If you have been following the spill events in the gulf then you must know how complicated it is to shut off this leak 5000′ below the surface. The main reason for the difficulty is the configuration of a mile of crumpled pipe that was forced into its tangled resting configuration by the sinking of the Deep Water Horizon drilling rig.
Question, why did the rig sink? Answer, water was streamed on and into the rig to put out an onboard fire. No one likes fires, but this was a special fire. It was surrounded by water and wasn’t going anywhere, it could not spread.The bad aspect of it was the black clouds of smoke rising from the rig. Does anyone remember the oil fields of Kuwait when Saddam Hussein did his dirty work when retreating.The sky was full of smoke then , wasn’t it? Wells were on fire all over the place.
The problem in this case was the wrong people took early charge. The ones who insisted on putting out the fire, with all it’s black smoke, without considering the consequence of all the water they were using. That wonderful water poured into the rig ultimately causing it rig to succumb to the laws of nature and eventually sink. The rig, in going down, is what dragged the pipe with it. The descent bent and twisted the well pipe with it so that the entire mess wound up 5000′ under water with multiple leaks instead of remaining a nice vertical pipe just below the surface where it would be much easier to deal with.
The normal response to a ship’s oil fed fire is to prevent a bleve and that’s fine but to sink a ship in order to save it doesn’t make much sense. Keeping it cool enough to prevent a bleve shouuld have been the course of action untill they did something 100′ down to divert or stop feeding the fire new oil from below.
I refer to these people as good intentioned ignoramuses, who either assumed charge of the smokey situation, or were ordered to take charge and issued idiotic orders before THINKING.
Any investigation of this disaster MUST include the time line and chain of authority, responsibility and command and exactly who was it that took charge and when did they do it? Somewhere in that initial jumble of panic responses, emails, telegrams, blackberry and radio messages etc. you will find the whys and wherefores which resulted in exacerbating the severity of this monstrous travesty both human and natural.
This disaster is just an example of why we shouldn’t be drilling off our coasts. With the arrival of hurricane season we could be looking at an even greater disaster.
Greed is the culprit. Our environment is just paying the price!
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/hurricanes/2010-06-01-oil-hurricanes_N.htm?csp=DailyBriefing
Your correct dalm8ton we should be drilling in safe places like the Rocky MT. and Anwar. The reason we are so deep is because the Government won’t allow drilling where it can be done safely.
Who knows how many palms had to be greased and political donations had to be made to get the Deep Water Horizon permits and inspection wavers.
If you work for the Government you have POWER. The power of Yea or Nea over almost everything. The more rules and regulations the better. Today if you push the envelope of environmental rules you will pay a lot of people for the privilege.
I am no conspiracy theorist. What I do believe it that we ARE fighting a war in Iraq for oil. We ARE drilling where there is great damage to the environment OR potential for great damage. None of these things are accomplished because of over regulation. It is greed!
I am a strong supporter of capitalism and I do not believe capitalism and greed are equivalent. Greed is what happens when there is a make money at all cost mentality. The means of making money is as important as the amount made.
Greed should be considered the “G” word because it stirs emotions and stifles thought.
Over regulation and just plain regulations are the product of the “greedy” politicians.They make promises to large contributors in order to keep themselves in office No one on this earth is more “greedy” than the politicians. They want to stay in power forever. If it were as simple as just seeking more money for a product or service than a thing is worth then competition would drive you out of business.
Here is a mixed example of what some might consider “greed.” How much has Obama’s net worth increased since he stopped street organizing a few short years ago and became a politician? He is now up there with the “FAT CATS” And he is not finished yet, his greed is for more and more power. Do you really believe all the regulations of “Obama Care” are going to improve the plight of the grindingly poor in this country? No they won’t help, in fact they will eventually even destroy the middle class if something is not done about it in NOV.
I feel terrible about the wet lands around the gulf but in truth, science says that in a decade or two things will return to normal. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about the damage now being caused by very few men in power who have a different vision for AMERICA. It is their very regulations that prohibit us from drilling in safe places. Ask yourself why. There are a lot of answers to it, most of them scary.
There are no angels here that I know about watching over politicians or business people. I only know that human nature is flawed. But remember, the flaws in our politicians can cause unrecoverable, ruinous damage to our country, certainly more than all the oil business CEO’s combined.