Gusher Up-Date
The Associated Press is reporting that the Failed blowout preventer on BP oil well reaches the surface. They finally got it aboard at about 7PM CDT after almost 30 hours. The FBI was waiting on the vessel and will escort the BOP to a NASA facility for examination.
McClatchy reports that Up to 90% of oysters dead in Mississippi reef sample
PASS CHRISTIAN — Officials from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources took oyster fishermen out on the reefs off the Pass Christian Harbor on Wednesday to give them a preview of what to expect from the upcoming oyster season.
Catches resulting in an abundance of empty oyster shells led some fishermen to doubt the viability of the season, which typically begins in September or October.
“We’ve lost this season,” oyster dredger Loe Nguyen said.
…Scott Gordon, director of the DMR shellfish bureau, said there have been more oyster mortalities this year, but he doesn’t know whether it can be attributed to the BP oil spill.
That’s right, Scott, it might have been a roving gang of Chinese Red Starfish that wiped out the oysters… 😈
2 comments
Learn your US law, David. Of course they read it its rights: blow-out preventers and huge UK-hosted megacorporations have rights; individual Americans have none.
Actually, they were on the vessel to maintain the “chain of custody”, so that they may testify as to the provenience of the device that will be inspected at the NASA facility. The device has to be tracked from its collection at the “scene of the crime” to its presentation in court or any finding would be inadmissible. The government has to be able to prove that this was the BOP that was on the well.
Criminal procedure law and the laws of evidence are rather specific on this sort of thing, and there were probable three teams of agents on the vessel to provide 24-hour coverage of the removal and hoisting of the device.
This does not mean that there will be a criminal trial of any kind, but if there is, this is necessary for the evidence to be admissible.
You can look at the disasters that are the attempts to try people held in Guantanamo to see what happens when the laws of evidence are not followed during an investigation.
Well, Steve, we do have the “right” to shake our heads in bewilderment at people who think corporations are under attack in the US.