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[arimaBOATER]

Oil rig explosion reminds me of the oil tanker accident in Alaska in the sense there is alot of oil being spilt in the waters.
Valdez (name of tanker? or area in Alaska?) proved to be one of the worst oil spills in the world.  Also the location of the spill was not good either as Alaska is noted for it's beauty & marine life.

Now we have this oil rig explosion & they say 1000 barrels are spewing into the waters every 24hrs.
The sad part is the location of the spilling is 1500 metres below the surface.
Thus they claim it may take a long time before they can cap the leaking.

What I do not understand is the "big boys" should know the 1000 things that may go wrong & they should have the proper equipment on hand in the ready when the a-z goes wrong.
If they can make & maintain  the "space station"...make the military machine & all it entails (aircraft carriers jets subs tanks...) why is it there are not proper machines "in the ready" to stop this leak
They say there's alot of oil off the BC coast & should they go ahead one day...would they be prepared if something like this happened???

[Spiznack]

Alaska was the Exxon Valdez...you are correct
The problem with this spill is its location.  I have fished the Gulf Coast many times for Red Fish, Marlin, Sailfish, MahiMahi, etc.  There are sooo many species at risk.  Over 400 fish species at this time.  Not to mention birds, coral, sharks, whales, and other mammals that inhabit these waters.  It will also continue inland to fresh water systems via creeks, inlets, etc.  The oil has already reached the Mississippi delta and will continue to push inland due to the tidal movement and storms that are currently raging in the area.  If this continues we likely will see an aquatic disaster zone that is greater than the one created by the Exxon Valdez in Alaska.  This could virtually shut down both the commercial and sport fisheries in the area.  One of my favorite stomping grounds for chasing big game has now been taken off my list.  What amazes me is that in this technologically advanced era we can not spend the extra couple of dollars to put something as simple as an emergency or back up valve on these rigs that can be remotely activated.  This is what comes of greedy oil cartels and their usual cost cutting measures.  Also why did BP not work to contain the spill immediately?  Save a few bucks to wipe out a few hundred species in a 100 mile radius (and counting). 

Ridiculous!

[arimaBOATER]

Spiznack I did say 1000 barrels a day was spilling in 24 hrs. but just read a web story which said it's 5x that !!!! (5000 barrels)

BP the majority owner said if the 1st solution fails (pipe the oil into a tanker ship via a 5000 ft extention from the leak pt.) then they will have to set up another oil rig & drill into the oil field source. Oh by the way Plan B will take 2-3 months !!!! (thus 2-3 months, oil will be flowing freely into the gulf !!!)

How is it oil drilling can take place without the proper safety equipment is  BEYOND ME.

 Ya make a good point about a remote should be able to activate a shut-off valve.
As it is now the under-water robots could not shut the safety valve.
We up here in BC it's only a story & many could care less but what about if ya live along the coastline...USA or Mexico & who knows how far the oil will go should it take 2-3 months to get it under- control.  

[oni_kage]

Well our daily use of petrol is part of the problem. As long as we, and the rest of the world, are willing to pay such prices at pumps they will continue to drill. The more money they have the harder they'll lobby and the slower progressive change will occur... Vicious cycle...

[arimaBOATER]

7 pm on CBC TV (14 MINUTES AWAY) Nature of Things ...will have 60 min. of the oil spill in Alaska in 1989. "Sunday evening."

[rides bike to work]

I watched a special on this new spill and they mentioned most off shore drilling in Europe and other places  like this one have emergency shut offs.Wake up America! Wasn't that Bush pushing for off shore drilling on the west coast and Harper sitting at his feet like his little lap dog.The environmental,and economical impact is going to be beyond imagination.I'm buying an electric car and wash my hands of any involvement with the bastereds that wreck the earths future for their benefit.

[marmot]

I watched a special on this new spill and they mentioned most off shore drilling in Europe and other places  like this one have emergency shut offs.Wake up America! Wasn't that Bush pushing for off shore drilling on the west coast and Harper sitting at his feet like his little lap dog.The environmental,and economical impact is going to be beyond imagination.I'm buying an electric car and wash my hands of any involvement with the bastereds that wreck the earths future for their benefit.

your monitor and keyboard are made of petroleum products.... guess we won't be seeing you online?

I'd say 100% of the product you purchase has been "touched" by oil, whether in manufacture or transport (even your food unless it is grown locally)....so good luck with avoiding it.

[Dr. Backlash]

think about all of the chemicals that are in the "dispersants" that they're using to break up the oil slick; apparently BP isn't being all that forthcoming on what chemicals are in these "dispersants" and whether or not they might be more damaging than the oil itself.  What about TransOcean who owned and operated the rig, how come we haven't heard much of their involvement?  What about Haliburton, who was responsible for cementing the well shut, and installing the necessary "safety shut off valves" in case of emergency?  How come we aren't hearing much about their involvement.

This is an absolute catastrophe! not only for the environment, but for the thousands of people who are going to be without a job (fishermen, resorts, restaurants, food processing companies etc.)

I only hope this will be a major wake-up call for both big oil companies and governments all over the world, to start taking these possible dangers and potential disasters more seriously!

Just my 2 cents

[arimaBOATER]

Understand BP has put that big "cap" on top of the major hole that's spilling out the oil (is it now flowing in a tanker via a long hose ) Anyways now they want to cap the other two areas that are spewing oil.

So it takes like a week or so ...to construct & weld together this cap...in the mean time how much oil has gone into the waters???
5000 barrels x how many days !!!!  If these caps could of been constructed long ago & held in storage thus they would of been ready to be used if & when this accident happened.  Really really crazy.....
Makes one think about the coal mines where a bunch of miners were killed recently & now the Pres. has ordered better safety rules to be followed...
Thus with the oil rig exploding in the 1st place & lives being lost...makes ya wonder if the BP chaps were cutting corners in safety also. They sure tried to save $$$ in not having equipment in the ready ... just gambling "things will all go alright"...are they saving $$$$ now..... 3 BILLION DOLLARS aprox. is the est. cost for BP to spend....not counting the damage to nature,marine & bird life,lost of lives, loss of oil(stuff is being wasted & not used)
With the amount of oil that's gone into the waters are people really ever going to feel safe to eat anything from the "gulf" ever again ?