The oil DISASTER!!!!

I am not going to discuss politics on a detailing forum but, I will throw this out there…

BP is a Company, their main objective is to make money and keep shareholders happy.

With that said, BP worked for a VERY LONG time to drill that well and spent TONS of dollars doing so…

They are not about to take ANY MEASURES that would compromise this well, ecven if they could stop the flow today.

From the two choices of:
A) Stopping the gushing oil
B) Being stewards of the environment

BP will choose the one that is most financially advantageous to their bottom line, not what is best for the environment.

Well said! I think there are options and I don't understand why they aren't being discussed. Like you said BP is a company that has a bottom line controlled by dollars. The only argument to be made is how costly it will be for them if they don't stop the oil soon. But from what I understand of the qty of oil under this particular well vs the cap of how much they have to pay for cleanup......

The topic changed from British Petrolium to the President. To me when i read it,seems as though the problem was the President & not BP. I don't care one way or the other,i just needed to understand the LOGIC of this thread!

I think the reason it is perfectly natural to want to cast blame on the pres is simple. Nobody voted for the BP CEO and it is not in our control how BP handles things. What is in our control is who we put into office and how corrupt they are or how well they control regulations. The BP CEO never stood up and told us "the oceans would part... bla bla bla..." or acted as the worlds savior. Now I certainly never bought into that nonsense but a lot of people did and I think they feel dissapointed. I didn't expect much but was very hopefull of this pres after it was decided that he was Americas choice. However I did think something like this he would excel at. Getting people together that know what to do. In all honesty a lot of what you hear with blame towards the president goes back to a lot of other things he's done that he was actually responsible for. Those things the media made it sound like he was doing good things so people weren't comfortable saying the truth about them being bad things... Cash for clunkers... Bank bailouts... etc. Now this comes along and it's such a terrible thing there is enough blame that people can find... enough left over to pin on him.
Anyway, don't misunderstand my post. Just trying to look at the different perspectives.
 
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IMO, this is BP's fault. Obama's fault is not seeing to it that regulations are in place and enforced so that when situations such as this arise, a clean-up plan is promptly put into place and oil companies are forbidden from taking their sweet time getting the problem fixed. I don't blame Obama for the spill - I blame him for not jumping all over BP's ass to stop the leak and clean up their mess. Of course, being a politician, he's probably got his grubby little fingers in the pot, so he's more concerned with his image and money than he is about the American people. If he was concerned, he would have been all over this a long time ago, as he should have been. But I would also like to know, where has FEMA been? Where has the US Army Corps of Engineers been? Instead of passing the buck, why isn't everybody working together to get this fixed? I swear, seems like more and more people are hell bent on destroying the world, rather than trying to preserve it. :dunno:
 
IMO, this is BP's fault. Obama's fault is not seeing to it that regulations are in place and enforced so that when situations such as this arise, a clean-up plan is promptly put into place and oil companies are forbidden from taking their sweet time getting the problem fixed. ........................... Where has the US Army Corps of Engineers been? ............ :dunno:

:iagree:
 
There are currently 3700 rigs/wells in the Gulf. Some are operating rigs, some are capped after discoving an oil reserve after digging. (oil companies so that to maintain an appropriate supply for future demand). What puzzles me is that BP and other oil companies usually have emergency contingency plans firmly in place. It has been apparent that BP operated this well with some serious safety flaws in place (unfortunately resulting in the destruction of the rig and the loss of 11 people). However, I am surpised that there were not siphoning support ships/ temporary oil containment ships dispached in a quick fashion. I know that oil rigs/deep sea drilling is an incredible complex operation, so I confess I have no simple solution. On the flip side, is does seem that BP has and is not reacted with a sense of urgency (nevermind the PR gaffes of the CEO). Furthermore, it also does seem that BP (while still rightfully at fault) is being left out to dry. There are many other well operators that can be used for their problem solving ability.

In regards to the usage of US Army Corp of Engineers, National Guard support and other federal assistance, this has to be requested by the States involved. The federal powers are restricted by "Posse Comitatus Act". BTW, The Coast Guard is exemp from this act and that is why they are active participants in the recovery operations. (In 2006, Former Pres. Bush called for a change in the Act.(this after the failure of Katrinain NO) The changes were approved but was repealed in late 2008. So, while President Obama looks lost in the public eye, in reality in this circumstance his powers are actually very limited in compelling BP to solve the problem. There will most definitely be legal ramifications facing BP for this disaster and the longer the well leaks into the Gulf, the worse off the surrounding environment will be.

Posse Comitatus (Latin): Power of the county. The whole force of the county: that is, all the male members of a county over fifteen, who may be summoned by a sheriff to assist in preventing a riot, the rescue of prisoners, or other unlawful disorders. Clergymen, peers, and the infirm are exempt - per Wikipedia
 
Obama's fault is not seeing to it that regulations are in place and enforced so that when situations such as this arise, a clean-up plan is promptly put into place and oil companies are forbidden from taking their sweet time getting the problem fixed.

Well then you also have to place the blame on every pres before he took office.
 
thing that has me is the so called panel of experts he has helping with the investigation and advice for cleanup and so forth none of which have any experience in the oil industry.
 
There are currently 3700 rigs/wells in the Gulf. Some are operating rigs, some are capped after discoving an oil reserve after digging. (oil companies so that to maintain an appropriate supply for future demand). What puzzles me is that BP and other oil companies usually have emergency contingency plans firmly in place. It has been apparent that BP operated this well with some serious safety flaws in place (unfortunately resulting in the destruction of the rig and the loss of 11 people). However, I am surpised that there were not siphoning support ships/ temporary oil containment ships dispached in a quick fashion. I know that oil rigs/deep sea drilling is an incredible complex operation, so I confess I have no simple solution. On the flip side, is does seem that BP has and is not reacted with a sense of urgency (nevermind the PR gaffes of the CEO). Furthermore, it also does seem that BP (while still rightfully at fault) is being left out to dry. There are many other well operators that can be used for their problem solving ability.

In regards to the usage of US Army Corp of Engineers, National Guard support and other federal assistance, this has to be requested by the States involved. The federal powers are restricted by "Posse Comitatus Act". BTW, The Coast Guard is exemp from this act and that is why they are active participants in the recovery operations. (In 2006, Former Pres. Bush called for a change in the Act.(this after the failure of Katrinain NO) The changes were approved but was repealed in late 2008. So, while President Obama looks lost in the public eye, in reality in this circumstance his powers are actually very limited in compelling BP to solve the problem. There will most definitely be legal ramifications facing BP for this disaster and the longer the well leaks into the Gulf, the worse off the surrounding environment will be.

Posse Comitatus (Latin): Power of the county. The whole force of the county: that is, all the male members of a county over fifteen, who may be summoned by a sheriff to assist in preventing a riot, the rescue of prisoners, or other unlawful disorders. Clergymen, peers, and the infirm are exempt - per Wikipedia
that act as well as the jones act can be lifted
 
IMO, this is BP's fault. Obama's fault is not seeing to it that regulations are in place and enforced so that when situations such as this arise, a clean-up plan is promptly put into place and oil companies are forbidden from taking their sweet time getting the problem fixed. I don't blame Obama for the spill - I blame him for not jumping all over BP's ass to stop the leak and clean up their mess. Of course, being a politician, he's probably got his grubby little fingers in the pot, so he's more concerned with his image and money than he is about the American people. If he was concerned, he would have been all over this a long time ago, as he should have been. But I would also like to know, where has FEMA been? Where has the US Army Corps of Engineers been? Instead of passing the buck, why isn't everybody working together to get this fixed? I swear, seems like more and more people are hell bent on destroying the world, rather than trying to preserve it. :dunno:
:iagree:
 
Well then you also have to place the blame on every pres before he took office.

Check out some of the news articles: Reuters AlertNet - Obama takes responsibility for oil spill. Obama has admitted that he needs to take responsibility to get this mess cleaned up. Agreeably, there should have been stricter regulations in place before the fact. However, considering that this is the worst oil spill in US history, who could have foreseen a catastrophe such as this (except perhaps BP)? Regardless, even if there weren't strict(er) regulations in place to control how oil companies handle crises such as this, that doesn't give Obama or BP or the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement or anybody else the right to put off fixing this and cleaning it up, or seeing to it that it gets cleaned up. This isn't just about cleaning up an oil spill, it's about the preservation of an entire ecosystem! How is Obama not at least partly to blame? We're talking about the federal government for pete's sake! Why is it that the people with the power to fix things are the ones who seem to care the least? I don't get it.
 
Hilary should have been President.

Bill would have made a great first man.
 
I do not understand how any american can not get mad at a government that puts their agenda before their country.We all will be paying for this cleanup for YEARS! BP is not a bottomless pit of money. They do not have the money its going to take to fix this and what pisses me off is that we could of had help 3 days after the leak started but the president said no? why? apparently BP nor our government could handle it by theimselves. Government screwed up by not lifting the jones act and having other countries come and help when they offered! just think of the oil that could have been skimmed the first week of the spill and the marine life that could have been spared!!! If these oil companies have the technology to drill thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean then they should have the means to be able to prevent or have a protocal* for a disaster plan! Some sort of cleanup action. Also our government and I am not just saying the obama admin all who have overlooked the regulations on off shore drilling should be blamed just as much as BP for taking short cuts.
 
Finally someone understands what I was hinting at in a previous post! We would be much better off at this point with help, as much as we can possibly obtain from other countries! Considering how much we are always helping out so many countries for a multitude of different reasons with hardly any pay back what so ever for all we do in POLICING the world so to speak, In fact there are times even after we are asked to help, then we are hated or not respected in any way for all that we have done! Just BIG AMERICAN CAPITOLISTIC PIGS are what we are generally called and refered to as!!!! This is one time we really could have used some help but NO its ok we will pay for it for litterally years to come!!!!!! my 2cents..........
 
after 71 days obama finally decided to let 12 of the repoerted 30+ countries help with clean up etc. off the coast of LA they have this ship that can filter 100 million gallons of water called the "whale" but it just sits there waiting for obama to wait another 70 days to get that going
 
Apparently they could in fact have stopped the leak much sooner but have still chosen not to. As a lot of us mentioned months ago "why not plant an explosive beneath the surface of the bedrock and implode the tunnel". Well indeed that would work according to people in the business.
One reason the federal goverment hasn't done this is because they get 20% of the money produced by these wells... The only larger stream of revenue they have is the tax dollars that they get from you and I. I jsut don't understand why they didn't implode the tunnel and drill a new well the same way they made the original.
Also I heard James Cameron owns a company that specializes in underwater filming and has the deep water subs and video equipment. Shortly after this disaster began he went to the administration and told them that he would waive the fee of millions of dollars and use his equipment for free to assess the true amount of oil that was coming out. He was told thanks, but no thanks...
Put 2 and 2 together and there are a couple of suspect scenarios that now become logical...
 
I will reiterate again that while BP is clearly at fault, I do feel there is some political gain to isolate just BP. When the leak initially happened, there were oil skimmers nearby, but not called upon. Like "Cee Dog" stated, James Cameron offered his services,equipment, and expertise to get an accurate view of the leak. (perhaps BP knew of the extent and did not want that broadcast immediately). Finally, there are other operators that could have been a value in assisting how to stop the leak. (btw, the Russians used a small nuke to close up a well that ruptured years ago).
 
(btw, the Russians used a small nuke to close up a well that ruptured years ago).
You're right- on multiple occasions they sealed leaks that way.

Maybe the gov has known the same info BP has all along. And neither of them wanted the public to know.
 
this whole thing makes our government look pathetic, makes us look like we can't do anything! I knowits BP's fault but if they weren't doing a good job then why did obama sit back and let them fail time and time again? To all who say its not the presidents fault then why did he go on television and take responsibility for this disaster? his commission that he has is all democrats and none of them have any experience with the oil industry or drilling. Get people who know a thing or two about the issue.Its like he isnt taken this seriously.
 
I know many here complain about how this world is going to sh**. Well, when you have people pointing fingers and blaming others and unwilling to take responsibility for their own actions, it's no wonder why some people feel the world is going to the dogs. Again, one individual person is not to blame. There's plenty of blame to go around, including anybody who purchases any petroleum based product. However, I do find it interesting why they don't implode the well to seal it, like some have suggested? Are there risks we don't know about that prevents this method?
 
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