British Petroleum's Chief Executive, Tony Hayward, was all over the airwaves saying his company accepts responsibility for the disastrous oil spill off the Gulf Coast. At the same time there is a growing chorus of irresponsible and absurd comments from the far right linking the oil leak to possible sabotage.
First, President Barack Obama basher and radio blowhard Rush Limbaugh pointed the finger at "environmentalist wackos." He opined, "What better way to head off more oil drilling, nuclear plants, than by blowing up a rig? I'm just noting the timing here." Then Dana Perino, the former White House Press Secretary under President George Bush, said on Fox News, "You have to wonder whether there was sabotage involved." No Ms. Perino, Americans wonder why you and Limbaugh are so reckless with your comments.
Maybe Americans should wonder if Halliburton had a hand in this "sabotage." You know, the very same company where Vice President Cheney served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer from 1995 to 2000. The Wall Street Journal reported, "Scrutiny on cementing will focus attention on Halliburton Co., the oilfield-services firm that was handling the cementing process on the rig, which burned and sank last week." The company says, "It is premature and irresponsible to speculate on any specific causal issues." Apparently Perino and Limbaugh didn't get the memo.
Or maybe Vice President Dick Cheney himself played a role when his energy task force decided against requiring remote-control shut-off switches, at $500,000 apiece, saying they are too costly, ineffective and the rigs had other backup plans. Brazil and Norway require the switches. But the United Kingdom, where BP is based, doesn't require the devices.
Were it not for the oi lrig disaster, BP would have had a fabulous first quarter. They reported their profits had risen 135 percent from the same period a year earlier, to about $6 billion. With 11 oilmen dead and almost unimaginable destruction to wildlife, coastal areas and the devastation to fragile businesses that rely on the Gulf, BP may need every penny.
In a statement BP said it is "Committed to pay legitimate and objectively verifiable claims for other loss and damage caused by the spill -- this may include claims for assessment, mitigation and clean up of spilled oil, real and property damage caused by the oil, personal injury caused by the spill, commercial losses including loss of earnings/profit and other losses as contemplated by applicable laws and regulations."
But one has to wonder just how much BP will actually pay in the end to the families of the dead, to small businesses, to the citizens who live on the Gulf Coast and to the American taxpayers. Especially considering that, while they have publicly accepted responsibility, they have said the accident is not their fault because they contracted with other companies to do the work.
Countless Congressional hearings, investigations and lawsuits will likely drag on for years. But corporate greed, lax regulations, transparency, oversight, and powerful political connections are likely to be at the bottom of this calamity. Sound familiar?
This massive disaster is far from over. The gravity of the destruction has yet to be fully realized. The people of the Gulf Coast are desperate for answers and an end to this nightmare. They must not be exploited for political reasons and personal gain.
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Jim Selman: The Gulf: Captured By Our Creations
Whether human beings can regain some choice over their technological and institutional "creations" is doubtful. We've created a world so complex and fragmented that sane or enlightened governance seems impossible.
Rush Limbaugh suggests environmentalists planned oil spill
How the Beltway press (not Rush Limbaugh) launched “Obama's Katrinaâ€
Come up with an absolutely impossible and whacked out theory with no grounds of support that somehow furthers your myopic world-view and political agenda and then DEMAND that there be an investigation.
Obfuscate, deny, delay, etc.
Here's one for you...
There are some critics that have said the oil spill may have been caused by Rush Limbaugh farting. The acidic residue released could have burned through the floor of his studio and down through the crust of the Earth, seeping into the bedrock where it then may have been able to travel toward the unsuspecting oil rig eating through the metal and causing the leak and eventually the explosion.
This could have happened and I DEMAND a THOROUGH INVESTIGATION that uses TAXPAYER money and gets to the uh, BOTTOM of this.
How can anyone stand these fu(kers?
again, there is a paper trail, please someone follow it, rather then reactionary reporting.
In 14 th century Europe, populations went crazy, killing each other for years because of the machinations and collapse of the financial system. We see parallels.
The international monetary financier debt based market system is in an unrelenting, accelerating, collapsing operation; it can can not be bailed out, reformed, regulated etc. However that does not staunch the demands for bailout and guarantees from the credit of sovereign nations.
Anyone doing their duty would have to investigate the correlation.
Dr. Mohammed Mossadeqh was the democratically elected prime minister of Iran from 1951 to 1953. Mossadegh was a nationalist and passionately opposed foreign intervention in Iran. He was the architect of the nationalization of the Iranian oil industry which was dominated and exploited by the British through the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (today known as British Petroleum (BP).
He was removed from power in a CIA orchestrated coup, supported and funded by the British and the U.S. governments. The coup was led by CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt, Jr., the grandson of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, and came to be known as Operation Ajax
When the American Embassy was taken over, Khomeni came back to Iran .... the country was ripe for revolution .... and we have the Iran of today.
Why do they hate us ???? Because 'the west' has treated the Middle East as a storage tank for 'its oil' for decades. When the leaders of those countries are compliant, they are 'allies' but those who decide that their resources are 'theirs' become 'unstable regimes that need to be taken out' or at least treated as mortal enemies.
Dude, stuff happens. Things break. Space craft explode. Cars crash. People catch on fire during surgery. It's complex stuff and things go wrong. People do the best they can at the time.
The Exxon Valdez put the single hull tanker out of business. This rig explosion and spill will force companies to develop better oil well caps. Progress marches on.
If you don't want to drill for oil close to shore just say so. Doesn't seem like a great idea to me either.
Oil exloration can be done safely at all times, just not safely and affordably.
which brings us to point two: things do break. which is why these co's should be pushing for maximum safeguards, instead of fighting regulation
In the seventies I roughnecked a field in Utah that had three wells blow out in pretty quick succession. I remember clearly was that no one knew what pressures were going to be found down there until the drills perforated the formation. Where wildcatting was concerned, the principle was to go cheap because if problems arose that pretty much meant that you just found enough oil to pay for all damges and still get rich.
For a well to flow to the surface at 5,000 barrels per day, the math looks like this. 5,000 x 365 x $80 = $146,000,000 per year gross from one hole. Yeah, the rig, etc. was more than that but insurance will cover the rig, and the operating entities will just BK out of any additional liability.
Meanwhile BP just hit a major field that will flow $150 mil for multiple years in the future for every hole drilled. How many holes possible is a secret that BP will go to the mattresses over but smart money would bet on enough to keep the good times rolling. Unless, of course, some political spine is found and BP is forced to do what the law, alone, is clearly insufficient to accomplish.
Full accountability clearly must be compelled.
All I'm trying to do is keep discussion centered on accurate, factual information rather than uninformed opinion. Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but if he is going to discuss technical information, it needs to be accurate. I don't think anyone would argue that point but prove me wrong...
Maybe the blow-out preventer was successfully triggered or maybe BP is just saying so because they do not have Acoustic Switches...Obviously something went terribly wrong.
I am no conspiracy nut but excuse me if I don[t want to rely on BP's account of anything right now. They have been wrong about almost everything every step of the way.
Acoustic switches are an added safety tool...They can be activated by remote control sending acoustic pulses through the water to trigger the BOP even if the rig is severely damaged, Just in case BP was mistaken about whether or not the blow out preventer was properly triggered I wish they had the extra shot of using the Acoustic Switch. Why spent 500million on rig and not spend half a million to have every possible tool on hand to avert a major tragedy.
The Government is the biggest corporation of all. They write the laws and collect all the taxes. Do you really think a bunch of bureaucrats in Washington surfing the web for porno or elected officials on the 24/7 campaign contribution treadmill are going to do a great job looking out for you and your interests? Dream on.
Other than that your entire point would be ridiculous.
The equation would remain unchanged. We would still need massive amounts of new oil to meet projected demand, much of which will be coming from other countries - where they are just discovering the automobile.