Friday, May 14, 2010
BP Oil Spill, Part 2
I have to say I am disgusted at the seeming ineptness in responding to this oil leak. I understand that deep-well oil drilling is a dirty business with a lot of risks, and I'm definitely not advocating that we stop doing it.
Rather, I am absolutely amazed at the fact that oil companies were allowed to drill without having suitable emergency plans in place. For example, last week they tried to contain the flow by lowering a huge dome over the top, only to find that ice crystals instantly formed and prevented that option. Are you seriously telling me that they had NEVER tested this low-tech approach before? How could this accident be the first time they've actually tried this out? Amazingly they seem to have no other ideas, claiming it could take months to stop the leak.
In most other industries, you are required to have emergency response plans--that are tested in advance--in place before you begin operations. The "fail-safe" shears that were claimed to be the last defense and highly reliable in fact failed 3 out of 6 trials previously. It's just amazing to me that the first time they are thinking through how to respond to a crisis seems to be in the crisis, rather than before.
Rather, I am absolutely amazed at the fact that oil companies were allowed to drill without having suitable emergency plans in place. For example, last week they tried to contain the flow by lowering a huge dome over the top, only to find that ice crystals instantly formed and prevented that option. Are you seriously telling me that they had NEVER tested this low-tech approach before? How could this accident be the first time they've actually tried this out? Amazingly they seem to have no other ideas, claiming it could take months to stop the leak.
In most other industries, you are required to have emergency response plans--that are tested in advance--in place before you begin operations. The "fail-safe" shears that were claimed to be the last defense and highly reliable in fact failed 3 out of 6 trials previously. It's just amazing to me that the first time they are thinking through how to respond to a crisis seems to be in the crisis, rather than before.
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3 comments:
Well, this should give an idea of how ridiculous the situation is. BP has a virtual suggestion box, where you can submit your proposal for how the oil spill can be contained. So far they've received nearly 5,000 suggestions.
Is one of the suggestions to stick a really fat guy in the leak?
'Cause if not, I'd better get over to that site fast!
Well, I think that suggestion is probably as good as the one they had last week of shoving golf balls and old tires into the leak to stuff it.
You'd probably get extra consideration if you could recommend a specific fat person, maybe michael moore?