Florida offshore oil rigs

[Herk_Man]

He didn't say it was OK. He said it didn't change his mind that we needed to tap into those resources. For sure this is a disaster for many many reasons. But as I said before, bad things happen. We learn from them, we adjust, we press on.

 

[cdiver2]

BBC News - Oil spill in Gulf of Mexico: in maps and graphics

Experts believe the blow-out preventer (BOP) must have partially triggered otherwise the flow of oil to the surface would be more extreme than it is.

However, the remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), as they are known, have not yet been successful in further activating the BOP and it is unclear whether this is now possible.

This tells me that it could have been worse if the BOP had not partially closed.

Just a thought I wonder if someone has thought about opening the BOP and closing it again, it might work but it could backfire

 

[ktomlinson]

Personally I think we should hold off drilling in Florida until we have to drill there. The value of oil is just going up and the technology can only get better.
Does anyone know if BP will be fined for this? Even though it's an accident I think the govt should bill them for cleanup efforts and stick them with a large fine. If I screw up in my car I'm gonna get a fine, why not if they screw up the gulf?

 

[scubaskipper]

What's going on right now should be used as a learning tool. I worked in the oilfield almost 20 years. The only thing for sure is that there will be oil spilled, the question is how much. We're able to drill in places no one ever imagined possible 10 years ago. The amount of science and tec. used in the petro. industry is amazing. Ask one of the egg heads how to get the oil and they'll give you Buck Rogers tec talk. Ask them what happens in the worst case and the deer in the head lights looks start. It doesn't seem to occur to them that anything could go wrong. Now is the time we see what happens when things go bad. How long will it take to get all under control. What short and long term damage will be done to all things connected. What new tec. or procedures will come about because of this situation. Time will tell and no decisions should be made till the proofs in the pudding.

 

[cdiver2]

Personally I think we should hold off drilling in Florida until we have to drill there. The value of oil is just going up and the technology can only get better.
Does anyone know if BP will be fined for this? Even though it's an accident I think the govt should bill them for cleanup efforts and stick them with a large fine. If I screw up in my car I'm gonna get a fine, why not if they screw up the gulf?

It has been stated that BP will have to cover the cost. However it will depend on the cause as to who pays what, it has also been stated that Transoceanic own the rig and are responsible for safety, BP have it on a lease. I should imagine when this leak has been stopped and investigated there will be a lot of finger pointing, in fact I would bet everyone involved are getting there storeys set up right now

 

[Herk_Man]

Businesses don't pay taxes, businesses don't pay fines. They get taxed and fined and they pass it on to the consumer in the form of higher costs. Not bad. Just business.

 

[cdiver2]

have not read thread. Is anyone here advocating that we not continue operations in the gulf?

yes yes yes

 

[captain]

No.... but to be fair, those disasters had a very minor (if any) impact to the environment in comparrison to the current oil spill out in the Gulf.


Since you are a Captain an involved commercially out in the Gulf, tell my why you feel it's OK to have the current spill out in the Gulf? What do you think the envronmental impact will be? Maybe you can share with us how this affects you personally and commercially....


jim

Where did I say it was OK to have the spill. Stuff happens, if the first thing we did when it does is say we can do that anymore we would still be living in caves.
The environmental impact will be significant but man, time and nature have a way of dealing with these events.

I am retired from the commercial charter business so in that respect it doesn't affect me. Personally, locally and everyone nationally, it will affect the availability and cost of certain sea foods, primarily oysters and shrimp for a while.

The flooding of New Orleans after Katrina dumped millions of gallons of water polluted with all manner of oils and chemicals into local waters and now 5 years later most all environmental effects are gone and in some respects better because of the lessons learned and improvements made..

 

[OldNSalty]

I live in Florida, I own some BP stock and my brother has actually worked on these rigs. I can’t express it strongly enough how much I disagree with drilling off the coast here.
I am very worried about how this spill is going to affect things here. Yesterday while driving home I passed a semi with 2 huge orange coast guard crates marked ‘oil skimmer’. They were heading from Alabama towards Florida along I-10.
It worries me, a lot.

 

[jhelmuth]

Where did I say it was OK to have the spill. Stuff happens, if the first thing we did when it does is say we can do that anymore we would still be living in caves.
The environmental impact will be significant but man, time and nature have a way of dealing with these events.

OK... I agree that you never speciffically said it's OK (I felt it was implied - but I'll let you make your view as clear as possible). Are you saying it's not OK then? (are there any other possible answers?)

I am retired from the commercial charter business so in that respect it doesn't affect me. Personally, locally and everyone nationally, it will affect the availability and cost of certain sea foods, primarily oysters and shrimp for a while.

The flooding of New Orleans after Katrina dumped millions of gallons of water polluted with all manner of oils and chemicals into local waters and now 5 years later most all environmental effects are gone and in some respects better because of the lessons learned and improvements made..

Do you feel that there are additional affects and effects from this spill? How about the fragile reef system in the Florida Keys? Would you say it was "worth it" should the keys be affected by the spill?


Again... all the best,

Jim


PS - I disagree with you "cave" analogy. I don't see the logical tie to that (and maybe you could help those of us who missed that out by explaining how that wsa logical). I would agree with you that we should learn from these things and move on. If you look closely, I'm not 100% against oil rigs in the Gulf. But I do think we (as a nation and community) are too anxious to drill without looking at the big picture and - when moving forward with drilling - we don't mandate a greater cost of ownership and preventative care in order to protect the environment. Indeed - I think we have a bigger near shore issue that does not get addressed...