"OH REALLY? !" FILE: BP told feds it could handle oil spill 60 X larger than Deepwater Horizon

By Ben Raines

May 19, 2010, 5:00AM

(AP Photo/BP PLC) This image from a video released by BP PLC shows oil spewing from a yellowish, broken pipe 5,000 feet below the surface. The oil looks like steam rushing from a geyser. The video released Wednesday May 12, 2010, gives a glimpse of the leaking well a mile underwater.

"Site specific Oil Spill
Response Plan . . . not required"

Read excerpts from the Initial Exploration Plan for the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

In its 2009 exploration plan for the Deepwater Horizon well, BP PLC states that the company could handle a spill involving as much as 12.6 million gallons of oil per day, a number 60 times higher than its current estimate of the ongoing Gulf disaster.

                   LYING BASTARD

In associated documents filed with the U.S. Minerals Management Service, the company says that it would be able to skim 17.6 million gallons of oil a day from the Gulf in the event of a spill.

As of Tuesday, BP reported recovering 6 million gallons of oily water since the ongoing spill began four weeks ago. BP spokesman Tom Mueller said that only about 10 percent of the skimmed liquid was oil, which would amount to about 600,000 gallons of oil collected thus far.

Mueller also said via e-mail Tuesday that "the spill has stayed about the same size or even shrunk on the water as a result of our response efforts."

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/bp_told_feds_it_could_handle_o.html

See continuing coverage of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010 on al.com and GulfLive.com.

To keep track of the Gulf of Mexico oil slick, visit www.skytruth.org or  follow its Twitter feed.

To see updated projection maps related to the oil spill in the Gulf, visit the Deepwater Horizon Response Web site established by government officials.