Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA) is as suspicious as the rest of America that BP might have had a small inkling in May that their oil well was spewing slightly more than 5,000 barrels of oil a day. And, having seen internal documents that indicate they had already estimated and then dismissed the worst-case scenario of a 60,000-barrels-a-day gusher — the current official estimate — he’d like some answers.
In a sternly-worded letter sent to BP yesterday, Grassley demands answers from BP about when they came up with the 60,000-barrels-a-day estimate and whether they were in compliance with various government safety standards.
Specifically, Grassley previously requested and did not receive information about how and why the Deepwater Horizon replaced mud in the drill hole with seawater; whether BP was in compliance with an apparently unenforced MMS rule that the blowout preventer is strong enough to shear the pipe in an emergency; and when they reasonably knew that the well was leaking 60,000 barrels a day rather than 5,000. So far, he has not gotten the answers he requested, and he’s not happy about it in the least.
