I must disagree on the major point – it was BP that was in control and made the final decisions. Therefore they are responsible as the primary and final decision point. However, it was the others involved that should have been more forceful in their recommendations and made it known if there were questions and disagreements.
I do understand, having worked in some of these spots, that the service supplier usually bends to the oil company decisions and in a lot of cases will not “disagree” with the customer or even state warnings about things that could go wrong. Notice the “could” as there is always a risk of doing any job, it is up to the people involved to identify and measure that risk and put in place proper controls to mitigate that risk to tolerable levels and that may not have been the case.
I have to agree with this article, from the standpoints that we import way more “energy” from countries, with unstable or politically questionable leadership today. Most of this we can not afford to lose and that import number is not going down.
The dollars for energy that is taken out of our country is staggering and could have replaced nearly all the bailouts or QE needs. We have resources for energy, but for some odd , “political”, reasons we do not use them (Natural Gas) to the extent we should.
Please note, I do support the Pickens Plan as the only viable proposition on the table.
We, as a country, have also made it so hard to get Nuclear plants built since 1979 that we are now way behind in a viable-cheap power source. The risk for these as well as the risk for offshore drilling can be mitigated if people work at it. We could really use nuclear power as a boost for or economy to produce a lot more of our electrical needs on a smooth consistent basis if we had a few more plants on-line.
It all appears to be the politics and power of the few (special interest groups) that shout louder than the many (silent majority) these days. We desperately need an overhaul of our Energy Policy (non-existent), Political Processes (corrupt and out of control), and some of the procedures and standards along the way. – WD0AJG
By Gerri Willis
Published January 13, 2011 | FOXBusiness
In the wake of the BP oil spill, it would have been easy enough to conclude the Gulf would be ruined forever. BP was demonized as the single bad actor. But none of that turned out to be true, as USA Today points out.
The Gulf is well on its way to healing, and BP (NYSE:BP) wasn’t the only bad actor. Transocean (NYSE:RIG) and Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) also cut corners. But these assumptions made back when the disaster happened in April threaten to overwhelm the response to the crisis.
The Interior Department has reversed plans to open areas along the Atlantic coast and eastern Gulf of Mexico for drilling–ruling out leases for seven years–until 2017.
The Department says it needs to get safety guaranteed before it opens these areas for drilling. Of course, drilling should be safe, but one accident, albeit a big one, shouldn’t stop an entire industry.
Seven years to make the industry safe? That’s crazy.
That number seems even crazier, when you realize that experts are predicting gas prices to hit $5 as soon as next year. This will sting consumers already reeling from low housing prices and staggering unemployment.
We import half of our oil which puts us at the mercy of a volatile world market. The US Energy Information Administration says we produce 11% of the world’s petroleum, but consume 22%.
Over the last 60 years consumption has gone up, but for some reason production has gone down, and the public is taking notice.
According to an AP poll taken nearly four months after the BP spill, almost half of all Americans favor drilling off our shores.
Finding a solution to the energy problem in this country means using everything at our disposal. As is often the case, the administration’s policies just aren’t practical.
It’s critical that regulators and politicians don’t allow the BP spill to become the oil industry’s equivalent of Three Mile Island, the accident in 1979 that essentially shut down the construction of nuclear facilities – for which we all pay a price.
We’d be in far better shape if we kept building nuclear plants –safe ones and, we are about to make the same mistake with oil.
Be sure to catch the Willis Report on the FOX Business Network every weekday from 5-6pm ET.
Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/01/13/bp-blame/#ixzz1AzkpGwht