A sad time for all in the south

[Willyp]

I am currently on a BP well as we speak. I can tell you first hand that it is one of the most safety orientated companies I have ever worked for. That might sound ironic at the moment, but I have never seen a company spend more money and have more training than BP at this current moment, and even prior to the spill. I dont think the question is about money and how much one operator spends on a project to make it 100% safe. The problem at hand is the parameters they are dilling in and the "impossible scenario" which became a reality. If cutting down a tree was so easy, then why is it one of the most dangerous jobs in America? You can bet that shorelines will be damaged and fisheries damaged. It is tragic and I understand your connection to the coast and especially with Venice, but pointing out greed is easy. They have some of the smartest people in the industry scratching their heads at this one, and it will take months to years before fingers can be pointed correctly at who is responsible. I am just as pissed as the next guy trust me.... I hope who ever is responsible compensates whatever amount is needed.... Will it ever happen, probably not...

The government is another issue that needs its own thread....

So I will leave it at that.

[Swells]

Well there's not much that Uncle Sam can do, besides airlift some equipment and provide oil booms and any logistics. They're not the engineers who are working on the ROV submarines, the guys making containment boxes to trap the oil, or to drill a secondary hole to cement the well in.

The Feds have scrambled quite a defense of workers who can set containment booms, clean oil off the beaches, get National Guard on the scene, and so forth. BP is hiring some fishermen to help as well.

Put it in perspective - there are 30,000 offshore oil wells and there has never been a blow-out of such proportions. Apparently, the drillers at BP and Transocean really hit the Mother Lode. The only incident which is comparable is Ixtoc, which blew in 1979 of Campeche Bay, Mexico.

That said, drilling for oil is like sitting on top of a bomb. Usually they can control things but ... why do you think on dry land, the roughnecks park their pickups ready to boogie at 100 MPH in case she blows out? Can you imagine the pressures in 5,000 feet of water and a 30,000 hole?

You should hear what the "green" enviros say, that we should shut down the entire industry and warm out houses with ... ugh ... solar or something. That ain't no solution, neither. Ever see a solar powered locomotive pulling a mile of 100-ton railcars?

[Robalo]

BP did not act in an intentional manner. Vicman-look at Ixtoc 1. Tar balls on beaches. Oil is naturally occuring -look at California-oil seeps all over-heck that's how they first found oil in the Santa Barabara Channel.

It is a shame that lives were lost. BP although it is foreign owned and bought AMOCO, so are most all major companies and certainly all are multi-national. Gummint has little to do with this other than regulations which come about from occurences, so expect triple and quadruple redundant safety measures in the future and yes, the ROVs should have been able to close the valves, but likely debris blocked or damaged them. Greed is not a factor for BP when it comes to safety-I know first hand-sued them for overexpending costs on an abandonment of a single caisson-most companies would have worked 24/7 on that job-not BP-2 safety engineers, daylight hours only. It cost twice what it should, but the BP way is generally overkill on safety. This can happen anywhere, such as the west coast of Africa where deepwater drilling has been going on for years. Hopefully, it won't happen again in deepwater ops. If the enviros and BHO had their way, you'd be bowing to Iraq and eating goat and paying $18/gallon for gas and waiting hours to fill your tank. Heck, if Cap & Trade ever passes, get ready for major changes to your lifestyle. Wildlife will recover and so will the beaches. BP will get the leak stopped and be heavily fined and will spend years in civil courts-a lot of Louisiana lawyers and fishermen will make as much this year as they did last year.

[SLPass-Assasin]

Well said JT , Willyp , Kenny , Swells and Robalo. Yes it's a tragedy with loss of life , damage to the environment and the economy of the gulf states. Rest assured , there is a focused global effort by the sharpest minds in the industry to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and it will be resolved at the first opportunity............but it won't be today. Hopefully in the next few days..... I personally believe everything that can be done is being done......

[corndog]

Well guys we all know this is a Disaster. Remember the lives lost and the damage that will prevail. We are facing a very unusual event. the BOP system has multiple fail safes to prevent this.What has occured is very unusual and at the end of the day I am sure they will find something that no one ever thought would occur. You have to realize that at this depth and it being an oil well the rig crew probably fought this "kick"for several hours before they knew it was a bad situation. I am certain the non- nessential crew was evacuated way before the fire started. In my experience BP,Exxon and any major oil company are some of the toughest companies to work for due to their safety program.It is easy to blame "big oil". Did you realize their return on investment is very small compared to IT companies,Insurance and Financial companies. Oil companies are the number one investor in Green energy. Remember the Buggy and Whip maker did not invent the locomotive and the locomotive makers did not invent the airplane. When it becomes economically viable to have green energy the "oil giants" will be the first to lead. They are energy companies foremost. If any one would like to know more details for the drilling and completion process please Pm me and I can pass on what i know. It is pretty interesting to know the whole process of what really takes place. Please pray for those lost and their families. Also pray or those out there right now that are in the line of fire.

[vicman99]

I understand to a point

Crude oil from the tanker still lingers on some beaches a full 21 years later. Some marine species never recovered. Families and bank accounts were shattered. Alcoholism, suicide and domestic violence rates all rose in hard-hit towns. This is what happen after the exxon tranker. If you read what the people say up there they feel that this is extreamly bad, and this will take a very long time to recover so I am going to go with people that have lived threw this before, and not anybody else because only being in the middle of somthing well teach you. And for the people that lost there lives yes i truthly prey and hope they find there loves ones in heaven, But at the sametime you know the risk of a job before you take it. Like if i work at the kogers i am not thinking anything bad will happen. It still can but less likely, If you take a job that can kill you, you should always think of the risk first before the rewards. Everybody in houston knows this working at a houston plant can and has shown in the past to be very risky because of the number of times it has blown up and at different plants. But one must work to surive and thust we have came ful circle in life. one must do everything to prevent this our you will cause death to everything not just aniamls and plants. And Yes they are doing alot now which is way to late. take a look and see what the did about the oil the first 5 days it was leaking. Than tell me they did everything they could. It is to late now there is no way to clean this up. open your eyes world dont belive people who dont care about you. people in louisnia know this.

[vicman99]

not me

I dont have a boat wading is the only way to fish lol. Have been on a boat but will never buy. they can drink gas faster than a jet. I have a small car and never plan on getting anything big, just a waste. oh and by the way everytime i go wading at the pass when i am done fishing i always walk around in pick up trash and glass why you ask because i give a **** about my home land and want my daughter to be able to go in the future.

[JT]

That sounds like the trial attorneys opening statement in the civil lawsuit.

The primary reason alot of the eskimos in Alaska had bank accounts to begin w/ is because of Exxon et al giving them jobs and paying millions upon millons upon millions in royalties. Read some more and you'll see that alcoholism,suicide and domestic violence has ALWAYS been a way of life there.


Exxon more than compensated the avg joe in that whole event, just like bp and ALL of their other industry partners in this well (that you dont hear about) will.

[vicman99]

I understand that Bp will pay for there losses and wages. And i beleive that Alaskans did get drunk all the time before **** it is cold and borning up there. But did they deserve to have to clean up exxon oil spill, and yes i know exxon payed for it. But who really paid for it, people that live there and the animals and plants. Its just like if a major earthquake hits for 7 days the world acts like they care than 14 days later everybody is now talking about somthing else. And the people that just lost everything are forgoten in history, but them people are still there but there story goes untold because the world can not stop for no one. And fyi this is for everybody I wrote this tread because i felt mad and sad for are gulf and the lives lost. I no there is no perfect way. And life will always be life. But intill we stop killing everything THAT WE SEE there will alawys be MAN MADE DIASTER.

[vicman99]

A little more like it

[majek_maniac]

Im with Robalo, Gater, JT and the like. I firmly believe that everything that can be done is being done. With the estmiated $700 million rig, $6 million per day cleanup costs and every other cost involved, it is in BP's best interest to get this taken care of very quickly.

I dont work for BP, but I do work for another major and can attest that BP holds personnel safety and environmental safety at a top priority along with every other major operator. From the rumors I have heard within the industry to what has happened, it was an almost unconcievable event with a very, very low rate of probablility and tool failure. Everyone shares similar practices within the industry.

This is no doubt a tragedy and a huge environmental disaster, but it is not the worst in history or the GOM. Look up Pemex's Ixtapa I blowout in 1979. That well dishcarged between 10,000 bbls (420,000 gal) and 30,000 bbls (1,260,000 gal) of oil per day for almost a year off of the south texas/mexico coastline. We all know that fishing down there has been and continues to be outstanding. Nature will recover. 1000 bbls a day is a small dishcarge in the grand scheme of things. The media blows it up by speaking in terms of gallons (42,000) per day. The sheen is so large because oil floats in water, therefore there is an extremely thin layer covering hundreds of miles.

Im not bashing anyone directly and I am a very open minded person to other's opinions, but it seems that some here who are railing the oil companies are the same people (Im one of them) that drive V8 SUV's and trucks and pull around high performance boats and are out on the bays and deepwater every weekend running gas burning outboards. Not to mention the countless other products this country relies on the come solely from petroleum products. Careful with the word greed friend.

I am devastated of the fact that the attention has been taken away from the men who lost their lives. If there is a reason to be mad about anything, this should be it.

Im not at all saying sweep this under the rug, this shouldnt have happened, but my point is, it is being taken care of as expediently as possible, dont fool yourself into thinking otherwise.

M.M.

[plugger]

This has got to be the worst spill in our history...it's still pumping out tanker loads and a stop is not in sight. Talk about devastating the delicate marshes from LOU to Florida. Last week on the 610 AM outdoors show, they said the best option would be to boom off the bayous farther inland and limit the oil to the coastal marsh which is toast anyway and can't be protected. Man, what if it was heading to our coast !! It's all bad.

[Gater]

Catastophic, Envoromental Disaster, devastating and so on...those are the words the media uses to blow this thing up. Majek Maniac is right, The area is large because the sheen has been spread the high winds last week. Most of the heavy stuff is still caught in the eddy going in circles. It's difficult to call this devastating when only a very small percentage has even reach the shore. Gater

[caz]

an oil rig blew up, eleven people are still missing, 17 injured and dead sea turtles are already washing up (which is only the beginning of marina life to feel the effects of this).. seems pretty devastating to me already..

[shutout]

Ditto what JT has said. The biggest tragedy in this whole mess is that of 11 human lives being lost. These companies are spending billions, billions and billions of dollars developing these offshore prospects. To think that they don't care is crazy. The last thing we need is more big, oppressive government and the loss of personal freedoms that accompanies such.