WASHINGTON. D.C. – House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) announced today released documents obtained from the Coast Guard including a log of events from the immediate aftermath of the April 20 explosion onboard the Deepwater Horizon shedding new information on the first days of the disaster.

“These documents raise new questions about whether the White House was slow to respond to an incident that was quickly recognized by the Coast Guard as a potentially catastrophic threat to the environment, said Issa. “It appears as if this Administration would rather tell a half-truth if the full-truth doesn’t fit the story they want to tell. Less than 48 hours after the explosion multiple attempts to activate the blowout preventer had already failed and the Coast Guard knew 8,000 barrels of crude oil spilling into gulf waters each day was a real possibility. Americans have a right to be outraged by this spill, by top government officials caught off-guard, and by the facts the White House omitted in explaining what it knew and when it knew it.”

Click Here for Story and Timeline Compiled by the Center for Public Integrity

Highlights from the logs:

• New Questions about Erroneous Oil Leak Estimates – On April 21 the Coast Guard evaluated the “potential environmental threat” and concluded that in addition to 700,000 gallons of diesel from the vessel there was an “estimated potential of 8000 barrels per day of crude oil, if the well were to completely blowout.” This estimate, made one day after the explosion, was larger than both the initial 1000 barrels per day first estimate of oil lost and the first upward revision to 5000 barrels of oil leaking per day.
• Early Failed Attempts to Secure the Well – While it has been reported that the first efforts to use remote operated vehicles (ROV) to activate the well’s blowout preventer occurred on April 25, Coast Guard logs indicate that efforts actually began on April 21. On April 22 logs state, “ROV attempts to shut-in the well were unsuccessful; a third attempt is being conducted.”
• The White House and “No Apparent Leak” – The White House Oil Spill Timeline states that on April 23 there was “No Apparent Leak.” Coast Guard documents, however, reveal the full context of the claim. Coast Guard logs from April 23 state: “Earlier reports that the ROV had confirmed that that the blowout preventer valve was closed was incorrect. ROV has only been able to confirm there is no visible flow from the well.” Why wasn’t the oil visually evident? Coast Guard logs from April 22 point to the massive fire: “The majority of the oil continues to be mitigated by the fire … use of ROV to shut-in the well has been unsuccessful after several attempts.”

Click here to read the Coast Guard documents and logs on the early hours of the Gulf oil spill tragedy.

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