A ScubaBoard Staff Message...
It is NOT the Gulf Oil Spill
- Thread starter Jeff Toorish
- Start date
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OP
I disagree passionately.
The very first thing they did was try to pin the blame on Transnational and Halliburton. The consciously and consistently under reported the magnitude of the BP Oil Spill --and have been dramatically opaque about their actions during their attempts to stop the spewing oil. Only massive political and PR pressure has forced them to open up in any way.
They have treated the workers (and volunteers) who have been trying to clean up their mess poorly and you can bet once the well is capped they will try to litigate their way out of this.
Their CEO whined that he wanted his life back while there are 11 dead oil workers and at last count four states with ruined beaches, marshes and wetlands. Tens of thousands of people are suffering financially from the BP Oil Spill and while I have heard vague pledges from BP, they are not actually doing anything to help the vast majority of those folks.
They have made veiled attempts to limit their liability and their engineers should all be named Larry, Daryl and Daryl.
This is on top of BP's worst-in-the-industry safety and environmental record. They are known to fight even the most benign environmental regulations and consistently skirt the edge of what is legally mandated for environmental law.
This oil rig has been problematic from the beginning, and BP intentionally did not add additional safeguards that were available (and recommended) that would have prevented this disaster. This is BP's fault and their actions since the explosion and hemmorage started have been anything but stand-up.
Jeff
I am surprised that GULF Oil Company is not out there trying to re brand this and that the media so carelessly phrased it. To anyone walking into the movie late it's going to look GULF oil owns it.
I do feel for the folks down there in a huge way. Like them our culture is very linked to the commercial and recreational potential of our coast. Never mind the personal joy I get diving my local waters. To have our area tainted in this manner would be devastating.
Again and again it seems that responses to calamities are too little too late. Worse than that, the expertise we think we have to deal with issues isn't up to the challenge.
You can blame industry or our thirst for whatever we want but some of what we do is simply bonkers. Drill for oil a mile down in the hurricane belt? Build a city below sea level and count on dikes and pumps? Industry responds to demands. There is plenty of blame to pass round.
This is real, there is no undo button. This is not a drill.
Forgive the random thoughts.
Pete
I do feel for the folks down there in a huge way. Like them our culture is very linked to the commercial and recreational potential of our coast. Never mind the personal joy I get diving my local waters. To have our area tainted in this manner would be devastating.
Again and again it seems that responses to calamities are too little too late. Worse than that, the expertise we think we have to deal with issues isn't up to the challenge.
You can blame industry or our thirst for whatever we want but some of what we do is simply bonkers. Drill for oil a mile down in the hurricane belt? Build a city below sea level and count on dikes and pumps? Industry responds to demands. There is plenty of blame to pass round.
This is real, there is no undo button. This is not a drill.
Forgive the random thoughts.
Pete
I respectfully disagree with your disagreement.
The Deepwater Horizon was owned by TransOcean and operated by Halliburton, and leased by BP (strictly as non-operator). BP pointing out the direct operational roles of TransOcean and Halliburton is fair comment, whilst accepting their own overall responsibility and liability. Sadly as American companies they are not such good whipping boys as 'foreigners' like BP.
We'll wait to see how BP deal with this once it is back under control, but I suspect they will go overboard to try and make good (and be seen to be making good). Firstly, the costs of this spill, to them, are not huge. The clean up costs are estimated presently at about $6.1bn. Throw in another billion for fines and environmental lawsuits. That is still a very manageable number compared to their 2009 budget for oil clean ups ($20bn).
What is hurting them is the damage to their stock price. They have had about $36bn (and counting) wiped off their market capitalisation, making them acutely vulnerable to takeover. They have every incentive to try and shore up their stock price by making good with as many people as they can.
I am sure those who are determined to see BP as acutely evil won't be dissuaded, but I feel the need to make the points anyhow.
Peter_C
Contributor
How come they didn't try the "Top Kill" immediately after the BP massacre started? Oh yeah they didn't want to plug up their gold mine! :cussing:
They failed in safety before the massacre, during the initial flow of oil into the ocean, and now during the massacre are not doing enough.
Doubler
Contributor
Top Kill was a PR event designed to appear that they were trying to stem the flow. Do the math and figure out the pressures at that depth. For the oil to be spewing out of that pipe the way it is, it has got to be at least 3000 psi. Try throwing mud and golf balls at a full on fire hose to plug it up and you get the same effect - nada.
BP is losing billions due to this tragedy and every other scheme they came up with was designed to get that oil to a refinery. There are a whole list of companies, governments and persons responsible for this mess: BP, Haliburton, U.S. Government, the state of Louisiana. This whole show about criminal liability will come to a real nasty head as soon as Bush and Cheney are some how dragged into this via Haliburton. Obama has no idea how to proceed with this so he has got to have the former administration to blame. BP will lawyer up as soon as that oil starts flowing up... in a pipe. The US government will be too busy crucifying BP/Bush via endless congressional hearings. People will have lost everything, the Gulf will be a big death pool and we will be getting inundated nightly by holier than thou do nothing political sound bites.... and nothing will be getting cleaned up the way it should.
BP is losing billions due to this tragedy and every other scheme they came up with was designed to get that oil to a refinery. There are a whole list of companies, governments and persons responsible for this mess: BP, Haliburton, U.S. Government, the state of Louisiana. This whole show about criminal liability will come to a real nasty head as soon as Bush and Cheney are some how dragged into this via Haliburton. Obama has no idea how to proceed with this so he has got to have the former administration to blame. BP will lawyer up as soon as that oil starts flowing up... in a pipe. The US government will be too busy crucifying BP/Bush via endless congressional hearings. People will have lost everything, the Gulf will be a big death pool and we will be getting inundated nightly by holier than thou do nothing political sound bites.... and nothing will be getting cleaned up the way it should.
It's clear from everything I've read that they took shortcuts and were careless. Had they treated this deep water well with the respect it deserved we might not be dealing with this catastrophe.
OldNSalty
Contributor
You would think so but as someone who lives in the area I disagree that they are doing enough.
There was a meeting earlier this week where BP was suppose to talk to us locals-specifically the fishermen who had been promised jobs as to when/if they would be hired on to help. BP did not show up.
My brother was told that when the oil started washing up on shore he would be hired on to clean up at ~$18 an hour. He agreed-did their training, etc. The oil has hit, he hasn't been called- The sheriff brought out about 200 prisoners to help with the clean up. According to my brother they are being paid to do the work but I can't confirm it.
Regardless, somewhere there is a disconnect between what BP says they want to do and what we see them doing. The general perception is that BP/Uncle Sam aren't being effective in handling the economic crisis or the environmental crisis.
wilderydude83
Contributor
Well...they haven't "ceaselessly" been trying to plug the leak, at least not from the get-go. If they were trying to plug the then they would have started drilling relief wells from the start and not trying to contain the spill and collect the spillage. Obviously there they should have been trying to tackle both angles simultaneously. If they had initially began drilling relief wells then perhaps this could have been remedied by now. But then again perhaps not. BP's predictions have been pretty hazy.
R
R
So you had 1.5 Million/day dollars worth of drilling rigs standing by at your place on April 20th? You do realize that those 4 vessels were all at work somewhere else at that time. I would be surprised if it didnt cost several million dollars per vessel just to get them mobilized. Dont misunderstand me, I dont feel sorry for BP over this, specifically the people I mention below.
There were some very wrong decisions made that caused this to happen and both BP and Transocean employees were in a position to prevent it. I dont believe Halliburton employees had the same influence.
I dont agree with everything that has been done to date, however getting the government to "fix it" is not going to be the right answer. There are lots of companies, who did nothing to create this incident, that are about to hurt over "knee jerk" decisions and lack of "new procedures".
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