Gulf Oil Spill - 37 days later

[Sombeech]

Still no sign of slowing down, what's the word? Last I heard they were going to attempt to put golf balls and concrete down there, with little confidence.

[stefan]

what's the word?

drill baby drill

oh wait ... that's 3

[asdf]

people should be going to prison for this

[uintahiker]

people should be going to prison for this

And THAT my friend is why so many CEOs of large companies get paid so much. They get held personally liable for things that they have very little involvement with. I mean, you'd have to pay me a huge salary as well if I were to take on that much risk...

[Sombeech]

And THAT my friend is why so many CEOs of large companies get paid so much. They get held personally liable for things that they have very little involvement with. I mean, you'd have to pay me a huge salary as well if I were to take on that much risk...

This is true. Obama wants them to make the average salary, but take on all of the liability. Because rich people are just bad, even though he made at least $5 mil last year.

[shlingdawg]

Shit happens. It sucks, but it happens. I'm not saying that people shouldn't be responsible for their actions, but pointing fingers doesn't help either. On one hand I hear people cursing BP for the accident and the next minute the same people are fueling their vehicles with their product.

[Sombeech]

Maybe this is why Obama hasn't visited the area much, he doesn't want to use their fuel to get there.

[bbennett]

I work pretty close to the accident site for the Deepwater Horizon (about 15 miles away). I think I saw some of the worst areas for oil concentration on the water. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. There are a lot of sheens here and there but I was expecting to see endless miles of black upon black. There are areas that are obviously worse that others, but still, not as bad as I was expecting it to be.
I saw one sheen as it was coming into contact with land (an area known as South Pass at the mouth of the Mississippi River). There was me at around 3,000' and two low level Coast Guard planes circling and dropping dispersant, but no booms in the water or even personnel at the location itself. I got the impression that either people aren't taking it that seriously or maybe it wasn't as bad as they have been saying it is.
There's been a lot of discussion on the news about the shrimpers losing their livelihood and the economic impact that it will have on small fishery towns like Venice. I can tell you from my personal experience with Venice and some shrimp boat captains that the town is booming right now BECAUSE of this spill.
BP is paying (local only) shrimp boats no less than $1,600 per day to drive around with oil booms and try to capture some of the oil. From what I understand, that's around 3x what the boats typically make and their not dependant on what they catch. Also, they have a mandatory meeting every evening so they're only out on the water for 8 hours per day. Throughout the two weeks that I was down there, I didn't see a shrimp boat doing a damn thing other than cruising around with the booms out of the water. One boat captain that I talked to said that he hopes this lasts for years. The stores and restaurants are raking it in as well due to all of the press, contractors, and government employees.
I understand that this economic upturn is temporary but if there's one thing south Louisianans’ aren't afraid of, it's reaching their hands out for government subsidies, milking it for as long as possible, and then complaining that nobody did anything for them. There's still a bunch of FEMA trailers down there and yards that have yet to be cleaned up since Katrina. That was what... 5 years ago? Clean up your yard and get rid of that ugly trailer in front of the larger trailer that you call a home. It’s like a totally different country down there full of people who don’t give a shit about anything other than the Saints, LSU, Mardi Gras, and money (preferably without having to work for it).
Honestly, I don't know if BP will be able to recover from this. I’m sure that there’s a lot of people who hope that they don’t. Add the cost of trying to stop the flow, the clean-up, all of the inevitable lawsuits, and the $700,000,000 rig that they lost, and it paints a very grim future for even this giant among giants.
Like Shlingdog said; "On one hand I hear people cursing BP for the accident and the next minute the same people are fueling their vehicles with their product.". But it's not just gas. How much petroleum based products do we depend on everyday? How many petroleum based products are in the computer that you're looking at right now? Did you know that at the very moment of the explosion, they were having a party on the rig to celebrate 7 years free of accidents? Ironic, huh? Shit happens. Really bad shit happens sometimes. This is the cost of our comforts. I love a steak but I don’t want to see them kill the cow.
I hope that they get the well killed very soon and the environmental impact is as small as possible. If BP cut corners, I hope that it is proven and the are held accountable. I hope that they can come up with some significant improvements toward safety and disaster prevention. Aside from that, what can we do but watch the cow die?

[JP]

drill baby drill

Absolutely, put some bits up in ANWR as well Your vision of a carbon free America is nothing but a wet dream

[stefan]

Shit happens. It sucks, but it happens. I'm not saying that people shouldn't be responsible for their actions, but pointing fingers doesn't help either. On one hand I hear people cursing BP for the accident and the next minute the same people are fueling their vehicles with their product.

huh?

[stefan]

If BP cut corners, I hope that it is proven and the are held accountable. I hope that they can come up with some significant improvements toward safety and disaster prevention. Aside from that, what can we do but watch the cow die?

sorry this comment is just unacceptable today, IMO.

[stefan]

Obama wants them to make the average salary, but take on all of the liability.

says who?

[uintahiker]

says who?

Obama.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/...n4776398.shtml

[bbennett]

sorry this comment is just unacceptable today, IMO.

Why?

[Reedus]

Because Stefan go some oily sand in his vagina apparently...

Why?

[stefan]

Why?

mistakes and problems of this magnitude are utterly unacceptable today.

held accountable after the fact is a terrible mentality allowing for these problems to occur in the first place. i don't care how much it hurts an oil company's bottom line, they need to (and be forced to) go the extra distance to ensure distasters like this NEVER happen and we as a society need to demand this of our companies and government.

how many said that offshore drilling was perfectly secure ... OBVIOUSLY, that assertion couldn't be further from the truth.

[bbennett]

mistakes and problems of this magnitude are utterly unacceptable today.

held accountable after the fact is a terrible mentality allowing for these problems to occur in the first place. i don't care how much it hurts an oil company's bottom line, they need to (and be forced to) go the extra distance to ensure distasters like this NEVER happen and we as a society need to demand this of our companies and government.

how many said that offshore drilling was perfectly secure ... OBVIOUSLY, that assertion couldn't be further from the truth.

So how does this make my comment unacceptable? Let's see; "If BP cut corners, I hope that it is proven and they are held accountable." Whoa, whoa, wait a minute... what was I thinking? That statement is totally ****ed up!
Where's the douche bag emoticon?

[stefan]

i suppose to have made the point better, i should have added this part of your original post

Shit happens. Really bad shit happens sometimes. This is the cost of our comforts.

in this day and age, it's an unacceptable cost and shit should never happen was the point. this is what our capitalistic society should be demanding from our companies. if they're in this business, ensuring that disasters like this never happen should be of utmost importance, above and beyond making a profit. if they can't run their business responsibly, then they don't deserve to be making a profit.

soft language and soft action on powerful companies is how we ensure nothing changes/improves in a substantial or meaningful way. punishing after the fact is being soft. complacency is clearly a disease in our society and profits are weighed too heavily over issues that are equal if not more important.

[JP]

7 years free of accidents? Ironic, huh? Shit happens. Really bad shit happens sometimes. This is the cost of our comforts.

If BP cut corners, I hope that it is proven and the are held accountable. I hope that they can come up with some significant improvements toward safety and disaster prevention. Aside from that, what can we do but watch the cow die?

Agreed Accidents unfortunately do happen, that's the cost of doing any business. Some businesses have more risk than others. Nothing is a guarantee and the unfortunate part, money talks. Sometimes the all mighty dollar trumps things like safety. It shouldn't happen, but people will be people. If there was some missed guidelines on the part of BP, the laws on the books will apply. It doesn't rewrite the accident, we just hope people making the decisions in the future will rethink taking shortcuts for the quick buck. One thing missed in all of this are the workers on the rig that perished that night. That loss of life seems to be lost in a political debate. My heart goes out for the families that do not have fathers and or mothers never coming home again. That last time a family member talked with their brother and or sister. It's shame that those dedicated employees have been swept under the rug.

[Sombeech]

It's unfortunate that the loss of human life is not as important as spilled oil.