Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Climate Change and Environmental Issues BP Oil Spill

Could the truth be somewhere in the middle. Could BP's technology have been a Chernobyl type vs. a light water reactor?
Personally I would like to see us get away from an oil based economy but that ain't a happening in today's political world.

Meanwhile we have:

Despite the Gulf spill, Petrobras continues to drill offshore

IMO- The government shares responsibility, although it’s difficult to determine the exact extent. The government leases oil drilling rights to investors, but has the responsibility for the public health, safety, and general welfare, which it supposedly protects through its regulatory agencies. There are a lot of reports of questionable regulatory exemptions and safety inspections. Because of its oversight role, it should share some of the liability, but that’s not going to happen. There are disturbing questions as to the competency of the federal inspectors in not only enforcing, but also understanding the safety guidelines for rig operations that they enforce. Ultimately, the question is: Whose interests are being protected? Considering the government collects royalties and taxes from these drilling operations, it may have a conflict of interest. The government's role appears to be more that of a partner with the corporations it oversees rather than a regulator. Obviously, oil is a need resource, but the public welfare has to be considered. The government has not been a good steward of this needed resource, and the oil companies repeatedly demonstrated that they can’t regulate themselves.

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Seem a little contradictory and inconsistent to you?

Oil raining in River Ridge, Louisiana? Could be. Here's the video.

I am waiting for a more authoritative report before I decide. I hope it's not.

I've been thinking. If I were an awl industry CEO (hereafter referred to as Big Ole), and I had half a clue what to do about about this spill, I'd have been on the phone to all my buddies a month or so ago with a plan: let's work together, let's fix this sucker, we make BP look even dumber than they are, we get praised for putting the Country First, we make some much-needed bonus points, and the off-shore permits will rain down upon us like manna from heaven.

Let's face it, Big Ole could use some polish on their reputation.

The fact that they're not doing that, and in fact are backpedaling as far and as fast as possible, makes me believe they don't have clue one how to fix this thing, any more than BP does.

There isn't a government on earth that has put as much money into off-shore drilling research as the oil industry has. If Big Oil can't fix it - and it's clear that they can't -- then no one knows how. As I understand it the second well won't stop the leak, will just slow it.

I don't think that the oil industry or the Obama administration (or anyone else, for that matter) really knows just how ugly this is going to get. Could it rain oil on all that Southern farmland? Maybe. Could the oil move up into the North Atlantic? Might could; we just don't know.

I haven't posted much on this topic, even though it's probably the topic I'm most interested in these days, because too much is unknown. I think it's going to get steadily worse, but I can't prove it. I just think that when something this bad happens and no one knows what to do about it, the tendency is for things to get worse.

(pardon me, I'm just muttering now; I'll stop soon.)

I get tired of the finger-pointing: It's Obama's fault, or BP's, or the oil industry's. Whose fault it is can be determined, if necessary, once cleanup is well underway. The target for blame is far too large; it includes American energy policy for the last 30-40 years, as well as American consumerism. I heard a comment from a Northern European woman when this all started; she said (I'm paraphrasing) "Let the Americans deal with it; they're the ones who wanted all that oil anyway."

Raining oil in Louisiana. Jeee-bus.

Given the way water recycles itself, it would not surprise me that oil has gotten trapped in atmospheric water droplets - similar to acid rain:




...a simple explanation of the water cycle:


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...for the advanced Ranter

The major reason I am skeptical of the video is that the guy was showing us oil in the street. You know, if I'm going to look for oil when it rains I'm going to look where cars travel, like on, I don't know, streets. I would have like for the guy who filmed it to have help up his hand or his glasses or his shirt to show us that the oil was on something other than the street.

I'm not saying it wasn't raining oil, but I'm not convinced it was. Big storm, high winds? You'd convince me, but all I saw was rain, no big arsed storm from the Gulf.