re: 60 minutes on CBS

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Ask me how I know.

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There may have been a disagreement about the procedure for completing the well but I highly doubt there was a huge argument. Since this "argument" took place at the pre-tour safety meeting it would have been in front of approximately 40-50 guys not the whole rig.

I am sure there was some "my dick is bigger than yours" comments going on but it was not a full blown "argument". Depending on which company man was on tour it was probably nothing more than smart arse comments. Ask me how I know.

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Mr. Williams declined to be interviewed.

In his sworn statement, he described the meeting as including ranking personnel from BP, Transocean and Halliburton Co., a contractor that dealt with cementing the well.

According to Mr. Williams's account, Transocean's rig manager, Jimmy Wayne Harrell, was discussing the plans for the next few hours' work, including taking out the drilling mud and running a test to make sure gas wasn't seeping into the well. Mr. Harrell explained in the meeting that he had received the plans from BP.

Then, according to Mr. Williams's statement, the top-ranked BP employee assigned to the rig, Donald Vidrine, disagreed and said "that was not the correct procedure."

A Transocean driller in charge of the crew, Dewey Revette, tried to ease the tension. "We'll get it worked out. Let's get up there and go to work," he said, according to Mr. Williams's statement. Mr. Revette, 48 years old, was among 11 workers who died on the rig.

At about this point in the meeting, according to Mr. Williams's attorney, Scott Bickford, all other employees were asked to leave the room so that Messrs. Vidrine and Harrell could talk in private. Mr. Williams's statement doesn't include a reference to asking others to leave.

It's not clear what position either BP's Mr. Vidrine or Transocean's Mr. Harrell took on when the drilling mud should be removed. Mr. Williams's statement said only that the disagreement concerned taking out the mud, running a "negative pressure" test on the well, and dealing with a piece of equipment called a seal assembly.

It also isn't clear whether Mr. Vidrine or Mr. Harrell won the day.

Typically well owner BP would have final say, since it was paying roughly $1 million a day to lease the rig and pay for services from 12 companies that had people on the rig.

What is clear is that workers soon began displacing the mud. Later that afternoon a pressure test provided ambiguous readings, a possible sign of gas seeping in, according to what Rep. Henry Waxman says a BP executive told House investigators. Eventually, in the evening, after further tests, BP made a decision to carry forth in removing more drilling mud. The rig blew about 10 p.m.

A BP spokesman, asked about the account in Mr. Williams's statement, said: "We're simply not going to comment on that sort of detail or speculation about causes." BP's Mr. Vidrine couldn't be reached for comment.

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I think Bob Bea is a self promoting bullshite artist.

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In the email they werent underneath the rig thus in the vicinity and they were trolling around the rig.

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They smelled methane (isn't methane oderless?),

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Engines over-rev... Light bulbs get incredibly bright and then explode. His computer monitor exploded. He describes a steel hatch/door as being 3" thick and secured by six stainless steel hinges. The first explosion rips the door from it's hinges, the door hits him, and slams him into a bulkhead. He "wakes up" under the hatch and pushes it off. He tries again to exit his work compartment and is hit by another steel door... 3' x 6' x 3" = 4.5 cuft of steel. Are these things solid? How much does a door like that weigh?

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