Posted on 04/30/2010 7:15:58 AM PDT by Eleutheria5
The White House said today it is halting all new offshore drilling in U.S. waters until there's an "adequate review" of a massive 600-mile wide oil slick that has begun to lap up on Louisiana's coast.
The federal government is defending its response to the spill, which began with an April 20 blast on one of British Petroleum's offshore rigs that burned for two days before sinking. Rescuers saved 115 workers but 11 are presumed dead. BP is responsible for the cleanup, and it wasn't until Thursday -- nine days after the explosion -- that the White House declared it "a leak of national significance."
White House senior adviser David Axelrod told ABC's "Good Morning America" today that President Barack Obama has decided that there will be no new domestic offshore drilling until an investigation of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill incident is complete.
"All he has said is that he is not going to continue the moratorium on drilling but ... no additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what happened here and whether there was something unique and preventable here," Axelrod said, defending the administration's policy.
(Excerpt) Read more at aolnews.com ...
Hmmmm.
BP has had 3 rigs have these problems.
Is this business model/procedures based issues, The nature of the industry, or is their metallurgy that different?
My sympathy's to your fellow employees and families that you may have not known. Their are probably a ton of kids effected.
Exactly. Hit the dims with both barrels to open ANWR and NPRA NOW. They won’t do it but can then be documented as against ALL drilling. The Republicans don’t have the guts to do it of course.
Common sense response.
Wanna bet?
I gurantee they will find a way to blame Bush and Republicans... and if BHO & Co. can’t figure such a path, the Marxist Socialist Media will give thm all the guidance they may require to that effect.
You got it. :)
“Obama will get all the blame.”
I don’t think so!
“but seriously, what Power does the president have on this issue?”
I don’t know, but this goes back a ways:
July 14, 2008 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25674571/
WASHINGTON - Putting pressure on congressional Democrats to back more exploration for oil, President Bush on Monday promised to lift an executive ban on offshore drilling that his stood since his father was president.
But the move, by itself, will do nothing unless Congress acts as well to lift its own drilling ban. There are two prohibitions on offshore drilling, one imposed by Congress and another by executive order signed by the first President Bush in 1990.
“When Congress lifts the legislative ban, I will lift the executive prohibition,” Bush said in a statement in the Rose Garden.
A succession of presidents, from Bush’s father — George H.W. Bush — to Bill Clinton, have sided against drilling in these waters, as has Congress each year for 27 years.
If the fire burned for three hours BEFORE the explosion, how were the pumps open to cause the spill? One would think that there would be an automatic shut-off in the event of a fire.
I would guess it is the Feds’ control over the coastal waters that may allow this power. I don’t know how far out the rig was, if it was in territorial waters and I don’t know if the Feds can do anything outside of the controlled area because it may effect same. Besides, he’s got his executive order pen always at the ready.
I think they call it a “Sub-Sea Safety Valve (SSSV)”, or something similar, but I’ve heard that they are not required, and perhaps BP didn’t put one on this well.
$496,804 per day, a three-year contract extension at approximately $544 million.
BP Extends GOM Gig for Deepwater Horizon
http://rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=80827
September 29, 2009
How does a small fire take place, become controlled for 3 HOURS, then a big explsion take place?
Try a huge, rig engulfing fire in five minutes.
Rig blast survivor: 'We had like zero time'
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6969069.html
It hasn't been. This will take a while to figure out.
Re: What was the cause (accident, sabotage or terrorism)
Here is what the Offshore US Oil Industry experts are discussing:
1) Deepwater Horizon was a technology marvel; computer controlled; known for drilling the deepest well in oil exploration history; it had a “Dead Man Switch” connected to the BOP (Blow Out Preventer) ... normal safety protocols and maintenance schedules would require that it was tested to verify performance. The explosion on the topside that killed the men was in the vicinity of the Dead Man Switch ... and the BOP failed (even though the explosion should have caused the BOP to close in fail-safe mode).
2) Scenario #1 - (Faulty BOP Equipment) topsides explosion causes failure of the “dead man” BOP kill switch ... this would seem unlikey, as it would have been recently tested.
3) Scenario #2 - (Accident: Engineering Error or Pipe Failure) loss of mud weight or cement weight or casing failure ... this would be a failure at the sea bottom, allowing high pressure oil and gas to come up, unexpectedly ... the cementing phase they were at was well past the normal danger points ... possible scenario, but rarely seen.
4) Scenario #3 - (Sabotage / Terror) someone “tinkered” with the BOP triggers and then setoff an explosion; or caused one of the mud or cement processes to go horribly wrong. This requires two steps ... cancelling-out the fail-safe BOP design, then creating a problem only the BOP could save. Requires extensive planning, infiltration into key highly-experienced teams and being “on rotation” ... right role, place, time and well completion process step. Very hard to pull off, I would say ... lots of folks looking over your shoulder on this vessel.
I can draw no conclusion on the actual scenario; but I would like to say that the loss of the Deepwater Horizon rig should be viewed as a national tragedy ... similar to the loss of a space shuttle in terms of lives, capital investment, technical complexity, and value to the US.
“Nobody will stop him if we don’t stop first and say “under what authority or jurisdiction are you doing this?”
Beats me where presidents think they get the authority, but the first President Bush put in place a presidential ban on offshore oil drilling, and every president since has left it in place.
Re: ‘We had like zero time’
Exactly ... the event occurred rapidly, with the “reflex” survival training all kicking-in. These guys train nearly every day in the life boats. It seems like those who died were at the center of the current completion activity work.
As stated upthread, this was at the stage of a Transocean operation, by Transocean staff with Transocean equipment, but since BP was paying the lease for the rig, BP takes the hit.
so he says a little while back...let's do offshore drilling but Congress already rules...so his words were empty to start with...
And now the blame game gets a new player.
According to Transocean Ltd., the operator of the drilling rig, Halliburton had finished cementing the 18,000-foot well shortly before the explosion. Houston-based Halliburton is the largest company in the global cementing business, which accounted for $1.7 billion, or about 11%, of the company’s revenue in 2009, according to consultant Spears & Associates.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2503968/posts
Logic not everyone has it Rahm is the proof.
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