Four years after the deepwater horizon drilling platform killed 11 workers, causing more than 200 million gallons of oil to spew into the gulf of mexico, the Environmental Protection agency has lifted a ban that excluded bp from new federal contracts. In a broadcast exclusive, will speak with Elizabeth Birnbaum who was director of the Minerals Management service in the interior department the time of the deepwater horizon blowout. She left soon after. She now says the risk of another blowout is real. Then, rubin hurricane carter has died. He became an International Symbol of Racial Injustice after spending 19 years in prison for a wrongful murder conviction. This is unreal. This is what i sat in a cell hoping to happen. This is a dream come true. Ive never had a dream in life that has not been realized. Never yet. Earth limited on this simply by our own imagination. Theres nothing we cant do. Hurricane carters ordeal with publicized was in the film starring denzel washington. We will s
that s how we re handling this as a nation, seriously. joining us, elizabeth birnbaum, director of the minerals management service at the time of the oil disaster. i appreciate your time. thanks for being here. thank you. have we gotten any better at cleaning up oil spills, particularly after the deepwater horizon disaster? have we had any technological breakthroughs in cleanup? there haven t been any technological breakthroughs, and really the technology for cleaning up oil spills hasn t improved much over decades. when we were cleaning up the bp spill, we were using much of the same technology that was used in 1969 to clean up the santa barbara blowout. it only removed a small percentage of the oil from the ocean. when you talk about the arctic, it s much more complicated to clean up because you re dealing with an environment where there is ice in the water much of the year. there s only a small period in the summer when they have clear water. and that makes cleanup much more
to make this a model drilling operation in the arctic. they were going to prove it could be done and prove that it could be done safely. and then they ran aground. i it was just unbelievable. i haven t read the reports on it, i understand maybe they were pushing to get out of alaska waters to avoid some fees or something. but it really does make you wonder whether they can even operate. elizabeth birnbaum, former director of the minerals management service. we cover the energy industry a lot on this show in part because i m always standing up at my desk and slapping myself in the face trying to believe the news that s coming out of this industry. it s a real asset for us to be able to call on you to help us understand it. thank you for being here tonight. i appreciate it. thank you. thanks. we ll be right back. lots to come.
as a nation, seriously. joining us, elizabeth birnbaum, director of the u.s. minerals management service at the time of the deep water oil disaster. i appreciate your time. thanks for being here. thank you. have we gotten any better at cleaning up oil spills, particularly after the deepwater horizon disaster? have we had any technological breakthroughs in cleanup? there haven t been any technological breakthroughs, and really the technology for cleaning up oil spills hasn t improved much over decades. when we were cleaning up the bp spill, we were using much of the same technology that was used in 1969 to clean up the santa barbara blowout. it only removed a small percentage of the oil from the ocean. when you talk about the arctic, it s much more complicated to clean up because you re dealing with an environment where there is ice in the water much of the year. there s only a small period in the summer when they have clear water. and that makes cleanup much more difficult, and n
to make this a model drilling operation in the arctic. they were going to prove it could be done and prove that it could be done safely. and then they ran aground. i it was just unbelievable. i haven t read the reports on it, i understand maybe they were pushing to get out of alaska waters to avoid some fees or something. but it really does make you wonder whether they can even operate. elizabeth birnbaum, former director of the u.s. minerals management service. we cover the energy industry a lot on this show in part because i m always standing up at my desk and slapping myself in the face trying to believe the news that s coming out of this industry. it s a real asset for us to be able to call on you to help us understand it. thank you for being here tonight. i appreciate it. thank you. thanks. we ll be right back. lots to come. when it comes to good nutrition.i m no expert.