Joe Conason: Why Norway's Offshore Drilling is Safer

[flpoljunkie]

(Emphasis mine.)

MONDAY, MAY 3, 2010

Why Norway's offshore drilling is safer
Statoil operates the most environmentally friendly offshore oil rigs in the world -- because it's state-owned
BY JOE CONASON


A gas platform in the North Sea run by the Norwegian oil company Statoil. AP

If anyone still believes we must drill, baby, drill offshore -- aside from Bill Kristol, that is, who wants to sink wells even closer to precious coastal wetlands -- then perhaps it is time to consider again the potential benefits of nationalization. After all, there is one country that has established an unrivaled record for environmental safety while exploiting its offshore petroleum reserves. That would be Norway, which created the company now known as Statoil Hydro as a fully state-owned entity and still controls nearly two-thirds of the company's "privatized" shares.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Statoil rigs in the North Sea are required by law to maintain special "acoustic switches" that shut down operations completely (and remotely) in case of a blowout or explosion. The US Mines and Minerals Service, under the industry-friendly Bush administration, decided that rigs operating in American waters need not install those switches because they are "very costly." At $500,000 per switch, they now look like an enormous bargain, of course.

What makes Norway so different from the United States -- and much more likely to install the most protective energy technology -- is that the Norwegian state can impose public values on oil producers without fighting off lobbyists and crooked politicians, because it owns and controls the resources. Rather than Halliburton-style corporate management controlling the government and blocking environmental improvement, Norway's system works the other way around. It isn't perfect, as any Nordic environmentalist will ardently explain, but the results are considerably better than ours.

more...

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joe_conason/2010/05/03/norway/index.html

[Demoiselle]

1. Why hasn't this acoustic switch gotten more attention in the news?

I heard about this the 500 K safety switch about a week ago on some station or another...but have heard nothing more about it since.
I thought maybe I'd dreamed it!

[Cha]

3. Because it's the US corporate run media

whoredom.

[flpoljunkie]

5. Article in today's NYT: Warnings on Backup Systems for Oil Rigs Sounded 10 Years Ago

From: 'Warnings on Backup Systems for Oil Rigs Sounded Ten Years Ago' by By MIKE SORAGHAN

"The MMS considers a backup BOP actuation system to be an essential component of a deepwater drilling system," the March 2000 notice said, "and therefore expects OCS operators to have reliable back-up systems for actuating the BOP."

But MMS left it up to the companies to decide what kind of backup system to have. And Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) wants to know why. Nelson has warned others about the possibility of spills for years as he fought growing pressure to allow drilling off the Florida coast. Now, he has gone from warning to pointing.

Nelson has asked the Interior Department's acting inspector general, Mary Kendall, to investigate why the service did not require drillers to use a specific type of backup system used in other major offshore drilling countries, a remote-control shutoff called an acoustic switch. He has raised the prospect that lobbying by the oil and gas industry kept regulators at bay on the issue.

"I ask that you determine in your investigation the extent to which the oil and natural gas industry exercised influence in the agency's rulemaking process," Nelson wrote to Kendall this week.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/05/04/04greenwire-warnings-on-backup-systems-for-oil-rigs-sounde-30452.html?scp=1&sq=acoustic%20switch&st=cse

[Cha]

2. They're too wise to have someone like dick cheney calling the shots..

"Is Dick Cheney To Blame for the Oil Spill? Signs Point to Yes."

Cross post: GD
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8273155

[elocs]

4. Here, from Tuesday morning with 15 Recs:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x533795

[babylonsister]

6. Lots of people don't go to that forum; I'm glad this was posted

again. More eyes, more insight.

[elocs]

7. You're right. This wouldn't be DU if the same stories didn't get posted over and over.

I'm sure this will be posted again tomorrow also.

[babylonsister]

8. Does this upset you? I hear you about the repetition, and

I'm guilty of it, too, but in different forums, I think reposted articles serve a purpose.

Oh, well. I'm sure there will be more stories posted multiple times that annoy us both.

[elocs]

9. Well, I've seen stories reposted that currently are on the Front Page with 100 Recs.

I guess I take the "Good citizens check for duplicates" message to heart. Very few people seem to be will to do a quick DU search to see if something has already been posted in their rush to get it on. I get the different forums, but stories which appear in GD also get reposted over and over.

I simply posted that the story was already posted. I did not call the OP an idiot.

Yes, this is a pet peeve of mine. We all tend to have them and I may disagree with some of yours as you may with mine.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

10. Wot no Halliburton?

[killbotfactory]

11. They make billions a year but half a million for a safety feature is too costly

Meanwhile this will cost us all billions. Awesome!

Glad we have our way of life protected by these irresponsible companies who have a death grip on our political system.

[flpoljunkie]

12. The 'death grip' is our corrupt campaign finance system which amounts to 'legalized bribery.'

It results in 'dirty deeds, done cheap.' But, as long as people do not understand this--and demand public financing of federal campaigns--nothing will change!

Tell your members of Congress to support the Fair Election Now Act.

The Supreme Court has just given big corporations even more influence in our electoral process. The Court has overturned decades of precedent to make sure corporations have the same political rights as living, breathing people.

It's time for Congress to act swiftly and powerfully to make sure voters--not corporations--have control of our elections.

Act now - pass the Fair Elections Now Act.

https://secure3.convio.net/change/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=579