BP: Spill Could Be 10 Times Current Estimate

President Obama speaks to reporters after reviewing BP oil spill damage.

The oil giant BP has privately conceded the size of its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could be ten times greater than current estimates. The New York Times reports a senior BP executive told a closed-door Congressional briefing that a ruptured oil well could be spewing as many 60,000 barrels of oil a day. The expanding oil slick meanwhile has hit the shores of Louisiana�s Chandeleur islands, a wildlife refuge 60 miles from New Orleans.


1990 Law Could Cap BP�s Payout of Economic Damages at $75M
In Washington, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was questioned about the crisis which some say could turn out to be the worst industrial environmental disaster in U.S. history.

Reporter: �Is it your commitment that B.P. will pay all costs associated with the spill?�

Gibbs: " That�s�that is our commitment, yes."

Reporter: �Including, like, lost wages and that sort of thing?�

Gibbs: "That�s specifically one of the things the president spoke with Thad Allen about and with parish presidents and fishermen yesterday, is setting up a system�and Secretary Napolitano talked about this this morning�setting up a system for compensation and claims that isn�t bogged down.

While Robert Gibbs said it is the administration�s commitment to make BP pay all costs associated to the spill, an obscure 1990 law may shield BP from paying just $75 million in economic dangers related to the spill. On Monday Democratic Senator Robert Menendez introduced a bill to raise the economic damages liability cap from $75 million to $10 billion. Menendez called the bill, the �Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act.�


Halliburton�s Role in Oil Rig Explosion Probed
The Los Angeles Times reports federal investigators are looking at Halliburton�s role in the disaster. Halliburton was responsible for cementing the deepwater drill hole�a key procedure to prevent oil well blowouts. It had completed the final cementing of the well and pipe 20 hours before the blowout on April 20. Halliburton had four employees stationed on the rig at the time of the gulf accident, all of whom were rescued by the Coast Guard. Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal has revealed federal regulators learned in 2004 that a vital piece of oil-drilling safety equipment may not function in deep-water seas but regulators did nothing to bolster industry requirements.


U.S.: Suspect Admits to Failed Times Square Bombing
The U.S. government says the suspect in the failed Times Square car bombing has admitted to carrying out the attempted attack. The suspect, Faisal Shahzad, was arrested Monday night after boarding a plane bound for Dubai. U.S. officials say he�s also admitted to receiving explosives training in Pakistan and is cooperating with investigators. In Washington, Attorney General Eric Holder said Shahzad will be charged with act of terrorism and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

Attorney General Eric Holder: �Based on what we know so far, it is clear that this was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in our country. We believe that this suspected terrorist fashioned a bomb from rudimentary ingredients, placed it in a rusty S.U.V. and drove it into Times Square with the intent to kill as many innocent tourists and theater-goers as possible. Now, make no mistake, although this car bomb failed to properly detonate, this plot was a very serious attempt. If successful, it could have resulted in a lethal terrorist attack, causing death and destruction in the heart of New York City.�

Several questions have surrounded Shahzad�s arrest, including how he briefly eluded law enforcement surveillance and how he was eventually tracked down. Law enforcement officials had placed Shahzad under surveillance on Sunday but lost track of him sometime before he made his way to New York�s John F. Kennedy airport the next day. He was also allowed to board his flight despite being placed on a no-fly list. A CBS News affiliate reported Tuesday Shahzad was captured in part because U.S. military surveillance planes circling the New York area were able to track his cell phone number. Meanwhile, more details have emerged about Shahzad�s background, including that his home was recently foreclosed and that he once privately expressed disdain for former President George W. Bush and the U.S. invasion of Iraq.


N.Y. Officials Push for Expanded Surveillance
In related news, New York City officials are using the failed bombing to call for an expanded surveillance program. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative should be put in place across the city to foil potential attacks. The system employs a network of cameras, sensors and analytical software to track suspicious activity. It allows police officials to collect license plate numbers and footage of pedestrians and drivers, sometimes from the cameras of private businesses.


New York Governor Unveils Plan To Help Immigrants Facing Deportation
In other immigration news, New York Gov. David Paterson has announced a new effort to help prevent longtime legal immigrants from being deported for old or minor criminal convictions. Paterson plans to create a five-member Special Immigration Board of Pardons to review cases such as Qing Hong Wu who was recently profiled in the New York TImes. Wu is a 29-year-old information technology executive who has been threatened with deportation because he participated in a series of muggings as a 15-year-old. He had not lived in his native China since he was 5. Paterson said: �Some of our immigration laws, particularly with respect to deportation, are embarrassingly and wrongly inflexible. In New York we believe in renewal. In New York, we believe in rehabilitation.�


28 Die in Storms in Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky
At least 28 people have died in Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky following a weekend of record rain storms. Hardest hit was Nashville Tennessee where the Cumberland River rose more than 32 feet after the region received more than 13 inches of rain. Thousands of people have been forced from their homes. Country music�s landmark, the Grand Ole Opry House, was flooded with several feet of water. Half of the counties in Tennessee have been declared disaster areas.


Bolivia Nationalizes Four Power Companies
In news from Latin America, Bolivian President Evo Morales has nationalized four more power companies, including a subsidiary of France�s GDF Suez. The companies had been formed in the 1990s following the privatization of the state National Electricity Company. Morales made the announcement on May Day.

Evo Morales: �We�re here to nationalize all the hydroelectric plants that were owned by the state before, to comply with the new constitution of the Bolivian state. Basic services cannot be a private business.�


Phoenix Suns to Protest Arizona Anti-Immigrant Law
Opposition continues to grow against Arizona�s anti-immigrant law, which allows police officers to stop and interrogate anyone they suspect is an undocumented immigrant. On Tuesday, city councils in the Arizona towns of Flagstaff and Tuscon both passed measures to sue the state over the new law. Meanwhile in California, the Oakland City Council unanimously voted to boycott Arizona. The National Basketball Association�s Phoenix Suns have announced their players will wear jerseys showing their team name as �Los Suns� in a playoff game tonight to protest to the new law. Today is also the Mexican holiday of cinquo de mayo. On Tuesday, Phoenix Suns point guard and NBA All-Star Steve Nash spoke out against the law in an interview with ESPN.

Steve Nash: �I�m against it. I think this is a bill that really damages our civil liberties. I think that it opens up the potential for racial profiling and racism, and I think that it�s a bad precedent to set for our young people, and represents our state poorly in the eyes of the nation and the world. I think we have a lot of great attributes here and I think it�s something we can do without and hopefully it will change a lot in the coming weeks.�


Major League Baseball Union Urges Arizona to Repeal Law
On Friday the union representing major league baseball players took the unprecedented step of calling for Arizona to repeal or modify the law. More than a quarter of major league players are foreign-born. 15 teams conduct spring training in Arizona.


Arizona Measure Could Ban Ethnic Studies Program
Arizona is also coming under criticism for new anti-immigrant measures in its school system. Arizona lawmakers have passed a measure that could shut down a Mexican-American studies program in the Tucson school district. The measure bars classes �designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group� or that �promote resentment toward a race or class of people.� Republicans have criticized the program, which allows students to learn how ethic groups have influenced history. Arizona�s Education Department has also ordered schools to remove teachers who speak English with a heavy accent or who use ungrammatical speech.


Plant Overlooked Contaminated Materials in Children�s Medicines
The Food and Drug Administration is accusing a Pennsylvania plant of knowingly using contaminated materials in children�s medicines. On Tuesday, the FDA said the Johnson & Johnson-owned McNeil Consumer Healthcare plant had used materials contaminated with bacteria and failed to investigate consumer complaints. The plant is responsible for manufacturing most over-the-counter children�s medicines for cold relief, including Tylenol, Motrin and Benadryl. McNeil has issued a recall that could ultimately effect seventy percent of the market for pediatric medicine.


Democracy Now! Files Lawsuit Over RNC Arrests
And Democracy Now! host and executive producer Amy Goodman along with producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar are filing a federal lawsuit� today that challenges the police crackdown on journalists at the Republican National Convention in 2008. The suit is filed against the Minneapolis and St. Paul police departments, the Ramsey County Sheriff and unidentified Secret Service personnel. The lawsuit challenges the policies and conduct of law enforcement during the RNC that resulted in the arrests, one of dozens among journalists arrested in St. Paul. On the opening day of the convention, Nicole and Sharif were covering a police crackdown on a street protest. Nicole�s camera captured her arrest and assault by the officers.


Reporters Without Borders Lists �Predators of Press Freedom�
And Reporters Without Borders has issued its list of predators of press freedom to mark World Press Freedom Day.
The group described the list as �40 politicians, government officials, religious leaders, militias and criminal organizations that cannot stand the press, treat it as an enemy and directly attack journalists.� Names on the list include Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Israeli military, the Israel Defense Forces. Just days before the list was released the Israeli military blocked a crew from the tv network Al Jazeera from covering a Palestinian rally in the West Bank village of Bil�in.


Ahmadinejad: Sanctions Would Hurt U.S. More Than Iran
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues to speak out against U.S. policy toward Iran during a trip here in New York. Ahmadinejad is in town attending a United Nations conference reviewing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. On Tuesday, Ahmadinejad dismissed a United Nations Security Council meeting on imposing new sanctions on Iran.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: �While we do not welcome sanctions, we do not fear them either. We feel and think that the U.S. government will be damaged more than us by those sanctions.�


Israeli Settlers Accused of Burning West Bank Mosque
In Israel and the Occupied Territories, Palestinians are accusing Israeli settlers of responsibility for a fire that severely damaged a mosque near the West Bank town of Nablus. Worshippers say they arrived for morning prayers to find the mosque on fire. The mosque is located in the village of Libban al-Sharqua, which has been the site of previous settler attacks. The fire comes three weeks after another West Bank mosque was vandalized in a settler attack.Click here to post a comment.

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