Spill baby spill, slippery politics

Forums: Oil Spill, Environment, Politics, Off-Shore Drilling, Bp
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Do you think the unfolding environmental disaster in the gulf will have any significant long-term political impact on off-shore drilling?

(And in the short term, do you think we'll be hearing any politicians say, "Drill baby Drill", or will that rallying cry skulk away quietly to the back of the room?)

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Type: Discussion • Score: 36 • Views: 53,205 • Replies: 774

I think the drilling company will let it go until its a real disaster claiming they couldnt stop it despite trying all kinds of stuff then hold out their hand for government (cash) assistance.

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@rosborne979,

rosborne979 wrote:

(And in the short term, do you think we'll be hearing any politicians say, "Drill baby Drill", or will that rallying cry skulk away quietly to the back of the room?)

Do you really think Obama will skulk away quietly to the back of the room?

Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling for First Time

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Will this be Obama's Katrina?

http://www.foxnews.com/images/root_images/043010_verybigthing_20100430_095129.jpg

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@H2O MAN,

H2O MAN wrote:

Do you really think Obama will skulk away quietly to the back of the room?

I don't know. Obama's a politician too. I'm guessing that all the politicians will "rethink" their position on offshore drilling.

Offshore wind project may start to look a whole lot more attractive pretty soon. Right when the Mass Cape-Air project gets approval.

Or, the public with it's 5-minute attention span might forget all about this spill in 6-months and nothing will change politically. I don't know. That's why I started the discussion Smile

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@rosborne979,

I am interested to find out if this particular platform had all of the current, modern
safety upgrades that are supposed to prevent or at least minimize this type of accident.

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@H2O MAN,

No, the most space age tech is required on North Sea platforms but not in the Gulf. The rig had hydraulic blowout protection (i assume) but blowout devices, when not used, dont react the way they should. Apparently the blowout potection for this rig failed.

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A commentator on NPR yesterday asked, rhetorically, what was British Petroleum's "Plan B?" His point was that there was none . . . no back up . . . no safety regs.

The parallel is with the creation of plastics in Chinese factories . . . things meant for European distribution are without certain carcinogenic chemicals while products to be sold in America are full of them. The American military-industrial complex just doesn't care and tries to get away with as much as it can. Public safety? Not us! Personal responsibility? Definitely, not us unless we do something so terrible that the weight of public opinion is against us.

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

No, the most space age tech is required on North Sea platforms but not in the Gulf. The rig had hydraulic blowout protection (i assume) but blowout devices, when not used, dont react the way they should. Apparently the blowout potection for this rig failed.

That's a damn shame.

Yes, the North Sea is a much harsher environment, but the Gulf does turn into a blender with hurricanes.
IMHO, all rigs should be required to have the space age blow out protection.

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

No, the most space age tech is required on North Sea platforms but not in the Gulf. The rig had hydraulic blowout protection (i assume) but blowout devices, when not used, dont react the way they should. Apparently the blowout potection for this rig failed.

Someone on the news the other day said that there were four separate emergency valves which are intended to close automatically to prevent this type of thing. Apparently all four of them failed to work. I haven't yet heard why.

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Why did Obama wait 8 days to get involved in this disaster Question

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@H2O MAN,

H2O MAN wrote:

Why did Obama wait 8 days to get involved in this disaster

I don't know, but the damage was originally estimated as being less than it has turned out to be. Only two days ago the rate of oil leakage was re-reported at 5 times the estimate before it, and I don't know what the original rate of leakage was reported as.

I'm a little surprised that it has taken 8 days for the news media to start to get their teeth into this. It's shaping up to be one of the worst ecological disasters ever. Poor New Orleans could be hit as hard (economically) by this as they did by Katrina. I suspect that their seafood industry is a large part of their economy.

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Reuters wrote:

At President Barack Obama's urgent request, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson were due to fly over the affected Gulf area on Friday to assess the situation.

The accident forced Obama to put a hold on politically sensitive plans to expand offshore U.S. oil drilling. He unveiled plans in March for a limited expansion, in part to try to win Republican support for climate change legislation.

The White House said no new drilling would be allowed until a review was conducted of the spill, which happened after an offshore rig exploded and sunk last week.

I suspect this is the beginning of the end for anyone's plans for offshore oil drilling.

Overall, that's probably good. We need to put more efforts into wind energy.

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The impact for the gulf seems a long lasting one. And it will be hard to forget no more shrimp, among other things. I think the calls for offshore drilling will dry up completely for a time.

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I suspect the inept inaction and total lack of leadership by Obama will further erode
support for Democrats in all coastal states with drilling platforms near their shores.

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no matter what happens with off-shore drilling, we still need to reduce our need for middle-east oil, increase all domestic alternatives and significantly increase nuclear energy.

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@rosborne979,

Quote:

Someone on the news the other day said that there were four separate emergency valves which are intended to close automatically to prevent this type of thing. Apparently all four of them failed to work.

Standard blowout valving is an old fashoned tech that assumes that the valving will kick in. MAny of the leaks were (as I was told) below where the blowout valves were even located. The ones that they use in the Nortn Sea are much more reliable electronically operting using pressure "transducers" and valves . Thee are IN ADDITION To regular hydraulic blowout systems.

I love how the GOP spin machine is already working in overtime . The a US Coast Guard was out there from day 1 and , noone had anyreason to believe that BPs estimates were faulty.

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@rosborne979,

We will never meet our energy demands for such things as mobile needs or petrochemicals from wind. We actually do need to expand our petroleum reerves. (We are doing that very thing in the NY Pa, W Va, GAS PLAYs-however , even these exploration projects are beginning to show environmental damages).
I think that the risk/design for offshore or highly pressurized fileds should be scrapped and redrawn. In the US, there has always been a "too cutesy close" re;lationship between regulators and the industry. Its been alleged recently that the W Va mine inspectors may have nbeen paid off to approve mine plans in the very mine that suffered the gas explosion last week.

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The government comprised of both dem and rep do what they have always done. They bow down to big money and screw the rest of us.

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@H2O MAN,

H2O MAN wrote:

I suspect the inept inaction and total lack of leadership by Obama will further erode support for Democrats in all coastal states with drilling platforms near their shores.

I'm not surprised.

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Spill baby spill, slippery politics

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