Do we really know just how serious the oil spill is?

[marty]

if you believe for a minute that the flow is slowing, watch this live link:

http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_inte...andi_ROV2.html

[Gone Burger]

I have always thought "inhumanely" is one of the most inappropriate uses of language given that humans are quite possibly the most vicious, dangerous, destructive and cruel animal on the planet.

Actually, very good point - sad, but rather true

[Naki Rat]

.........
The damage to the environment is irrepairable. What I don't understand is why it has been so easily accepted. The talk will now be about what steps shold be put in place to prevent a similar disaster occurring again in the future. Surely this has already been done more than once and why should anyone believe they will get it right next time?

We are absolutely dependent on cheap hydrocarbon derived energy and as it becomes increasingly difficult to find and extract disasters such as this will become more common. It will happen again and they will become worse

Check out this link to see where the world is heading as we race towards the depletion of mineral resources with hardly a thought of the future.

[Genestho]

The damage to the environment is irrepairable. What I don't understand is why it has been so easily accepted. The talk will now be about what steps shold be put in place to prevent a similar disaster occurring again in the future. Surely this has already been done more than once and why should anyone believe they will get it right next time?

It's quite hard to know who is a reliable source for records of safety violations with OSHA but:

"BP's problems date back at least to 2005, when the BP refinery explosion in Texas City, Texas claimed 15 lives. When OSHA began an investigation of the industry in 2007, though, it found BP stood apart from its counterparts in the industry, with 872 serious safety violations – 97% of all serious safety violations in the industry since 2007, according to the Center for Public Integrity analysis of OSHA data. What's more, these violations happened at just two BP refineries, in Texas City and in Toledo, Ohio. (Data runs through February 2010, and is restricted to refinery safety violations, so it does not account for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.) Here's a look at how those violations breakdown:

•760 egregious willful
•69 willful
•30 serious
•3 unclassified
Most violations came, according to the Center for Public Integrity, because BP failed to fix the problems identified as the cause of the 2005 Texas City refinery explosion. What does that say about BP's ability to reform following the Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill?"



Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environ...#ixzz0qLO7k0bP

And another source link on BP safety violations in the US: http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandl...ty_problem.php

[Naki Rat]

I watched a bit of that interview on with that oil worker that jumped off the rig after it blew up. the bit that suck in my mind was when he saw the rubber from the selas coming up in the pipes he didn't shut it down.
now i have been on the oil platforms off NP and everyone has the right to shut the plant down if they is a risk to the plateform or personel.
Some resposabilty has to come down on the operators out on the rig.

If you've been out on the rigs you'll also know that the right to shut down the job for safety reasons also comes with the right to find another job off of the rigs when your contract is up.
Also there is two big differences on the Deepwater Horizon situation: The pressure was on hugely due to production delays, and it was in the Gulf Of Mexico where pretty much anything goes.

[BoristheBiter]

If you've been out on the rigs you'll also know that the right to shut down the job for safety reasons also comes with the right to find another job off of the rigs when your contract is up.
Also there is two big differences on the Deepwater Horizon situation: The pressure was on hugely due to production delays, and it was in the Gulf Of Mexico where pretty much anything goes.

Yes but eveyone is going on at BP (and rightly so) but some blame has to go to the on site crew.
when i was on ship the delays were regarded as the worst thing ever, but you were still expected to do your job professionally and to the highest standard becuase the loss of the rig would be worse than a few days down time.

[Taz]

I watched a bit of that interview on with that oil worker that jumped off the rig after it blew up. the bit that suck in my mind was when he saw the rubber from the selas coming up in the pipes he didn't shut it down.
now i have been on the oil platforms off NP and everyone has the right to shut the plant down if they is a risk to the plateform or personel.
Some resposabilty has to come down on the operators out on the rig.

Dude.... Where'd you go to school?

[BoristheBiter]

Dude.... Where'd you go to school?

Microsoft spell check via LBC. i must have not never been useing it when i was not looking at typing what i wanted, so it was not seen untill someone had seen it before there was a chance to put it right.

Shit just read that, i should be a spin doctor for BP.
And people go on how bad teachers are nor problems hear.

[oldrider]

We wont be satisfied until the whole world looks like a Nigerian backwater and even then all we will do is look for someone else to blame!

Alas, such is life!

[sinfull]

I blame the cops !

[Indiana_Jones]

We are absolutely dependent on cheap hydrocarbon derived energy and as it becomes increasingly difficult to find and extract distasters such as this will become more common. It will happen again and they will become worse

Check out this link to see where the world is heading as we race towards the depletion of mineral resources with hardly a thought of the future.

-Indy

[Naki Rat]

Excellent movie.... fantasy becoming reality?

Another interesting watch at present is Dead Ahead - The Exxon Valdez Disaster, which somebody has been kind enough to load up on YouTube in 10 installments. Talk about deja vous

[Quasievil]

Difference was that was one neglectful captain who was drunk and once ran aground tried to back up ripping the hull open.

[Naki Rat]

Difference was that was one neglectful captain who was drunk and once ran aground tried to back up ripping the hull open.

Different mistake and scenario sure, but check out the actions of the oil company, coastguard, polititians and locals, and the GOM spill is just a replay.

[davereid]

We are absolutely dependent on cheap hydrocarbon derived energy and as it becomes increasingly difficult to find and extract disasters such as this will become more common. It will happen again and they will become worse

Check out this link to see where the world is heading as we race towards the depletion of mineral resources with hardly a thought of the future.

The Stone Age didn't end for lack of stone, and the oil age will end long before the world runs out of oil.'' Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani (Saudi Oil Minister 1970)

The oil age is already almost over. Right now the EU are building a nuclear fusion plant in the South of France. Its a step in the right direction. We can realistically expect fusion technologies to deliver cheap, safe electricity within a lifetime - well before fossil fuels become rare.

The real issue is how do we deal with the bloody god-awful mess in the meantime.

We live better lives, have more food, live longer and enjoy a quality of life only dreamed of a century ago. Cheap energy is responsible.

If we don't continue to find sources of cheap energy, our quality of life will fall. But I use "our quality" much as the Queen speaks of "We".

It wont be my individual quality of life that will fall. Its the quality of life of the poor that will fall, fastest, furtherest, and most irrecoverably.