*Just IN* Rep. Markey says Congress unable to “PUBLICLY disclose” integrity of wellbore — More (VIDEO)

Interview With Massachusetts Congressman Edward Markey, CNN, July 15 @ 10:18pm EST:

Rush Transcript Excerpts

COOPER: Congressman Markey, on I think it was June 23, you wrote a letter to BP, one of the many letters you’ve — you’ve written to BP, that they haven’t really responded to.

This one, you were asking for detailed information about the wellbore, about the — what they knew about the seafloor, about the status of it. That information is obviously crucially important now. Have they — and, yesterday, you were saying, look, they haven’t responded. Have they responded at all over the last 24 hours?

MARKEY: They have not responded.

And, again, I wrote back there on June 23, so that we could publicly disclose what the integrity of the wellbore is, we could publicly disclose what the integrity of the geology around the wellbore, so that we could better understand. …

Can it withstand that extra pressure, as the oil is now backed up? Can the soil, can the rock, can the sediment around the well withstand the additional pressure?

And, so, all of this is key information, which is why I believe the federal government has been wise in ensuring that BP move much more slowly than they had intended on doing. BP really has wanted to shut down this well as quickly as possible, although their incompetence has made it impossible for them to achieve that goal.

But, recently, they have wanted to move more quickly, and the federal government, led by Admiral Allen, has forced them to slow down, so that we don’t take something and make the cure actually worse than the disease by having this pipe or the rock formation around this well actually now spring leaks and make the problem even worse than it is now.

Markey all but confirms that the government has knowledge of the condition of the wellbore, but is not permitted to release the information publicly.

Markey’s wrote the June 23 letter to pressure BP to publicly disclose the problems with the wellbore. This would have allowed the information to be released without Markey doing it directly.

However, the questions raised in his letter serves to inform the public about what Congress does know about the condition of the well, without directly stating the information as fact.

The letter was excerpted in a June 30 report on this website, Congressman suspects BP tapped multiple oil reservoirs while drilling the Macondo Well; Oil may also be rushing IN to damaged casing:

The Chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee Rep. Ed Markey is now questioning not only if oil and gas are seeping out of the damaged casing into the seabed and surrounding rock, but whether oil and gas may be rushing IN to the casing after BP drilled into oil formations above the target reservoir.

Chairman Asks About Well Integrity, Design of Relief Wells, Timeframe, Sea Floor Leaks, Energy and Environment Subcommittee:

Are there significant deposits of oil and gas in formations above the target reservoir?

Please provide an estimate of the total amount of oil and gas that is contained in i) the Macondo well target formation and ii) each formation above the target formation that could leak hydrocarbons into the annulus as a result of poor cementing, damage caused by the initial explosion(s), or the failed Top Kill effort.

Questions on other potential hydrocarbon reservoirs in the well. …

Please provide documents related to the possibility that the initial drilling encountered leakage from other formations above the target reservoir…

A May 23, 2010 article… in the Orlando Sentinel stated that well records indicate that in late February, there was a loss in drilling mud pressure. According to the article, this could mean that the mud fractured layers of sand or shale in the formation and vanished. The article goes on to state that in early March, the pressure of the oil and gas encountered overwhelmed the pressure of the drilling mud. In mid-April, a loss of drilling mud was reportedly again experienced. Do any or all of these events indicate that oil and gas could be flowing from somewhere other than the target reservoir? If so, please explain fully, and if not, why not?

Thank you very much for your attention to this important matter. Please provide your response no later than Friday July 2, 2010. If you have any questions or concerns, please have your staff contact Dr. Michal Freedhoff of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee staff at 202-225-2836.

Sincerely,

Edward J. Markey
Chairman
Energy and Environment Subcommittee

cc: Honorable Henry Waxman, Chairman
Honorable Joe Barton, Ranking Member
Honorable Fred Upton, Ranking Member

Chairman Asks About Well Integrity, Design of Relief Wells, Timeframe, Sea Floor Leaks