BP Turned Away Help From James Cameron

Yahoo! News:

Film director and deep-sea explorer James Cameron said on Wednesday that BP Plc turned down his offer to help combat the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Read the whole story: Yahoo! News

Comments

[nobleday]

11:12 AM on 06/05/2010

Obama is partly responsible for the mess in the Gulf at this point. He has to be the least involved and most divisive "leader" we have ever had. No wonder he loves his job...it's just one party and one international trip after another. Camp Obama is the priority. In Obama's world who really cares about the Gulf?

Someone needs to make a list of all of the other priorities this man has had since the day the well exploded...it's disgraceful. No matter what spin Obama tries to put on it...the truth is still there and it's not pretty. I have no respect left for this man.

The government's finger-pointing, hearings to find fault, government lawyers running down to threaten suing, and other divisive actions don't bring people together to get good things done. The Obama administration's actions have led people to hunker down and run from the disaster.

If we had a REAL leader, they would have IMMEDIATELY gotten every scientist, engineer, and inventor down to the Gulf to problem solve this disaster...people working together on any and every solution possible. They should have started implementing every and any good solution immediately to see which ones worked.

But no...Obama has lawyers running around and people throwing blame around. No wonder things aren't getting better. Seminar-leader in Chief...Obama can talk a good game, but gets nothing done in the Gulf.

[Dr Juan]

08:23 AM on 06/05/2010

If he is so good he should go out into the Gulf and photo document those plumes that seem so elusive to all officialdome.

And he and National Geographic should get some footage of the BOP st various stages of "fix" with accurate scale information so experts can get more accurate calculations of the leak rate.

This would better determine the spill fine BP has to pay, at whatever courts determine for rate (1100 or 4300 $/barrel)

[Pandaforum]

05:23 PM on 06/04/2010

laymen think cameron is an "expert" because he talked to some experts. if cameron is so smart let him get his "crew" dfown there and fix the problem. It couldn't be any harder than filming the titanic or maybe some sci fi flick.

[TodReynard]

07:57 PM on 06/04/2010

Umm he offered them an entire fleet of submarines and they turned it down. It wasn't just talk

[eyelashviper]

11:11 AM on 06/05/2010

Cameron IS an expert on deep underwater robotics and filming, so try to learn something before you so readily toss out your opinion based on nothing.

[BebeLush]

04:10 PM on 06/04/2010

I'd put more faith in him than those engineering "geniuses" at BP. Near two months later and oil is still leaking.

[MyVesta]

02:54 PM on 06/04/2010

This just shows how deluded this country has become.

Rather than actually focussing efforts and resources on creating (a) a renewable viable energy and (b) training and equipping our military to swiftly and efficiently deal with natural (and unnatural) catastrophes, we instead want to play make-believe.

Hey, why don't we ask John Travolta, as well? Since, you know, he played that oil rigger in Urban Cowboy? I bet he and Cameron could fix this mess in a day.

[commonsense68130]

03:06 PM on 06/04/2010

No... he could fix it in 2 hr 53 min...

[MyVesta]

03:11 PM on 06/04/2010

Funny!

[nachtengel]

03:44 PM on 06/04/2010

I said this below, but it should be said again apparently...

Do you have any inkling of an idea how many ideas, and NASA engineers, throughout history have been influenced by asimov, phil dick, and a myriad of science fiction movies and books?

Do you know that military and space technology of today, is what you will see in your house in 20 years. And why? Because hundreds of very clever people working in their garages and other places, not myred in political red tape, can freely think outside the box and invent. And where do these technologies end up... in our military and space programs, and now the film industry.

This comment too reads "let the people who say they are the professionals give and follow the same standard responses and obtuse and dated procedures that they have followed for over 40 years. It's too simply absurd.

[MyVesta]

04:03 PM on 06/04/2010

Maybe we should ask Spock how they would deal with such a castrophe in the future?

[ThinkCreeps]

05:30 PM on 06/04/2010

It's the other way round, mate.

[Carlton LeJeune]

02:19 PM on 06/04/2010

I would like to add another disaster that the Gulf is experiencing and gets little attention. I am referring to the dead zone that is being created by nitrate pollution caused by farmers along the Mississippi River water shed. In an effort to produce alternative fuel, alcohol, farmers are dumping fertilizers in the soil to accelerate corn production to produce alcohol. The dead zone is already the size of a New England state and growing. Remember this dead zone is void of life. I am not down playing the magnitude of the BP Oil spill but I have not noticed a moratorium on farming and the use of fertilizer in farming practices. Why is one disaster more important that the other. Is it because the new media can get more dramatic pictures of the oil spill and the dead zone is not photogenic.

[simplystunned]

07:42 AM on 06/04/2010

Well Duh. Not too far a stretch to understand why BP wouldn't want an award winning film director and ocean-buff riding around in submarines and filming documentaries.
Probably the only smart decision BP has made this year. Hope Cameron does it anyway.

[TrueSense]

05:15 AM on 06/04/2010

The ignorance on this board is staggering. Did I stumble on some right-wing-ignorance is bliss site ?

Why are people taking all these cheap shots at Cameron ?

Not mentioned in this article is his work on the Abyss. Where he and his crew invented new diving equipment that has now been adopted by the diving industry. The equipment he needed to have his actors in the water did not exist in scuba at the time, so they created new scuba and diving gear.

I hope we divert from a course of becoming a country where ignorance and people who are about nothing are celebrated.

People laugh at Keving Costner because he wants to do some good while they do nothing but tear people down. He spends millions of his on money. His brothers, the actual brains and know-how in the invention, does have a true science and engineering background.

BP is staying away from his solution, the tanker solution, and using dispersants to save money and hide their crime and liability ! They had hoped to get some of the oil. I am glad so many fools are on their side.

I also like how the EPA showed how weak and bad things have become. BP told to go somewhere and they asked them what route we should take and how fast should we go there !
I believe the chemical they use is illegal in their home country !

Wake up !

[aDelphinium]

06:07 AM on 06/04/2010

Welcome to HP.

[LCDTV]

08:48 PM on 06/04/2010

James cameron is a very bright person. He and his brother have created a lot underwater equipment. And Cameron said, "I know really, really, really smart people that work typically at depths much greater than what that well is at,"
People only care what they see at the surface and no interest in learning. Cameron should be listened to and I bet he has some really good ideas and he has the connections to deep diving submersibles.

[buttonz]

04:57 AM on 06/04/2010

Cameron is a joke.

This is so American to expect results the same way you expect fast food. Underwater engineering is a terribly complex science. This isn't like the movies where a genius figures out a device to save the world and it is constructed shortly thereafter.

The truth is the people truly capable of dealing with this problem are working for BP. These are very capable engineers amongst the best in their field. In fact it looks like they might stop this in a very short time, like now.

Do you think that leaving this to a bureaucrat is going to make this any faster or safer? Have people forgotten that trying to cap and doing it incorrectly this can worse?

This reminds me of the South Park Imagination Land episode where the military consults Hollywood for ideas and get ridiculous gibberish.

[aDelphinium]

06:10 AM on 06/04/2010

How do you know the most capable people are working for BP?

[nachtengel]

03:41 PM on 06/04/2010

This post has to be one of the saddest I have seen, and it's why America is flailing terribly these days.

Do you know how many ideas, and NASA engineers, throughout history have been influenced by asimov, phil dick, and a myriad of science fiction movies and books. More than you in your short will ever know or would likely imagine.

Do you know that military and space technology of today, is what you will see in your house in 20 years. And why? Because hundreds of very clever people working in their garages and other places, not myred in political red tape, can freely think outside the box and invent. And where do these technologies end up... in our military and space programs, and now the film industry.

Your comment that the best are working for BP reads to me "let the people who say they are the professionals give and follow the same standard responses and obtuse and dated procedures that they have followed for over 40 years. It's simply absurd.

[nachtengel]

04:04 AM on 06/04/2010

my guess is this will end up like that hole in the ground not more than a mile away from me at ground zero... it's been 10 years and every sheister in the universe wants to exploit that plot, and red tape has kept it empty. 10 years to build anything on the most significant screw up in the history of the country, and still nothing, and that sad to say was majorly front and center.

A year from now the ratings will diminish on this story, and many peoples livelihoods will simply be destroyed permanently, along with the clogged arteries of our southern and possibly eastern coast line.

10 years from now, Obama will be waxing poetic like Jimmy Carter with comments like "I had no understanding of what was going on, if i did of course i would have done something different."

history will be unfavorable to this president in the days of youtube. he had the absolutely moronic audacity that some how we can contro a financial system so broken and so driven 100% by luck and uncertainty (that also destroyed so many lives) and now this will fill his next 3.

[rougebaisers]

01:23 AM on 06/04/2010

They are morons thinking small about everything but profits. Take this latest so called fix doomed to fail. The only way to contain this spew til it is stopped would be a containment tube/chimney massive enough to literally surround the site of the spew so the oil would have nowhere to go but up the tube where it would be siphoned/collected at the surface. Imagine a wine glass or martini glass turned upside.

[rougebaisers]

02:26 AM on 06/04/2010

the upside down TITANIC wine glass containment thingie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2hKFG09OL8

[tanx8]

11:55 PM on 06/03/2010

The last thing BP want is an accurate depiction of the full extent of the oil spill. BP doesn't want the truth being revealed especially by a high-profile director who garners media attention.

[mootown]

07:03 AM on 06/04/2010

Thank you. All said in 2 sentences. Fanned.

[bluehand]

12:19 AM on 06/05/2010

Yep!

[Brent Willcom]

11:54 PM on 06/03/2010

Thank you James Cameron for your blunt and truthful words. BP is hinding as much damage that is happening now as they can. I hope you stay active at your outrage from the worst man made disasters of all time.

[caveman1313]

11:16 PM on 06/03/2010

bp doesn't need him because they already have waterworld costner on site cleaning up the spill

[SpinDizzy]

11:01 PM on 06/03/2010

Obama needs to authorize Cameron and his cameras and deep sea vehicles to find out what's really going on down there. Of course BP doesn't want anyone to see this. Does the president?

[bluehand]

12:20 AM on 06/05/2010

Agree.