My Heart Goes Out To The Fine Folks Along The Gulf Coast...

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

As I follow the news, listening to what the corporate people are telling us and read up on how things played out leading up to the event... I'm in total disbelief!!!
The oil has been flowing into the gulf for over a month now and as of right now their best effort is to throw golf balls and tires at it???... Unbelievable.
Dispersants dropped from the air and pumped down to the sea floor from ships have taken the ecological risks to a new level.
Money, greed and the entire system has failed us folks...
I hope heads role when this one wraps up, whenever that will be... Maybe when the gulf becomes the new Black Sea?

[caseydog]

Dean, this oil stuff is hard to understand. When I lived on the coast in the 70s, it was common to go to the beach, and encounter tar balls. I went to the beach a lot, and we would take charcoal lighter fluid with us to get the oil off of us after surfing or just swimming.

Back then, tar balls and black oil marks on your legs were just considered a "natural" part of playing in the gulf surf. We could see the rigs, back then, because most of the drilling was in shallow water. The rigs all leaked, but nobody cared. We just made sure we had charcoal starter to wash it off of us -- how healthy is that.

Then again, the house I grew up in had asbestos siding.

Hey, I'm a cancer survivor. Go figure.

Gulf coast people are pretty hardy folks. They live through hurricanes, and like I said, polluted water is not a new thing along the Texas gulf coast. Polluted water (and air) means jobs down here, unless you fish for a living. And, even the fishermen were okay with it until it killed the fish.

Heck, under governor Dubya, Texas passed California to become the most polluted state. And, the most polluted parts of Texas are all along the gulf coast.

The gulf coast states are diehard red states, and they will still be out there at the tea parties shouting, "drill baby drill," no matter how bad this oil spill gets.

If you have lived in Northern California for long enough, there is no way you will be able to understand Texas -- or most of the South. I can almost promise that folks down here will not shed many tears for the environment -- but they'll curse the government for the loss of revenues from the fishing industry. Well, that's not completely true -- they will not care about the fishing industry, unless they make a living off of it, but they'll curse the government just because that's what people down here do.

BTW, I look at this and really worry bout the fisherman who are not wealthy to begin with, who stand to lose a lot. I'm not part of the gang that wants to put BP executives in jail -- I just want them to fix what's broken, and pay for the damage that their well caused. That's it.

I agree with President Obama that domestic oil production is necessary in the short term, and new drilling in the gulf is part of that, but we as a people need to understand that the easy oil in North America has already been sucked up, and new reserves in places like the deep parts of the gulf are going to be more costly to harvest, and will not come without risks.

This oil spill SHOULD be a wake up call to the fact that we need to have new plans for our energy future. But that will require a real grasp of reality. I hope we can grasp reality, or we're in trouble -- well, not me, but the kids who take over after I am gone.

CD

[hugh]

I have been watching this unfold on the news and have a comment to make. First off they are drilling undersea in deep water. How the heck could they have been allowed to do that without having some type of a plan to deal with a leak, blowout or whatever. Did they think that it would all go smooth? I mean we need the oil an all but could they not have engineered some type of a system before going ahead? Plus everyone talks about the Gov't, some about to much and some about too little, but between them and the oil company why did they not follow established safety procedures, they need to fire and or imprison a few people.

[caseydog]

Hugh, it seems to me that the problem is not techniques, it's location. They are probably doing things that would would be successful in a shallow water blowout, but are a lot more difficult in deep water. I'm not sure, but that's how it looks from my armchair.

Shallow water wells are floated out to their destination, and sunk so they actually sit on the bottom of the sea. They are stationery, and highly trained divers can go down for inspections and repairs. Plus, since they sit on the bottom, they won't sink if they blow out and burn.

(BTW, they make great artificial reefs for fishing.)

Deep water wells float, with long cables and anchors with computer controlled tensioners constantly adjusting to keep the well in one place by GPS coordinates. Divers can't go down to do inspections or repairs. They can also sink.

On a deep water well, there is more to go wrong, and, when something goes wrong, it's a lot harder to deal with.

But, deep water is where the known big oil reserves are today.

I don't know what plans the folks at BP and there contractors had, but they obviously were not sufficient -- or, like you said, they just couldn't imagine something like this happening.

But, if we are going to continue deep water drilling, the oil industry better lear a whole lot from this disaster -- in a hurry. There are other deep water wells out there now.

CD

[caseydog]

Here is a link to a wikipedia page on the spill. It's a pretty good summary of what happened and what could happen as time goes on...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_ ... _oil_spill

CD

[steve smoot]

College kids were picketting BP yesterday. Local BP's have dropped their gas price twice in the last two weeks. People must be boycotting. I know we are.

Steve

[caseydog]

I want to reserve my judgement on BP until I know exactly what went wrong, and see if they keep their promise to pay for cleanup and damages.

BP is the leaseholder on the rig and the area where they are drilling, but other companies, including the infamous Haliburton did the actual work. And, at this point, I don't know who massed up.

With the Exxon Valdez, it was easy to see who messed up, and Exxon didn't willingly live up to it's obligations to pay for cleanup and losses. The story of this BP spill is just being written.

And, the attempts to stop the leak are failing, but not for lack of trying. There are a lot of smart, dedicated people out there trying to get this thing stopped. They are just losing battle after battle.

When it's all done, investigated, and we know what has happened, I expect the oil industry and the government to do what is necessary to make sure it doesn't happen again.

And, we the people need to decide what we are willing to risk in the future to satisfy our thirst for oil.

CD

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

From reading about all the corners BP cut while drilling the well and were allowed to cut without strict regulations in place, I'd say they brought it on themselves...
Another thing that bothers me is, BP says they have the "best minds in the world" doing everything they can to stop the leaking oil. It's been over 40 days now that the oil has been gushing into the gulf and if this is the "best the best" have come up with, this tells me that the deep water drilling protocalls need a complete overhaul.
It's as if they do as they please, without regard to regulations, the environment and at the public's expense.
I shudder to think what effect hurricane season will have on the efforts to contain the oil.

[martha24]

When I was watching the news I kept asking my husband why aren't they using some kind of suctioning or vacuuming system and pump the oil and some water into a tanker? The oil seems to naturally come to the top.

Later I heard that this was actually done in the middle east with an oil spill problem. They actually got most of the oil and were able to separate the water from the oil and still use it.

I still want to know why they aren't doing something like this in the Gulf of Mexico? Is there a particular reason why they can't? It would have made such a huge difference.

What a horrible situation it has turned into.

[caseydog]

Dean, there was clearly a lack of oversight by BP and by regulators. Contractors were doing the actual work, but BP should have been stricter with the contractors since it was their name on the project.

I grew up in an oil company family, and lived in an oil company town. In all the refineries that my dad was responsible for, safety was top priority -- even above profits. BP has a real reputation problem due to a handful of "accidents" at their facilities. That would indicate a lack of good oversight of their operations. Perhaps they let their priorities get out of order. They definitely have a systemic problem they need to address.

As for government, years ago, congress passed laws that required that the government either approve or deny a permit for drilling on the outer continental shelf within 30 days. I guess they wanted to make sure big government didn't interfere with "progress." It is now basically impossible to review applications and do proper due diligence on safety and environmental impact studies in 30 days, so the MMS just takes the oil company's word when they say everything is good and issues the permits. Bad idea, IMO.

Martha, they tried the suctioning approach, and it worked a little, but not enough. I don't know why. It probably has something to do with the extreme depth. I don't think they do deepwater drilling in the Middle East.

I do tend to believe they have the "best minds in the world" working on this, but those minds are losing to a mindless oil leak. Or, maybe they are over-thinking it. I don't know.

I hope they find the right solution really soon.

[martha24]

caseydog,
I don't know how any of it works, but I wasn't so much as thinking when the oil first comes out, which would be the best, but was there a way to suck up the oil that is on top of the water. I keep hearing about a huge oil slick, it just seemed like there should be some way to suction the top layer of water & oil.

Anyway it goes the clean up is going to cost a fortune and the less oil that would get to the coast would be the better.

caseydog

I grew up in an oil company family, and lived in an oil company town. In all the refineries that my dad was responsible for, safety was top priority -- even above profits.

That is what is truly needed. Today everything is about the moment, this quarters profits and looking good for the moment. Anymore I think that is true about big business and the government.

What has happened in the Mexican Gulf isn't good for the oil business as a whole and will make it harder even for the ones who are like your father. I live in the Santa Barbara area which had its own oil spill and many people around here want no part of oil even 30 years later.

IMHO done with strict oversight oil drilling could be a good thing around here. In our ocean there is natural seepage of oil that leaves a good amount of tar on the beach. Drilling could have lessened that and brought needed revenues to the area. (California being basically bankrupt) After the disaster in the Mexican Gulf there is no way on earth that any drilling will happen here. Not that any of it was ever deep sea drilling. The other thing there were talking about was slant drilling with the well on land.

I hope they can get the mess as quickly under control as possible. To my mind both BP and the government have been negligent with this situation.

[PKCSPT]

As angry as I am at BP and the government for this mess. As upset as I am for what this is doing to the enviroment and it may well be our kids will still being trying to clean this up and set the ecosystem back to where it should be I more blame myself in the end.
I create the need for oil, if I walked or rode my bike more I would create less need for oil. I should not be driving 30 miles tonight to go to a restaurant when I have many so much closer. If I just used solar power more. If I took more responsibility for my footprints in this world there would be less need for oil drilling. (OK me and a lot of others)
I see the oil and I see my fingerprint in there too.[/quote]

[caseydog]

I hope we have a quiet hurricane season.

If you are not familiar with hurricanes, the most destructive force is not the winds, but the "storm surge." The storm surge is the big buildup of water just in front of the eye, to the north and east of the eye (due to the rotation of the storm). The surge is like a rise in tide, not so much a bunch of waves. It can reach 15 feet or more depending on the strength of the hurricane.

Below is a photo I took at crystal Beach a few days after Ike. The damage was not done by wind or waves, it was the surge. Entire homes were lifted and carried inland. Cars were found five miles from where they were parked.

If a hurricane surge goes in through a huge oil slick, that toxic goop could be carried many miles into marshes, and even into neighborhoods.

That would be catastrophic.

Salt water from the gulf killed marsh grass and small trees all the way to the levies around Port Arthur. Over time, rain and runoff made it possible for the plant life to recover. That won't happen if the surge carries thousands of barrels of oil and toxic mud inland. They could be toxic dead zones for years or decades -- or longer.

That's the worst of the worst case scenarios. I hop that doesn't happen.

Hurricane season begins Tuesday.

[deceiver]

It might take a minute to load and start showing but this is the live video that Obama demanded BP make public on the internet so that scientists could try to get a more realistic(read honest) idea of the amount of oil leaking into the gulf.

http://mfile.akamai.com/97892/live/reflector:46245.asx?bkup=46260

[BKinGA]

On Friday I read that a bad hurricane season is predicted with 22 named storms.