So,all of those who cried "drill baby,drill",I suppose you don't live near the water

[JollyRoger]

Anyone rethinking their position on this?


Some things are worth more than just making your wheels go around. If we as a country truly value things like unruined beaches and clean water, wouldn't it be smarter just to find some other way to power this country?

If you live near the coast, and are crying "drill, baby, drill", here's a look at your future:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100429/ts_alt_afp/usblastoilenergypollution

[WVOtoGO]

Shelby flew down over that mess the other day.
I’ve thought about going and taking a look myself.
She said it wasn’t very pretty. It did have an affect her.

Gonna make a mess when it hits land, for sure.

Sad.

[JollyRoger]

It is headed to some of the finest sport fishing areas in the world. The real disaster will be when it hits heavily populated areas in Alabama and Florida.

Did someone say government environmental regulation is a bad thing ? These rigs are supposed to be "so much better than what we used to use" when they were demanding drilling rights along the California and Florida coast. Looks like they ain't that great after all. These rigs need to be more closely inspected, their blow-out prevention stuff failed for some reason, this isn't supposed to happen. We need a moratorium on any more drilling until they get this right.

[jt20]

tell me, sir, how is this different than a volcano erupting?

remember, I am only asking for your point of view.

[Emmerich]

In WWII, about 450 ships were sunk in the Gulf. Most were tankers. Most of the oil ended up on the beaches. Did they clean it up? Nope, there was a war on. Where did the oil go? It was absorbed by nature.

The amount of oil dumped overboard by every ship sailing the seas each year DWARFS any spill, including the Valdez. Its just big headlines catch peoples attention.

Having occasional accidents is no a condemnation of the industry or offshore drilling practices. If this was used as a go-by, we would not be allowed to drive cars due to the high mortality rates. (ditto air travel).

[tbomachines]

A volcano eruption is an uncontrollable natural disaster. An oil rig spill is a direct result of human intervention and failure. The two are very different - at least thats my $0.02.

[SirNik84]

Accidents happen. or should I say $hit happens.

Did you stop riding a bike after the first time you crashed?
Did "Red Asphalt" keep you from driving a car?
Do you think we should have stopped the space program when Apollo 1 caught fire?
Do you think people should have stopped riding on ships after the Titanic sank?

I'm just saying, if you look at the bigger picture and try to view this as a life lesson, you can't quit because of an accident. The proper reaction is to study what happened and learn from it so that the next time this can't happen. Its part of making the world a better place... we call that progress.

[WVOtoGO]

Originally Posted by jt20

tell me, sir, how is this different than a volcano erupting?

remember, I am only asking for your point of view.

Though not the sir you addressed.
I’m thinking it has to do with this being man made.
Volcanoes aren’t.

[WVOtoGO]

Originally Posted by SirNik84

Accidents happen. or should I say $hit happens.

Did you stop riding a bike after the first time you crashed?
Did "Red Asphalt" keep you from driving a car?
Do you think we should have stopped the space program when Apollo 1 caught fire?
Do you think people should have stopped riding on ships after the Titanic sank?

I'm just saying, if you look at the bigger picture and try to view this as a life lesson, you can't quit because of an accident. The proper reaction is to study what happened and learn from it so that the next time this can't happen. Its part of making the world a better place... we call that progress.

Well put.
X2

[jt20]

Originally Posted by WVOtoGO

Though not the sir you addressed.
I’m thinking it has to do with this being man made.
Volcanoes aren’t.

....and why do we view humanity as so separate from nature / above nature?


are we not soil? are we not bugs making dwellings out of spitballs and feces?

aren't the things we do / make 'natural'?


couldn't we call this a 'natural disaster'?



as someone else mentioned.... what about all our 'other' waste products?

is that 'unnatural'?

[JollyRoger]

Originally Posted by jt20

tell me, sir, how is this different than a volcano erupting?

remember, I am only asking for your point of view.

Ah, BP didn't have a volcano blow out on it.....

[MS Fowler]

The entire cost of the cleanup should be born by the company responsible, or their insurance carrier. Was it the result of equipment failure, or by not following procedures, or something else?

[JollyRoger]

Originally Posted by Emmerich

In WWII, about 450 ships were sunk in the Gulf. Most were tankers. Most of the oil ended up on the beaches. Did they clean it up? Nope, there was a war on. Where did the oil go? It was absorbed by nature.

The amount of oil dumped overboard by every ship sailing the seas each year DWARFS any spill, including the Valdez. Its just big headlines catch peoples attention.

Having occasional accidents is no a condemnation of the industry or offshore drilling practices. If this was used as a go-by, we would not be allowed to drive cars due to the high mortality rates. (ditto air travel).

So, ah, you live in Dallas, huh?

[JollyRoger]

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

The entire cost of the cleanup should be born by the company responsible, or their insurance carrier. Was it the result of equipment failure, or by not following procedures, or something else?

We do not know at this point. Everything points to a pressure surge. Essentially, you can have a pool of crude oil sitting on top of rock that is acting as a cap on a natural gas deposit. If the drill bit punches thru the rock, the gas pressure released can be so immense it can send the drilling pipe flying back up into the rig, causing sparks and puncturing fuel tanks, followed by a huge gas plume coming out of the well, and all of this usually explodes. This also turns the casing and the well head to s**t, meaning it's going to be one heck of a job to cap it. The resulting force of the natural gas and the pressure the crude is under makes the famous blow-out stream we've all seen in the old movies.

The rigs are supposed to be designed to prevent this from happening, there are blow-out preventers and absorbers on all these big rigs. Your guess is as good as mine as to whether or not it was equipment failure or human failure, since everyone near the well hole is dead, mu guess is someone f***d up real bad.

[Txjake]

A mess for sure, and a tragedy for the 11 families that lost someone out there. It was an accident: a BIG accident, we cannot let that stop progress of drilling in the oil rich deep waters off our coast. crude oil venting occurs year round and the venting is way more than this spill is, just not as concentrated. It will get fixed...