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This Oil Spill is really pissing me off

BigSpliffBigSpliff 3,266 Posts
edited April 2010 in Strut Central
So last century. Fuck BP and their Beyond Petroleum propaganda.
BP is also planning to cap the well and capture the leaking oil, but this will take four weeks to put in place, by which stage more than 150,000 barrels could have spilled out. If the steel cap does not work, BP will have to try drilling a relief well, which would take three months. By then, the spill could total more than 300,000 barrels (47m litres), greater than the 258,000 barrels leaked by the Exxon Valdez.The Wall Street Journal reported that the well lacked a remote-control shutoff switch required by some oil producing countries, including Norway and Brazil. BP was at the forefront of recent lobbying of the US government against stronger safety controls for offshore drilling.
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  Comments

  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    That said, where my "drill, baby drill!" dudes at? You're wanted on the sales floor. Clean-up in aisle five.
  • ElectrodeElectrode Los Angeles 3,118 Posts
    Let's not forget that Exxon Mobil STILL hasn't paid off their debt to the government for the Valdez spill cleanup, despite making record breaking profits year after year.
  • kitchenknightkitchenknight 4,922 Posts
    I was just traveling for 5 days, and was FLOORED that there was no SS Oil Spill talk...

    Seriously, where is Harvey with his Gulf Coast Conspiracy talk? This is right in his wheelhouse? And, smartass shit aside, this is totally deserving of anger and indignation. The asshole BP COO saying they aren't ultimately responsible because they followed guidelines, is a fuck dick.

    He claimed not to know about the Norway/Brazil controls mentioned above... Ignorance is NO defense.
  • tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
    i'm with yall on this....jail for life would be lenient. they deserve a nationaly televised public caning for this.
  • tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
    That said, where my "drill, baby drill!" dudes at? You're wanted on the sales floor. Clean-up in aisle five.
  • BigSpliffBigSpliff 3,266 Posts
    God is obviously pushing the oil towards the US - he wants us to have it! Here you go New Orleans, knock yourself out!



    If a corporation has the same constitutional rights as a person, can we not throw it in jail and then (in the case of Briddish Petroleum) deport it?
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    I'm here, pissed as well. I know exactly how much the oil business means to the economy of Louisiana (and Texas)...and the hard truth is that if you play with fire, you will eventually get burned. But the part I'm most pissed at is that I still personally drive a fuel-burning vehicle...therefore I'm still as guilty as anyone.
  • tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
    ..therefore I'm still as guilty as anyone.
    hardly.you werent lobbying against tighter procedures for offshore drilling. at least i hope you werent.
  • Garcia_VegaGarcia_Vega 2,428 Posts
    Don't excuse him tripledouble, all car drivers are complicit in this crime!
  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    We're still dependent on oil. The spill changes very little. Wasn't that part of the gulf frequently a dead zone anyway on account of algae fed by fertilizer runoff from the Mississippi?
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    We're still dependent on oil. The spill changes very little. Wasn't that part of the gulf frequently a dead zone anyway on account of algae fed by fertilizer runoff from the Mississippi?

    The major environmental destruction will come with landfall. The oil will kill the plant life in the coastal wetlands. Once the plants die, the root structure that holds together the coastal soil will disintegrate, and the coastline will erode, changing the ecosystem and leaving the Gulf Coast vulnerable to flooding and greater destruction during subsequent storms. Never mind the immediate impact on the animal life in the affected areas. Shit is bad. Real bad.
  • tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
    well,
    when all the plant and animal life is dead, we can go full speed ahead with drilling, right? why bother with environmental regulations when the environment is a superfund site
  • discos_almadiscos_alma discos_alma 2,164 Posts
    We're still dependent on oil. The spill changes very little. Wasn't that part of the gulf frequently a dead zone anyway on account of algae fed by fertilizer runoff from the Mississippi?

    The major environmental destruction will come with landfall. The oil will kill the plant life in the coastal wetlands. Once the plants die, the root structure that holds together the coastal soil will disintegrate, and the coastline will erode, changing the ecosystem and leaving the Gulf Coast vulnerable to flooding and greater destruction during subsequent storms. Never mind the immediate impact on the animal life in the affected areas. Shit is bad. Real bad.

    I foresee a US Army Corp of Engineers contract in this area's future!

  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    Yeah, on the bright side it's a potential job creator.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    ..therefore I'm still as guilty as anyone.
    hardly.you werent lobbying against tighter procedures for offshore drilling. at least i hope you werent.

    No lobbying, but I've seen firsthand my entire life how ugly the oil industry can be. The entire stretch between Freeport, TX to Grand Isle, LA is an environmental nightmare that many have come to calling "cancer row". The father of my college girlfriend was the environmental director at the Phillips plant in Pasadena, TX back when it blew up and killed 15 people back in like '91. So I've been knowing how destructive this shit gets. And when I consider what I can do to help the situation...the best thing I can come up with is to stop driving a gas guzzler. I did go a few years during the 90's without a car, but yeah...I'm genuinely pissed at myself now for not doing the one thing I could do to stop contributing to this problem.
  • tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
    i heard about cancer alley/cancer row. big environmental justice issues down there for sure
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Oh yeah, and watch how pissed people get when gas prices go up and up and up.
  • Deep_SangDeep_Sang 1,081 Posts
    Don't excuse him tripledouble, all car drivers are complicit in this crime!

    i'm sure most people know this, but we use oil for so many things besides driving. that's def the largest use, but plastic production uses a shitload of oil too.
  • barjesusbarjesus 872 Posts
    Don't excuse him tripledouble, all car drivers are complicit in this crime!

    i'm sure most people know this, but we use oil for so many things besides driving. that's def the largest use, but plastic production uses a shitload of oil too.
    Not to mention food production.
  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
    The spill changes very little.

    Well, it may turn-off supporters of offshore drilling in NC which is a good thing. Not that I'm trying to say this situation is at all positive, obviously.
  • HorseleechHorseleech 3,830 Posts
    From what I've read, an auto shut-off valve could have prevented this whole thing.

    Why aren't these mandatory everywhere?
  • SnagglepusSnagglepus 1,756 Posts
    plastic production uses a shitload of oil too.

    Record collecters are complicit!!
  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    From what I've read, an auto shut-off valve could have prevented this whole thing.

    Why aren't these mandatory everywhere?

    If I understand it, there was such a shut-off valve in place, what's called a "blow out protector". The problem is: it failed.
  • kitchenknightkitchenknight 4,922 Posts
    From what I've read, an auto shut-off valve could have prevented this whole thing.

    Why aren't these mandatory everywhere?

    If I understand it, there was such a shut-off valve in place, what's called a "blow out protector". The problem is: it failed.

    I read that the valves used in Norway/Brazil are called, "Acoustic Switches," and they were not in place, and it was what I saw the COO of BP claim ignorance about.
  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts
    http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/oil_spill_approaches_louisiana.html





  • mannybolonemannybolone Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
    From what I've read, an auto shut-off valve could have prevented this whole thing.

    Why aren't these mandatory everywhere?

    If I understand it, there was such a shut-off valve in place, what's called a "blow out protector". The problem is: it failed.

    I read that the valves used in Norway/Brazil are called, "Acoustic Switches," and they were not in place, and it was what I saw the COO of BP claim ignorance about.

    Acoustic switches are not auto shut-off valves; they're remote control switches and in this case, may not have made a difference. The valve at the well head should have shut off based on the dead-man switch; the entire mechanism seems to have failed and it's doubtful if an acoustic switch would have been any more useful.

    FYI
  • doisndoisn baleadas&pupuzas 303 Posts
    shit is really catastrophic, what a crime on mother nature. i dont know what to say, shit depresses me, but persons in charge shoulda bleed for this!!!
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    From what I've read, an auto shut-off valve could have prevented this whole thing.

    Why aren't these mandatory everywhere?

    I am glad to hear you call for more government regulations.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Let's not forget that people died on that rig when it blew.

    And while mourning the coal miners in West Virginia, let's not forget the environmental destruction mining has had on West Virginia and else where.
  • ignastyignasty 163 Posts
    ..therefore I'm still as guilty as anyone.
    hardly.you werent lobbying against tighter procedures for offshore drilling. at least i hope you werent.

    No lobbying, but I've seen firsthand my entire life how ugly the oil industry can be. The entire stretch between Freeport, TX to Grand Isle, LA is an environmental nightmare that many have come to calling "cancer row". The father of my college girlfriend was the environmental director at the Phillips plant in Pasadena, TX back when it blew up and killed 15 people back in like '91. So I've been knowing how destructive this shit gets. And when I consider what I can do to help the situation...the best thing I can come up with is to stop driving a gas guzzler. I did go a few years during the 90's without a car, but yeah...I'm genuinely pissed at myself now for not doing the one thing I could do to stop contributing to this problem.

    I think that part of Texas is the most polluted area in the country, if I'm not mistaken.
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