Oil Cleanup

[Outside Bend]

JD- this isn't Soviet Russia, and we don't have Stalin to OK it for us. Yes, it has been done before, yes, it worked, and no, it's not an option this time. Unless you want 3-eyed tuna...

I'd rather have a three-eyed tuna than none.

[ozark trout fisher]

I'd be all for any method to stop the oil spill that wouldn't be more environmentally disastrous than the oil itself, but according to what I've heard, a nuclear weapon wouldn't work in this case. The oil is coming out from under hundreds of feet of mud (apparently that wasn't the case off the coast of Russia, where they used the method successfully), and the people in charge think that would cause the nuke not to fix the problem, I don't understand all the dynamics of it, but that is what I heard on NPR anyway.

They also said if the nuke method failed, that oil would be gushing out of a large area of the ocean floor instead of just one pipe-so maybe that's not as comfortable of a fail-safe as we'd like.

[stlfisher]

I can't understand why BP was allowed to drill without a sure fire way to stop a leak if it occured. My understanding is the methods they have, besides the blow out preventer, don't really work below 3000ft. They should have never been allowed to drill in the first place if there were not several ways to plug a leak. This may take a decade to clean up and it is in a region that doesn't need any additonal challenges.

[eric1978]

I can't understand why BP was allowed to drill without a sure fire way to stop a leak if it occured.

There's an answer for that, but it will surely ruffle some political feathers, so I'll keep it to myself. The history of regulating (and more importantly, deregulating) drilling is easily found with a little googling.

[stlfisher]

There's an answer for that, but it will surely ruffle some political feathers, so I'll keep it to myself. The history of regulating (and more importantly, deregulating) drilling is easily found with a little googling.

Oh yeah...I am sure politics and money played a part. I will have to google it...