[ale] BP knew of problems 11 months before the rig blew -further OT

[Jim Kinney]

On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 2:41 PM, Geoffrey <lists at serioustechnology.com>wrote:

>
>
> > Maybe the US needs a fleet of the fancy oil skimmers like Norway has to
> > be deployed on hot standby where ever we have oil traffic on the oceans.
>
> See, that's where I disagree.  They shouldn't plan on a failure.  I'm a
> big believer is fixing it, not using a bandaide.  Then again, we can't
> think of every possible scenario, or the 1 in a million is too costly to
> plan for?
>

Thing is, the leaking of oil into the oceans  is not a 1 in a million thing.
It's a common problem. Drilling rigs leak, tankers have wrecks, etc. That it
will occur again is almost a given. The when is the only truly unknown. So
having a system around that is known to be able to clean up the mess seems
as wise as carrying a first aide kit on a camping trip.

I think the oil industry should have been funding remediation method
research since day one. If not voluntarily, then by legal mandate as part of
their charter to exist.  It seems that MMS should have been involved in that
as well. Or the EPA. But the usual process has occurred: lets make a
ton-o-cash until we get caught then oops!

Grr.



> >
> >
> > Heh, heh. My snark bone tells me if the skimmers are deployed the
> > company that sprung the leak pays for the full cost (boats and crew plus
> > overtime, etc.) of the deployment and the captured oil is sold on the
> > open market and the funds are used to support research to improve the
> > oil process safety (or really snarky - alternative energy sources!). Add
> > in punative fines of highest market value of oil for the 12 months prior
> > to the spill for the total spill amount multiplied by the number of days
> > or partial days the leaking occurred.  Makes for quite an incentive to
> > make no mistakes. So $85/barrel peak price X (low end 5kbb/day X 32 days
> > so far) X 32 days so far = $435.2M so far. . At the high end of
> > 20kbb/day and nothing stops until relief wells done in August  (90 days
> > from explosion) is $13.77B.
> >
> > That will catch the attention of the CFO!
>
> Can't say I would argue with that approach either... snark, snark, snark..
>

According to a box on BBC.co.uk BP made $13.4B profit in 2009. My penalty
plan would _really_ hurt!

>
> --
> Until later, Geoffrey
>
> "I predict future happiness for America if they can prevent
> the government from wasting the labors of the people under
> the pretense of taking care of them."
> - Thomas Jefferson
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-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
Actively in pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness
Doing pretty well on all 3 pursuits
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