Go to: BP Republicans
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Featured Site: BP Republicans
Go to: BP Republicans
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Go to: BP Republicans
Well, certainly, the workers of Big Oil need help in Congress. Big oil will take their oil rigs elsewhere in the world and leave the U.S. workers unemployed.
ReplyDeleteThat's the problem with Obama. He believes in globalism, but he doesn't believe that their are consequences for his actions.
Answers are scant in this situation. But there are several things in this dilemma that bug me. First, the conceit that gulf oil drilling is "domestic oil," when in fact it all goes to the global market. Second, that the moratorium that was imposed was on ALL oil drilling, when in fact it was only on 33 wells. And third (but certainly not last) that we should keep drilling, even though it is obvious that Big Oil has NO contingency plan for oil spillage whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that a an oil spill of this nature hasn't occurred for 30 years (though many smaller events have happened), but when we KNOW that there has been zero investment in containment and cleanup technology, WHY should we allow deep-water drilling to continue until they come up with something?
While the oil company screwed up big time, it is also true that the Feds also screwed up.
ReplyDelete33 wells employs hundreds if not thousands of workers, from the drillers, support crews like cooks, to helicopter transportation etc. Actually, there had been some investment in containment but in other areas of the country. Take also, that the U.S. refused offers of help early on that could have helped out and reduced the significant damage.
It does bother me about a lot of things. when it first started, I didn't think it was going to be a big deal, but we were misled by BP and the government.
Even though it is a diaster, there is a bright side. If and when this happens again, we will be better prepared for it, both by the drilling company and hopefully by the government.
I'm aware of the jobs lost on those 33 wells. But there are something like 3300 wells out there, and the moratorium was being misrepresented as "total." BP and the big oil companies have seemingly spent ZERO on containment and recovery technologies in recent years while making more in profits than any other corporations in the history of the universe.
ReplyDeleteI was in the amusement industry--where safety, and contingency planning for accidents is job one--for many years, so it strikes me as CRAZY that the oil companies developed deeper and deeper oil extraction technologies, but IGNORED UTTERLY what to do if something went wrong. With those 33 wells, there should be no more work until they can show that a) all crucial elements of their rigs are working properly and all safety regs are being followed and b) A friggin' working Slot-A into Tab-B containment cover READY TO GO! Why were they playing "hey, let's try this...or wait...how 'bout this?" for weeks? There should have been equipment ready to fix this when it happened. And it is clear that BP lied a hell of a lot about what they could do to fix this.
As for the US refusing help, please go to FactCheck.org on that. A lot of the "common wisdom"--like the Jones Act malarky--is either half true or totally false.
Your last point shows a refreshing optimism, and I hope you're right. But when this happened 30 years ago in Mexico, the things they tried were virtually identical to what they're doing now: booms, skimmers, top hat ("sombrero"), junk shot. . .all the same. If only the oil industry would adopt the "safety first" attitude of the amusement and airline industries.
It seems that you've put a great amount of time into your article and I want a lot more of these on the internet these days. Well, anyways... it certainly was very informative for me.
ReplyDeletePublic Records