We are 14 days out from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's May 3, 2010 pronouncement concerning the April 20 BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that BP had made "all the right actions and all the right comments".[i] That foolish, premature defense of BP continues to prove inaccurate. Prior press releases (AG Abbott's Quick BP Defense Will Backfire and Abbott Defends BP: Day 10)  list certain actions proven not "right". The list continues.  Each BP action listed below occurred prior to the May 3 Attorney General pronouncement: 

Misstatement of Leak Size
Several days after the April 20 blowout, BP estimated that the well was leaking 1,000 barrels per day.  On April 27, Sky Truth, using satellite images of the Gulf, reported that the flow rate was higher.  The following day the government, over objections by BP, raised the estimate to 5,000 barrels per day.  Scientists believe those estimates are inaccurately very low. BP has wrongly dismissed the importance of reasonable, scientific measurements.[ii] According to recent press reports, "Scientists studying video of the gushing oil well have tentatively calculated that it could be flowing at a rate of 25,000 to 80,000 barrels of oil a day." [iii]

BP continues to ignore the importance of understanding the true size of the oil spill.  They have maintained that stopping the leak is more important than measuring the size.  They have also stated that there is no way to measure the leak.[iv]

Use of Inferior Dispersants
In a BP press release dated April 25, BP stated that dispersants had already been applied to the spill.[v]  This BP press release was issued 9 days before Mr. Abbott's premature declaration that BP has made "all the right actions and all the right comments." BP has admitted to application of more than 400,000 gallons of Corexit dispersant in the Gulf of Mexico. According to reported EPA data, Corexit ranks far above dispersants made by competitors in toxicity and far below competitors in effectiveness in handling southern Louisiana crude.[vi]

Scientists, backed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, suspect the heavy use of chemical dispersants, which BP has injected into the stream of oil emerging from the well, may have broken the oil up into droplets too small to rise rapidly.[vii]

Why was Attorney General so quick to proclaim that BP had made "all the right actions and all the right comments"?  He has 2 million reasons.  According to Attorney General Abbott's publicly available campaign finance reports between 1992 and 2009, he accepted over $2 million in campaign contributions from oil and gas employees and PACs.[viii]

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During her 30 year legal career, Barbara Ann has represented retirees, life-saving doctors, blood banks, children burned by lighters, families of murder victims, unfairly treated businesses: a wide variety of persons entitled to protection. Barbara Ann graduated with honors from the University of Houston and the University of Texas School of Law.   She was honored as the Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas in 1988 and for the past 17 years she has been listed in "Best Lawyers in America".

Prior to 2006, she was a partner at the law firm of Vinson & Elkins in Houston, where she served as head of the Alternate Dispute Resolution Section.  She was the first woman at Vinson & Elkins to have children as an associate and later attain partnership.  Texas has never had a woman Attorney General. 

Media Contact:
Katie Floyd: 713-357-3360 (office); katie.floyd@radnofsky.com

[i] Texas Tribune, May 3, 2010

[ii] New York Times, "Size of Oil Underestimated, Scientist Say". May 13, 2010

[iii] Houston Chronicle, "Miles-long Plume of Oil Found Underwater." May 16, 2010

[iv] The New Yorker, "How Big is the Spill?" May 14, 2010

[v] BP press release, "BP Forges Ahead With Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Response." April 25, 2010.

[vi] New York Times, "Less Toxic Dispersants Lose Out in BP Oil Spill Cleanup". May 13, 2010

[vii] New York Times, "Giant Plumes of Oil Found Under Gulf." May 16, 2010.

[viii] Follow the Money, "Candidate Search: Abbott, Greg," Mr. Abbott has received the following donations from oil and gas contributors:  2010 election cycle: $379,277; 2006 election cycle: $779,078, 2002 election cycle: $805,610; 1998 election cycle: $87,865; 1996 election cycle: $38,250.