Deepwater Horizon disaster

[MakiSupaStar]

Agreed. I'd also add to the list Haliburton, who was doing the cementing at the time fo the accident, and Cameron, who manufactured the blowout preventer, IF either compnay is found to have cut a corner somewhere that could have played a part in the eventual spill.

I'm not so sure. At first, I was like you and willing to let the companies responsible handle the containment. Unfortunately, we've all watched on television as attempt after attempt failed while oil kept getting closer to the coast. It took FIVE weeks, but now we have an exponentially larger problem on our hands. At some point, I believe the administration should have stepped in to take control of the efforts.

No, instead the governor had to overstep the US government as the Corps of Engineers couldn't decide what to do with an emergency proposal to dredge barrier islands to protect the wetlands. They sat on it for about two weeks. He ordered it done without the approval. Illegal? Probably. Jefferson Parish commandeered 40 boats that BP was supposed to be using to lay boom, but that sat while the oil came in.

This has been mishandled by both the companies responsible and the Administration. At this point, I'd prefer they all step aside and let our own local officials be given free reign to tackle this as they see fit, since they seem to be the only ones with a sense of urgency.

Mike

This pretty much boils down how I feel. Too much chin scratching and finger pointing and not enough get out of the fn way and get 'er done. I say put them all on the blocks and bill them all until it's cleaned up and the region is restored. If some of these multinational conglomerates go belly-up in the process I say this through gritted teeth - so be it!

 

[Deluge Of Sound]

This is why we can't have nice things.

 

[Gard]

Agreed. I'd also add to the list Haliburton, who was doing the cementing at the time fo the accident, and Cameron, who manufactured the blowout preventer, IF either compnay is found to have cut a corner somewhere that could have played a part in the eventual spill.

I'm not so sure. At first, I was like you and willing to let the companies responsible handle the containment. Unfortunately, we've all watched on television as attempt after attempt failed while oil kept getting closer to the coast. It took FIVE weeks, but now we have an exponentially larger problem on our hands. At some point, I believe the administration should have stepped in to take control of the efforts.

No, instead the governor had to overstep the US government as the Corps of Engineers couldn't decide what to do with an emergency proposal to dredge barrier islands to protect the wetlands. They sat on it for about two weeks. He ordered it done without the approval. Illegal? Probably. Jefferson Parish commandeered 40 boats that BP was supposed to be using to lay boom, but that sat while the oil came in.

This has been mishandled by both the companies responsible and the Administration. At this point, I'd prefer they all step aside and let our own local officials be given free reign to tackle this as they see fit, since they seem to be the only ones with a sense of urgency.

Mike

I wasn't sure how I felt about Jindal (and there are still things about him I'm not on the same page about) when he got elected, but so far, he's showing good leadership, IMO.

No one else seems to "get it", this is really serious, big-time stuff, and they're all sitting around playing patty-cake and "nu-uh, HE did it!".

Get outta the way, and let the locals deal with this. Then when they're done, send the bill to BP, Deepwater, and Haliburton, and NO BS about paying the bills - you ******s caused this mess, the locals cleaned it up, YOU get to pay for it. No litigation, no "check's in the mail", just pay up.



It's about time someone did something, and it's pathetic that those directly responsible are still foot-dragging and finger-pointing instead of FIXING THEIR MESS.

Kudos, Governor Jindal, if you'd only been in office in 2005....

 

[Gard]

This pretty much boils down how I feel. Too much chin scratching and finger pointing and not enough get out of the fn way and get 'er done. I say put them all on the blocks and bill them all until it's cleaned up and the region is restored. If some of these multinational conglomerates go belly-up in the process I say this through gritted teeth - so be it!

I'm not even gritting my teeth. Cut 'em up, sell 'em off, use the money to fix the situation.

There'll be another company, or companies, that will be happy to step right into the void left when BP, Deepwater, and Haliburton are no longer there. The people that actually did things at these companies can go form their own outfits and run them right, leave the deadweight upper management pukes to wallow in their own dithering and inability to actually DO anything, except try to squeeze every penny of profitability out of their companies with no accountability for the consequences of their piss-poor choices.

 

[jp58]

I'm not so sure. At first, I was like you and willing to let the companies responsible handle the containment. Unfortunately, we've all watched on television as attempt after attempt failed while oil kept getting closer to the coast. It took FIVE weeks, but now we have an exponentially larger problem on our hands. At some point, I believe the administration should have stepped in to take control of the efforts.

No, instead the governor had to overstep the US government as the Corps of Engineers couldn't decide what to do with an emergency proposal to dredge barrier islands to protect the wetlands. They sat on it for about two weeks. He ordered it done without the approval. Illegal? Probably. Jefferson Parish commandeered 40 boats that BP was supposed to be using to lay boom, but that sat while the oil came in.

This has been mishandled by both the companies responsible and the Administration. At this point, I'd prefer they all step aside and let our own local officials be given free reign to tackle this as they see fit, since they seem to be the only ones with a sense of urgency.

Mike

I still have a few reasons that it isn't his place to take care of it. FEMA, maybe; government workers that have this area of expertise, 100%. It isn't really in the President's area of expertise, neither is it in his constitutional area of control. Just like it isn't in his area of control to pick board members for BP, or fire those who have failed horribly and caused the situation to begin with. Him being there, while maybe being a moral boost, would actually accomplish nothing in the situation, and would give political opponents more flak for the cannons.

As for his 38% approval rating for this, its obvious that most of the people went Obama=No, without having any knowledge of the situation.

 

[mike_v_s]

I wasn't sure how I felt about Jindal (and there are still things about him I'm not on the same page about) when he got elected, but so far, he's showing good leadership, IMO.

My jury is still out on him, but he seems to have his head in the right place on this.

No one else seems to "get it", this is really serious, big-time stuff, and they're all sitting around playing patty-cake and "nu-uh, HE did it!".

This morning Deano Bonano pointed out what might be the problem: those in charge are trying to treat this as a "clean up" effort while the local officials view this as largely a "prevent it from getting to the marshes" issue. I'm not sure if that's true but, as you know, you can't scrape the oil up once it makes landfall like you can a beach. Waiting until it lands will be too late.

Get outta the way, and let the locals deal with this. Then when they're done, send the bill to BP, Deepwater, and Haliburton, and NO BS about paying the bills - you ******s caused this mess, the locals cleaned it up, YOU get to pay for it. No litigation, no "check's in the mail", just pay up.

+1

Mike

 

[Febs]

Get outta the way, and let the locals deal with this. Then when they're done, send the bill to BP, Deepwater, and Haliburton, and NO BS about paying the bills - you ******s caused this mess, the locals cleaned it up, YOU get to pay for it. No litigation, no "check's in the mail", just pay up.

Good plan. We can just forget forget all of those inconvenient constitutional provisions about due process of law.

 

[Gard]

My jury is still out on him, but he seems to have his head in the right place on this.

This morning Deano Bonano pointed out what might be the problem: those in charge are trying to treat this as a "clean up" effort while the local officials view this as largely a "prevent it from getting to the marshes" issue. I'm not sure if that's true but, as you know, you can't scrape the oil up once it makes landfall like you can a beach. Waiting until it lands will be too late.

+1

Mike

Yeah, I should have phrased it "Jindal is showing good leadership ON THIS ISSUE".

I think Bonano may be right - those from outside the area are trying to run an Exxon Valdez response, which would be an unmitigated disaster in the salt marshes of South Louisiana. Like trying to get oil back OUT of a sponge - it ain't happenin'.

Again, the locals understand the situation better than anyone else, and should be running the show. Looks like they figured that out and began acting on it.

 

[Gard]

Good plan. We can just forget forget all of those inconvenient constitutional provisions about due process of law.

If the $4!7bags that caused this disaster actually respected and adhered to the "due process of law", instead of hiring an army of shyster corporate lawyers to twist it to fit their way of doing business (i.e. max profits, full steam ahead, the hell with what goes wrong and who it hurts!), then I'd be all about giving them said due process.

However, just do a bit of research into how Exxon dealt with the Exxon Valdez disaster for an example of how we can expect BP, Deepwater, and Haliburton to react here.

I'm not saying it SHOULD be done as I said, it certainly WON'T be done that way, but if there were justice in situations like this, I wouldn't WISH for it.

I don't think a lot of people fully comprehend the seriousness of the situation, and the potential for it becoming a NATIONAL disaster, or you'd be screaming for some heads on pikes as well.

 

[mike_v_s]

I still have a few reasons that it isn't his place to take care of it. FEMA, maybe; government workers that have this area of expertise, 100%. It isn't really in the President's area of expertise, neither is it in his constitutional area of control. Just like it isn't in his area of control to pick board members for BP, or fire those who have failed horribly and caused the situation to begin with. Him being there, while maybe being a moral boost, would actually accomplish nothing in the situation, and would give political opponents more flak for the cannons.

As for his 38% approval rating for this, its obvious that most of the people went Obama=No, without having any knowledge of the situation.

I don't expect him to physically clean the oil up himself, I expect him to take the necessary measures when an impending disaster is slowly moving in and appoint the right people or department to handle it. 5 weeks. That's how long this has unfolded. And yet they are still "monitoring" the situation. Awesome. I am, too.

This rig was on the outer continental shelf. Federal waters. Put there by BP through the terms of a lease they signed with Department of the Interior of the United States of America. He is the President. I'm not buying that he should sit back and watch BP screw this up.

Should the President worry about his political opponent's flak when he could be at least attempting to coordinate a protection/cleanup effort of the US coastline? I'd hope he isn't that small minded.

I can't speak for the knowledge of others, but if his approval rating of how this is being handled on the federal end is 38%, I'd say 38% of the country needs to read up on this a bit more.

Mike

 

[jp58]

If the $4!7bags that caused this disaster actually respected and adhered to the "due process of law", instead of hiring an army of shyster corporate lawyers to twist it to fit their way of doing business (i.e. max profits, full steam ahead, the hell with what goes wrong and who it hurts!), then I'd be all about giving them said due process.

However, just do a bit of research into how Exxon dealt with the Exxon Valdez disaster for an example of how we can expect BP, Deepwater, and Haliburton to react here.

I'm not saying it SHOULD be done as I said, it certainly WON'T be done that way, but if there were justice in situations like this, I wouldn't WISH for it.

I don't think a lot of people fully comprehend the seriousness of the situation, and the potential for it becoming a NATIONAL disaster, or you'd be screaming for some heads on pikes as well.

+1 they've had over a month for "due process of law" to work, its time for other people (experts) in the industry to get a shot, and for BP to start writing checks with lots of zero's after a number

 

[mike_v_s]

+1 they've had over a month for "due process of law" to work, its time for other people (experts) in the industry to get a shot, and for BP to start writing checks with lots of zero's after a number

I completely agree.

Mike

 

[wazzel]

What makes your "source" more reliable? Why do you know so much about this topic? Are you just interested or does it directly effect you?

I may not have all the facts and I expect that no one can know the whole truth of the situation. But I trust that NPR and its guests are more informed then the both of us. And considering ( insert a person who's name who can not be mentioned because it makes this a "political" conversation) track record I would gather that under his watch private companies were not held by a tight leash. Not to say that he is the "only" person responsible in the "G word", but this is what I heard from reliable sources.

I look forward to a long reply with large words that I will need too look up and witty banter. Please proceed Its all in good fun

All of the news reports I have heard are technically incorrect or botched to the point of not making any sense if you know the equipment and how they are supposed to work.

I doubt NPR is doing any better.

 

[wazzel]

Concerning this oil spill, here is a little conspiracy theory for you all to ponder. First of all, I am not really big into conspiracy theories but I saw something with this oil spill that simply does not add up.

Today, my wife and I were at Burger King eating lunch and they had some news channel on that had a live feed on the bottom of the ocean where the oil is leaking out. The camera only looked to be a few feet away and it did look pretty unbelievable at how much oil was leaking out every second. The more I looked at the video though something did not add up and then I figured out what it was which led me to believe the live feed they are showing everybody is not the actual oil leak but a staged set up.

Now for starters, I have no idea why they would stage this? But here is what I observed. This is an underwater leak that is in some pretty deep water. I don't recall the exact depth but I know that it is deep. The problem is the video appears to be filming in very shallow water. The background around the oil leaking out is a teal color similar to that is tropical water. Now correct me if I am wrong but past something like 200 or 300 feet, there is no light and the water is pitch black. Take for example shots of the Titanic or other deep sea ship wrecks. Yes, you can see what is illuminated by the lights of the submersible vehicles but everything around what is illuminated is black not teal color. I really do believe that the so called "Live Feed" they are showing is a staged leak to make it look like the actual oil leak.

I obviously know there is an actual leak going on but I can't figure out why they would stage a fake one for a camera? The only thing I can think of is for the old shock and awe effect because the Govt. wants to do something with us being more and more against off shore oil production or oil production in general. Just a guess on my part though. Like I said, I am not really a conspiracy theory guy but this one intrigued me toady.

The live feed is real. ROV's have lights. How else to you think they can see what they are doing in that kind of water depth?

 

[mike_v_s]

All of the news reports I have heard are technically incorrect or botched to the point of not making any sense if you know the equipment and how they are supposed to work.

I doubt NPR is doing any better.

Could you point me in the direction of a website that you feel better describes the equipment? Pm or in the thread, im easy, but very curious.

Mike

 

[Bassist Jay]

The live feed is real. ROV's have lights. How else to you think they can see what they are doing in that kind of water depth?

I understand they have lights but if they are at a depth where no natural light exists, then everything in the background passed where the light illuminate is black but in the video, everything is aqua color past the lights and that is what has be kind of confused how that could be if the live feed is at such great depths.

 

[Gard]

I understand they have lights but if they are at a depth where no natural light exists, then everything in the background passed where the light illuminate is black but in the video, everything is aqua color past the lights and that is what has be kind of confused how that could be if the live feed is at such great depths.

An artifact of high intensity lighting at depth, there is not a sharply demarcated line where their is light/isn't light, it fades with distance, and can look "aqua" colored depending on the type of lighting, the conditions, and how you are monitoring it.

 

[Kitsapbass]

Not sure what he would say, but I'm sure it would be done in an auto-tuned voice.

Oh SNAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to say something that now may sound odd, but logically it makes sense: We shouldn't be drilling in 5000 ft of water, we should be drilling in ANWR. Oil is a heck of a lot easier to clean up when you can get to it.

 

[aborgman]

I don't expect him to physically clean the oil up himself, I expect him to take the necessary measures when an impending disaster is slowly moving in and appoint the right people or department to handle it. 5 weeks. That's how long this has unfolded. And yet they are still "monitoring" the situation. Awesome. I am, too.

The federal government has zero ability to do anything about stopping this leak.

They don't have the knowledge, or equipment to do it - and they never have.

I suppose they could attempt to do some sort of temporary nationalization of oil company resources and personnel... but that ain't going to fly real well with the Supreme Court.

 

[MakiSupaStar]

+1 they've had over a month for "due process of law" to work, its time for other people (experts) in the industry to get a shot, and for BP to start writing checks with lots of zero's after a number

Yep.