The former official in charge of BP’s Alaska spill contingency planning says he sees the same disastrous template in the Gulf of Mexico as the one that contributed to the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. James Woodle, who oversaw spill recovery for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in the early 1980s, told NEWSEEK that the Valdez terminal plans were “useless” and reflected the attitude that spills “will probably never happen. The only important thing was the number of pages in the plan.” Woodle recalled a giant plan cut-and-pasted with images but lacking specifics. Fast forward to 2010 and the Gulf of Mexico plan which is described as 583 pages pulled from other plans and useless information such as procedures to save walruses and referencing an expert who had been dead for four years. When Woodle voiced his concerns to the head of the pipeline, he was given a warning letter with false rumors he was having an affair before being fired for insubordination.
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