One Year Anniversary Of Deepwater Horizon Disaster & Recommencement Of Deep-Water Drilling

Looks like the government feels one year was enough of a moratorium on deep-water drilling in the Gulf.

Gulf Oil Spill One Year Later: Clean-Up Continues, Oil-Soaked Memories Remain

One year after the worst oil spill in U.S. history, the government is slowly handing out new permits to allow deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico -- a move oil industry insiders say is a safe one.

The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010, forced a reported 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf, leading to a deep-water drilling moratorium. So, selling safe drilling to coastal communities still cleaning oil out of their sensitive wetlands has been anything but easy. The images of oil-soaked birds and beaches will never fade from the memories of those who live and work along the Gulf Coast.

“It's not a matter of if there’s another accident, it's a matter of when, " said Gulf Restoration Network Director Aaron Viles. “They haven’t really learned a significant lesson here and they aren’t really better prepared to respond to another accident.”

“We are in a road of progress, but we’re not at a point, nor will we ever be, where we can say that we have achieved the safest possible oil and gas drilling in America’s oceans, ” said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. “We have to make sure that the industry as a whole does not have the same sense of complacency that it had before the Macondo Well spill.”

What's your feelings on this?

You know.. my feelings are this would be acceptable as long as BP lost ALL their rights to participate in the exploitation of American natural resources until the Gulf area was determined (by it's local inhabitants) to be clean and free from the effects of the substandard practices they made us all subject to last year.

reply to post by Maxmars


So you don't feel the industry as a whole doesn't lack the 'know how' or technology to properly deal with a deep-water oil well blow out?

reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II


Not necessarily. I feel that unless we are prepared to deal with the industry as a single entity, we can't punish others for the avaricious drive BP succumbed to. My understanding, and please feel free to educate me if I am wrong, was that other countries exercise much more control over these operations in their waters. And even BP would have been constrained to a higher standard were they drilling off the shores of, say, the UK.

Knowing there is a higher standard, and opting not to abide by it is a typical choice of those for whom revenue and commerce is more important than the 'externality' of 'community' responsibility. BP made the choice and despite the cover our government gave them at every turn, most accept that they were at fault. Therefor, I would think a focused restriction on their operations is just reward for their lack of social conscience.

Other companies (if you are of a mind to believe they are 'separate' at their roots) may "learn" not to risk this kind of thing EVER again - and surely, the government SHOULD be totally committed to demanding PROOF that safety and emergency response is within the capability of the "bid winner."

But then, we know this is not likely to happen since the government, and in particular its regulatory arm, is almost completely manned by former and future employees of the people who take these risks in the first place.

Now if we DID consider the entire industry as one entity... and we can argue that in many ways, and in effect, they are, we could restrict them all. But that connection will be denied forever more... it's not good business to officially acknowledge a "covert" monopoly (be it one of energy or monetary policy, etc, etc.)

One thing I still don't know a year later is what are they going to do with the wreck and the bodies inside?
And can somebody put another Remotely Operated Vehicle on task to go down there again and dust the memorial cap off.


And since BP is still on the loose out there are they going to finish that first Macondo well that they abandoned for some random reason a few months before the rig blew.

reply to post by Nogard2012


If they did you can bet the footage would be classified.... or "private property."