Unchecked (BP) oil flow would cause disaster ‘heretofore unseen by humanity’

[kpete]

Source: The Hill


Unchecked oil flow would cause disaster ‘heretofore unseen by humanity’
By Ben Geman - 05/26/10 04:15 PM ET

If BP fails to plug its ruptured offshore oil well, intense underground pressure would be enough to pump vast quantities of thick brown crude into the Gulf of Mexico for months, even years.

If even BP’s backup plans fail, it would cause a pollution disaster "heretofore unseen by humanity," said one expert.

It is this rapidly accelerating realization that is giving BP’s attempt Wednesday to cap the well new political and environmental urgency.

The worst-case scenario is hoped and believed to be a continued flow of 5,000 barrels per day, and by some estimates vastly more, until August, when BP completes “relief wells” to intercept the damaged well.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/100049-unchecked-oil-flow-would-cause-disaster-heretofore-unseen-by-humanity

[Poll_Blind]

1. Being as objective as I can, I think this is NOT an overstatement. n/t

PB

[Faygo Kid]

9. Agreed. This is extraordinary.

May we never see the likes of it again.

Goodbye, Gulf. And the lives you sheltered.

[Kablooie]

2. I'm really getting 2012 vibes here.

[harmonicon]

24. -1

[Zhade]

46. THANK YOU. That 2012 nonsense is fucking stupid.

NT!

[Joe Chi Minh]

3. The really amazing thing about it is that really it is attributable to one and only one

sovereign underlying cause: unchecked human greed: the bedrock of capitalism, indeed, its holy of holies - the greatest possible, short-term profit, as measured by the pecuniary return on financial investments... ultimately, to the exclusion of all else, because that's the way unchecked greed works. See my sig. line.

It was as far from what Adam Smith had in mind as one could imagine. He believed in harnessing businessmens' cupidity, in order to serve the public good, not giving the green light for the unleashing of an anarchic greed he knew they were prey to, for the enrichment of the already-wealthy few - themselves and their cronies. As Smith so pungently expressed it: "All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind." Now, it's time to pay the piper.

[Love Bug]

11. Greed and our lifestyle based on petrochemicals

It's not just cars, but almost everything we touch is based in petrochemicals. We all have a hand in this but will we be able to convince our government and the governments of other nations of the folly of continuing on this path? This accident happened off our shores, but it could have happened anywhere and probably will again as long as our thirst for oil trumps our common sense.

[Nihil]

32. Mostly correct ...

> Greed and our lifestyle based on petrochemicals

Yep

> It's not just cars, but almost everything we touch is based in petrochemicals.

Yep.

> We all have a hand in this ...

Yep.

> ... but will we be able to convince our government and the governments of
> other nations of the folly of continuing on this path?

Not likely but it's still worth a try.

> This accident happened off our shores, ...

Yep.

> ... but it could have happened anywhere and probably will again as long
> as our thirst for oil trumps our common sense.

This is the bit that was only "mostly" correct ...

It has *already* happened elsewhere and will *certainly* continue to happen
in the future but, fortunately for all of the tender little souls who are
screaming & shouting their rage & frustration, as long as it continues to
happen *elsewhere* then they simply don't care any more than they cared up
to the middle of April this year.

:shrug:

[Joe Chi Minh]

45. You are both compeltely wrong. This catastrophe was ultimately caused, not by

the selfless desire of BP to service mankinds needs for fuel, plastics, etc. The wellspring of it all was NOTHING other than greed. It was the mother and father of all the other subsidiary causes, such as technological hubris, deploying trail-blazing technology, even, it seems, the very mandating of cretinous behaviour in extremis, from on high, to those lower down the chain.

Our dependency on oil is the reason for the ongoing search for new sources of oil. It was NOT the cause of this catastrophe, even remotely. There is no excuse whatsoever for having pushed the frontiers of the use of the technology so recklessly far, so quickly. The problem of trying to stop a gusher at such a depth must have occurred to them, but the big guys must have chosen to press on. Still, if the precautionary principle is ignored in relation to the very food you eat, why should they have acted more responsibly? Because profit is king. Ask Milton Friedman's ghost.

Adam Smith thought much the same of the merchants of his day as did Einstein, of his - and by extension, of their technological myrmidons. "Technological progress", he observed, "is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal".

Smith warned that businessmen were endemic malefactors, and consequently needed to be virtually 'tagged':
"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."

His Hidden Hand was nothing other than the synergies created by a beneficent Providence in furtherance of the common good, ensuing upon grace being allowed to build upon nature, an old Christian axiom. Don't lock up the businessmen. Use them, as you would a beast of burden. No need for factory-farming, though, just so long as the herdsmen do their job. Which they haven't, of course; hence the oil gusher and so much else. Smith's message has been twisted by ultra right-wing capitalists out of all recognition.

Smith's maxim: "All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind," bears repeating, here.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/23/4046

There must be many good, individual business people, of course, but they are forced to work under a depraved capitalist system, which deliberately incites unbridled covetousness and ravages the planet, animal, vegetable and mineral.

[liberation]

16. "It was as far from what Adam Smith had in mind..."

How do you figure so?

[defendandprotect]

19. Capitalists generally have no interest in business ... their interest is in profit/theft . . .

Core of capitalism is exploitation of nature and humans --

As I recall this, Adam Smith described capitalism, but it was invented in Northern Italy

long before -- 500 years before him -- the basis of it is Catholic Corporatism -- wherein

we find the seeds of fascism.


Vatican invented capitalism when Feudalism proved insufficient to run their Papal States.

[murray hill farm]

4. and...

how sure are we that the relief wells will be effective?

[fascisthunter]

5. I am very concerned

I have been reading much about how much damage oil does to an environment. People really have no clue as to precious and delicate it all is. It's about balance, and the greed usually tips the scale.

[DeSwiss]

6. K&R

[saigon68]

39. New symbol for the flag

[Jefferson23]

7. K&R

[alp227]

8. This incident had better destroy the Tea Party movement already.

Because look what limited government has led to...near-anarchocapitalism with deadly consequences. But the Tea Party will still insist on free markets for everything and insist that the Bible will tell when the world will end.

[defendandprotect]

13. What? Isn't Obama sending troops to protect Mexico's border?

Let the right wing find fault with something and Dems immediately rush to their

rescue!

All attention should be focused on this spill -- and we're sending troops to protect

the border with Mexico!!

Insane --

[alp227]

14. The WRONG Mexico right there.

What we need now is more help for the GULF of Mexico, not the border.

[defendandprotect]

18. Plus, if you look at what the problem in Arizona really is . . .it's the Drug War -- !!

Mexcians aren't their criminals --

the Drug War, gun smuggling to support it -- are the violence that's occuring there!!

PLUS, businesses which are magnets for the illegals and no one stopping those businesses!!

Nuts!!

[TheEuclideanOne]

15. Unless the oil spill somehow turns Obama white, the Tea Party will stay strong

You are making the mistake of assuming that logic and reasoning is what drives them. Remember, their organization is based on protesting Taxation during a year when 95% of them are paying lower taxes. I guess the Tea Party will end when the corporates sponsors have no need for them, so don't hold you breath.

[donquijoterocket]

40. strong?

I'm not sure how really strong the baggers will be, but I know they'll continue to be loudly whiny.They're like mice in a pile of dry leaves they're not that big and there's not that many of them but from the noise you'd swear it was a rhinoceros.As the euclideanone says their usefulness is limited as to who deserts them first the corporate sponsors or their unofficial sponsors the RNC who thought they could break that tiger to harness.

[Uncle Joe]

10. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[defendandprotect]

12. Trust Obama understands now that 1st they lied for a week and then they

pretended that they knew how to close this well for more than a month now!

Beyond the damage to ocean and life on it and in it -- this oil hanging around is

going to be picked up and turned into an oily rain somewhere!

The longer it is there, the more dangerous for all of us.


Further -- and I rarely hear males saying this -- OIL MAY BE OUR EARTH'S BALLAST!!

Capitalism is suicidal --

Just as suicidal as patriarchy -- "the bird with one wing" --

[pokercat999]

27. Trust Obama understands that his re-election depends

on raising over $100,000,000.00 and most of that will come from corporations including BP. He MUST treat them with kid gloves, sharp rhetoric, ok, but in actual reform and regulation.....kid gloves. Better yet let them write the reform and regulation and oh yeah, a bailout or three would help warm things up for 2012.

[sce56]

17. Yesterday on Daily Briefing with Ian Masters KPFK, they talked about the suns effect on black water!

The oil will cause the water to absorb more of the suns heat, black has zero reflectivity, raising the water temp higher giving more power to hurricanes!



http://archive.kpfk.org/parchive/xml/dbriefing.xml

[CoffeeCat]

21. holy crikey...

...that is a very powerful image. And if there is a hurricane, it's possible
that the oil (and that toxic dispersant) could be swept up in the hurricane and
thrown off many miles inland.

Can you imagine that?

It's like something out of a Michael Bay movie!

[amborin]

20. K&R

[Hempathy]

22. "...for months, even years."

I don't remember which show, but one of the 'experts' being interviewed about the leak said that left unchecked, the gusher would continue on for all of our lifetimes, because that's how much oil is down there.

[DeadEyeDyck]

23. Yep, we are pretty fucked now nt

[Old Vet]

25. I just read about that,

I was just reading what a F-4/5 storm from the gulf would do to the states, possibly up to the great lakes region. Nobody could drink the water, hunt for food, It would be a complete dead zone. Just the thought of days of raining oil,People couldn't drive, Our eco system from the gulf to the Mid-Atlantic would be devastated. Fuck!

[Alamuti Lotus]

26. Nuke the well, BP's corporate headquarters, and anybody chanting "drill baby drill"

Finally, a practical use for America's surreal stock of nuclear weapons.

[Hubert Flottz]

29. "Nuke them all and let Gawd sort them out later!"

Sounds like the Dickster's plan.

[Hubert Flottz]

28. What Obama needs to remember through this disaster...

"You can't make deals with Terra-ists" The same goes for corporate terra-ists.

People who are motivated by greed and who kill other people to gain wealth, are criminals, just like a guy who murders for any other reason, besides self defense. 11 people died, because someone wanted to take chances, cut corners and save money. Being burned to death is a horrible way to die, IMHO. BP is showing no remorse that I have witnessed. To this day their bottom line is what they care about most. Reminds me of A T Massey Coal and the Big Branch disaster.

[City Lights]

30. I get sick to my stomach when I think about this.

:-(

[AngryOldDem]

31. Here's one issue that I have yet heard to be discussed substantively...

What happens here soon when hurricane season kicks into high gear? If a major storm gets into the Gulf, what will be the ramifications of the spill itself, as well as oil-slicked storm surges impacting not only the Gulf coast, but the Mississippi River basin and points north? How far north? How many will get sick and eventually die from oil-related illnesses?

And, since the wetlands are basically fucked, what is NOLA's first line of defense now? Dimninishing wetlands was blamed in part for the huge devastation of Katrina -- now what?

As bad as this situation is currently, I'm afraid it's about to get a hell of a lot worse.

Damn BP. Just damn that company to hell.

[valerief]

33. The earth is shitting all over itself. nt

[Drops_not_Dope]

34. No Words

.

[truthisfreedom]

35. Cue Hollywood... this is one disaster they haven't addressed yet.

[Enrique]

36. drill baby drill n/t

[CountAllVotes]

37. and burn baby burn!

[femrap]

38. WASF

I hope they're drilling like crazy on those damn relief wells....that's all that has worked in the past.

However, we are at depths never allowed before. WHO OKed THESE DEPTHS? Who, damn it?

Diaspora.

[lark]

43. Cheny and his handpicked MMS and "new rules"

Damn him to hell and back. Has there ever been a worse person, um excuse me, life-form than him?

[femrap]

44. maybe

rove and W...I call them 'creatures.'

[Bragi]

41. If not this time, then next

We cannot do deepwater oil extraction without risk. We should therefore not be doing it. If we continue, then it is certain that in coming decades, etc. there will be rare accidents with real consequences, and we will, eventually, foul a lot of ocean space and shoreline.

I have no doubt that this is what is most likely going to happen. The only way to stop it is to stop deepwater oil extraction, which we have no intention of doing.

[earth mom]

42. When will this heartbreak end?!

:cry: