The Oil Spill Thread

[JoeyJoJo 18]

OK. Reasonable enough.

So now that you've stumbled upon the actual point of that question, do you think the government should intervene IF there is an immediate solution that also effectively kills (or at least seriously harms) the company?

[Pot Odds RAC 23]

So now that you've stumbled upon the actual point of that question, do you think the government should intervene IF there is an immediate solution that also effectively kills (or at least seriously harms) the company?

Depends.There IS a cost benefit analysis. There is not any one single criterion that trumps the equation. Environmental impact, local economy, US economy, world economy, and yes even the impact to BP itself must all be considered and weighed against the potential odds of success for any action. If there was a super simple very low cost and impact solution to consider that only had a 20% chance of working and was reasonably quick to implement vs. a huge cost huge impact solution that was 70% I'd have to try the 20% solution first. Likewise if there was a solution that was 100% guaranteed to work, had zero other negative impacts, but resulted in BP's extinction, then that might have to be seriously considered - IMO.

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

Likewise if there was a solution that was 100% guaranteed to work, had zero other negative impacts, but resulted in BP's extinction, then that might have to be seriously considered - IMO.

Does this solution involve ritually cutting out the hearts of the board of directors of BP, and burning their hearts on top of a Ziggurat? because if so, I'm for it.

[mk 11]

barack doin' a nice job in this press conference, unsurprisingly.

[LongLiveYorke 38]

Good news. We made history! The spill is now worse than Exxon Valdez!http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/05/27...Spill.html?_r=1

[Balloon guy 158]

All of the "Why don't they just...? Well, the Russians did this one time..." suggestions of how to fix this crack me up and reminds me of when the Russian Submarine the Kursk went down. That was in 300 feet of water and basically impossible to save the poor guys presumed trapped inside. 300 feet.We've been to the freaking Moon, but 300 feet in water might as well be a different Galaxy.This oil well is 5,000 feet below the surface. Just in terms of Atmospheric Pressure that is the difference between about 10 atm (300 feet) and over 150 atm at 5,000 feet. You don't "just" do anything at 150 atm.As far as detonating a nuke, oh, sorry "small contained nuclear blast" is so full of unknowns as to be more irresponsible than doing nothing, or at least exhausting the more reasonable controllable options. To minimize their actions as being "corporate greed" is a little simplistic. This is a far more complex environment than most people give it credit for being. Plus I am guessing that BP doesn't exactly have a stockpile of small contained nuclear weapons sitting in a warehouse ready to deploy. They aren't going to be able to drill in that field ever again and they know it - nuclear contamination or not.

Yea but wasn't Hailliburton involved in this?

[Balloon guy 158]

barack doin' a nice job in this press conference, unsurprisingly.

Why? Does he have a teleprompter?

[Balloon guy 158]

Good news. We made history! The spill is now worse than Exxon Valdez!http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/05/27...Spill.html?_r=1

Number one again!USAUSAUSA

[nutzbuster 7]

lol nuke solution.Can you imagine if this went from a leak at one specific point to a leak the size of a basketball court leaking from multiple fracture points? Obama has stated they have been on this from day one. Not true but I agree there is not much they/he can do about it. The issue is all about perception really. Obama should have gone down there immediately, then follow that up with a few more first hand visits and arrange visits to the families who lost loved ones after the initial blast, that sort of thing. None of that would stop the oil gushing, but it would have gone a long way to shut up the critics or at least piss on their powder.top kill appears to be working so thank God for that at least.

[Balloon guy 158]

The democrats have made the environment their issue.There has been little to no action from the WH.They deserve the bad press now.

[nutzbuster 7]

and LOL at using this as a reason to stop all drilling. idiot.

[Balloon guy 158]

and LOL at using this as a reason to stop all drilling. idiot.

I know..what next?Refuse all random gay sex in airport bathrooms because of Larry Craig?

[JoeyJoJo 18]

lol nuke solution.Can you imagine if this went from a leak at one specific point to a leak the size of a basketball court leaking from multiple fracture points?

If you've ever read anything about using atomic blasts to stop an oil leak in the ocean floor, then I'll try to limit my eye-rolling somewhat.

[El Guapo 8]

Does anyone have a map showing exactly where the leak is? For some reason I have not been able to find out.Also, I don't think Obama had any reason to go down there. What the hell is he going to do? He had less of a reason to go there, than Bush did to go to New Orleans.The good news is, the price of this should be going down tremendously in the near future:

[Balloon guy 158]

Does anyone have a map showing exactly where the leak is? For some reason I have not been able to find out.Also, I don't think Obama had any reason to go down there. What the hell is he going to do? He had less of a reason to go there, than Bush did to go to New Orleans.The good news is, the price of this should be going down tremendously in the near future:

Feed the mayonnaise to the Tuna fish!

[strategy 4]

and LOL at using this as a reason to stop all drilling. idiot.

I literally caught the last 30 seconds of the press conference, but brian williams claimed obama didn't rule out domestic drilling. is that not true?edit - looks like it's a temporary moratorium.

The Obama administration unveiled a host of policy changes in the run-up to the event -- Obama confirmed at the press conference that he was extending a moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits for another six months. He also announced that drilling off the coast of Alaska was being suspended and that certain lease sales off the coast of Virginia and in the Gulf have been canceled.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/27...spill-response/the first result just happened to be fox news, okay?

[Balloon guy 158]

I literally caught the last 30 seconds of the press conference, but brian williams claimed obama didn't rule out domestic drilling. is that not true?edit - looks like it's a temporary moratorium.http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/27...spill-response/the first result just happened to be fox news, okay?

Then it's possible that it's not true..

[vbnautilus 48]

Does anyone have a map showing exactly where the leak is? For some reason I have not been able to find out.

http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/oilspill/

[Balloon guy 158]

http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/oilspill/

If you click the suggestion section you can offer suggestions on how to stop the oil leak.Maybe we should submit an idea from the FCP community?It would be really cool if the suggestion included the word irregardless.

[strategy 4]

top kill appears to be working so thank God for that at least.

everything is going better than expected

[dapokerbum 0]

"The American people should know that from the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort," Obama told a news conference. He was responding to criticism that his administration had been slow to act and had left BP in charge of plugging the leak. Obama said many critics failed to realize "this has been our highest priority."

[85suited 0]

What if we could say... access the easily recoverable oil in shallower water or in anwr....?All of the administrations are complicit in pushing drilling so far out in deep water

[BigDMcGee 3,352]

What if we could say... access the easily recoverable oil in shallower water or in anwr....?All of the administrations are complicit in pushing drilling so far out in deep water

absolutely. The expansion of off shore drilling is a bi partisan failure. Probably because the risks weren't known (or salient). Now they are.

[dapokerbum 0]

Yes! We could move the drilling wells to the shallower water and therefore we would be able to suck the excess oil that is spilling out into the ocean from the other side. Someone more experienced can tell you about this phenomenom:Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy. Drained dry. I'm so sorry. Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that's a straw, you see? You watching?. And my straw reaches acroooooooss the room, and starts to drink your milkshake... I... drink... your... milkshake! [sucking sound] I drink it up!

[hblask 1]

aren't you anti-government, pro-privatization, pro-free market everything? shouldn't you be asking, 'why isn't the free market/private capital handling this better?'

My understanding is that BP passed their liability limit pretty quickly, within a couple of days, because of crony capitalism. Congress passed laws protecting them from big liabilities from spills.In actual capitalism (as opposed to crony capitalism), the company and their insurance companies would be liable for ALL damages, and you can bet they would be acting like it mattered a bit more than they are now.