Posted on 05/16/2010 5:07:07 PM PDT by mtnwmn
Yes, that's correct...a device that costs one half million dollars may have prevented what is on track to become the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
The device is called an acoustic trigger (aka. acoustic switch, actuator). It is a remote-controlled device deployed off oil rigs that sends acoustic impulses through the water, triggering an underwater valve or explosives to shut down the well even if the rig is catastrophically damaged or abandoned.
All offshore rigs have one main switch to shut off the flow of oil by closing a valve located on the ocean floor. There is also supposed to be a backup called a “dead man,” that will shut down the well in the event of a catastrophe on the rig.
Apparently neither of these devices worked on the Deepwater Horizon rig operated by British Petroleum (BP). The crew members who would have been closest to the shutoff switch are among those missing and presumed dead. If the rig was equipped with an acoustic trigger, it would have been a last resort option and could have been activated from a remote location.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
So why did the Obama administration not require them to have this device? What good is government if it doesn’t do anything?
“So why did the Obama administration not require them to have this device? What good is government if it doesn’t do anything?”
Instead of buying the 500K device BP donated the money to Obama’s campaign and obtained a waiver of the environmental impact statement from the Obama administration. That’s how our government pretends to work.
POST OF THE DAY.
They donated the price of TWO!
LLS
If the other devices failed to trigger it, I kind of doubt a remote control device would have. The problem was probably with the shut off device, not the switch.
Business involves weighing risks. You weigh the odds of not spending the half a million against the risk of major costs if something goes wrong. Well, something went wrong this time and BP lost their bet. By saving %500,000 they’re going to pay out billions.
The drill rig had been in service since 2001-2002. It's never been required to have one.
How about a little test here re examiner.com. When I view their links I see Milwaukee Examiner. Others see the same articles but with locations close to them.
Examiner.com reads IP addys and customizes your view. That is deceptive imo.
Let's have the names of all who died and where they were at the time of the explosion.
The big boys were on board...this was a planned day...perfect for sabotage
Yes, yes... But I like pointing out the failings of government. Obama is the one who’s arguing that we need more regulation. What’s wrong with the regulations we’ve got? They can mandate that they have this device, if they want to do so. Dick Cheney did not stop them from doing so. It was their own damn fault that they did not. Why am I paying tax dollars for these incompetents if they are not going to do anything?
Obama's crew didn't even address the permit process...as PER gov't requirements.
What damn good is a requirement if... IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF
Meanwhile, BP gave more to Obama than any other candidate in the past 20 years, received exemptions from the Obama admin and lobbied for wider exemptions before the spill. After the spill, the Obama admin gave BP approval for two projects without exemptions. MMS regularly inspected the rig and could have increased requirements AT ANY TIME.
This rests squarely on the Obama admin. "Blame Bush" won't work.
I’m seeing “Detroit”.
Think of gun laws...how they NEVER enforce the current ones...they just lay out more...
WHAT if “illegal aliens” once apprehended were SENT home...
WHAT IF...big mattresses were required to be on the underside of airplanes to help prevent bumpy landings...
Now look what BP has gone and done!!!
"May you live in interesting times and come to the attention of powerful people!" (ancient asiatic curse)
Well, they spent millions on devices, and backup devices, and backups to the backup devices... that all failed. Just because someone who makes a ~competing~ sort of preventer wants to use this occasion to get some free press time... doesn’t mean that they’re right or that it would’ve been a better decision to go with their device instead of whatever was there.
This is nothing more than a sensor, not a valve, which would send a signal to a valve.
It looks like it was the valve that failed, so this sensor would have been usless.
The article is poorly written and is easily misunderstood or purposefully misleading. The article states:
Apparently neither of these devices worked on the Deepwater Horizon rig operated by British Petroleum
If they "did not work", then they were part of the well head BOP system and failed to work as designed or intended. So BP supplied them, thus the statement of their saving money would not be true.
I don’t like it, it’s deceptive.
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