The Oil Spill, Who Is Really At Fault?

[jdmidwest]

As we all know, what may be the worst ecological disaster of our time is taking place in the Gulf as we speak. The oil rig suffered a malfunction, caught on fire and 11 people lost their lives. If that is not tragic enough, the well has been spewing oil into the Gulf for 52 or 53 days now. BP is on the hook for the bill, but is it really their fault?

A fail safe valve was installed at the well head that was designed to shut off the flow of oil in case of a disaster, it failed. Being in business, you sell me something "Fail Safe", that means that it has the safeguards designed into it to prevent it from failing and you should stand behind it with some kind of liability. Seems like the supplier of this device is at fault, why are we not blaming them???

When the oil plume hit the surface, NOAA's plan was to set the oil on fire and burn it off. EPA countered that plan for fears that it would endanger the environment and stopped that plan. Both are government agencies, why are we holding them accountable??

I have no love for BP or any Foreign Petroleum Provider, but we have run all of ours out of business by regulations and government intervention. They are not an American Company, why should we care if we put them out of business??

Because we are dependent on oil, we have a government that wants to regulate it to the point that is not feasible to do business as an American Oil Company, we really have to have the outside intervention. Hence, the US Government Policies are really to blame.

[flytyer57]

As we all know, what may be the worst ecological disaster of our time is taking place in the Gulf as we speak. The oil rig suffered a malfunction, caught on fire and 11 people lost their lives. If that is not tragic enough, the well has been spewing oil into the Gulf for 52 or 53 days now. BP is on the hook for the bill, but is it really their fault?

A fail safe valve was installed at the well head that was designed to shut off the flow of oil in case of a disaster, it failed. Being in business, you sell me something "Fail Safe", that means that it has the safeguards designed into it to prevent it from failing and you should stand behind it with some kind of liability. Seems like the supplier of this device is at fault, why are we not blaming them???

When the oil plume hit the surface, NOAA's plan was to set the oil on fire and burn it off. EPA countered that plan for fears that it would endanger the environment and stopped that plan. Both are government agencies, why are we holding them accountable??

I have no love for BP or any Foreign Petroleum Provider, but we have run all of ours out of business by regulations and government intervention. They are not an American Company, why should we care if we put them out of business??

Because we are dependent on oil, we have a government that wants to regulate it to the point that is not feasible to do business as an American Oil Company, we really have to have the outside intervention. Hence, the US Government Policies are really to blame.

That valve that was supposed to be "Fail Safe" was made by an American company called Halliburton. As you may recall, that is the same company that Dick Cheney was CEO of before becoming the VP of the USA. They were represented at the Senate hearings to determine the fault of this leak. I don't know the outcome of those hearings, but all three companies should be held responisble.

From the reports that I have heard, that valve is supposed to be checked every two weeks. It wasn't. The regulators for these off shore oil wells have not ben doing their jobs. Most of them responsible for regulating this well are now looking for new work. Good luck.

I have no love for any oil company. Problem is, this country is stuck on the oil idea. We don't want cars or trucks that run on alternative fuels because we worry if they will be able to pull our 20' bass boats up a ramp, or through the Ozarks. We don't like the idea of having wind mills because they are too noisy. We don't want solar panels on our houses because they are too expensive and ugly.

Sorry to say, until America wakes up, we are going to keep having these oil spills, coal mine waste ponds busting open or overflowing and spilling into our waterways, not to mention the acid rain. We need alternative fuels now.

Instead of giving tax breaks to the oil companies, they should be giving tax breaks to companies that develop alternative fuel sources.

And then we can start complaining about what the altrnative fuels do to the environment. But lets at least give them a try.

[Outside Bend]

Last I checked, ConocoPhillips was doing pretty well. They even have wells in the Gulf of Mexico.

When an oil company is leasing Federal land for drilling, they must comply with pertinent federal regulations. They're stipulations of the contract. Where that company's headquarters are located- Britain or the Netherlands or Dallas, is immaterial. They all have to follow the same rules.

If it were too expensive for companies to abide by federal regulations and operate in the states, they wouldn't be extracting natural resources on land leased from the government. Your hypothesis doesn't fit the observations.

From what I've heard and read, it sure seems like BP's to blame on this one. They seem to have neglected key maintenance, and seem to have put production ahead of safety, both for the environment and their own personnel. Now it's coming back to bite them.

[Ibeenfishing]

They substituted free saltwater for costly drilling mud,causing the blow out.The salt water was not heavy enough to hold the pressure down. This being a matter of fact i would say "economics" play a big part in what caused this disaster.At least that what the employees testified in hearing to our government to be matter of fact.Go figure.....

[ozark trout fisher]

There are two parties at fault in this oil disaster. The first, is of course, BP. They didn't do what was necessary to maintain a safe drilling rig, and of course they should be the ones to have to pay every penny to clean this up. I sincerely hope they go out of business in the process.

The American people are the other party at fault. We all know the people who run oil companies are without exception good for nothing scumbags. Yet we remain content to get oil from them. We haven't made nearly enough effort to develop alternative energy so we can get away from oil. If this isn't our final wake-up call to get into high gear finding alternative, green energy, then we're hopeless idiots. I'm tired of being dependent on the sleazeballs who run companies like BP, and as a country, we need to find different ways to run our cars so we can cut ties with them.

I have little or no sympathy for the folks in the oil industry who would be negatively effected by alternative energy. They have made their livings raping and pillaging the environment, and don't deserve the money they already have.

[Flysmallie]

I think we need to quit worrying about placing the blame within our own government. BP is on the hook for the clean-up. That's all we need to be concerned about there. So let's quit worrying about whether it was Obama's fault, Bush's fault, Cheney's fault or even George Washington's fault. Because in the end it doesn't make one bit of difference. The well still blew up, it's still leaking oil and finding someone to blame is never going to change that.

What we need to be concerned about is what we are going to do for the people that are affected by this oil people. The commercial fisherman, the fishing guides and all the people that depend on the gulf to bring in tourism. These people are hurting right now. It didn't take our country long to bail-out the banking or auto industries. And we shouldn't be waiting on BP to do the right thing and pay these people. It is getting better, but there are still a lot of people in that area that are struggling.

Let's focus on getting the oil stopped and then completing the clean-up. It will take years to get all this behind us. The people of the Gulf Coast that I have talked to recently don't really care whose fault it is, they just want it stopped and for the fishing to open back up so the tourism dollars come back.

I am leaving with the family in the morning to spend a week on the Gulf. I gave the kids an option a while back just saying that if we went there would be a good chance that they couldn't swim in the ocean. They didn't care, they just want to go. Gulf Shores, AL has almost turned into a second home for them.

[Al Agnew]

Here are what I consider to be inconvenient facts...

This nation's economy, and the world economy, runs on fossil fuels. We've hitched our horses to the fossil fuel wagon and it won't be easy to change.

Fossil fuels are inherently dirty, both destructive to get out of the earth, and destructive to burn. We've had a real long run of using them cheaply...it's made our current civilization possible. But now we're paying the deferred price. Pollution. The cost of cleaning up the pollution is adding to the bill. The cost of land ruined or altered (or Gulfs of Mexico ruined or altered). The cost of getting them out is rising no matter what because all the cheap places to get things like oil have already been used up.

We've let the oil companies and the coal companies and the other fossil fuel companies and their allies to get too big and too powerful, all in the interest of economic gains. We've had a LONG history of lax regulation of them throughout many administrations and many Congresses. Yep, we've made it more expensive for them to do business in the U.S., all the while winking and nodding at them when they cut corners because they have all that power. In effect, we and they have gambled that they could get away with ignoring safety and environmental regulations in America, while moving those costs I mentioned above "somewhere else" when it proved more profitable to them.

Now it has come back to bite us.

We're all to blame. The citizens, the government that is supposed to be the instrument of those citizens, the oil companies, the oil company subsidiaries. And blame gets us nowhere. Accepting that something drastic has to be done about it is all that matters in the long run. In the short run, we can only hope that the best minds and greatest expertise in the world is coming to bear on stopping this continuing disaster and figuring out how to clean up the mess...and that we learn some hard lessons from it and don't forget them. History makes me a bit pessimistic that will happen.

[jdmidwest]

In the short run, we can only hope that the best minds and greatest expertise in the world is coming to bear on stopping this continuing disaster and figuring out how to clean up the mess...and that we learn some hard lessons from it and don't forget them. History makes me a bit pessimistic that will happen.

I doubt if the Best Minds and Greatest Expertise will ever be involved in solving this crisis. I too am a bit pessimistic on this also.

Nuclear Energy is the best solution for production of Electric Power.

Oil is our best solution for automotive needs till the Hydrogen Fuel Cells come of age. We still have plenty of oil, it can be extracted safely for the most part. One little mishap in the history of all of the barrels of oil that have been extracted has been blown out of proportion. Factor the barrels of extracted oil versus the spilled oil and I am sure it is still a small percentage.

Ethanol was a folly, bad for the environment, bad for combustion engines, bad for the water table, bad in the fact that it used a valuable food source for its production. Bad because the government subsidized it is also a testament that the Great Minds were not engaged on that one.

[Outside Bend]

Nuclear Energy is the best solution for production of Electric Power.

Disregarding the environmental impact of mining nuclear fuel and storing the highly toxic waste, it's still a finite resource. There's only so much uranium on the planet.

One little mishap in the history of all of the barrels of oil that have been extracted has been blown out of proportion. Factor the barrels of extracted oil versus the spilled oil and I am sure it is still a small percentage.

There are approximately 20,000 documented oil spills in the US each year, about 300 of which are managed by the EPA.

Eleven people died. Hundreds, if not thousands, are out of work. The gulf seafood industry, an important economic factor in many states, is essentially shut down. And one of the world's most productive ecosystems is suffering untold environmental damage. I really don't think most people are blowing thing out of proportion- it just really is a disaster.

Ethanol was a folly, bad for the environment, bad for combustion engines, bad for the water table, bad in the fact that it used a valuable food source for its production. [/quote

I think it's too early to tell whether ethanol is a lost cause. It can be produced easily without using grain, and their may be future innovations. Just like any nascent technology, all the kinks haven't been worked out yet.

I assume you're for revoking all other farm subsidies too right? Corn, soy, wheat, milk, sugar? What about government incentives to provide conservation easements, establish warm-season grasses and forbs, reduce erosion, and improve other wildlife habitat? And you certainly won't be griping about food and commodity prices when farmers and produces have to pass on their true costs to consumers...right?

[hank franklin]

Hence, the US Government Policies are really to blame.

So the company that operates the well is not?

Are you serious?