Regulation of Offshore Rigs Is a Work in Progress

Regulation of Offshore Rigs Is a Work in Progress

www.nytimes.com

Oil industry executives and their allies in Congress said that the Obama administration, in its zeal to overhaul the agency, has lost sight of what they believe the agency’s fundamental mission should be - promoting the development of the nation’s offshore oil and gas resources. Environmentalists said the agency, now known as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, has made only cosmetic changes and remains too close to the people it is supposed to regulate.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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"Regulation" is a dirty word in American English.

Americans will fight to the death to defend Corporate Rights and Freedoms - while they blindly accept the steady erosion of their Personal Rights and Freedoms, poisons in their water and toxins in their food supply.

Everyone knows the BP oil disaster happened because no one was protecting peoples' safety or the environment, because the Corporate Right to Profit was the first and over-riding concern. And everyone knows that the "clean up" went South fast for the same reason.

Oil deregulation leaves U.S. helpless in gulf

Weeks after what is now the largest oil spill in U.S. history began to cause damage all along the Gulf Coast, officials and engineers are optimistic that a risky underwater well-plugging measure is working. But what if it's not working? Will the federal government be able to step in and do something else?

So far, the answer has been "Not really."

… The government's startling helplessness in the face of unprecedented disaster is the direct result of our decades of deregulation. …

President Obama knows he can't present the issue to the public in quite this way. As much as they like the idea of deregulation, Americans don't want their government to be powerless in the face of a disaster.

Not that the USA is alone on this issue - offshore rigs are self-regulated around the world, much like the Nuclear Industry - although some say the US is responsible for negotiating the deregulation clauses in all the international "Free Trade" Agreements. But seems like everyone everywhere is starting to take a second look at the issue.

The U.S. government is not alone in ceding responsibility to the oil industry for the design of key safety features on offshore rigs, a trend coming under scrutiny worldwide following the deadly blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.

Across the globe, industry-driven regulation is the norm, not the exception – and critics are calling for a re-examination of a system that puts crucial safety decisions into the hands of corporations motivated by profit.

The March 11 magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami crippled Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear station, causing radiation leaks. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency on April 12 raised the severity level of the accident to 7, the highest level on the global scale, matching the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

It's really quite simple: International corporate law stipulates that corporations MUST put profit first, before any other considerations including public health and safety, environmental health - even the structural integrity of the earth itself. Catastrophes like the BP oil "spill" and Fukushima meltdown are predictable risks - covered off by international trade agreements, rising rates for personal health and other insurance, and corporate government bailouts with our tax dollars, as needed.




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www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Ultimately, the way it works now, seems to be it's their ocean and they own whatever they can suck out of it. Same with the precious metals and water, and ever more so, food.

Is anyone getting the message yet that there is a logical and (shudder) moral "issue" to be resolved here?

In what manner does the government participate in the exploitation of natural resources in our country?

The industrialists (robber barons ) and their intellectual elite buddies seem to demand we accept the idea that the government is supposed to be 'on their side' in regards to what they want to do. They are unapologetic about this position. Of course, they attribute the jobs they create and the importance of their revenue stream (and make no mistake.... in no way will you be allowed to argue it isn't 'their' revenue stream) is to our nations health.

It's kind of amazing that somehow, they have become the "masters" and "sovereign lords" over this... the people's property... all by virtue of, in the end, government largess (?) ... how do the people who collectively own that resource have a say in this? Not by the representatives wooed by millions in lobbying dollars (which they refer to as, *snicker,* freedom of speech) .... The Administration is, lacking a better phrase, "under their thumb" ... and the judicial is on another plane looking down from an ivory tower of self-satisfied vainglory.

Am I looking at this with some kind of bias? Perhaps,.... but there is no question that they are definitely biased, but they get a direct voice in government via direct lobby.... we get..... what we've gotten thus far, ..... oh joy!

reply to post by Maxmars


It's like the old days before democracy and the original Tea Party, when Kings granted Sovereign Rights to corporations in the colonies, along with the Corporate Charter.

Sometimes going back to the old ways is NOT a good thing.

Thanks. S&

Totally agree with regard to deregulation (and everything else you commented on) I was surprised to learn that the U.S. did not require the use of an "acoustic switch" that could have shut off the flow of oil, while other countries, UK, Australia, Canada, etc. all require that these be used in case of a spill. In 2002/03 the Bush administration helped blocked a bill that would have added regulation requiring oil companies to use acoustic switches:

Deregulation is the real (underlying) reason / cause behind the US oil spill by British Petroleum (BP) in 2010 off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. Deregulation coupled with lax government oversight (lackies appointed by Dick Cheney at the helm) lead to the omission of key safety features and protocols, a free pass for drilling licenses, emphasis on profit over safety, and absolutely NO PLAN for containment of blowouts.

For example, George W Bush and Dick Cheney helped block a 2002/03 Bill that would have required the use of acoustic switches to activate the blowout preventer (BOP). When the rig blew up, they had to MANUALLY activate the switch by sending robotic submersibles....Eventually the rig collapsed and sank to the ocean floor. Because the rig was STILL ATTACHED to the well head / BOP, it bent or damaged the BOP making it unusable. Again, this is something that could have been foreseen; i.e. the need to activate the BOP immediately in the case of catastrophic rig failure, to avoid potential damage to the BOP....An acoustic switch would have allowed them to IMMEDIATELY stop the well head (activate the BOP) as soon as the explosion happened. The BOP would not have been at risk for failure (due to rig collapsing); but, the lack of a remote switch and need to save the well (for profit and avoidance of loss) meant that they delayed trying to activate it. By that time the damage to the BOP had been done.

Source

With regard to regulation being a dirty word, you are right. However I don't understand it. Isn't this why we have laws? Is having a law making "theft" or "arson" a crime, "evil, bad, dirty, regulation"? Is having a law immigrants to have "green cards" or "work visas" in order to get a job here "evil, bad, dirty, regulation"? Is having a law saying we should all drive on the right side of the road, and stop for red lights "evil, bad, dirty, regulation"? Why is it okay to enforce all sorts of things on individuals (many unfair laws), but anytime we try to enforce something with a corporation it becomes "anti-freedom, big government liberal commie interference". Should people just be allowed to do whatever they want? Why does it seem that corporations have more of these "freedoms" to do whatever they want than actual people.

Originally posted by soficrow

"Regulation" is a dirty word in American English.

If BP had regulated themselves better, the oil industry wouldn't be in this mess of facing increased regulation. So BP has nobody to blame but themselves. The other oil companies that may have been doing a better job can blame BP. Some of the things BP did on that job were highly irregular. One guy said he'd been in the industry 25 years and never seen anyone skip the cement test like BP did, that was reckless by itself.

Whatever regulation they get now, they've earned. And I don't think many people will have much sympathy for them or fight for their right to not be regulated so they can do it all over again.

reply to post by meeneecat

Is having a law making "theft" or "arson" a crime, "evil, bad, dirty, regulation"? Is having a law immigrants to have "green cards" or "work visas" in order to get a job here "evil, bad, dirty, regulation"? Is having a law saying we should all drive on the right side of the road, and stop for red lights "evil, bad, dirty, regulation"? Why is it okay to enforce all sorts of things on individuals (many unfair laws), but anytime we try to enforce something with a corporation it becomes "anti-freedom, big government liberal commie interference". Should people just be allowed to do whatever they want? Why does it seem that corporations have more of these "freedoms" to do whatever they want than actual people.

WELL SAID!

Thanks & S&