As always, among bloggers, Bryan of Why Now? has the best ongoing commentary on the spill; there's not much I can add to what he posts. But I ran across this article on HuffPo that is an indicator of how things may go as serious attempts are made to assign accountability:
Last Seven Hours Of Data Missing From Deepwater Horizon RigAh, yes: Nixon's "18½-minute gap in the tapes," Karl Rove's "missing" emails, and now this. Forgive me if I disbelieve on its face the explanation Transocean gives: if that data is missing, it's because somebody deleted it. It's going to be a looong battle, in court and in the inevitable PR wars...
ALLEN G. BREED and CURT ANDERSON | 05/14/10 09:15 AM | AP
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While some data were being transmitted to shore for safekeeping right up until the blast, officials from Transocean, the rig owner, told Congress that the last seven hours of its information are missing and that all written logs were lost in the explosion. Earlier tests that suggested explosive gas was leaking were preserved.
The gap poses a mystery for investigators: What decisions were made – and what warnings might have been ignored?
"There is some delay in the replication of our data, so our operational data, our sequence of events ends at 3 o'clock in the afternoon on the 20th," Steven Newman, president and CEO of Transocean Ltd, told a Senate panel. The rig blew up at 10 p.m., killing 11 workers and unleashing the gusher.
Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, who represents several rig workers involved in the accident, questioned whether what he called "the phantom test" was even performed.
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This is one of the oldest tricks in the world. No evidence, no matter how obvious the crime, is a good for criminals.
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