Catastrophic Oil Spill

[Woodland Detectors]

It's all of our fault, isn't it?

Opinions please

 

[Tin Nugget]

Other than our insatiable appetite for fuel I would have to say no. Now BP on the other hand who disregarded warnings of the potential for a catastrophic event, well not only should they have to spend their billions in profits on clean up, they also need to be held accountable for knowingly putting their workers in harms way.

 

[RON (PA)]

They should also have the technology to fix their own wells...I understand that deep well leaks of this magnitude are infrequent, but odds are a big leak will happen and they should have more than a tool box full of it might work and a bunch of never tried this before.

 

[veronasteve]

the well was leased from an American co......they didn't build it ...they are not responsible for its manufacture or it ìs parts failures........these are the facts ..if it wasn't under BP it would certainly be under a US outfit.......and this disaster would still have occured.....the oil would still be coming out.........also from what i've read by those in the know.....theres no technology in the US at the moment that could stop this oil for at least 4 months....they asked the military what could be done and they replied 'the oil industry has the best gear for plugging this'..........

you would be looking to companies like BP who have the experience in under water drilling to come and fix it.

 

[TheDane]

The basic problem in these kind of catastrophies (Exxon Valdes too) of course is the human need for fuel oil, gas etc.

Maybe it is time to seriously look for alternative energy sources now !

 

[veronasteve]

The basic problem in these kind of catastrophies (Exxon Valdes too) of course is the human need for fuel oil, gas etc.

Maybe it is time to seriously look for alternative energy sources now !

true, but if they just factor in fail safe technology in to the designs of these rigs it should still be ok to drill oil-----also it's obviously something that has an element of danger like coal mining . isn't this why they get the big bucks.......i read divers in the N,sea get 1200 per day tax free-

 

[TheDane]

Sure the drilling for oil would still be needed, but in a much lower scale.
The oil reserves left could be used for new products like today, fore instance in new plastic products etc.
That could prevent the high sea drilling that is so dangerous to the environment.

The new alternative energy sources are there, it is just up to the politicians to get them in use.
Lower tax on cars driving on electicity and hydrogen.
The oil sheiks in the Middle East and the oil companies are strongly against it, and I guess they don´t forget "to tell" the politicians of various countries that fact.

It is actually stupid to burn oil and oil products, as the oil can be used for so many usefull things.

 

[Tuberale]

Not willing to play blame game.

More important now to clean up.

Fastest way IMO is to use fungi, which grow exponentially and can "eat" oil.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

the well was leased from an American co......they didn't build it ...they are not responsible for its manufacture or it ìs parts failures........these are the facts ..if it wasn't under BP it would certainly be under a US outfit.......and this disaster would still have occured.....the oil would still be coming out.........also from what i've read by those in the know.....theres no technology in the US at the moment that could stop this oil for at least 4 months....they asked the military what could be done and they replied 'the oil industry has the best gear for plugging this'..........

you would be looking to companies like BP who have the experience in under water drilling to come and fix it.

BP is responsible for the maintenance, care and and all safty and operational problems that may arrive from the well, you can try to devert the blame all you want but the "buck" stops at BP....

"BP, which leased the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, disregarded indications hours before the April 20 blast that the rig might suffer a catastrophic blowout, according to a preliminary report published Wednesday by the House Energy and Commerce committee.

The report showed that the Deepwater Horizon had received evidence of 'kicks' of oil and natural gas coming up the drill pipe several times before the blowout, but disregarded them and went ahead with its effort to cap the well."

BP had earned the distinction of having the worst refinery safty and death toll in the industry in the USA.

 

[veronasteve]

this is from a report i just read....
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Issues That Can and Cannot Be Addressed
..
There are many disturbing issues raised by the MC 252 well blowout. The Sixty Minutes report leaves the impression that there were clear indications of things that went wrong in the weeks leading up to the blowout. It further implies that BP and the other companies involved with the drilling operation ignored these problems in the interest of saving time and money.
I do not believe that there is sufficient and credible publicly available information to address those issues at this time. Based on the chronology presented above, it seems strange that so little was apparently done in the hour-and-forty minutes between the notable increase in mud pit volume and the blowout, except to stop circulating twice. At the same time, it is easy to see the warning signs now that we know the outcome, and we do not know what was done or discussed at the time--we only have recordings on a chart.
What can be addressed now is the larger issue that a flawed, risky well plan for the MC 252 well was approved by the MMS, and BP, Anadarko and Mitsui management. Similar or identical plans were undoubtedly approved and used by many operators on other wells drilled in the Gulf of Mexico. A plan that does not include enough cement to overlap the final and previous casing strings, and that does not require running a cement-bond log to ensure the integrity of the seal is a defective plan. The fact that there have not been blowouts on previous wells does not justify the approval and use of an unsafe plan.
Interior Secretary Salazar has announced a suspension of offshore drilling permits and an indefinite ban on new offshore drilling. This will have a profound economic impact on many thousands of rig and associated service jobs. The result will undoubtedly be new regulations. More regulation will accomplish little, however, if the underlying problem is a lack of critical thinking by the companies that drill oil and gas wells and the government agencies that oversee their activities.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Here is more about BP.......

"
BP PLC (BP) has 97% of the most serious safety violations at U.S. refineries over the past 35 months. In the very top "egregious" category, BP has 99.9% of all violations. Most have occurred at two refineries, Texas City, TX and Toledo, OH. The Texas City refinery is the location of a March, 2005 explosion and fire that killed 15 workers.

The details of the violations have been reported by Jim Morris and M.B. Pell at The Center for Public Integrity. Most of the problems are related faulty safety practices associated with the 2005 explosion.

Wikipedia has a list of all the refineries in the world, organized by country. From this a spreadsheet has been constructed for all the U.S. refineries. BP operates six of the 150 U.S. refineries (4.5%) and processes 8.6% of the oil.

Are "willful and flagrant violation" of safety and "intentional disregard" of safety criminal acts? Can they be criminal only if someone is injured or dies? These are questions that need to be addressed.

One thing is clear. With 4.5% of U.S. refineries and 8.6% of capacity, BP’s 99.9% of all egregious violations over a 31 month period represents a disregard for safe operations that should be criminal.

With this abysmal safety record, the Deep Sea Horizon explosion appears to have been simply a matter that had to occur sometime. Other catastrophes at BP operations appear to be preordained as well, as long as they are allowed to continue to operate with egregious disregard of safety."

 

[River Rat]

I just wish those CNN and all those other reporters would get put to work helping with the spill than just standing around awaiting for the latest development to be reported.

What are they doing with the oil saturated booms? The proper disposal is what?

I mean it's 24/7 on all the local channels.

RR