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Unanswered Questions on the Spill

President Obama has ordered a freeze on new offshore drilling leases as well as a “thorough review” into what is almost sure to be the worst oil spill in this country’s history — exceeding in size and environmental damage the calamitous Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.

There are many avenues to pursue. Here are two: the oil company’s response, and Mr. Obama’s. The company, BP, seems to have been slow to ask for help, and, on Friday, both federal and state officials accused it of not moving aggressively or swiftly enough. Yet the administration should not have waited, and should have intervened much more quickly on its own initiative.


A White House as politically attuned as this one should have been conscious of two obvious historical lessons. One was the Exxon Valdez, where a late and lame response by both industry and the federal government all but destroyed one of the country’s richest fishing grounds and ended up costing billions of dollars. The other was President George W. Bush’s hapless response to Hurricane Katrina.

Now we have another disaster in more or less the same neck of the woods, and it takes the administration more than a week to really get moving.


The timetable is damning...

Full editorial here

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Where am I going? I am trying to take the thread back on topic.

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

So where you going with this? Time to stop drilling then, shut down the rigs?

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[For example, we've already invested in off shore drilling in Brazil.]

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

OK...to say what? Do we drill or no?

Obama's position is (1) in the short run, let's solve this issue and hold off on new leases to be sure we're proceeding safely, and (2) yes, we're still going to drill.

Personally, I've always thought we were in too much of a hurry to drill. Let's continue to buy relatively cheap oil and save our reserves until such time as they're at a premium, when oil elsewhere is running low. Let other countries learn by trial and error. [For example, we've already invested in off shore drilling in Brazil.]

At the same time, Obama's position seems at least reasonable. Sure, it's mainly for political reasons, but everything that happens in Washington these days is mainly for political reasons.

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ORIGINAL: flcouple2009

Did you bother looking for any facts before you asked that?

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ORIGINAL: Sanity
Because its safer to transport oil in gigantic tankers across the ocean's surface?

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

OK...to say what? Do we drill or no?

Obama's position is (1) in the short run, let's solve this issue and hold off on new leases to be sure we're proceeding safely, and (2) yes, we're still going to drill.

Personally, I've always thought we were in too much of a hurry to drill. Let's continue to buy relatively cheap oil and save our reserves until such time as they're at a premium, when oil elsewhere is running low. Let other countries learn by trial and error. [For example, we've already invested in off shore drilling in Brazil.]

At the same time, Obama's position seems at least reasonable. Sure, it's mainly for political reasons, but everything that happens in Washington these days is mainly for political reasons.

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ORIGINAL: Archer

thompson was asking what the law was on the recovered product.

Well trying to get the oil for salvage value is an exercise in spending a dollar to collect 10 cents.
The equipment for collecting the oil is far too expensive to operate on a salvage basis.
My question was part hypothetical and part inquisitoral.
I realize that BP is the owner of the oil and that if they are actively engaged in dealing with it then the question is moot.
I,as you pointed out, was unaware of the abilities of the recovery equipment.
In the hypothetical if someone had the super duper oil spill scooper and could recover the spill in a cost effective manner...and could show that BP was not making a good faith effort to solve the problem...again all in the area of the hypothetical....I am not unaware of the real world.
The law is the person paying you to collect the oil has rights to the product you recover unless specified otherwise in the contract.
You can operate an oil skimmer system with 4 or 5 guys minimum but the gallons you skim off won't come anywhere near the cost of labor let alone the cost of maintaining the machines or operating the boats. Not for oil at crude prices.

Now what sometimes happens is a private company will run the skimmer for the oil company under contracts to clean up the environment that allow them to keep and sell the oil, as a bonus.

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ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

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Where am I going? I am trying to take the thread back on topic.

OK...to say what? Do we drill or no?

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ORIGINAL: Archer

Now as to a position on the spill.

At first the report was that it didn't have an automatic shut off system
later we hear that it had one but that it failed for some reason.