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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 15:09
by artistagent116
I am getting so irritated with the lack of progress in getting this spill stopped and getting the oil cleaned up. Does anyone else think this has just gone on TOO LONG? What kind of damage is being done? How long is the area going to have to deal with this ecological disaster? What will future repercussions be? Why can't someone just force a gigantic tampon in the pipe or something?

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 15:21
by A Thing of Eternity
This should be in the ghafla or politics sub-forums, this is the "suggestions" forum! :lol:

That said, this is so stupifying it's hard to wrap one's head around. I understand that we need oil, and that accidents happen - but how the hell were these guys allow to drill in the OCEAN without some kind of fast-response plan in place should something happen? There should have been something to cap that well floating in the ocean a few hundred meters away (from every rig really) ready for something like this. I doubt BP is the only company with no real backup plan, I think every country in the world should be seriously considering major changes to their regulations regarding these rigs, so that the next time one goes down we can do something other than sitting around shitting in our pants.

I've said it before, pollution in the ocean is the single most dangerous thing we can do to this planet (save nukes of course). It would be terrifying enough if it was just the spill, but that it keeps pumping out is insane. We won't know the real cost of this for decades most likely, as we watch the effects of the damaged food chain in that ocean work their way outwards.

I have enjoyed Rush Limbaugh's (spelling?) commentary on this though, the comedy that guy is producing is the only bright side I can see to this.


And - everyone is looking forward to seeing BP pay for this? Don't hold your breath. Remember that big spill in Alaska a LONG time ago? From what I've heard there's still not been any real money paid out on that one, it's been kept tied up in courts ever since, and shows no sign of being resolved. I'm betting that similar will happen this time, unless boycotts stay in place and hurt BP until they settle.

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 15:30
by merkin muffley
I think I've found the spokesperson for the mission to stick a giant tampon in the Gulf.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU1WXAA_ ... r_embedded[/youtube]
A Thing of Eternity wrote: I have enjoyed Rush Limbaugh's commentary on this though, the comedy that guy is producing is the only bright side I can see to this.
Rush Limbaugh is a sock-puppet.

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 15:32
by A Thing of Eternity
merkin muffley wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote: I have enjoyed Rush Limbaugh's commentary on this though, the comedy that guy is producing is the only bright side I can see to this.
Rush Limbaugh is a sock-puppet.
If he's a sockpuppet then I'm assuming that hand inside the puppet is the hoof of a donkey.

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 15:36
by merkin muffley
A Thing of Eternity wrote:
merkin muffley wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote: I have enjoyed Rush Limbaugh's commentary on this though, the comedy that guy is producing is the only bright side I can see to this.
Rush Limbaugh is a sock-puppet.
If he's a sockpuppet then I'm assuming that hand inside the puppet is the hoof of a donkey.
That's a slur against donkeys.

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 15:47
by A Thing of Eternity
merkin muffley wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote:
merkin muffley wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote: I have enjoyed Rush Limbaugh's commentary on this though, the comedy that guy is producing is the only bright side I can see to this.
Rush Limbaugh is a sock-puppet.
If he's a sockpuppet then I'm assuming that hand inside the puppet is the hoof of a donkey.
That's a slur against donkeys.
Now I feel bad. I apologize to donkeys everywhere. :oops:

The amazing thing is that some people actually LISTEN to that guy (not as comedy).

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 16:26
by Freakzilla
A Thing of Eternity wrote:That said, this is so stupifying it's hard to wrap one's head around. I understand that we need oil, and that accidents happen - but how the hell were these guys allow to drill in the OCEAN without some kind of fast-response plan in place should something happen? There should have been something to cap that well floating in the ocean a few hundred meters away (from every rig really) ready for something like this. I doubt BP is the only company with no real backup plan, I think every country in the world should be seriously considering major changes to their regulations regarding these rigs, so that the next time one goes down we can do something other than sitting around shitting in our pants.
There WAS a safety valve as required by regulators. The company that leased this rig to BP was fined for a poorly maintained valve on a rig near the UK. The same safety valve is being blamed for this but the investigation is still pending...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... in-UK.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 17:10
by A Thing of Eternity
Freakzilla wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote:That said, this is so stupifying it's hard to wrap one's head around. I understand that we need oil, and that accidents happen - but how the hell were these guys allow to drill in the OCEAN without some kind of fast-response plan in place should something happen? There should have been something to cap that well floating in the ocean a few hundred meters away (from every rig really) ready for something like this. I doubt BP is the only company with no real backup plan, I think every country in the world should be seriously considering major changes to their regulations regarding these rigs, so that the next time one goes down we can do something other than sitting around shitting in our pants.
There WAS a safety valve as required by regulators. The company that leased this rig to BP was fined for a poorly maintained valve on a rig near the UK. The same safety valve is being blamed for this but the investigation is still pending...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... in-UK.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Good point, but given the extreme level of damage these things can do I would think that there should be a completely seperate system in place near each rig to contain a leak - that way it can be kept maintained on the surface (or near to) and won't be effected by a rig going down and possibly doing damage on the way (not that that's what happened this time).

Of course, that said - none of their supposed fixes have worked yet, so even if there had been something nearby I guess it probably would have failed anyways.

These people are idiots.

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 17:32
by Freakzilla
Maybe once they figure out how to fix this one they can implement that into the safety regulations.

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 17:36
by A Thing of Eternity
Yeah, obviously even the plans they had in place were untested in real life conditions, so hopefully this gives us a chance to learn from it.

I'd love to see BP run into the ground for this, sucks that all the jobs would be lost, but without serious reprecussions companies will just never take it seriously in the future. Jobs and economies are one thing, but we only get one ocean to fuck up.

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 17:38
by Freakzilla
A Thing of Eternity wrote:...but we only get one ocean to fuck up.
Technically, don't we have seven? :P

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 17:43
by A Thing of Eternity
Freakzilla wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote:...but we only get one ocean to fuck up.
Technically, don't we have seven? :P
Non-technically we have seven. Technically we have one. :wink:

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 17:58
by Freakzilla
A Thing of Eternity wrote:
Freakzilla wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote:...but we only get one ocean to fuck up.
Technically, don't we have seven? :P
Non-technically we have seven. Technically we have one. :wink:
Touché!

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 18:20
by artistagent116
A Thing of Eternity wrote:This should be in the ghafla or politics sub-forums, this is the "suggestions" forum! :lol: ....

What? Where am I? This isn't ghafla? OOOps. My bad. As I claimed earlier.......I'm having a bad day. Anyone know where I parked my car?

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 18:41
by Freakzilla
artistagent116 wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote:This should be in the ghafla or politics sub-forums, this is the "suggestions" forum! :lol: ....

What? Where am I? This isn't ghafla? OOOps. My bad. As I claimed earlier.......I'm having a bad day. Anyone know where I parked my car?
Don't worry, I moved it. :)

(The topic, not your car.)

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 19:52
by artistagent116
Freakzilla wrote:
artistagent116 wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote:This should be in the ghafla or politics sub-forums, this is the "suggestions" forum! :lol: ....

What? Where am I? This isn't ghafla? OOOps. My bad. As I claimed earlier.......I'm having a bad day. Anyone know where I parked my car?
Don't worry, I moved it. :)

(The topic, not your car.)
Freakzilla, you're my Knight In Shining Winnebego.

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 19:54
by Freakzilla
I exist only to serve. :)

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 20:43
by SandRider
the "safety valve" is called a BOP, Blast-out Prevention; the drill was behind schedule and deeper
than projected; TransOcean, the sub-contractor for BP for the actual drilling of the well was in a
tizzy; drill bits were overstressed and one broke (happens all the time); the BOP seal was damaged
during the extraction of the bit (happens all the time); four weeks before the blowout, riggers reported
finding rubber in the drilling fluid (evidence of damaged seal; happens all the time); the TransOcean
GF, with his ass on the line, said "Don't worry, it'll be alright." .... BTW, those are the second most
common Last Words of a Redneck, right after "Hey, y'all watch this" ....

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 07 Jun 2010 21:07
by Nekhrun
Freakzilla wrote:
artistagent116 wrote:
A Thing of Eternity wrote:This should be in the ghafla or politics sub-forums, this is the "suggestions" forum! :lol: ....

What? Where am I? This isn't ghafla? OOOps. My bad. As I claimed earlier.......I'm having a bad day. Anyone know where I parked my car?
Don't worry, I moved it. :)

(The topic, not your car.)
That reminds me of the time last winter when there were two cars left running to stay warm when my friends an I were bar-hopping. I thought it would be funny to switch them, so we did, and it was.

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 08 Jun 2010 16:39
by artistagent116
Okay, we can all relax now.......a solution to this horrible problem has been found.




Whew!!! I feel so much better now.

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 12:06
by Eyes High
My husband showed that to me last week. The thing is I know it might sound silly but it probably would work but you know BP won't use it because a couple of ordinary people came up with it and how would the big execs look if they've spent all these millions of dollars on caps and such that didn't work worth a hoot but some 'local yokle' discovered some way that not only wouldn't cost the world to use but actually help some farmers in the process?

In the mean time our ocean is being polluted. Oil is being wasted (which will drive up the price of gas later) and people are getting sick because BP is too dang stingy to give them mask to wear while they try to clean up this oil spill. :evil:

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 12:23
by artistagent116
Eyes High wrote:My husband showed that to me last week. The thing is I know it might sound silly but it probably would work but you know BP won't use it because a couple of ordinary people came up with it and how would the big execs look if they've spent all these millions of dollars on caps and such that didn't work worth a hoot but some 'local yokle' discovered some way that not only wouldn't cost the world to use but actually help some farmers in the process?

In the mean time our ocean is being polluted. Oil is being wasted (which will drive up the price of gas later) and people are getting sick because BP is too dang stingy to give them mask to wear while they try to clean up this oil spill. :evil:
Isn't most of the crude under the water? The thing that makes that video for me is the utter sincerity with which the presenters offer their demonstration. I think my tampon idea is better.

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 12:29
by Freakzilla
Oil floats.

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 12:43
by Omphalos
Freakzilla wrote:Oil floats.
Not all of this oil, Freak. This one is like an iceberg apparently.

Re: Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Posted: 09 Jun 2010 12:54
by SandChigger
I was going to say: Except the oil affected by the dispersants, floating under the surface.