I can only hope BP isnt as big an AH company as Exxon. But hey this is the Hope and Change era.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grace
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I can only hope BP isnt as big an AH company as Exxon. But hey this is the Hope and Change era.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grace
And R, BLUE, WOM :pQuote:
Originally Posted by blue
Leave my dog out of this!Quote:
Originally Posted by wombat2u2004
Only if i can leave my pet Wombat out of it :pQuote:
Originally Posted by blue
Seriously, my dog may be a dang left leaning hippy but there is no need to drag him into this.Quote:
Originally Posted by wombat2u2004
Don't worry Blue....I wouldn't even think about it.
I saw a report on the late news last night (Chris Sowers on Fox Chicago) of what might happen with storm season approaching and the mass of oil floating in the Gulf. The bad scenario is that it could be picked up and carried into the water supplies of nearby states, affecting even more water, wildlife, fish, plants, etc. The very bad scenario is that it could be scooped up in micro-droplets, carried along by a strong storm (like a tornado) and be rained back to earth. Yuck and double yuck. But the government is trying to figure out why this happened instead of trying to get it cleaned up.
Another piece by Bob Herbert.
Just saw a report on the news.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is doing a study on the EFFECT OF PLACING A BOOM IN THE WATER TO CATCH THE OIL.
They are trying to figure out the enviromental impact of it, the boom, not the oil.
Well, I think that the individual Army Engineers involved in that should first have their credentials checked. In light of the situation, I think we owe it to the marine life to ensure that at least these personel are qualified to carry out such a study. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by RICHARD
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grace
Thanks Grace, good article.:) You know, sometimes you just have to
laugh, or go crazy. :( I think I'll go with the laugh for now.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/video/i...ing-judge-judy
Editorial from today's Chicago Tribune entitled "In Too Deep"
It has been more than a month since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, uncapping a geyser of trouble. Anger and frustration over BP's futile efforts to stop this mushrooming spill is growing almost as fast as the slick itself. Thick reefs of oil are washing up on the coast of Louisiana.
Every day brings new and disturbing revelations about how BP, its partners, the U.S. government — everyone who had a role in preventing or stopping such an accident — failed.
BP is trying to shift blame for the explosion onto rig owner Transocean Ltd. And the White House is trying to duck charges that it was slow to respond.
Over the weekend, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar scrambled to the region and said there was "no question that BP is throwing everything at the problem to try to resolve it because this is an existential crisis for one of the world's largest companies." But then he added: "Do I have confidence that they know exactly what they are doing? No, not completely."
Who could?
Ten days ago, BP chief executive Tony Hayward admitted that the company could have done more to prepare for such an accident.
The company is scrambling for solutions that no one had even thought to devise before this disaster. BP is expected to try on Wednesday to stop the gusher with a "top kill" — pushing heavy drilling fluids into the wellhead as a seal. That would be "another first for this technology at these water depths and so, we cannot take its success for granted," Hayward said. No kidding.
Salazar said the federal government would "push BP out of the way" if the company isn't up to the job. But that sounds like empty bravado. A top Coast Guard official shrugged when asked Monday about Salazar's threat. He said the government doesn't have the expertise to do a better job.
So we're stuck with BP.
What the government can do is demand that BP give completely transparent answers to some questions. For instance: BP hasn't come clean on how much oil is gushing from that well. Its earlier estimates of 5,000 barrels a day are laughably low.
The company has sprayed 600,000 gallons of chemicals to disperse the oil so far. But it is resisting a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency demand to start spraying a less toxic chemical. That won't wash.
This much is clear: BP wasn't prepared. The government didn't make sure BP was prepared. And the government created a disincentive to operating safely. By law, BP's liability to fishermen, property owners and others hurt by the spill is capped at $75 million for all claims. BP has said it will ignore the cap and pay all appropriate claims. Congress is haggling over changing those limits.
Low liability caps encourage riskier drilling practices. They reduce the incentives for companies to spend more upfront to avoid accidents or make sure they have equipment on site to deal with them effectively.
After this, you can be sure that every company that drills in the gulf will look harder at the risks and rewards of deepwater drilling. They'll invest in better safety equipment to avoid spills, better methods to cap blowouts. They'll expect more effective government scrutiny. They'll be better prepared.
But they will drill for oil. You don't hear many people in the gulf — even those most affected by this disaster — say otherwise. Oil from offshore rigs accounts for about 30 percent of the nation's domestic oil production and is critical to the economy of gulf states. Every barrel produced here is a barrel that we don't have to import. The Obama administration recognized all that when it announced an expansion of offshore oil and gas development … three weeks before the explosion at Deepwater Horizon.
So keep the pressure on BP to seal the disastrous leak, of course. And let this lead to safer oil exploration, where companies know the cost of failure will fall squarely on them.
And in a moment of levity:
http://neworleans.craigslist.org/mat/1758839193.html
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I totally do not know quite what that pic is...but it must be related...
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6430AR20100527
BP says 24 hours will tell if oil leak plug works
http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?...0_OIL-RIG-LEAK
(Reuters) - BP Plc's chief executive said a difficult deep-sea operation to plug a gushing oil well was proceeding as planned on Wednesday and the next 24 hours will determine the energy giant's success in stanching the leak deep on the Gulf of Mexico floor.
U.S. | Green Business | Gulf Oil Spill
BP remained cautious about the outcome of the much anticipated "top kill" procedure, as did President Barack Obama, whose credibility stands to suffer if one of the country's worst environmental catastrophes does not end soon.
But the fact that the London-based energy giant was able to launch the complex maneuver around midday and keep it on track in the first hours was a welcome respite from a string of failures and setbacks in the 37 days since a rig blast triggered the disaster.
Undersea robots were helping to inject heavy fluids and ultimately cement pumped down about a mile to the sea-bed well, while BP chief executive Tony Hayward and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu monitored operations together in Houston.
"The operation is proceeding as we planned it," Hayward said in a media briefing four hours after launching the top kill strategy.
"It will be another 24 hours before we know whether or not this has been successful," he added.
The embattled CEO stood by BP's 60-70 percent odds of success. But top kill, a routine procedure on the surface, has never been attempted at such depths, prompting one industry expert to predict less favorable odds.
"You have got some of the smartest guys in the business trying to figure this out, but it has never been done before," David Pursell, partner at Houston investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co, told Reuters Insider.
"I think the odds have to be 50 percent or less," he added.
Obama said that if successful, BP's plan to cap the well should greatly reduce or eliminate the flow of hundreds of thousands of gallons (liters) of crude billowing into the Gulf.
If it fails, "there are other approaches that may be viable," he said on a trip to California.
Obama, who has told aides to "plug the damn hole," will head to Louisiana on Friday for the second time since the April 20 rig blast that killed 11 and unleashed the oil.
If the top kill fails, the next approach would be to install a containment device over the broken blowout preventer, a structure at the top of the well on the ocean floor, said BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said at a briefing with the Coast Guard Wednesday.
It is still unclear how much oil is flowing from the well, but it is already shaping up to be the worst oil spill in U.S. history and a long-term threat to a rich ecosystem.
The disaster is also reshaping the U.S. oil industry. Obama is expected to announce on Thursday that he will continue to hold off issuing deep water drilling permits off the Gulf of Mexico, but allow permits to be issued for shallow water drilling, a government source told Reuters.
The oil's destruction of critical habitats continued to spread, with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal saying that more than 100 miles of the state's 400-mile coastline were now affected.
PIVOTAL DAYS FOR OBAMA, BP
These days may be critical for BP and Obama.
BP's reputation and its big presence in the United States is at stake and investors, who have wiped $50 billion off BP's market value since the start of the spill, will watch closely to see whether the latest attempt to seal the well works.
BP shares seesawed in London trading on Wednesday, with investors boosting the share price about 2.6 percent at one point before it closed up 1.4 percent. BP's announcement that it had launched top kill came after London markets had closed.
If the effort fails, Obama may have no choice but to take charge of the response. He has so far deflected calls for the government to take a more direct role and said BP has legal responsibility for fixing the mess.
What he can do is unclear because the government does not have its own deepwater tools and technology and will have to rely on BP.
But even with Obama applying constant pressure on the company, polls show that nearly half of Americans are unhappy with how he has handled it. That sentiment could play into the November elections that are widely expected to erode his Democratic Party's control of the U.S. Congress.
Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson said if BP failed to plug the leak this week, Obama must seize personal control of the effort immediately.
"If this thing doesn't work then the president ought to turn this over to the military. It has the command structure to bring in all the civilian agencies," said Nelson.
LOST COASTLINE EXASPERATES LOCALS
BP has estimated that about 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons/795,000 liters) have been leaking every day, although some scientists have given much higher numbers for the size of the leak -- up to 20 times more.
Residents of the Gulf region are particularly concerned about the impact of spreading oil on wildlife and area shorelines, home to a $6.5 billion seafood industry and lucrative fishing tourism.
Operation "top kill" was not putting them at ease.
"If I was a betting man I'd say the odds are better than last time, but I still don't think it is going to happen," a fishing guide who goes by the name of Captain Boola said at a marina at Venice, Louisiana.
He said he only fished with clients three days this month and had cancellations through to November.
Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish, one of the worst affected Louisiana coastal districts so far, sharply criticized BP and the Coast Guard, saying they had no comprehensive plan to defend the coast from the oil.
"We will lose more coastline from this catastrophe than from all four hurricanes -- Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike," said Nungesser.
(Additional reporting by Kristin Hays in Houston, Ed Stoddard in Venice, Louisiana, Pascal Fletcher in Miami, Susan Heavey and Tom Doggett in Washington, Jeff Mason in Fremont, California; writing by Mary Milliken; editing by Philip Barbara)
BO and his advisers are mulling over a plan to let the oil leak go on until a suitable plan to stop it completely, is drawn up.
Until then, he has ordered tankers of vinegar and herbs to be dumped into the GoM.
Plans are to turn the Gulf into a giant bowl of salad dressing for the upcoming summer months....:rolleyes::mad::eek:.
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Catty,
Wasn't Captain Boola a Klingon in the Star Trek series?:eek: