It has been a month and no comments

I just want to say that I agree with you completely.

Doesn’t seem to have much to do with car repair and maintenance.

There’s still a couple of days left in the mud-fest. BP may successfully plug the well this week.

Buy shrimp now, the price is bound to go up.

This catastrophe seems to have been avoidable. It seems as though it could and should have been more aggressively attended to immediately. And it seems that a great many of our statesmen are more timid in their approach to dealing with the oil companies than with their constituents. My dealings with large corporations have been few and indirect but I have gleaned a view from my fading, cynical eyes, that those at top of this situation found themselves there due to their cost cutting efforts and were sluggish in their efforts to remedy the situation for the same reason. I can imagine on day 2 of the eruption, some corporate muckety-muck advising everyone to “look busy and worried for the public but just let the well blow off the pressure like they always do in a couple more days.”

I don’t think the problem is that we aren’t technically qualified to drill in deep water so much as that greedy companies are only looking at the bottom line and only care about negligence when they get called on it or a disaster occurs. After all, what could happen, right? Nothing bad has happened yet… Oops…

This was probably preventable. As I understand it, the blowout preventer and other safety systems were rigged to pass inspection but were useless in a real emergency. Ridiculous–no excuse for that!

These are companies that are making billions in profit every year and they can’t spend 5 figures to make sure safety equipment is working? Or maybe it’s the corporate culture that punishes anyone not making maximum profit or rocking the boat.

Plus, it seems that more effort was spent in the early days of the spill on putting a spin on how bad it was and who was responsible than was spent on doing something about it.

Perhaps more people with tech skills and field experience are needed a little closer to the top to do this sort of thing safely, and less fresh MBAs and greedy fools that have never had to actually work for a living or solve problems outside of a classroom or boardroom.

CSA, I like what you had to say. You know and stated that this is a big mess but you have not let emotion and sensationalism get the best of you. I know some will automatically say that I am insulting those who disagree with me but that is not the case.

You also stated that this could have benefits. This is true since the invasive species of rodent called a Nutria is taking over marsh areas. This could reduce their population for the good. Don’t under estimate the power of the earth to heal itself, it can, it does and it will. Earth is simply not a big ball of dirt and water. It is a living body, not with a heart and soul but living nonetheless.

If one believes it is a disaster or not, one must understand that there are pros and cons for everything humans do.

Frozen shrimp in the grocery store is mostly from Southeast Asia, anyway.

I hate to say this but some of this is the result of the environmentalist saying no.

No nuclear reactors, can?t build a dam, can?t use coal, can?t, can?t, can?t.

Give just a little bit more research we build algae farms that would supply ALL are energy needs plus. That would mean we wouldn?t be sending money overseas, we would be employing Americans. And with fuel prices what they are it wouldn?t cost that much more.

My opinions are subject to change with new facts.

Some prominent environmentalists are coming around on nuclear power. Of all the possible energy sources, storing nuclear waste isn’t as harmful as the alternatives.

It’s inappropriate…there’s a spelling error.

Shrimpin’ ain’t easy.

By the way, somebody, go easy on the graphics.

Question: How many offshore oil disasters have we had in the many many years we have been drilling there? A few.
How many nuclear crises have we had about nuclear power? A few.
How many problems have we had with alternatives? A few. (ex. cost of corn rising from ethanol)
The problem we have is really that we are human, sometimes we err. Any system of power/energy is going to have its disastrous effects. I see a couple of photos of a few dead animals, and about maybe 10 square miles of oil slick. How much has actually washed up on land? I have yet to see any real bad photos.
Another thing that bothers me is, WHAT IS OIL? it is plant matter from millions of years ago! Not some nuclear waste that never breaks down.
I have to wonder if this whole oil think isn’t a little too convenient, I remember Obama talking of opening up the entire coastline to drilling, and a few days later, a huge disaster happens. I smell eco freaks.

We have the technical ability, what we lack is proper oversight of the rigs & associated devices. If the preventer had prevented, no problem. If the backups had worked, no problem. However, they weren’t properly maintained or manufactured. The oil industry has for too long been coddled and left unsupervised; as have many other businesses (looking at you Goldman!).

As per why no real talking; it is simple. The predominant political party in that region are Republicans, who all shouted Drill along with Sarah. Obviously, in the wake of this massive disaster & tragedy- they are quietly hiding out. The Democrats and independents can’t say much- since they aren’t exactly ant-oil. The real anti-oil people don’t NEED to say anything, as the photos are doing that for them.

Oil is a fact of life. We as a people have not learned our lessons from decades of spills, accidents, embargoes, and price-gouging. The only permanent solution is to find a cheap, abundant energy source to replace petroleum in our vehicles, planes. We’ve squandered my entire life (almost 30 years), lets get on the ball already and make it happen.

What part of “NUCLEAR” do people not udderstand? Even those almost 30 years old.

Please to be explaining to me the process of turning plants and dinosaur bodies into petroleum. Please demonstrate that in a laboratory. Never happened. Google “abiotic”. I do however share your suspicion about eco freaks, although I discarded it early on. Remember when Steven Segal fixed all this stuff in “On Deadly Ground” and “The Fire Down Below”?

There are smoked mirrors on some" lost time" accidents by some companies and organizations,you see employees standing around with casts,etc; appearences mean a lot.Those with sterling reputations are sometimes not so gleaming,you have fallible man involved.Perhaps we should consider all the possible ramifications(be careful though ,lest we be paralyzed with fear).The point is we sometimes make terrible mistakes,own up,move on.We can learn-Kevin

“WHAT IS OIL? it is plant matter from millions of years ago!”

Actually, it is “animal matter” from millions of years ago.
The plant matter from millions of years ago is coal.

I don’t understand what you are asking, All I know is what my science book told me about fossil fuels. If not old plant matter, how (or what) do you suppose broke down to become oil?

How does that work? I find it hard to belive that a huge stack of dinos just happened to die in one spot. If so, does that mean everytime I fill up my car, my 327’s burning a little t-rex? (forget tiger in the tank, t-rex all the way!).