Collection of some data

Milestones in a timeline of decisions and catastrophe that will change our life forever

September 16, 2004
♦ Gulf of Mexico oil platform destroyed by Hurricane Ivan.

August 25, 2005
♦ Hurricane Katrina.
Over seventy countries pledged monetary donations or other assistance. Notably, Cuba and Venezuela were the first countries to offer assistance, all this aid was rejected by the U.S. government.

March 19, 2008
♦ Riots in Tibet.

March 19, 2008
♦ Early Spring Midwest floods.

March 19, 2008
♦ Mineral rights were purchased by BP.

June 20, 2008
♦ President Obama: "When I'm president, I intend to keep in place the moratorium here in Florida and around the country that prevents oil companies from drilling off Florida's coasts."

June 22, 2009
♦ Warnings about a blowout preventer worst-case scenario.

July 14, 2008
♦ President Bush lifts executive ban on offshore oil drilling.

October 7, 2009
♦ BP begins drilling the Macondo Well.

November 9, 2009
♦ Hurricane Ida damages rig - has to be replaced.

February 15, 2010
♦ 2010 Deepwater Horizon starts drilling in 5,000' depth.

February 16, 2010
♦ Barack Obama urges for new safe Nuclear Power Plants.
He acknowledged that there were concerns among environmentalists about nuclear power.

March 9, 2010
♦ Gasket on the blowout preventer damaged.

March 17, 2010
♦ BP Chief Tony Hayward sells 1/3 of his BP stock (933T$).

March 31, 2010
♦ President Obama announced the end of a decades-old ban on oil and gas drilling.

April 2, 2010
♦ President Obama: "Oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills."

April 15, 2010
♦ BP requests permit to fraction its blockage plan.

April 17, 2010
♦ Report: There may be a failure of the cement job.

April 18, 2010
♦ Report: Well may have a SEVERE gas flow problem.

April 19, 2010
♦ Halliburton completes final cementing.

April 20, 2010
♦ 7:00am BP cancels a recommended cement bond log test.
April 20, 2010
♦ 9:40pm BP officials celebrate 7 years no injury on rig.
April 20, 2010
♦ 9:45pm Deepwater Horizon on fire. 11 workers dead.

April 21, 2010
♦ Mary Landry named Federal On Scene Coordinator.

April 22, 2010
♦ 10:21 am Rig sinks. Oil leaking about 8,000 barrels/day.

April 29, 2010
♦ Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal: State of emergency.

April 30, 2010
♦ President Barack Obama halts new offshore drilling.

May 2, 2010
♦ Obama meets with fishermen and Coast Guard in Venice.

May 11, 2010
♦ BP, Transocean and Haliburton blaming each other.

May 22, 2010
♦ Obama signs executive order for National Commission.

May 27, 2010
♦ Obama announces six-month moratorium on new deepwater oil drilling permits in 500 feet of water or more. The moratorium will affect 31 wells.

May 28, 2010
♦ Obama visits Louisiana again.

May 31, 2010
♦ Robert Reich: United States should temporarily takeover BP.

June 1, 2010
♦ Mary Landry steps down, assistant James A. Watson takes over.

June 1, 2010
♦ Atlantic hurricane season begins.

June 2, 2010
♦ Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal opposes moratorium.

June 2, 2010
♦ Minerals Management Service approves new drilling permit for Gulf of Mexico offshore well.

June 4, 2010
♦ Tar balls arrive on beaches in Pensacola, Florida.

June 5, 2010
♦ Obama in his third trip to Louisiana since the disaster.

June 6, 2010
♦ Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour says "we have had virtually no oil".

June 9, 2010
♦ The Guardian reports that since April 20, 2010, 27 new offshore drilling projects have been approved by Minerals Management Service, the agency in charge of oversight. All but one project was granted similar exemptions from environmental review as BP. Two were submitted by the UK firm, and made the same claims about oil-rig safety and the implausibility of a spill damaging the environment.

June 10, 2010
♦ Testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs indicates there is a not single command and control hierarchy in the cleanup and frequently BP is still taking the lead. Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, said “I still don’t know who’s in charge. Is it BP? Is it the Coast Guard? I have spent more time fighting the officials of BP and the Coast Guard than fighting the oil.”

June 12, 2010
♦ Pools of crude oil as much as 4 inches deep hit Alabama beaches which previously had only been getting tar balls. State closes Mobile Bay to fishing. Only tarballs are washing up in Florida.

June 13, 2010
♦ BP begins installation of sensors into containment cap to measure oil flow.

June 14, 2010
♦ Obama in his fourth visit to the Gulf visits Gulfport.

June 15, 2010
♦ Competing oil executives testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee imply in their testimony that they have stronger safeguards than BP in drilling. Rex W. Tillerson, chairman of Exxon Mobil testifies if companies follow proper well design, drilling, maintenance and training procedures accidents like Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20 “should not occur. John S. Watson, chief executive of Chevron, testifies that every Chevron employee and contractor has the authority to stop work immediately if they see anything unsafe. Other executives testifying are Shell and Conoco Phillips. Edward J. Markey takes the oil companies to task noting that their submitted plans for dealing with disasters in the Gulf were nearly identical to BP’s including a plan to protect the walrus which does not occur in the Gulf.
Obama visits Pensacola, Florida where bathers are photographed on the beach in the background during the tour. He gives a speech at the Naval Air Station Pensacola.
Obama in the first speech from the Oval Office of his Presidency gives attorney Michael R. Bromwich power to clean up the Minerals Management Service.
Unified Command announces plans to move its 350 staff into 38,224 square feet of space to downtown New Orleans, Louisiana near the Superdome.

June 16, 2010
♦ Obama meets with Svanberg, Hayward, McKay.
♦ BP agrees fund a $20 billion escrow administered by Kenneth Feinberg.
♦ Svanberg said no BP quarterly dividends would be paid anytime in 2010.
♦ BP will pay $5 billion a year into the fund.
♦ BP’s net income was $21.2 Billion in 2008 and $16.6 Billion in 2009.
♦ “People say that large oil companies don’t care about the small people".
♦ Transocean's Newman testifying before the United States Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that the company is not legally responsible for "fluids emanating from the well."

June 16, 2010
♦ Gulf of Mexico oil platform still leaking after five years.