The larger issue/danger. None of the oil rigs in Gulf have a backup.

[Statistical]

Responsible oil drilling countries like Norway & Brazil require triple redundant systems to stop the flow of oil in event of emergency on the rig. The US govt has decided it isn't necessary. We should never expect companies to do the right thing. Actually we should EXPECT companies in the absence of regulation to ALMOST ALWAYS do the wrong thing.

The Deep Water Horizon had a blow-out preventer (BOP) on the ocean floor however it didn't trip automatically and there was no backup method to trip it often than sending a submersible down 5000 ft and attempting to trip it manually. That didn't happen until after the rig sunk. Now imagine this hundred thousand ton rig sinking (at an angle), still attached to riser pipe which was attached to BOP. Is it any wonder that the BOP may have been damaged in the process. Now if the BOP had been triggered prior to rig sinking it may have been able to seal the well at day 0. This is EXACTLY why responsible countries require redundant systems to control the flow of oil.

... Major offshore oil-well blowouts are rare ... When wells do surge out of control, the primary shut-off systems almost always work. Remote control systems such as the acoustic switch, which have been tested in simulations, are intended as a last resort.

Nevertheless, regulators in two major oil-producing countries, Norway and Brazil, in effect require them. Norway has had acoustic triggers on almost every offshore rig since 1993.

The U.S. considered requiring a remote-controlled shut-off mechanism several years ago, but drilling companies questioned its cost and effectiveness, according to the agency overseeing offshore drilling. The agency, the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service, says it decided the remote device wasn't needed because rigs had other back-up plans to cut off a well. ...

On all offshore oil rigs, there is one main switch for cutting off the flow of oil by closing a valve located on the ocean floor. Many rigs also have automatic systems, such as a "dead man" switch as a backup that is supposed to close the valve if it senses a catastrophic failure aboard the rig. As a third line of defense, some rigs have the acoustic trigger: It's a football-sized remote control that uses sound waves to communicate with the valve on the seabed floor and close it.

An acoustic trigger costs about $500,000, industry officials said. The Deepwater Horizon had a replacement cost of about $560 million, and BP says it is spending $6 million a day to battle the oil spill. On Wednesday, crews set fire to part of the oil spill in an attempt to limit environmental damage.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704423504575212031417936798.html

Essentially you could sum up the stance of US govt as "well blowouts are rare and most of the time the BOP works so why regulate it?"

This is how stupidly oil companies will chase profits even at their own expense and kill the planet in the process. A $500K device may have prevented a $2B - $5B accident. Even if the risk of a spill is one in a thousand event (literally) the device would pay for itself with a 1000% ROI. The govt shouldn't expect oil companies to do the right thing or even the profitable thing (in my opinion $500K is a cheap insurance policy to save billions in cleanup costs). The govt responsibility is to FORCE oil companies to install safety equipment.

So when is Congress going to act to get our regulations in line with rest of known world?

[malaise]

1. BP couldn't try that crap

anywhere in Europe

[Submariner]

2. Of course not

Not in Bush country. Bush-era oil riggers don't need no stinkin' regulations requiring state-of-the-art blow-out preventers. Real murikan drillers know it all already....or so they thought.

[bridgit]

3. And that was part of Cheney's secret energy policy - to make it more profitable...

to do such business off the coast of the US - pointing then to a corporate RW stacked SCOTUS willing to give the rest away for a handful of peanuts http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8260795

[Overseas]

4. K&R on the perils of "self regulation" by the oil companies. //nt

[MindPilot]

5. I know it's a radical idea, but should corporations be regulated?

When it becomes undeniably obvious that unfettered free-market capitalism produces exactly the same results as communism maybe it is time to consider the idea that corporate persons should be regulated and tightly controlled just as individual persons already are.

Or more accurately I would favor regulating corporate persons more--a lot more--and individual persons less.

[Statistical]

6. It does seem to be radical lately.

Also I don't know where the Republicans got this meme that free-market = no regulation.

It simply isn't true. Most free markets will not work without regulation. I mean imagine a perfectly free market absolutely no regulation, nothing govt can do about anything. Can anyone imagine I don't know drug companies selling snake oil cures, car companies selling vehicles that are lethal in even low speed car accidents. How about cereal companies selling pesticide laced cereal? I mean a pure free market would be utterly chaotic and horrible.

Free market without regulation makes about as much sense as a football game with no penalties. Anyone thick one side might bring knives to the game and just kill the other team to ensure a win? Regulations = rules of the game. I mean we had quite a big of regulation under Clinton and the free market did just fine. Some would even say it did better when the rules of the game were known and stable.

[dipsydoodle]

7. I believe the background to the requirement in Europe

to be to protect fishing stocks. The real issue over your side isn't that BP didn't use one : it's that there was no requirement for them to do so.

Presumably moves have been afoot since January last year to correct this. :sarcasm:

[ladjf]

8. The information given in this post should be the foundation to

basic deep water drilling safety. Simple as that. ALL wells must be equipped with the state of the art blowout preventers.

[florida08]

9. From NOAA

The Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) provides about 25% of our domestic natural gas and 30% of our domestic oil.
50 percent of leased acreage in the Gulf of Mexico OCS is in deep water (greater than 1,000 feet).

The deepwater OCS accounts for over 60% of the total Gulf of Mexico OCS oil production and 24% of the total Gulf of Mexico OCS natural gas production.



Map of the northern Gulf of Mexico showing the nearly 4,000 active oil and gas platforms.


http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/06mexico/background/oil/media/platform_600.html