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[Gulf Coast Oil]: Spill, Baby Spill. Volunteer Info at the top of OP

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Posts

  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Arch wrote: »
    Abdhyius wrote: »
    So I asked my dad about this (he works for BP in the north sea. Only works for them, he isn't a BP employee! No mailbombs please!)

    and he said something tangential that was pretty interesting:

    There's a discussion up here about drilling off the coast of northern norway or not. The people who worked out the risk of a blowout happening recently revised their numbers; they analyzed statistics of those things that make blowouts happen happening, but they found that nearly all of the incidents in their data came from the gulf of mexico. If they used data from the north sea, the risk was much lower.

    So, hm.

    Also, on "isn't it strange for a rig to just blow up and sink?" "No, they do that sometimes."

    So there you have it.

    I am going to go full out "hippy" here for a moment- the fact that this happens at all is enough of a reason for me to flat out abandon offshore drilling.

    Yes I know there is always a risk involved here, but frankly? I don't care if it happens one time in a hundred years; that is still too often for me.

    My point is a rig "blowing up and sinking" causes enough problems and damage that if it happens even one time it has, in my opinion, happened too many times.

    Yes this is a very goosey opinion. I am fully aware of that. I am ALSO fully aware that no amount of accidents will ever STOP off shore drilling, so I don't feel too silly for carrying it.

    The biggest problem with halting offshore drilling is that you're putting thousands upon thousands of people out of jobs, from those who are actually on the platforms to the refineries that are all around the area I live.

    Yes, I get that. I UNDERSTAND that this is a fairly silly position to occupy; but as I also realize that it will never happen I don't feel too bad about having it.

    Additionally- I would never call for an outright closure of the rigs all on one day- That is silly and not feasible. I would ideally have infrastructure for related industries lined up before hand, but at this point I am repeating things that I have already said in this very thread.

    Arch on
  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Arch wrote: »
    Arch just out of curiosity are you against nuclear power because of things like Chernobyl and Three Mile Island?

    A bit yes. My main problem with nuclear power is the storage of waste but that is a different discussion

    Man you would hate where I live. Not only are there at least 3 or 4 oil refineries in the area but right down the road a mile or two is Waterford 3, a nuclear power plant.

    Man if that thing ever goes I'll just be turned instantly into a cartoon-like pile of ash.

    Hahnville, LA

    maximumzero on
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  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Arch wrote: »
    Arch just out of curiosity are you against nuclear power because of things like Chernobyl and Three Mile Island?

    A bit yes. My main problem with nuclear power is the storage of waste but that is a different discussion

    Man you would hate where I live. Not only are there at least 3 or 4 oil refineries in the area but right down the road a mile or two is Waterford 3, a nuclear power plant.

    Man if that thing ever goes I'll just be turned instantly into a cartoon-like pile of ash.

    Hahnville, LA

    Dude I lived right down the street from the Catawba River Plant. But this is REALLY REALLY tangential to the discussion especially when I have stated multiple times I realize just how extremist, silly, and just how NOT feasible my viewpoint is.

    Arch on
  • enc0reenc0re Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Arch wrote: »

    Dude I lived right down the street from the Catawba River Plant. But this is REALLY REALLY tangential to the discussion especially when I have stated multiple times I realize just how extremist, silly, and just how NOT feasible my viewpoint is.

    How about changing your opinion to something reasonable then?

    enc0re on
  • ArchArch Neat-o, mosquito! Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    enc0re wrote: »
    Arch wrote: »

    Dude I lived right down the street from the Catawba River Plant. But this is REALLY REALLY tangential to the discussion especially when I have stated multiple times I realize just how extremist, silly, and just how NOT feasible my viewpoint is.

    How about changing your opinion to something reasonable then?
    Arch wrote:
    You make very good points, and they are also things that I have considered as well. I guess it wasn't clear that I understood that going cold turkey on this is A. a terrible idea and B. not possible.

    However, I would like to see us (USA) take a more proactive approach to laying the infrastructure to make this move as soon as it is possible. At that point, we can then become a "world leader" in reducing oil dependence and if a country (you mentioned China) doesn't want to keep up; we call them out on it.

    There is no reason America can't make steps to being a "greener" nation; if not the greenest. We have the resources for this that a lot of countries just don't. I may be wrong- but I feel we have enough wide open spaces that could hold solar panels, windmills, and other sources of renewable or simply greener energy that we could shift a larger percentage of the total energy usage onto these sources.

    Now I am not crazy to the point that I think this will happen overnight; and I am also aware that most of these technologies are not as efficient as they can be.

    Anyway I kind of lost my train of thought so I am going to leave it there (lol CNN).

    This is really my viewpoint, as stated in this very thread. I hold the "extremist view" I have as a crazy ideal, much like how Premier Kakos has an extremist ideal of a fully communist society. We both would LOVE it if it was true, but we also both realize that right now we are NOT ready for it as a society. That being said, we both would like to see society move toward a place where our views are not as ludicrous.

    Arch on
  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Arch wrote: »
    Arch wrote: »
    Arch just out of curiosity are you against nuclear power because of things like Chernobyl and Three Mile Island?

    A bit yes. My main problem with nuclear power is the storage of waste but that is a different discussion

    Man you would hate where I live. Not only are there at least 3 or 4 oil refineries in the area but right down the road a mile or two is Waterford 3, a nuclear power plant.

    Man if that thing ever goes I'll just be turned instantly into a cartoon-like pile of ash.

    Hahnville, LA

    Dude I lived right down the street from the Catawba River Plant. But this is REALLY REALLY tangential to the discussion especially when I have stated multiple times I realize just how extremist, silly, and just how NOT feasible my viewpoint is.

    I wasn't trying to be attacking, just informative as to my location.

    maximumzero on
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  • Zombie NirvanaZombie Nirvana Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    fshavlak wrote: »
    Octoparrot wrote: »
    fshavlak wrote: »
    I was able to (encouraged to) read an in depth report on what had gone wrong, not written for politicians or the public, but for refinery operators. The entire thing was more or less caused by a string of operators seeing things slightly out of the ordinary but deciding that things were OK because they see those conditions with some regularity. There was really only one or two objectively wrong decisions made that led to a huge gas spill ... and once a giant cloud of flammable gas is loose in a place like a refinery, something will set it off. You're not allowed cell phones or other electronic devices for the reason that they could potentially be an ignition source, but with all the other equipment running around in a place like that the explosion was inevitable.

    Aren't there leak detectors running constantly and in multiple locations in any refinery? The kind of thing that, long before an explosion, should show an obvious and dangerous rise in combustable hydrocarbons?

    There are H2S detectors everywhere because it's a common leak and very dangerous to people (at Shell we had to wear one on our person whenever we went outside). As far as hydrocarbon leak detectors, I'm not aware of any. Typically you'd see a leak or spill from the instrumentation as the flow rates wouldn't match with the vessel pressures, but if my memory serves (it's been a while) the BP leak happened from an overflow tank that was supposed to have an active flare but didn't - so the gas was supposed to be escaping, just not before being burned.

    Workers will generally have their LEL meters on or a 4-gas that does H2S. Regarding the BP explosion, I have a friend who was an expert witness on that case. From what I remember a level safety high failed sending liquids where they shouldn't go (the flare). You don't send liquids to a flare because you end up with a goddamn volcano. In this case the goddamn volcano was in a goddamn refinery and a bunch of people lost their lives. Much like this newest BP incident. Operator shift end error made them miss their checks. The BP refinery is ancient - human error is the big danger there.

    Just pulled out my meter and it does oxygen, H2S, CO, and a LEL (lower explosive limit) calibrated to methane gas.

    Zombie Nirvana on
  • Xenogear_0001Xenogear_0001 Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Drake wrote: »
    Octoparrot wrote: »
    the tourist industry that is vital to the Gulf Coast.

    Those fucking douchebags who spend Spring Break in Panama City?

    It's a lot bigger than those human turds. Many people come down to the Gulf Coast to just chill on the beach with their family, eat some good local seafood and enjoy the local atmosphere. Spring Break is just the kick-off for what most of us living down here earn our livelihoods from. It's a huge chunk of our local economy. Probably the largest.

    Yes, this is truth. My family and I had a vacation planned for the Gulf Coast over in the St. Pete Beach area in June. Now, I can fully expect this slick to have made its way to the Tampa area by the time I'd be getting there. This is AWESOME.

    This has been a family tradition for as long as I've been alive. I'm quite enraged by this.

    If the source of your rage is that your family vacation is canceled, then please forgive me when I say "Drink bleach, silly goose."

    Of course that's not the only source of my rage. I just felt like sharing a somewhat personal account of how this might affect my family and I, mostly to elucidate that not all vacationers are 'fucking douchebags'. Shitting a brick about the environmental impact of this has been handled pretty well so far, and I didn't have much to add in that regard. As someone else said, however, I do feel this vindicates my position on 'Drill, baby, drill". On land is one thing--in the ocean, it's a whole different ballgame.

    EDIT: Also, thanks for pointing that out Octoparrot--I hadn't read all the way through the thread when I posted, and had initially reasoned that, by the time I planned on getting to the beach, this would have swept up all along the western shore of Florida. So, yeah, I was possibly a bit more personally upset than just in general. I already find 'oil rocks' washing up on shore, and I've personally witnessed the wildlife in that area, both on shore and underwater, go from what I would describe as plentiful ( back in the 90's) to downright desolate. I'm sure much of this is to blame on nitrogen run-off from all the agri-business in the area, but I can't help but notice that the ocean has been tasting far more "oily" of late.

    Xenogear_0001 on
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  • SchrodingerSchrodinger Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    I keep hearing libertarians insist that the invisible hand is perfectly capable of handling environmental disputes, as corporations will refrain from polluting the environment from fear of lawsuits.

    Does that mean that we can now expect libertarians to launch a massive lawsuit against BP?

    Schrodinger on
  • WazzaWazza Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Reuter's is reporting another possible spill in the Gulf, this time a mobile inland drilling unit.
    Reuters is reporting that another offshore drilling rig has overturned in the gulf coast, this time in inland waters close to Morgan City, LA. Reuters writes that the Coast Guard has responded to an "accident" at a "mobile inland drilling unit."

    The Coast Guard has put out the following press release on the incident.

    MORGAN CITY, La. -- The Coast Guard is responding Friday to an overturned mobile inland drilling unit (MIDU) in the Charenton navigational canal south of Highway 90.

    The MIDU has a 20,000-gallon diesel fuel capacity, and while there is no current estimate on how much fuel was on board at the time of the incident, on-scene Coast Guard pollution investigators have determined that the rig is not leaking fuel at this time. As a precaution, 500 feet of containment boom has been deployed around the rig, with an additional 500 feet arriving to provide a secondary string within the canal.

    The Coast Guard has established a safety zone 1,000 yards on either side of the incident, prohibiting vessel traffic from entering the area without permission from the Captain of the Port. A salvage plan is currently being developed for Coast Guard approval.

    There are no reported injuries and the Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the incident.

    Wazza on
  • Jademonkey79Jademonkey79 Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    I keep hearing libertarians insist that the invisible hand is perfectly capable of handling environmental disputes, as corporations will refrain from polluting the environment from fear of lawsuits.

    Does that mean that we can now expect libertarians to launch a massive lawsuit against BP?

    Yes but they will need to borrow some money first.

    Jademonkey79 on
    "We’re surrounded. That simplifies our problem of getting to these people and killing them."
  • RUNN1NGMANRUNN1NGMAN Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    I keep hearing libertarians insist that the invisible hand is perfectly capable of handling environmental disputes, as corporations will refrain from polluting the environment from fear of lawsuits.

    Does that mean that we can now expect libertarians to launch a massive lawsuit against BP?

    Um...isn't that an argument libertarians lost a long time ago? Tragedy of the commons and all?

    RUNN1NGMAN on
  • SchrodingerSchrodinger Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    RUNN1NGMAN wrote: »
    I keep hearing libertarians insist that the invisible hand is perfectly capable of handling environmental disputes, as corporations will refrain from polluting the environment from fear of lawsuits.

    Does that mean that we can now expect libertarians to launch a massive lawsuit against BP?

    Um...isn't that an argument libertarians lost a long time ago? Tragedy of the commons and all?

    Yeah, but they're about as self-aware as "Bruce Willis" was in "The Sixth Sense."

    Edit: There should be a law saying that if the potential for damage outweighs your ability to pay for the recovery, then you can't do it. Of course, right now, we can't even manage to create laws requiring financial firms to have the money to backup their investments, so good luck applying that to externalities.

    Schrodinger on
  • Jademonkey79Jademonkey79 Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Drake wrote: »
    Octoparrot wrote: »
    the tourist industry that is vital to the Gulf Coast.

    Those fucking douchebags who spend Spring Break in Panama City?

    It's a lot bigger than those human turds. Many people come down to the Gulf Coast to just chill on the beach with their family, eat some good local seafood and enjoy the local atmosphere. Spring Break is just the kick-off for what most of us living down here earn our livelihoods from. It's a huge chunk of our local economy. Probably the largest.

    Yes, this is truth. My family and I had a vacation planned for the Gulf Coast over in the St. Pete Beach area in June. Now, I can fully expect this slick to have made its way to the Tampa area by the time I'd be getting there. This is AWESOME.

    This has been a family tradition for as long as I've been alive. I'm quite enraged by this.

    If the source of your rage is that your family vacation is canceled, then please forgive me when I say "Drink bleach, silly goose."

    Of course that's not the only source of my rage. I just felt like sharing a somewhat personal account of how this might affect my family and I, mostly to elucidate that not all vacationers are 'fucking douchebags'. Shitting a brick about the environmental impact of this has been handled pretty well so far, and I didn't have much to add in that regard. As someone else said, however, I do feel this vindicates my position on 'Drill, baby, drill". On land is one thing--in the ocean, it's a whole different ballgame.

    EDIT: Also, thanks for pointing that out Octoparrot--I hadn't read all the way through the thread when I posted, and had initially reasoned that, by the time I planned on getting to the beach, this would have swept up all along the western shore of Florida. So, yeah, I was possibly a bit more personally upset than just in general. I already find 'oil rocks' washing up on shore, and I've personally witnessed the wildlife in that area, both on shore and underwater, go from what I would describe as plentiful ( back in the 90's) to downright desolate. I'm sure much of this is to blame on nitrogen run-off from all the agri-business in the area, but I can't help but notice that the ocean has been tasting far more "oily" of late.

    Imagine your feelings about a place you like to visit, now imagine this is the place you grew up. As a 2nd generation native, I recognize that this state would be amazing if it weren't for people. The only thing I've ever really liked about Florida, my home, is the natural landscape. Everyone has fond memories of their childhood and all of mine take place away from the idiotic strip malls and in the natural forests and beaches where my imagination went wild. When I was into D&D we used to fight invisible dragons and monsters in the mangroves of the intercoastal. We'd pretend to be Marines hitting the swampy beaches and took cover behind 100 year old trees. We swam in the ugly green waters of the Gulf and cooked the crabs we caught in crappy little traps.

    I'm 30 now and to be honest I'm going fishing tomorrow even though I'll probably not catch anything worth keeping. I get the feeling it will be one of the last times I'll be able to wade out into the water, enjoy the breeze and the wildlife, and not come back with black spots all over my legs. I get that this was an accident and there are a million factors at play. But I still can't escape this idea that the last thing I really liked about living here, the one thing that I could use as a reason to stay, will most likely get hosed.

    Right now, more than anything, I just want to rub a handful of 10W-30 in the faces of the "Drill Baby Drill" crowd who came down here for the elections, then left when they felt they had made their points. I feel like someone took a giant steaming shit in my backyard and then ran back to their home state where it didn't smell so bad.

    Jademonkey79 on
    "We’re surrounded. That simplifies our problem of getting to these people and killing them."
  • tinwhiskerstinwhiskers Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    I keep hearing libertarians insist that the invisible hand is perfectly capable of handling environmental disputes, as corporations will refrain from polluting the environment from fear of lawsuits.

    Does that mean that we can now expect libertarians to launch a massive lawsuit against BP?

    http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63T2VX20100430
    "We are taking full responsibility for the spill and we will clean it up, and where people can present legitimate claims for damages we will honor them. We are going to be very, very aggressive in all of that," Tony Hayward[BP CEO] told Reuters in an interview on Friday.
    ...
    The cost to the fishing industry in Louisiana could be $2.5 billion, while the impact on tourism along Florida's panhandle coast could be $3 billion, Neil McMahon, analyst at investment firm Bernstein, said in a research note on Friday.

    BP shares closed down 1.5 percent on Friday, bringing the total drop in the shares since the rig disaster was announced to around 13 percent -- a loss of around $20 billion in its market capitalization.

    Analysts expect the final cost of the incident to BP to be under $10 billion, and so said the price drop represents a buying opportunity.

    I'm sure BP execs were aware of the problems with the rig, but opted to lose 5-10 billion dollars just cause they couldn't be bothered to fix it. They probably don't even care that their personal stock options just took a 13% nose dive.
    Edit: There should be a law saying that if the potential for damage outweighs your ability to pay for the recovery, then you can't do it. Of course, right now, we can't even manage to create laws requiring financial firms to have the money to backup their investments, so good luck applying that to externalities.

    BP net profits (2009): US $16.58 billion

    tinwhiskers on
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  • maximumzeromaximumzero I...wait, what? New Orleans, LARegistered User regular
    edited April 2010
    If anything this definitely proves how vulnerable offshore drilling platforms are to terrorist attack.

    maximumzero on
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  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    What?

    electricitylikesme on
  • Jademonkey79Jademonkey79 Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Frogmen. Terrorist Frogmen who can dive deeper than any man before.

    Jademonkey79 on
    "We’re surrounded. That simplifies our problem of getting to these people and killing them."
  • PerpetualPerpetual Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    If anything this definitely proves how vulnerable offshore drilling platforms are to terrorist attack.

    How does it prove that exactly?

    Perpetual on
  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Perpetual wrote: »
    If anything this definitely proves how vulnerable offshore drilling platforms are to terrorist attack.

    How does it prove that exactly?

    Environmentalists did this to make the climate bill more palateable.

    enlightenedbum on
    Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
  • SheepSheep Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited April 2010
    So there was this very acrid, chemically smell in the air last night. At least in the 50 miles of my commute.

    Though I was told this was NOT related to them burning the oil.

    So I dunno.

    Wonder what it was.

    Sheep on
  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Perpetual wrote: »
    If anything this definitely proves how vulnerable offshore drilling platforms are to terrorist attack.

    How does it prove that exactly?

    Environmentalists did this to make the climate bill more palateable.

    Well, it's reaching a lot, but I guess you could make the argument that if an oil company can pilot a remote controlled submersible to do maintenance work 5,000 feet below the surface of the ocean, a terrorist group could pilot a remote controlled submersible with a large amount of explosives 5,000 feet below the surface of the ocean as well?

    I guess?

    More likely the threat lies in a mole acting as a worker on a rig and using their internal position to create a situation that would cause a chain reaction resulting in the rig exploding and falling into the sea. Sort of like On Deadly Ground, only different.

    SmokeStacks on
  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    I should be clear: Limbaugh actually said that today.

    enlightenedbum on
    Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
  • SheepSheep Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited April 2010
    I should be clear: Limbaugh actually said that today.

    Wait.

    Limbaugh said offshore drilling is a bad idea because of terrorism?

    Sheep on
  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Sheep wrote: »
    I should be clear: Limbaugh actually said that today.

    Wait.

    Limbaugh said offshore drilling is a bad idea because of terrorism?

    No he said that environmental terrorists blew up the rig to cause this spill to make the introduction of the climate bill more politically viable.

    enlightenedbum on
    Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
  • RUNN1NGMANRUNN1NGMAN Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Sheep wrote: »
    I should be clear: Limbaugh actually said that today.

    Wait.

    Limbaugh said offshore drilling is a bad idea because of terrorism?

    No he said that environmental terrorists blew up the rig to cause this spill to make the introduction of the climate bill more politically viable.

    HAHA...this quote trail is priceless :)

    RUNN1NGMAN on
  • SheepSheep Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited April 2010
    Sheep wrote: »
    I should be clear: Limbaugh actually said that today.

    Wait.

    Limbaugh said offshore drilling is a bad idea because of terrorism?

    No he said that environmental terrorists blew up the rig to cause this spill to make the introduction of the climate bill more politically viable.

    Oh.

    That's crazy. He must have missed that report where it was a fault in the equipment that Haliburton was using to concrete the pipes down.

    Sheep on
  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Do drilling platform employees have the same type of background checks done that employees of nuclear plants and storage facilities do?

    Not that it would really matter I guess, since I guess we can't even keep people in our own Military from flipping.

    How long until someone in the newsroom has this thought process, reports on it, and us 'Murrkans have one more thing to worry about?

    SmokeStacks on
  • MKRMKR Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Sheep wrote: »
    Sheep wrote: »
    I should be clear: Limbaugh actually said that today.

    Wait.

    Limbaugh said offshore drilling is a bad idea because of terrorism?

    No he said that environmental terrorists blew up the rig to cause this spill to make the introduction of the climate bill more politically viable.

    Oh.

    That's crazy. He must have missed that report where it was a fault in the equipment that Haliburton was using to concrete the pipes down.

    I don't think the investigation has even started yet.

    MKR on
  • Jademonkey79Jademonkey79 Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Sheep wrote: »
    So there was this very acrid, chemically smell in the air last night. At least in the 50 miles of my commute.

    Though I was told this was NOT related to them burning the oil.

    So I dunno.

    Wonder what it was.

    It's the oil. They stopped telling us it was the Mexican wildfires two days ago.

    Jademonkey79 on
    "We’re surrounded. That simplifies our problem of getting to these people and killing them."
  • Jademonkey79Jademonkey79 Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Do drilling platform employees have the same type of background checks done that employees of nuclear plants and storage facilities do?

    Not that it would really matter I guess, since I guess we can't even keep people in our own Military from flipping.

    How long until someone in the newsroom has this thought process, reports on it, and us 'Murrkans have one more thing to worry about?

    We can only trust robots.

    Jademonkey79 on
    "We’re surrounded. That simplifies our problem of getting to these people and killing them."
  • RUNN1NGMANRUNN1NGMAN Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    So, Bobby Jindal actually had the balls to criticize how the feds are using floating boom. Yes, the Democrats have a secret stockpile of boom they are hiding because somewhere there's an upside to ruining thousands of miles of coastline.

    RUNN1NGMAN on
  • Big DookieBig Dookie Smells great! Houston, TXRegistered User regular
    edited April 2010
    I'm sure BP execs were aware of the problems with the rig, but opted to lose 5-10 billion dollars just cause they couldn't be bothered to fix it. They probably don't even care that their personal stock options just took a 13% nose dive.
    Is this a joke?

    Big Dookie on
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  • MKRMKR Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Big Dookie wrote: »
    I'm sure BP execs were aware of the problems with the rig, but opted to lose 5-10 billion dollars just cause they couldn't be bothered to fix it. They probably don't even care that their personal stock options just took a 13% nose dive.
    Is this a joke?

    It's hyperbole being used to make a point.

    MKR on
  • SheepSheep Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2010
    MKR wrote: »
    Sheep wrote: »
    Sheep wrote: »
    I should be clear: Limbaugh actually said that today.

    Wait.

    Limbaugh said offshore drilling is a bad idea because of terrorism?

    No he said that environmental terrorists blew up the rig to cause this spill to make the introduction of the climate bill more politically viable.

    Oh.

    That's crazy. He must have missed that report where it was a fault in the equipment that Haliburton was using to concrete the pipes down.

    I don't think the investigation has even started yet.

    They have a good idea as to what the cause was. Not 100%. So far they think it had somethind to do with the concrete not hardening quick enough and allowing gas to build up and explode.

    Sheep on
  • SchrodingerSchrodinger Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    I keep hearing libertarians insist that the invisible hand is perfectly capable of handling environmental disputes, as corporations will refrain from polluting the environment from fear of lawsuits.

    Does that mean that we can now expect libertarians to launch a massive lawsuit against BP?

    http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63T2VX20100430
    "We are taking full responsibility for the spill and we will clean it up, and where people can present legitimate claims for damages we will honor them. We are going to be very, very aggressive in all of that," Tony Hayward[BP CEO] told Reuters in an interview on Friday.
    ...
    The cost to the fishing industry in Louisiana could be $2.5 billion, while the impact on tourism along Florida's panhandle coast could be $3 billion, Neil McMahon, analyst at investment firm Bernstein, said in a research note on Friday.

    BP shares closed down 1.5 percent on Friday, bringing the total drop in the shares since the rig disaster was announced to around 13 percent -- a loss of around $20 billion in its market capitalization.

    Analysts expect the final cost of the incident to BP to be under $10 billion, and so said the price drop represents a buying opportunity.

    I'm sure BP execs were aware of the problems with the rig, but opted to lose 5-10 billion dollars just cause they couldn't be bothered to fix it. They probably don't even care that their personal stock options just took a 13% nose dive.

    More likely, they took a gamble and lost, taking everyone else down with them. The thing is, the execs can rake in so much cash from previous years that they can still have mountains of money to fall back on even if the stock price takes a dive.

    And I really do hope that the long term environmental damage to the fishing industry can be contained at 2.5 billion. I seriously doubt it, however.

    Schrodinger on
  • November FifthNovember Fifth Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    The gulf shrimp industry was already struggling with competition from Asian suppliers and never did recover from Katrina. Ironically, they had been trying to shift to oyster farming, which is going to be more susceptible to oil contamination.

    The tourism industry is already being affected. I checked out of a resort in Destin, FL this morning, and they had extra staff in to help handle the cancellations.

    Sucks about the wildlife too. I saw a juvenile bald eagle on a golf course next to the bay a couple of days ago. First one I've ever seen in the wild. Hope he makes it.

    November Fifth on
  • SmokeStacksSmokeStacks Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    So BP's stock dropped 13%, but I'm curious if Proctor and Gamble is going to see a rise over the next few weeks.

    On a side note, experts may expect the cost to BP may be less than ten billion, but if they pull an Exxon I wonder how much they'll really end up paying out in the end. This isn't some far away Alaskan coast, it's literally in our backyard. Any day now I'm sure we'll be seeing pictures of crude starting to wash up on southern beaches all over the internet.

    SmokeStacks on
  • Kid PresentableKid Presentable Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Sheep wrote: »
    MKR wrote: »
    Sheep wrote: »
    Sheep wrote: »
    I should be clear: Limbaugh actually said that today.

    Wait.

    Limbaugh said offshore drilling is a bad idea because of terrorism?

    No he said that environmental terrorists blew up the rig to cause this spill to make the introduction of the climate bill more politically viable.

    Oh.

    That's crazy. He must have missed that report where it was a fault in the equipment that Haliburton was using to concrete the pipes down.

    I don't think the investigation has even started yet.

    They have a good idea as to what the cause was. Not 100%. So far they think it had somethind to do with the concrete not hardening quick enough and allowing gas to build up and explode.

    Pretty sure it was the Cloverfield monster waking up.

    Kid Presentable on
  • SchrodingerSchrodinger Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    The gulf shrimp industry was already struggling with competition from Asian suppliers and never did recover from Katrina. Ironically, they had been trying to shift to oyster farming, which is going to be more susceptible to oil contamination.

    The tourism industry is already being affected. I checked out of a resort in Destin, FL this morning, and they had extra staff in to help handle the cancellations.

    Sucks about the wildlife too. I saw a juvenile bald eagle on a golf course next to the bay a couple of days ago. First one I've ever seen in the wild. Hope he makes it.

    Basically, consumers get screwed over two ways. First you jack up the price of seafood, then you force people to go to asian markets where the quality control is much lower, and where there are a lot of unsustainable practices. I have a very hard time believe that you can quantify all those externalities at only 2.5 billion.

    Has anyone done a mashup of the republicans going "Drill baby drill" intercut with scenes of the disaster? Because they really need to do that.

    Schrodinger on
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