Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster...

There is a law that requires the collection of 8 cents per barrel to form a fund that pays for damages resulting from oil spills. It currently contains around 1.6 billion. This money is solely for compensation of losses incurred by individuals and businesses such as commercial fishermen, but none of this money is used for clean-up efforts. Oddly this same law places a limit of 75 million on the oil company responsible for the spill. The company is held responsible for the cost of clean-up. BP profited roughly 14 billion last year, a sharp drop from the 25 billion in 2008. I think they can afford a little more than 75 million. That's not even going to be a drop in a bucket, or a barrel as the case may be, when and if the cost of this spill will total. If it gets in the loop current and catches a ride on the Gulf Stream it could affect a great portion of the East Coast. The commercial fishing industry, which I was a part of for over twenty years, has had their feet cut out from under them already with having to compete with low priced imports and very harsh changes in regulations. (Hats off to you Rich for refraining from purchasing imported fish.) I concede to our need to find domestic sources of fuel, but I do think there is a need for more alternate sources to be developed further. Your first hand detailed information of drilling was very interesting, Graham. This event is another one of those reminders that come along every once and a while that reminds us of how vulnerable we are. I encourage anyone who lives close enough or has the ability to spend time at an affected area to volunteer. Scrub some birds with Dawn.

Originally Posted by Rich Z

Isn't BP a foreign company? Heck, all this time I've been thinking that "BP" stood for British Petroleum..... I guess I just don't understand how this process works.....

Global corporation really. No more or less American than American Corps like Shell who are also global... That's why I say part of every dollar.

So far, the FB consensus on this thread is unanamous!

Wade got banned for that? Wow I know we get away with murder here, but that was actually mighty tame considering Wes's consistent prodding of everyone who chose not to agree with him. Oh well I can live without my Wadeypoo on here for 3 days- I'll just go bug him on fb

Found this little gem today and though it applied...

April 6, 2009: Obama Administration exempts BP from putting emergency shutoff valves on their oil wells. The largest recipient of BP cash over the last 20 years? Barack Obama.

Oops...

Originally Posted by Pruddock

Found this little gem today and though it applied...

April 6, 2009: Obama Administration exempts BP from putting emergency shutoff valves on their oil wells. The largest recipient of BP cash over the last 20 years? Barack Obama.

Oops...

Cite please?

Deepwater Horizon was granted Categorical Exclusion from NEPA on April 6, 2009. He received $71k in donations from BP during the campaign. I was just looking through CNN and ABC. Of course, the administration said that the donations had nothing to do with the final decision on the exclusion which had been initiated in 2004 but not finalized, was "silly".

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/05/05/bp.lobbying/

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpu...idiculous.html

Not saying that this is exactly what happened, but I wouldn't doubt if there is more truth to the these two actions than just coincidence... maybe I'm just skeptical though.

And to be honest I don't think that the repubs would have done anything different, its just that Obummer was in the driver seat this time. Bush got kicked in the balls for anything and everything that happened over his 8 years, now its Bummer's turn.

This whole situation is too sad. After all these pages I have yet to see the conspiracy theory proved, not saying it is or isn't, but proof.
As far as BP and Obama wasn't it Ms. "we eat therfore we hunt" Sarah Palin amoung others who sad no problems "drill baby drill"?

There is NO problem with drilling and 99 times out of 100 this isn't going to happen if the proper precautions were taken. I'm also not making a conspiracy theory stating that Obama was getting paid to turn his cheek, I'm just stating that there may have been a bad set of choices that were made that led to a less than safe oil platform being run. Norway and other European countries have NO problems drilling and have NO oil spills because the proper safety precautions are taken. i.e. safety valves and sub-sea trees put in place to maintain and properly route the oil in a safe manner.

I'm also not saying that what has happened isn't awful, I just laugh at people who come out of the woodwork and say we should never drill because my guess is most of them still complain when they get to the pump and see $2.72 a gallon, then drive to the store where they buy tons of plastics and other oil by-products.

It's a terrible occurrence, but it is a mechanical device. Mechanical devices ARE going to fail, all we can do is try to maintain the consequences of these failures.

So, I say drill baby drill, but don't make exceptions when it comes to safety because sooner or later its gonna bite you in the a$$. Live, learn, and don't make the same mistake twice.

Last thing I'm going to say...

I don't want to reveal my powers to see the future too much but I can tell you exactly what's going to happen because, go figure, history always repeats itself.

People are talking about how BP is going to pay this and that and that we're going to have to bail them out and how blah blah blah...

What will REALLY happen...

This will end up being a lawsuit that BP will throw the best damn lawyers and money at that they can and tie up in the court system. It'll never be finalized and just be drawn out until it is too costly for the government to fight. The media and the US will lose interest in 6-7 months and this will all go away. BP will pay several million to do some clean up work, another few million in a donation to a charity fund to hush up the wildlife activists wanting their hide, and BP will go on doing business as usual. I'm not saying this is a guess, I'm almost guarunteeing it. If you don't believe me, look up the Exxon Valdeze and let me know what you find

I'm out.