Common Sense Check: If the oil spill could have been contained any sooner, BP would have done it.

[phleshdef]

My title there is not in any way a defense of BP nor is it intended to do BP any kind of lip service. This thing is costing them a ton of money while they are also losing tens of thousands of barrels of their product (probably a lot more than that, but you get my point).

The military was on this from day one and the Obama administration has had all the proper people on it. The fact is, stopping an oil spill of this magnitude is not something that is easily doable, if doable at all. The criticisms I'm hearing are beyond ridiculous. Of all the things we can blame Bush for, I don't think any of us are faulting his administration for not being able to prevent the world trade center from collapsing after the planes had all ready hit. Thats pretty much what the criticisms of the Obama administration regarding this incident amount to. Its simply outrageous.

Its valid to criticize the administration for supporting more drilling. Its valid to criticize the administration if they fail to push the enforcement of regulations on energy companies that undertake dangerous projects like offshore oil extraction and mining.

But there is not even a hint of validity to the criticisms of the administrations response to this incident. Unfortunately, President Obama doesn't have the luxury of being able to send Captain America and the Avengers out to contain a massive oil spill. Common sense dictates that if, between the time the explosion occurred and now, that anything could have been done to lessen the effects of this incident, BP would have made sure that it happened. And unless you actually believe that BP enjoys losing all this money and losing all this oil and enjoys experiencing a massive public relations nightmare, then you've no reason to believe that handling the actual accident itself could have gone any better.

[ShortnFiery]

1. No, they would had to have invested in the $500,000 fail-safe device. That was too expensive ...

for them to PAY for such insurance at the infancy of this project.

We all now pay the price for the OIL CARTELS' GREED. :(

[phleshdef]

2. The fact that you recognize their greed completely supports everything I said in the OP.

Yes, they took a stupid chance on better securing their equipment. And now they are paying the price for it (along with many innocent bystanders). That has nothing to do with my point. This thread is about the Obama admins response to the incident and the reality of what it takes to contain a massive oil spill. Can you attempt to stay on topic and not push your favorite propaganda? If this could have been contained any better than it has, BP would have done it, for the the purpose of their own greed if nothing else.

[ShortnFiery]

4. Yes, common sense suggests that we should remain ANGRY and ensure that BP pays a price

with complete dissolution of their company ... perhaps Halliburton also.

Can you understand that this is a DISASTER and we are not going to STFU and sit down?

In addition, not every damn thing has to be linked with President Obama. He is NOT the alpha and omega of all that is the USA. :shrug:

[phleshdef]

5. LOL. America should dissolve a company that isn't even American?

BP is from out of London, so not only is that suggestion extreme, its not even possible.

No one is telling you to STFU. You are so full of mouth foamy anger, you aren't even bothering to think about what you are responding to.

Again, this thread is regarding criticisms of the Obama administrations response to a massive oil spill. I'm challenging people to show me some sort of merited reasoning to that particular criticism. We aren't talking about oil leases here, we aren't talking about mega corporate corruption. There are plenty of threads for those topics and you can always start your own if thats what you want to discuss instead.

[ShortnFiery]

9. Why not? It's called RESTITUTION. Damn, do you have any idea how BAD this disaster is ...

unfolding to be world wide pollution of our beloved ocean waters.

You have NO IDEA how bad this is, do you?

Dissolving BP is THE LEAST of our worries. This is panning out to be a WORLD WIDE disaster if they can't cap this deep sea OIL GEYSER.

[phleshdef]

12. We can't because we don't have the legal power to do that.

And yes, of course I know how bad this is. The entire point of my post is that when something on this level actually happens, there is very little that can be done quickly.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pnwmom]

25. The OP isn't linking this with Obama -- the Rethugs and mass media are. n/t

[elehhhhna]

14. Ain't no such thing as failsafe in subsea oil operations. fyi.

[phleshdef]

16. Yea, I tend to agree with that as well. Offshore drilling is too dangerous to take the risk.

[sandnsea]

3. And they hoped they could

before they had to admit how bad it could get.

Which is why the President shouldn't believe what he's being told by these scumbags.

Avengers and Super Powers is just so fucking stupid when we're talking about this kind of disaster.

[phleshdef]

7. Its only stupid because it puts your empty criticisms into perspective.

Because those criticisms are, well, about as stupid as suggesting that the administration could have done anything to better contain the spill.

[MadMaddie]

11. The Coast Guard was already on the scene and they were

reporting how bad it was. BP didn't admit how bad it was until it was too late.

Again the Government does not own these oil companies, this is a result of Republican Reagan policies of "Free Market and Self-Regulating Industries"!!!!

You imply that he is naive, I argue that he is not. He knew how bad it was because DHS,Department of the Interior and the EPA became involved early.

[sandnsea]

21. Here's the 4/29 presser

This is when things really started to turn around, to the point that there is now an actual Coast Guard incident commander who is coordinating and taking charge of what every agency can take charge of, instead of the "assist BP" approach that had been in place.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/press-briefing-bp-oil-spill-gulf-coast

Here's yesterday's press briefing, again, and you can start to see the kind of shift that is taking place.

https://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/2931/535447

[MadMaddie]

26. Thanks for the information. I also think that the Declaration by

the governer had something to do with the shift.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. And now it's Kill baby kill, with their greed, arrogance, and terminally

ignorant decision not to use what the Norwegian drillers use... the fail safe device for 1/2 mil. Assholes.

[MadMaddie]

8. BP did not plan for a disaster that is obvious!

They do not own enough equipment to handle a massive gush. Especially for such deep water drilling. Others have mentioned the safety devices that the rest of the worlds oil platforms use. BP went cheap and had shoddy repairs that is exactly what caused this.

BP is responsible for this and if it bankrupts them good. Alaska is still recovering many years after the Exxon spill. It may take decades for the Gulf and neighboring states to recover.

[phleshdef]

10. I agree. But I'm talking in regard to solutions that exist AFTER the spill all ready happened.

There is plenty they could have done to prevent the accident from every occurring. But after its all ready happened, it doesn't seem like there are really any good ways of dealing with it.

[MadMaddie]

13. Agreed!

This is a result of no government regulations with these type of rigs. "Free Market and Self Regulation", should die a oily death.

When the Department of Homeland Security was set up withIndustry Sectors. These Sectors are supposed to voluntarily work hand in hand with the associated governemnt organization. These sectors are supposed to think about manmade disasters, natural disasters and terrorism. This was all part of the previous administrations great plan. With that in mind the sectors are supposed to put best practice ideas into their forum and other companies in their sectors are supposed to take them into consideration and possibly implement them.

Now if a company does not implement any of the industry recommendations there is no penalty. It's voluntary afterall. This MUST change in the DHS plan.

[ShortnFiery]

19. Thanks, but the ANGER is only beginning to build. No matter how many people would love

humans to be cold, calculated pragmatists like the greedy GHOULS on Wall Street, most Americans are not such POD PEOPLE.

Strap yourselves(+ buddies from BP) in for some INTENSE ANGER for a LONG TIME TO COME ... and it sure is WELL DESERVED. :grr:

[pleah]

17. You can smell the oil now where I am. n/t

[Lint Head]

18. If BP would have 'done it' they would have planned for it before it happened.

It's like saying Saddam has WMD.If he had WMD he would have used them the moment we invaded. Some things are empirical or just plain common sense. BP's only interest is to drill and make a profit. They played the odds that a spill would not happen but it did. Just common sense.

[phleshdef]

20. If their only interest is to make a profit, then my point stands, they definately would have done it

I'm all for criticizing the irresponsible chances they took that led to this catastrophe. That has nothing to do with the fact that if this thing could have been contained by now after the fact that it would have been.

[freddie mertz]

22. US regulations on the rig operated by "BP America" were apparently weaker...

Than the ones imposed on rigs elsewhere, including the EU.

In that is so, and if the failure to fit the half-million locking device turns out to have contributed to the disaster, our own government will be as much to blame as "BP America."

[HughMoran]

23. What about Obamaman's super freeze breath?

:eyes:

[jaxx]

24. Thanks for the common sense approach.

You made a great deal of sense and I hope people pay attention.

[hayu_lol]

27. Really sad when most of the posters failed to get the point...

wonder if all of them sat at the back of the classrooms in school?

For those who had other irons in the fire...go start your own threads.

[KansasVoter]

28. Wow! A logical post! How weird here! +1