The Gulf Spill
 

So I was down at my local city planning dept today because I am leasing an office and had to ask them some questions about some things I wanted to do. After they asked me what seemed like 1000 questions to see if they could tag me for more permits and make more money I got to thinking.

I wanted to move a door and make it a double door. They told me it had to move outward and asked me every question under te sun. So while I was driving home I thought, drillng a well 2 miles deep into the ocean is a huge project. You would think that the regulations for such an event would be staggering. After all my little door project took about 2 hours of my time down at the plannig department. So wouldn't you think there would be precautions such as a ummmm a shut off valve? I mean I am not technical guru or a mechanical whiz but I just don't understand how a billion dollar company could get away with putting such a monstrousity out in the ocean without some really strict guidelines such as ummm yeah....a shut off valve. I don't know just a thought. Something doesn't make sense.

In the arctic, the US requires a back up to the shut off mechanism. BP also knew that their singular shutoff mechansm was acting flaky and they chose to ignore it. Next, an employee accidentally over stressed the seal. Next, BP ignored comments from employees about bits of rubber showing up from the seal. Next, the rig blew up from the broken seal. Next, the gulf of mexico is ruined.

It is a disgrace of epic proportions. How many more existing "blowout preventers" would fail if given a chance?

The difference is you are not a huge oil company...

"The difference is you are not a huge oil company.."

And I doubt that you contributed millions to ensure certain politicians were elected.

This is what happens when people do not do there job. When they ruined the seals in the blow off preventer, they should of stoped and fix the problem then. A blow off preventer seals around the drill steam, a valve can not close around the steam of the drill pipe. from what i have been told ( i work in the oil industry) is that they had the seals closed and pulled back on the drill pipe though the seals and ruined them.

The gulf is not "ruined". The earth will cleanse itself along and with a little help from man will do the job even quicker. Did you know that the amount of oil spilled from the well so far wont even fill the Superdome? Do you realize the Gulf of Mexico is 615,000 sq miles? The Superdome covers 0.0203125 sq miles. The Gulf contains roughly 660 quadrillion gallons of corrosive sea water that will litterally eat the oil. The spill is a disaster, but the Gulf is far from "ruined"!

If you are going to argue this then you have to calculate the amount of gallons that would fill the "small in your eyes" Superdome and convert that to the area the oil could cover. Your theory is very one dimensional. Not only due to your lack of grasp on the size of the oil slick but the fact that it is reaching beaches and wetlands. I don't even recall the first person giving a **** about the water never being able to be cleaned

So you think the beaches and wetlands will never be clean again? Check back with me a year from now and see if your theory holds up :rolleyes:

Right now there are civilians cleaning our beaches in case you didn't know that. Due to this most of the American public will never understand that natural process can break down oil. Doesn't matter though as I never said that mother nature wouldn't do her job. However, when you include that facts that wildlife will be/are stunted and beaches will be/are avoided due to the presents of oil. I would consider that a current state of ruin.

A hurricane will cause a "stunt" of wildlife and beaches will be "avoided". Does that mean everytime a hurricane reaches land, the beaches are in a "current state of ruin"? Maybe a phrase such as currently unusable or temporarily closed would be more accurate. But "ruined" makes the headlines more interesting so thats what we get.

Adam, do you realize that they are still feeling the effects of the Exxon Valdez spill that happened over 20 years ago? You need to wake up man and quit quoting what you hear on Rush Limbaugh. Will the gulf eventually correct itself? The answer is yes. Will it happen next year? You are crazy if you believe that.

And your Superdome theory is just stupid. The oil is not being evenly dispersed throughout the Gulf. So how can you add the entire area of the Gulf of Mexico?

Ok guys, you are right the Gulf of Mexico and its beaches are ruined! Life as we know it will never be the same! No it wont be compelely clean in one year but in the grand scheme of things it will be a drop in the bucket.

The world will eventually correct itself and kill of humans too. So, spend baby spend and drill baby drill!

drill but only drill but with backup shutoff capabilitie in place and a relief well in place..

Ok so back to my original post......how could there not be a mechanism to turn the oil off? I mean like a secondary system or something? Like I said, I am the farthest thing from a mechanical type person, but after visiting my local planning department I was amazed at the hoops they make you jump through just for changing a front door entrance around. You would think, that because of the nature of the drilling and possible dangers it could cause there would be many times more precautions for a company like BP. If it is political and they bought their way out of it, then what a travesty.

I am amazed that anyone has the capacity to consider 100,000 barrels of oil spewing into the ocean every day for months as not a serious problem.

it's a huge problem... i couldn't see any reason for bp to want to buy their way out of drilling regulations though, especially with how bad any environmental damage--not to mention this enormous spill--looks for an oil company

Putting the environmental aspects aside, how is the prevention of a spill more expensive than what they are dealing with now? It seems that smart business would be to have something in place so they don't lose all of the oil if something goes wrong. It simply cannot be that expensive to have some multiple redundancy built into these things as insruance can it? That is what I don't get...............

It's because they got too used to nothing bad happening. In business you are always expected to pay for yourself and show a profit. Shortcuts do that.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/etick.../tarponfishing

read this adam, and you may sing a different tune.

"I am amazed that anyone has the capacity to consider 100,000 barrels of oil spewing into the ocean every day for months as not a serious problem."

It must be the same guys that can take a sip out of the toilet with a turd in it.

adam, maybe being from a landlocked state you might fail to realize what an important commodity the ocean is and what it means to those who survive based on its bounty. you are correct, in time the gulf will heal itself and return to normal. in the meantime, go ask a shrimper what the next year in his life will be like. having the gulf "ruined" for even a few months has and will have a devastating affect on the lively hoods of thousands in a region already in huge economic trouble.

your 1 turd in a huge punch bowl theory is great unless that one turd washes up on your beaches, and eventually will.

get a clue

I guess I'm just not a "Chiken Little" kind of person. Train, the Tarpon are not going to go extinct. They live from on the coasts from VA to Brazil including throughout the Gulf coast states and the Carribean. I really feel for the folks whos livelyhood depends on the coastal waters of the Gulf, however we all have struggles and challenges in life and that is what makes us who we are. They will persevere and they will come out on top. Will it be easy? No. No one ever promised us a life of easy living with no pains or challenges .....well, except maybe Obama! God bless everyone and thing effected by this crisis!