BP Busted, Again: LSU Scientist Proves Fresh Oil Surfacing at Deepwater Horizon Site is from Macondo Reservoir

By Stuart H. Smith (504) 593-9600
http://www.stuarthsmith.com/bp-busted-again-lsu-scientist-proves-fresh-oil-surfacing-at-deepwater-horizon-site-is-from-macondo-reservoir

The debate is over, and both BP and our federal government have some serious explaining to do. Upending repeated denials from the British oil giant and ongoing obfuscation from NOAA officials, a Louisiana State University scientist has confirmed through rigorous testing that oil surfacing in the vicinity of the Deepwater Horizon site – the epicenter of last year’s catastrophic Gulf spill – is indeed coming from BP’s Macondo Prospect. In a story we broke here on this blog Aug. 17, subsequently confirmed by the Mobile Press-Register on Aug. 23, large amounts of fresh oil are bubbling to the surface where the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank to the Gulf floor on April 20, 2010 (see link to my previous post below).
BP met the “new leak” allegation in its typical reflex fashion – with blustering, indignant denials, snorting that “None of this is true” in an Aug. 18 statement.
The following day, flyover surveillance footage from On Wings of Care pilot Bonny Schumaker and her crew revealed expanses of oil “globules” in the water .

The much-anticipated test results are in at LSU, and they bear out our initial report: The infamous site that launched last year’s 200-million-gallon oil spill is leaking again.
Chemical confirmation that the oil is from the Macondo wellsite provides vindication for those of us who stayed with the story for more than a month now despite a hard-nosed campaign of denial, intimidation and obfuscation executed by BP and its bedfellows in our federal government. LSU scientist Ed Overton – who made the initial, preliminary tie to the Macondo reservoir – was browbeaten for weeks and accused of rushing to judgment. Even as he is exonerated, Overton’s indignation is unmistakable.