Markey on BP Spill BOP Report: Can Blowout Preventers Actually Prevent Blowouts?
WASHINGTON (March 23, 2011) – Following the release of the investigative report on the blowout preventer from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, called into question the effectiveness of blowout preventers as a last line of defense against a major oil spill.
The report, conducted by the Norwegian company Det Norske Veritas (DNV) for the Department of Interior and U.S. Coast Guard, says that multiple mechanisms deployed as designed inside of the BOP, including the so-called “blind shear rams.” However, since the drilling pipe inside of the large, multi-ton safety device had buckled, the cutting devices hit the pipe off-center, failing to fully sever the drilling pipe and allowing oil to continue to flow.
“A blowout preventer is like a car’s airbag. It can’t prevent the car accident, but it is supposed to deploy and prevent fatalities,” said Rep. Markey. “This report calls into question whether oil industry claims about the effectiveness of blowout preventers are just a bunch of hot air. It isn’t clear from this report that blowout preventers can actually prevent major blowouts once they’ve started. We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that the blind shear rams did not seem to work.”
In response to this potential design flaw, and the other major problems with the BOP found during the Energy and Commerce investigation into the BP spill, Rep. Markey called for the Department of Interior to begin an immediate top-to-bottom inspection and review of the designs and effectiveness of all BOPs used in oil operations in U.S. waters.
“The spill commission’s report said that the problems within the oil industry that led to the BP spill were systemic, and not unique to this disaster,” said Rep. Markey. “Now we know there could also be systemic design issues with blowout preventers that could cause them to be ineffective, even when deployed as intended. We need a full review of every single blowout preventer used in United States waters, and revisit the designs of these supposed machines of last resort.”
The DNV report agrees, suggesting that this incident should cause a review of the “ability of the Blowout Preventer components to complete their intended design or function under these conditions.”
The investigation of the BOP was not without controversy, and Rep. Markey pushed for strict ethical standards and transparency of the investigation into the BOP. In December of 2010, and January and February of this year, Rep. Markey wrote to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), calling into question both the access given to Transocean staff to the BOP and the lack of access granted to independent investigators to this key piece of evidence in the BP spill. Rep. Markey called on the investigation team to immediately remove any persons who could potentially cause a conflict of interest in the investigation. The full exchange of correspondence between Rep. Markey and the Department of Interior on the investigation into the BOP can be found HERE.
Next Article