The Oil Drum" blog make the comment, "Were the US government and BP more forthcoming with information and details, the situation would not be giving rise to so much speculation about what is actually going on in the Gulf. This should be run more like Mission Control at NASA — transparency, now!" The staff of "Science Blogs" simply say that they are scared by the "seemingly very knowledgeable" posting.

But LaRouche said that the engineers' report, "with the hallmarks of accuracy," means first of all that "you have to be prepared to use PNEs — and we're not, because Obama has done nothing about it." And secondly, "The fundamental issue here is the United States' and Americans' perception of the British, and what they are doing to us, and that they know they're doing it to us. And the President is refusing to face reality. This 'scare' report is the truth; the 'worst case' is going to happen. And the President will not be forgiven."

On Friday, June 18, Obama publicly committed himself to the British line that "90% or more" of the blowout will be controlled by BP "within days and weeks." He has failed to mobilize all national and available international resources for keeping the oil away from Gulf Coast shores. And he has failed to act in any way to prepare for the "worst case," in which only PNEs can work.

"There will be a shocking exposure of the man — and he's not a good man," LaRouche said. "The Obama Administration is now finished."