BP Blames US

[nofi]

bp tried to blame the us on their oil spill seems like our demand for oil stresses their equipment to the max resulting in epic failure. the spin never stops...

one thing they can't sin away is their inability to fix malfunctions in a rapid manner to prevent such disasters. oy.

[uwe]

That's a bit like a member of the medical profession caught in a malpractice saying that no liver transplant would have been needed in the first place hadn't the patient abused alcohol.

It was BP's f***ing job to get that oil out safely and, if that was very expensive to do, price it accordingly.

[Denis]

After Obama's speech the other night a few locals in Louisiana were interviewed, including one particularly hostile woman who is mayor of a city or parish or something. She said that the moratorium on drilling was ridiculous because "there are 70 oil rigs in the Gulf and ONLY ONE is leaking" and then she went on to bitch about the price of gasoline and how it will go up to $5 per gallon. Pardon me, but these are stupid statements. If ONLY ONE blowout can do this much damage, it's certainly worth considering the ramifications if another one were to blow out. As far as the price of gasoline, Americans are spoiled and even at $3 per gallon we come out so cheap it's ridiculous. While I'm really sorry for those whose jobs are on the line in the Gulf because of the moratorium I think the bigger picture is what happens to the Gulf if this oil spill kills everything in it.

[Pilgrim]

Very interesting story on NPR within the last day - they interviewed folks in one of the affected coastal LA towns.  70% make their living on oil rigs, the other 30% from fishing.  Oil is the lion's share of their economy.  It's a different situation from their view.

Their general sentiment?  Improve your drilling practices, but keep drilling.

[Denis]

I think I heard the same story, which was interesting indeed. Oil will remain big in the Gulf for decades to come, but that same oil industry could cost most of that 30% fishing industry their livelihoods.

Probably I'm seeing the worst of the situation...

[Barklessdog]

Their general sentiment?  Improve your drilling practices, but keep drilling.

Yeah, but have triple safety shut offs that are tested & actually work.

[nofi]

on npr a republican senator from texas was pissed off at the government for setting up the relief fund. same old song about government butting in on private business. apparently preaching the party line is more important than the welfare of his people on the coast.  i'm sure if bp was left to it's own devices this fund would be overflowing with relief dollars...not.

the political shite will soon equal the oily shite in the gulf.

the triple safety shut off reminds me of secret double probation.

[Barklessdog]

I always think of something like this similar to a nuclear reactors or the space shuttle. Certainly one would believe that there would be several fail safe operations that would be part of an operation like this so this could not happen.




 

[nofi]

the sequel could be "gulfballs".

[Denis]

on npr a republican senator from texas was pissed off at the government for setting up the relief fund. same old song about government butting in on private business. apparently preaching the party line is more important than the welfare of his people on the coast.  i'm sure if bp was left to it's own devices this fund would be overflowing with relief dollars...not.

I believe that would be Joe Barton. He publicly apologized to the CEO of BP for the "$20 billion shakedown" he believes the administration forced onto the company. I'm sorry but BP made a series of errors through negligence and caused a catastrophe of monumental proportions. They should be expected to pay accordingly.

[Pilgrim]

Yeah, but have triple safety shut offs that are tested & actually work.

No argument there!  I think that would be a well-received requirement.

[Pilgrim]

I believe that would be Joe Barton. He publicly apologized to the CEO of BP for the "$20 billion shakedown" he believes the administration forced onto the company. I'm sorry but BP made a series of errors through negligence and caused a catastrophe of monumental proportions. They should be expected to pay accordingly.

I used to live in Joe Barton's district.  He makes the tea party group look rational.

[Dave W]

Let's keep the politicians out of this discussion, please.

[Denis]

Fair enough. After all, we don't have a thread entitled "Our elected, self-centered yahoos". 

[lowend1]

Part of the problem is the deep water drilling. It's inherently more problematic than either shallow water or land drilling.