You know, the Japanese or the Dutch, or hell, maybe even the Russians would have had this oil leak

[paparush]

stopped within the first week.

Here WE are, a month into this mother of all clusterfucks, and we're still standing around holding our dicks, trusting BP.

It makes me want to puke.

I raked Bush over the coals with my right-wing family members for his utter and complete lack of leadership. I'm starting to feel the same way about Obama's response to the Gulf Oilpocalypse.

[Lorien]

1. It's infuriating beyond belief

Keep writing your reps. Keep calling. Keep the pressure up. Let them know that WE WILL NOT FORGET come election time. The gulf can't wait any longer!

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. No they would not

read on the Ixtoc I... that one was bad, this is ten times as bad.

[Karenina]

33. So many, so misinformed...

The most recent similar catastrophe was in the Timor Sea last August, the Montara rig. They finally stopped it in the beginning of NOVEMBER. I remember a quote, "War did less damage."

The deadline of a report due in April has been postponed. No pix easily available...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Your second sentence made me lol!

Recommended for that, and for the truth of your post...

:P

[jesus_of_suburbia]

23. Me too! I was going to give props for the second sentence alone.

And it's all too true.

[newthinking]

4. 1-2-3, how quickly with the apologists arrive?

:rofl:

"Oh, only the companies can save us. Government is too incompetent to do it. "

And to think I thought only Republicans believed that kind of stuff? I am so surprised to see it whenever I come here.

[HipChick]

6. Exactly what expertise in this area does the Government have?

Wouldn't they just end up using contractors anyway?

[RKP5637]

5. Yep, I'm starting to wonder WTF too. It could be there are things going on the

general public does not know about...

[malaise]

7. So would the Scandinavians

and the Brazilians.

Truthfully people are naive about the Federal government's approach here.

Obama could not seize the initiative in this situation until it was clear that BP had fucked up...not in this plutocratic environment where the oil barons control power and the RW corporations control the media.

The good news is that given the catastrophic nature of this disaster oil will no longer have the power or the clout. BP will be destroyed before this is over. I have no doubt they will declare bankruptcy and come back with a new name.
Sadly the fragile environment in the Gulf has been destroyed in the process along with a way of life.

Hopefully we can get back to a discussion on the role of government because unless government spends money and stays ahead of these crooks this will happen again with some other company.

[lostnfound]

18. Declare bankruptcy? My God you are optimistic.

I hope you are right.

[FSogol]

8. BS. n/t

[napi21]

9. I honestly don't think anyone knows how to do it! A scienist was interviewed on

MSNBC this past week and the interviewer asked her why our Navy or some other eperts don't send sown a submarine or something elseto fix this mess. She explained that we (the USA) don't have any technology that can send any manned craft that deep. She did mention that Japan, China, Russia, and one other country had done some experimental stuff, but NOT US!

This is why I can't understand why so many people are upset with Obama for not doing anything. They's calling it Obama's Katrina. What exactly do they think hes going to do? What is he ABLE to do?

It certainly appears to me that BP is operating on a "try any suggestion" method because, other than the drilling of the 2 alternate wills that are to take at least 3 months to complete, THEY don't know how to stop it either!

[awoke_in_2003]

22. "that can send any manned craft that deep"

BS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathyscaphe_Trieste

[Codeine]

25. Well, not Trieste,

because she's in a museum.

[awoke_in_2003]

27. we had the technology to...

go to 5 times the depth of the rupture in 1960- do you think we still can't?

[Codeine]

28. We certainly do.

I was just making a point regarding that submersible.

[IDemo]

10. The Japanese would have had the gusher accelerating out of control

Sorry, somebody was going to say it anyway.

[awoke_in_2003]

24. DUzy. nt

[cliffordu]

31. Bada BIIIING!!!!!

DuZy!!

[TheWatcher]

11. The way things are going, they are going to have to fix this one too.

Because we, (Well BP, at least, since they are the only ones apparently ALLOWED to do anything) don't seem to be able to on our own.

I find it hard to believe that other Countries and CONTINENTS will just sit by and let this eventually affect their shores too, and let BP continue their Bumbling and Stumbling.

America is NOT The World.

We would do well to remember that.

But the scope and magnitude of this is much bigger than the spills they had to deal with.

We are approaching Uncharted Territory with this one.

[glinda]

12. Everyone that possibly could help should be here now! F the commissions. Do'em later.

[Jennicut]

13. No they wouldn't. No one knows how to stop a leak like this. It is BS.

What everyone should be angry about is that deep sea drilling is extremely dangerous to our oceans because leaks like this are incredibly hard to stop. If a smaller well in Mexico took 9 months to stop then why would this one be less? Better technology then in 1979 maybe but it is still is all a guess.
People have to come to terms with that.

If you think this is bad, there are deeper wells elsewhere. Now THAT is scary.

[paparush]

14. That IS scary. nt.

[likesmountains 52]

15. Seems like if they had the ability they would be offering to do the job.

Wouldn't they like the chance to show their superior technology and get paid for doing it?

[paparush]

16. I'm just venting. I'm venting like a deep-sea oil volcano. nt

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Statistical]

19. No they wouldn't.

Ixtoc I the most comparable situation spilled for 9 months before relief wells closed it. The relief operation was conducted entirely by Mexican nationalized oil company. Nationalization didn't help speed up the process.

The Soviets had numerous natural gas wells which burned for months and years. At least 5 times they had to use nuclear device to seal wells because nothing else worked. There is a natural gas fire that is STILL BURNING TODAY after 37 years and nobody knows how much natural gas it has left (a decade, a century, a milenium?).



The doorway to hell Darvaza, Turkmenistan. Imagine that for a second it has burned continually for 37 years.

The British, Saudis, Venzualans have all had multi month spills.

Your belief that a disaster of this magnitude can be resolved by wishful thinking is just that.

[leftstreet]

20. Have any other Oilporations offered to help out?

Is BP getting assistance offers?

[Greyhound]

21. I'm afraid they wouldn't be able to stop this either. That's why the multiply redundant

safety systems (the ones whoever decided to forgo to save a couple of bucks) are so important. It should be the very first priority, and it would be if any conscious being made decisions in any energy company, instead of the parasitic automatons and psychopaths that do.

The complete capitulation and lack of leadership, I agree with.
:kick: & R

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Feron]

29. It took Australia 10 weeks and five relief wells...

to stop the Montara oil spill

The Australian accident, known as the Montara spill, began Aug. 21 with a blowout of high-pressure oil similar to the one in the gulf. With the well spewing 17,000 to 85,000 gallons per day, precious weeks passed before the relief wells were started. When efforts got under way, the first four attempts — drilled on Oct. 6, 13, 17 and 24 — missed the original well.

A fifth attempt finally intersected the original on Nov. 1, and about 3,400 barrels of heavy mud were pumped through the relief well into the base of the original well. The spewing oil finally stopped Nov. 3 — more than 10 weeks after the original explosion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/us/03montara.html

[cliffordu]

30. Bogus posit unsupported by the real world facts. Keep on keepin' on, though

No one is trusting BP.

Just because the prez ain't on the telly every night with a 'mission accomplished' banner doesn't mean he's not working at a solution.

Only a MORON would hesitate to fix this if they could....And the Prez ain't a moron.

[Sgent]

32. Nuke it and Nuke it now

that was the Russian solution -- to set off an underwater nuke to seal the leak when they had one.

That may actually be preferable to releasing all of the oil that we have, but I can just imagine the uproar on DU if we had done that.