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1. Radtke Russell, Pam. "//Focus Shifts from Oil Spill Response to Causes and Operational Reforms //." Construction, Building & Engineering News: ENR | McGraw-Hill Construction. 09 Sept. 2010. Web. 20 Feb. 2011. . 2. Where does the author work, what else has s/he written about, and what are her/his credentials? Pam Radtke Russell is a correspondent at Platts and is also an Energy Journalist at Engineering News Record Magazine, both of which she has been doing for the past three years.

3. What is the main topic or argument of the text? The main topic of the argument is finding out what the exact causes and chain of causes contributed to the oil spill disaster. This included the technical failures that may have caused the explosion, lack of enforced regulations on the oil platform, as well as the lack of response to the oil spill.

4. Describe at least three ways that the main topic or argument is fleshed out. The three ways that the main topic is fleshed out is by conducting an investigation of the workers involved, the companies that were responsible for different parts of the well, as well as the Department of Interior for their lack of oversight on the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. These three factors played the key role in the matrices of failures leading up to the BP disaster.

5. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text? “’A complex and interlinked series of mechanical failures, human judgments, engineering design, operational implementation and team interfaces. Multiple companies, work teams and circumstances were involved over time.’” (In reference to the explosion) “A separate report released Sept. 8 and conducted by the Department of Interior into the safety and oversight of oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico points to the former department of Minerals Management Service as not having enough resources to sufficiently regulate the 4,000 rigs in the Gulf” “A third report, released Sept. 7, from a joint industry task force suggests that oil spill response technology, particularly mechanical recovery methods used in the spills such as skimmers and vacuums, should be improved”

6. Explain how the argument and evidence in the text supports your research focus. The arguments and evidence supported my research focus of the mechanisms that failed by laying out specific details on what part of the platform failed. In this case, it is potentially the bottom of the well that failed because of the cement and shoe-track barriers, produced by Halliburton.

7. List at least two details or references from the text that will be useful to other members of your research group. a) According to the American Petroleum Institute, there should now be an entire oil response industry developed devoted to researching the best methods for oil spill cleanup. b) The investigation of the disaster is being done by BP themselves and the U.S. Department of Interior. (My personal thoughts: shouldn’t a completely separate company be investigating the incident that way the results are not bias or skewed?)