It's gonna be a tough few years for the oil industry after this one. Let's hope that there isn't another spill.
As someone who lives in Florida and near the gulf coast, this issue is personal to me. I know I can't get political, so I won't name names. But there are those who advocate drilling closer to our coast, a la "drill baby drill". And y'know, maybe they should like, be boiled in crude. I'm not one of the clueless optimists who is gonna say this will spur on alternative energy research, but I wish it would.
Yes! I know how you feel. I live about thirty miles from the Gulf Coast in Missississippi and the last spill put so many people out of work down here. I take this personally too.
Well, before anyone says we should drill more, come and check out Texas beaches. I wouldn't let my dog swim in that water.
First of all, what exactly causes these explosions (faulty pieces of equipment, drilling incorrectly/too far/too much, human error,etc)? One would think preventative measures would be increased after Deepwater Horizon exploded back in April. Great...
Oil-wells explode, it's gonna happen. Beyond that, as a Louisiana native, I'm kinda numb to all this now.
Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that another one blew up in the gulf? Seriously, I know they blow up, but two in this short time doesn't sit right with me.
I myself live in the Florida Gulf Coast. The people who runs a business at the beach affected their lives during the whole summer. But whenever gasoline reaches back up to $4.50 a gallon, people will go back and demand drill here and drill now. I have a cousin and he thinks the BP explosion last April is a conspiracy. Now I can't wait to hear what he has to say about this latest explosion. He might say I told you so.
There has been oil wells out in the Gulf since the late 1940's and only a few problems. But two explosions in one year? I agree with you. There is something going on.
I'm willing to say that it has to do with the methane build ups under the crust in that area. But I also agree that it's worrisome that 2 rigs have gone up in such a short period of time.
Actually, on shore or near shore would have been capped within 24 hour making the spill far less severe. It was because it was in such deep water that it flowed for so long. Closer to shore would have minimized the damage. But hey, let's not let facts get in the way. We need an excuse to look for @$$ to kick.
The methane's been there for thousands, if not thousands of thousands of years. Rather than look to environmental factors, it is likely more productive to look to failures in maintenance, mismanaged, absent, or inadequate equipment, as well as (and I apologize in advance for veering towards politics) the current ability of regulatory bodies to effectively enforce safe (from a worker and an environmental standpoint) working conditions. After all, there's a buttload of money to be made from oil in the gulf, and you can make even MORE if you cut corners.
I've stuck my toes into the water on coasts with near-shore rigs. They don't compare to the coasts of Florida. It's more about tourism and the necessity of maintaining a clean image for my state, since tourism is its main industry. If you go to the beach and you see oil sucking monstrocities in plain view, you get fewer tourists on those beaches. We don't need that. Second, I hope you realize that even if a near shore rig spill could be cleaned up more quickly, it would do exponentially more damage to the surrounding coastal communities than a deep rig far off shore would. I don't like having right wing talking points thrown in my face regarding the welfare and prosperity of the place I live.
