The oil is coming your way.

[Hetland]

Before the oil leak (gusher) is stopped our government is talking about stopping pretty much all offshore drilling present and future below 500 feet for 6 months or longer!

Maybe if the !@#$% oil companies KNEW how to prevent or fix the their own cluster!@#$s then they could be trusted to drill deeper than 500ft. Obviously they can't handle their own business. If a roofer leaves a 6x6 hole in your roof are you going to invite him to your mom's house to do some work, or are you going to make sure the next guy knows how to handle the job?

If you want oil then you have to accept the risks of getting it but have a viable plan of action in case a spill happens.

That is the point of the closure. OBVIOUSLY BP DID NOT HAVE A VIABLE PLAN OF ACTION AND STILL DOESN'T.

How are we going to stop our dependence on foreign oil?

We pay the same for a barrel of crude no matter where it comes from...

and last I checked, BP IS "Foreign Oil".

Transocean was founded in Louisiana, but recently moved it's headquarters to Switzerland. Of course they also keep an office in the Caymans so they don't have to pay all those pesky taxes.

Even Halliburton has it's "co-headquarters" in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. They maintain a "headquarters" in Texas, but the Chairman and CEO works and lives in Dubai.

If this isn't "Foreign Oil", then what is?

What about all the jobs ( US citizens) that this will destroy?

Worried about how the jobs of oil workers will be affected for six months? You do understand that 1/3 of the Gulf is closed today, and that the hydrocarbons are into the food chain, and that every coastal community from Louisiana to Florida will be impacted. I'm not just talking condo owners or real estate agents, I'm talking restaurant and hotel staffs, retail workers, fishermen, seafood processors, boat manufacturers, lifeguards, mechanics, marina personnel, charter employees, dive shops, grocery stores, even police, fire and municipal employees will be f##4ed. Not for six months, but for YEARS, possibly decades. This thing will KILL more than the brown pelican.

All this same EXACT CRAP happened in 1979 in Mexico in only 200 ft of water, and it took them 9 MONTHS to close the well. You think that the folks drilling the holes (transocean was drilling THAT hole too) would have learned something by now? No, they are using the same methods, in the same order, with the same failures.

 

[EAN]

I agree, Hetland.

 

[Hetland]

Sorry, I think this thread is headed into a political direction, and I need to stay out of political discussions, especially on Scubaboard. Divers, in general, are the best group of people I've ever been lucky enough to associate with. I don't want politics getting in the way of that for me.

I'm pretty sure we all agree this is a nasty situation that needs to be capped and cleaned ASAP. How that happens, and Who is responsible for what parts is something I'll (TRY TO) leave for others to argue.

 

[irishsquid]

I personally think our government has done very little to help with this spill.

pretty much they just stand pretty in front of TV cameras at press conferences....


Even the "mesiah" Obama has not done anything either. He finally said "He's frustrated". well whoop dee doo. I want to see some action on this.

Oil in the marshes and on the shoreline is just crazy after 45 days. They could have been building sand berms just off the coast like to block the oil coming it. It wouldn't have stopped it completly, but it would have kept most of it out of the marshes.

instead, they sat on their asses..... and gave TV interviews and Press releases. It really ticks me off.

Want to get them down there? Change the oil in your vehicle and throw the used oil in a ditch close to the spill. They'll be all over you and it, like white on rice.

 

[EAN]

I just hope it doesn't take many many years to recoup from all this. It sucks not being able to do anything about it.

 

[DoubleHoseDiver]

That is part of what I was trying to say, this "spill" will not only impact us for years to come but the whole nation will feel it. My wife just called me up saying she could find NO oysters anywhere here in Baton Rouge! That hurts, but I wasn't surprised....she was going to surprise me with them. We as divers will also be affected. I always hope that we have no hurricanes....but esp this year. I cringe at what will happen if a hurricane gets into the Gulf right now. I am just at a loss for words to see something like this happening on our back porch. I am sorry if I was ranting....I feel better now. Tim