Gulf Oil Rig Disaster

[Randy V]

The government should have been much more responsive to the containment of this spill. They certainly could have been a key to finding out how other such disasters had been contained. They could have been instrumental in getting BP to organize the super tankers to suck up and reprocess the flowing oil until the leak is stopped. So what is holding them up - still??

Actually - I think I disagree....

What does the government know about things like this?

The deep sea is almost as much of a mystery and as hazardous as outer space..

I've heard a lot of people say that the US Navy should take over too...

What would they know about plugging a venting oil well a mile under water? What practical experience? They can barely handle the rescue of submariners less than half that distance under water with the limited number of manned deep sea vehicles they have..

No - I think that the people that are best suited to do this job of plugging it or somehow getting the spewing of oil captured / contained / re-plumbed - are on the job right now...

Where we may have gone wrong to begin with was to not have mandated that anyone drilling for oil anywhere has a bullet-proof backup to the backup plan that will capture and absorb two weeks worth of spillage ON-SITE.. What - you can't absorb two weeks worth of spillage into the ocean? Sorry - No Ticket to drill.....

Now - here's an interesting article I glanced at -

Did the Russians really use Nukes to seal off a spill like this?

Use nukes to contain the oil spill

(((And NO - I am NOT advocating the use of Nukes - I think that would just make an extremely dangerous and messy problem into an extremely dangerous and messy RADIOACTIVE problem...)))

 

[Jack Houpe]

I agree with Randy, I think the Government needs to keep its nose out of this. I also think that BP has its hands full and needs to be left alone to do there job. It was brought to my attention and I have not researched this but when the Iraqi's took Kuwait, they cut the main lines leading into the ocean that fills tankers, I was told that the amount of oil split makes this look small. I am not advocating this is a small deal but I would like to know what they did to clean it up and what are the results today.

 

[Al Wohlstrom]

The government's responsibility should be the overseeing of procedures to quickly stop the spill and clean it up, and to make sure that those procedures are in place prior to permiting drilling. Given the cluster f_ _ _ that happened after the explosion, I can't see that any procedures were in place. It was a "let's try this, no that doesn't work, let's try this". Spills have happened before, so why not contact those people and use their expertise?
If you want to stand out in front of God and everyone and say "the buck stops here", then get off your dead ass and do something or shut the hell up. All I've seen from government is "kick ass" threats and threats of lawsuits. I don't want BP's stock to drop, I want them to do well and have plenty of money to clean this mess up. If BP goes down, then we are going to pay for this mess. Eric Holder should just stay home and think up some more enduring names for terrorist, because he can't say that word!

 

[Keith]

+1 Al....

It is Sovereign US territory is it not? I wouldn't have thought any US Govt keen to allow a "Foreign" :laugh: company to be in charge, unless of course the blame rests squarely only on the Anglo Saxon portion..

By the way, I blame much of the hysteria on the speed of the Internet and the unregulated unsupported (by facts) hysterical media speculation which I believe is what Obama has picked up on.

Government by Media. Hmmm, I detect Murdoch's dirty hands in this somewhere..:worried:

 

[Ian Anderson]

Guys

From memory international law states that sovereign waters are up to 12 miles from shore

This happened about 41 miles from America

So is this part of the world now owned by America?


If so why is it called the Gulf of "Mexico"

Ian

 

[Al Wohlstrom]

Guys

From memory international law states that sovereign waters are up to 12 miles from shore

This happened about 41 miles from America

So is this part of the world now owned by America?


If so why is it called the Gulf of "Mexico"

Ian

Good point Ian!

 

[TimB]

Guys

From memory international law states that sovereign waters are up to 12 miles from shore

This happened about 41 miles from America

So is this part of the world now owned by America?


If so why is it called the Gulf of "Mexico"

Ian

12 miles isn't a hard and fast rule. Here is a map of the US EEZ (exclusive economic zone)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/18/EEZ-USA.png

 

[40 Bud]

Randy, I think you misunderstand my comment. I am in no way advocating that the government knows anything abouy pluggong the well or stopping the leak. That should be left to the oil people who understand deep water drilling. I was only commenting that the containment of the oil on the surface has been dealt with many times in the past and that this would be an area that the government could have helped to coordinate and not have the oil spreading in such an uncontrolled spread.

 

[Howard Jones]

If you watch those live BP video feeds for an hour or so you will know why it is taking so long. This might be a good place to start for BO. He might learn something. It also would keep his mouth shut for an hour. That ought to help.

 

[Keith]

Good point Ian!

Gulf this Gulf that - Gulf 1 Gulf 2, is this Gulf 3? :laugh:

 

[Al Wohlstrom]

Never waste a good crisis!

The Houston Chronicle: Three days after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, the Dutch government offered to help.

It was willing to provide ships outfitted with oil-skimming booms, and it proposed a plan for building sand barriers to protect sensitive marshlands.

The response from the Obama administration and BP, which are coordinating the cleanup: “The embassy got a nice letter from the administration that said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’” said Geert Visser, consul general for the Netherlands in Houston.

Now, almost seven weeks later, as the oil spewing from the battered well spreads across the Gulf and soils pristine beaches and coastline, BP and our government have reconsidered.

U.S. ships are being outfitted this week with four pairs of the skimming booms airlifted from the Netherlands and should be deployed within days. Each pair can process 5 million gallons of water a day, removing 20,000 tons of oil and sludge.

At that rate, how much more oil could have been removed from the Gulf during the past month?

 

[Randy V]

Wow Al....

That was a major miscue on the part of O'Billion and his bufoons.....:lipsrsealed:.....

 

[Jack Houpe]

Come on Al Kevin is to the rescue to hell with the Dutch.

 

[Al Wohlstrom]

He said how on top of this he and his super crew have been since day one. I guess that means we would have an oil slick in Tucson if not for BO and the boys! Wonder if bullshit soaks up oil! The Dutch firm that offered skimmers on day three said that they would have this cleaned up in 4 months, probably would have saved the marshes. They would have started by the 7th day, that was 50 days ago. Obama, Obama, he's our man, if he can't do it....................................................

 

[Mike Christian]

BO's response is typical American isn't it? Kind of like Iraq and Iran. No thanks, we can f- this up on our own, thank you.

 

[Al Wohlstrom]

BO's response is typical American isn't it? Kind of like Iraq and Iran. No thanks, we can f- this up on our own, thank you.

I think of myself as being a typical American, and I'm never too smart or proud to accept help and advice, I don't really understand it. If this turns into a bigger catastrophe, it becomes a better reason for alternative fuel and more government control as was mentioned tonight. I hate to believe that the government is dragging it's feet and refusing help for this reason. "Never waste a good crisis" I'm really getting to dislike Rahm Emanuel, more that is!

 

[domtoni]

um um um, Barak Hussain Obama !!!! He's going to make our country strong, um um um, Barak Hussain Obama.

 

[Graham]

Never waste a good crisis!

The Houston Chronicle: Three days after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, the Dutch government offered to help.

It was willing to provide ships outfitted with oil-skimming booms, and it proposed a plan for building sand barriers to protect sensitive marshlands.

The response from the Obama administration and BP, which are coordinating the cleanup: “The embassy got a nice letter from the administration that said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’” said Geert Visser, consul general for the Netherlands in Houston.

Now, almost seven weeks later, as the oil spewing from the battered well spreads across the Gulf and soils pristine beaches and coastline, BP and our government have reconsidered.

U.S. ships are being outfitted this week with four pairs of the skimming booms airlifted from the Netherlands and should be deployed within days. Each pair can process 5 million gallons of water a day, removing 20,000 tons of oil and sludge.

At that rate, how much more oil could have been removed from the Gulf during the past month?

Al, I didn't know that...

If it's true (and I have no reason to disbelieve you), then it is sad to see the level of hubris operating in the White house.

Graham.

 

[Chris P.]

Yeah - should have taken help as soon as possible. Problem is, I doubt they would have been able to keep up with the flow, not to mention the fact that at first it appeared manageable. That help would have only skimmed the surface oil off anyway- there's so much else going on down below that nobody has the ability to deal with. Don't focus on the surface (literally) and think that the Dutch could have walked in and saved our butts and everything is peachy-keen to start drilling a new well. There is just as much damage happening below the surface (and possibly more) which nobody can stop. If Obama is using this as an example for cleaner energy, there is a very good reason for it - again, look below the surface of this. I am certainly not going to sit here and say that Obama has done a good job with this - but I am also not going to ignore all the reasons that brought this about either and funnel all those steps along the way to this disaster down to one man - that's being ignorant and naive.

Let's pretend for a moment that McCain had won the election. Let's say he pounced on it right away and started skimming the oil off the surface. That's about all we could do, actually, so now what? Is the disaster averted? Hell no. Someone has to take the heat - so who gets it in this situation? I understand the Obama bashing - and he deserves it, but I get the feeling that a lot of the people who are bashing him had no problem several years ago with Cheney having closed door energy policy meetings. Let's be neutral here - Bash Obama, but also bash those who put him in this situation - because he didn't. I don't recall the first Bush doing very much to deal with the Valdez incident - which at the time was relatively just as horrifying as this one in the first few weeks. There's only so much a president can do - he's not a dictator.

 

[Jack]

not yet!