My mistake. Blaming poor BP for their part in a faulty tanker. My mistake for thinking that the contracts BP is spreading around the coastal towns trying to cap lawsuits to the tune of $5,000 per person are not grotesque. My mistake for not standing up for poor Tony Hayward. He's got alot on his mind. He didn't mean for this to happen.

Of course, when KBR couldn't cement the cap properly, they can't be blamed either.

I'll tell you who's to blame. It's Obama.

Why? Because I hate him so and hope he's responsible for regulating an industry that previous republican administrations mothered because our President and Vice President were part of the family, so to speak.

You people are such losers if you're going to try to make excuses for these companies. Your ocean is now polluted because of these people. Was "drill, baby, drill" worth that? How about trying to foster other forms of fuel or energy? No? That's right, your idiot republican leaders aren't smart enough to think that far ahead. Just keep sucking at the tit of the oil companies.

Support them all you want. You're wrong now and will continue to be so later. It's your lot in life.

It's pretty obvious what's going on here.

First, International Maritime law specifies that BP is responsible for the spill and the cleanup costs.

It's clear from the statement BP made yesterday that they are blaming the initial fire and explosion on fail-safe equipment failure, which places the cause of the fire and explosion on the contractor BP hired to operate and maintain the rig.

BP obviously plans to drag that contractor into court and attempt to spread the blame in their direction as well.

BUt this blog's repeated attempt to ignroe the law and facts, and instead make this "all about Obama" is humorous, but HughS's post yesterday () where he criticizes Obama's pressure on BP to react and foot the bill, was just plain childish and uninformed.

BP is responsible for the full costs of the cleanup. Of course the Republicans would want it that way so the taxpayer doesn't foot the bill, but poor Hugh just couldn't see beyond that in his attempt to make this All About Obama.

Clearly, Hugh - in his criticism of Obama for the pressure he's putting on BP, is so excited about dissing the Prez that he ignores (a) the law, and (b) the implications of having the taxpayers foot the cleanup costs instead.

And you thought Republicans cared about how your taxes are spent! That comes second to getting that black man out of the White House.

From Hugh's post:

In a reminder of his "Cambridge Police acting stupidly" moment last year, the President is once again acting like the Red Queen: "sentence first, verdict later". How does he know BP is solely responsible? Why is he poisoning a potential jury pool when the facts of the accident are not known?

No, it's just the law. It's the fault of fail-safe equipment failure on the rig - BP admitted that many hours before Hugh posted is screed - and BP is responsible, under law, for the cleanup costs.

Rick adds, "It's time for an oil rig beer summit"

No, it's time to enforce the law and put the foot on BP to foot the bill. Obama did that yesterday.

Bush wouldn't have, unless he got BP's permission first. Bush was always a good lap dog when it came to the doing the oil industry's bidding.

and now our moment of Zen - Cut to the shot of Sarah Palin thumping the podium in October, 2008 as she loudly proclaims "SPILL BABY SPILL!"

Feel free to get around to noting the ecological disaster that this explosion has caused, including the damage to the local economy in LA, as you try to justify the continued cheerleading GOPers do over offshore drilling.

Hypocrisy is easy for Republicans in general -- facts and the law - not so easy.

My mistake. Blaming poor BP for their part in a faulty tanker.

It was a oil rig. A tanker is something completely different, but don't let the facts stand in your way. After all, your "informed" and we're "unformed" - and I mean that in the Orwellian sense.

My, the trolls are busy this morning. FACTS? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING FACTS! OUR OBAMASSIAH, THE SMARTEST MAN IN THE WORLD HAS PRONOUNCED GUILT! WE BUT MUST OBEY!

And not ONE mention on their part as to WHY THE DELAY in acting by the OBAMA Administration.

THE DELAY can be attributed to the "One" searchin for the right photo op to broadcast while Achmaddingyjob is in the U.S. bashing us for not disarming faster and not welcoming a terrorist with open arms.

Barry, get to bowing. It plays better to your allies.

lee ward ... nobody is minimizing the damage to the local economies caused by this disaster. Nice strawman ...

If you know a better way to access the oil please feel free to pipe up and tell us.

We have to drill for it ... if we could drill in the shallow OCS the chance of disasters would drop down to an even smaller percentage.

Otherwise your defense of Obama is nobel ...

Facts. Tricky, aren't they.

I accidentally use the word tanker instead of rig (which I've used elsewhere), yet you, very non-accidentally, never quote facts in your debate.

Wonder which is a more valid discussion. Diverting a debate to mention a gaffe or actually debating real facts.

Here's a good exercise. Try and find evidence that the discussion over not standardizing a remote-control shut-off switch wasn't squashed during the Bush administration and actually was attributed to the Obama administration.

Find that and maybe you'll have a voice anyone should listen to.

For a start you could put more severe cap/cement restrictions on the oil rigs as Brazil, Lula, pressured by environmentalists does on its offshore drilling in the Atantic. Hey that would cost only few more million dollars, but imagine the outcry from Sarah Palin about excessive government regulations that hinder the prosperity of big oil.

"Otherwise your defense of Obama is nobel ..."

Some of my response should have gone under Hugh's post instead of here, I admit - but since Hugh, Shawn and DJ delete comments which criticize them I decided to just put it all in one comment. It's all related - in fact in Rick's post he claims he still doesn't know the cause of the accident.

That's been established.

BP announced the cause yesterday.

It's amazing the excuses bloggers some up with to post uniformed, poorly sourced innuendo - or can you do what Jay Tea does and just make it up out of thin air.

It's all good... in a GOP kinda way at least. The same way that Saying NO to every piece of important legislation is "all good"

"It's amazing the excuses bloggers some up with to post uninformed, poorly sourced innuendo...."

Hasn't stopped you in the past Lee.

And of course, still no response as to why YOUR Obamassiah and "the bestest administration, evah!" failed to act earlier.

Leaking Oil Well Lacked Safeguard Device ...great

#3 - Actually, the Deep Water Horizon is classified as a 'semi-submersible' vessel.

"Leaking Oil Well Lacked Safeguard Device ...great"

No, it lacked ONE SPECIFIC device. It had several SAFEGUARD (backup) devices. They all failed.

Yes, GarandFan, but they didn't have the best one. From the same Wall Street Journal article,

While U.S. regulators have called the acoustic switches unreliable and prone, in the past, to cause unnecessary shut-downs, Inger Anda, a spokeswoman for Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority, said the switches have a good track record in the North Sea. "It's been seen as the most successful and effective option," she said...

The Brazilian government began urging the use of the remote-control equipment in 2007, after an extensive overhaul of its safety rules following a fire aboard an oil platform killed 11 people, said Raphael Moura, head of safety division at Brazil's National Petroleum Agency. "Our concern is both safety and the environment," he said.

Industry critics cite the lack of the remote control as a sign U.S. drilling policy has been too lax. "What we see, going back two decades, is an oil industry that has had way too much sway with federal regulations,"

I guess, Steve C, despite your best evidence, the U.S. regulators MUST be right because they back up the argument of the idiots on this site.

Don't get in the way of right-wing delusion, man. They're willing to make themselves look like total embarrassments if it means they don't have to face real facts.

SteveP-

"I guess, Steve C, despite your best evidence, the U.S. regulators MUST be right because they back up the argument of the idiots on this site."

Dont be so hard on yourself stevie...Remember, you can put lipstick on a pig but its still a pig.

Factof the matter is a failure in the system allowed the gusher, what ensued was a non response by an inept administration led by an inept agitator in chief.

Gotta give the deranged left credit. No matter what happens, it's always worth using a catastrophe politically to score points.

Even more credit is due those blaming Bush and the republicans. And yet these same close-minded liberals howl and whine when someone mentions that Obama's slow response might be worth commenting on.

Too damn bad.

The same moonbats that blamed Bush for every damn thing that happened under his watch now resent Obama being held accountable for anything.

Your double standards are indeed impressive.

Maybe Obama was slow to respond due to the fact that the top recipient of BP-related donations during the 2008 cycle was President Barack Obama himself, who collected $71,000.

Sure, it wasn't Goldman Sachs money.....

Steve Crickmore -

Re WSJ article - it's from April 28th. I've been trying to find a later article confirming or denying an acoustic ram, w/no real luck. I've found references in comments, but no solid info. And what it seems to be is an acoustic switch that activates the other rams, not an independent ram system.

If the rams activated and failed - then it wouldn't have mattered if there were an acoustic switch or not. At present, we simply don't know enough.

I mentioned before that the rig is presently under several hundred feet of gulf water. The significance of that fact is that at this time, any statement of specific cause or responsibility is - by definition - premature, because it is not supported by evidence.

So far, the only things we know for certain at this time, are these:

* There are still 11 men missing, and they are not expected to be found. For human beings, this is the most important tragedy at the moment, not the money or who can be blamed for political advantage.

* The rig belongs to Transocean, the world's biggest offshore drilling contractor. The rig was originally contracted through the year 2013 to BP and was working on BP's Macondo exploration well when the fire broke out. The rig cost about $350 million in 2001 and would cost at least twice that to replace. So any idea that BP or Transocean went cheap or careless is purely asinine and baseless. If they didn't care about the people or the environment, they'd care about three-quarters of a billion dollars in specialized equipment and the brand value of their safety record;

* The rig was a floating rig, capable of working in up to 10,000 ft water depth. The rig was moored, because it would be too costly and too heavy to suspend this mooring load from the floating structure. Rather, a triply-redundant computer system uses satellite positioning to control powerful thrusters that keep the rig on station within a few feet of its intended location, at all times. This is called Dynamic Positioning (information from BP).

* There is no single part or tool to prevent blowouts (formation fluids like oil and gas which get into the wellbore) Pressure control equipment includes redundant manual and automatic controls, panic buttons and fail-safe systems which automatically engage in a serious emergency. For ALL of these systems to fail simultaneously would require an unprecedented event of catastrophic magnitude, in which case human error is as irrelevant as whether you put on your raincoat before a tsunami hit, or whether you turned on your car alarm when a tornado happened;

* BP has not been sitting around doing nothing, like the politicians have been. BP and Transcoean have deployed ROVs to try to close the well using a specialized port on the BOP's and a pumping arrangement on their ROV's. They have been unsuccessful
so far. Specialized pollution control vessels have been scrambled to start working the spill, skimming the oil up. The public has been led to believe that the Navy is doing this, but up to now all the clean-up and containment work has been done by corporate people at BP and Transocean;

* The best option to control the well may - ironically - be to drill a new well close by and pump oil out to relieve the pressure from the first drill site. Simple physics, folks;

* We know next to nothing at this time about the specific cause of the blast. The people who own the rig and were running the operation care more about finding the cause and making sure it never happens again than anyone else, because the people killed and hurt were their family and friends. Blaming BP in this situation is callous and unethical it basically is blaming the victims of an accident, because it makes the accuser feel happy to spew a claim, even when he knows nothing at all about the industry, people involved, or the true facts.

Just like the oil slick, Barry's reelection hopes are all but washed up.

ODS is strong on this blog.

Blaming BP in this situation is callous and unethical it basically is blaming the victims of an accident, because it makes the accuser feel happy to spew a claim, even when he knows nothing at all about the industry, people involved, or the true facts.

BP has investigated and announced the specific cause fo the accident, and gone further and accepted full liability for the clean up costs.

get informed.

The chairman of BP PLC's U.S. subsidiary blamed failed equipment on a drilling rig for the oil-well blowout and subsequent huge leak into the Gulf of Mexico that now poses the threat of an ecological disaster unparalleled in American history.

and

BP PLC said Monday that it will pay for all the cleanup costs from a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that could continue spewing crude for at least another week.

A fact sheet on the company website says BP takes responsibility for the response to the spill after the offshore drilling rig explosion and will pay compensation for "legitimate and objectively verifiable" claims for property damage, personal injury and commercial losses.

Ignoring facts in order to practice Obama derangement Syndrome is one thing.

Lying and pretending the facts aren't known is just disingenuous.

The cause is known and BP accepts full responsibility for the cleanup.

"819 oil rigs or platforms that are right now fully manned off the Gulf Coast. The Gulf of Mexico normally pumps about 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of US crude, a quarter of domestic output and equivalent to nearly 2 percent of global oil production.

What if three more rigs collapse? Earthquake? Hurricane?

What are you willing to see happen to the environment before you stand up and say I want my government to implement some sort of rationing to reduce the use of oil? It was patriotic during and after WW2 to ration items to give back to the commonwealth. SO what makes it impossible now? Lack of patriotism?"

Did BP own the offshore lease? Yes.

Did BP approve the third-party vendors they dealt with for the rig? Yes.

Did BP approve the use of the rig itself? Yes.

Therefore, BP is ultimately responsible and on the hook for the costs. Period.

Now BP may go after some of their subcontractors, for failing their contracts with BP. But that's got nothing to do with the US and US taxpayers. The US' agreement was with BP, therefore BP is responsible.

I honestly don't see what other logical conclusion there is.

"SO what makes it impossible now? Lack of patriotism?"

The ECONOMY, stupid!

"Yes, GarandFan, but they didn't have the best one."

Well if you READ the article Stevie, that "best" appears to be conjecture on your part. This "miracle device" has never been tested in the real world.

You know, where things actually happen.

As for Lee, keep spinning about "the bestest administration ever". That sat on it's ass for 11 days and DID NOTHING. Have some more kool-aid, Lee.

When the Obamessiah has failed so miserably in all things attempted GarandFan, it leaves the troll minions no recourse but to drink deeper from the kool-aid fountain of the ones untruths.

Lee, facts. Facts, Lee.

"The chairman of BP PLC's U.S. subsidiary blamed failed equipment on a drilling rig for the oil-well blowout"

From your snipfest, Lee. What equipment specifically failed, Lee? And how would anyone know at this point? The statement by BP was a standard public relations statement, not a forensic report, you dolt.

From your next snip: "A fact sheet on the company website says BP takes responsibility for the response to the spill after the offshore drilling rig explosion

- you missed the part where I mentioned that BP and Transocean had deployed all of the equipment and vessels currently performing clean-up? You missed the point that BP is acting proactively, not in guilt or legal responsibility? As I said, you ghoul, the people who died in that disaster were BP employees and contractors. Guess it's too much for you to consider that BP and TO are acting in respect for their friends, family, and colleagues.

Again from Lee's snip: "[BP] will pay compensation for "legitimate and objectively verifiable" claims for property damage, personal injury and commercial losses"

Objectively verifiable does not mean they accept blame for everything, Lee, it means that when - as in when it is possible to know what happened and not what hysterical socialists like you spew out - the facts are known as to cause and liability, BP will meet its responsibilities. Surprising to you, I'm sure, but BP follows the law, not the rumors.

I'd call you a liar, but that would require that you had any idea what you are talking about. You don't work in the industry, you do not understand the physics of oil fires, and you certainly have no background in maritime law. You are operating, therefore, only at the "DU" level of intellgence, "DU" standing not only for 'Democratic Underground', but people so astoundingly stupid that they can only make it 2/3rds of the way to "duh".

What's that smell? Ah, the sweet stench of Wizbang Writer Hypocrisy.

When you're writing about Obama and absolutely anything the entire government does, he, as the leader, is ultimately responsible and worthy of blame.

But when a company's equipment fails, it's not their responsibility because... I dunno, because you've been trained to say Obama is wrong regardless of what it is he says/does/thinks.

It's BP's equipment (leased or otherwise), therefore it's BP's responsibility. If you're going to hold Obama to a different standard than you hold BP, then you're nothing but a hypocrite who blindly hates Obama.

It would be hard for the BP guys to drink beer with Obama having his boot on their necks....

Jake, you sound like someone unaccustomed to reading contracts before he signs them. Three words to you, the unwise:

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

JLawson,

am I correct in recalling that you have worked on an oil rig? If so, do you know if oil rigs periodically test there cut off valve to ensure it is working properly. The Wallstreet Journal article indicated there were a number of fail safes that failed to kick in. It make me think that it may be more affective to periodically test the cut-off valve than to add another complex piece of equiptment and hope it works when it is needed. I know nothing about oil rigs, so if you have some experience I'd be curious what you think.

Lee/Crick/Jake/bryan/P, go look up the following phrases before you try to discuss legal issues:

Liability

Limits of Liability

Indemnification

Pollution Control

Risk

Your posts up to now have made it painfully clear you have no idea what these words and phrases mean in a joint venture like an offshore oil rig.

Kenny-

"It would be hard for the BP guys to drink beer with Obama having his boot on their necks...."

Yes, it would be harder still for Barry to tell the truth while his lips are moving.

I can speak to that, somewhat, Lisa. I do work in the oil & gas industry, although my direct experience is in contracts rather than field work.

Most blow-out preventers are installed at the seabed level, because that gives them stability, reliable sensing for instruments, and the chance to address a blowout before it reaches the surface - and can ignite in air. They are designed and tested prior to installation, but once in place they are not really tested in the way you mean, although sensors, operational functionality and structural integrity are tested on a regular basis. Because they are underwater and relatively inaccessible, such devices cannot be easily accessed, nor is there usually any need to do so - while research continues all the time, the basic design is meant to be rugged and reliable. Rigs also are built for redundancy - there is never just one safety device, and in this rig's case all systems used triple redundancy, meaning that there was a primary safety system, a backup, another backup for the backup, and a backup for that one as well. The system had been thoroughly examined and the rig awarded a comendation for safety excellence in 2009.

I will take some of my colleagues to task for criticism of the Obama Administration's response, for the same reason that I rebuke chortle-heads like Lee Ward; at this point we really do not know the specific causes of what happened. We do know that multiple systems designed to prevent a blowout all failed. That does not mean human error, necessarily, especially since the rig was inspected less than a year ago including those same systems. My dad was a petro engineer for 44 years, and he told me stories that I recall with sober concern - after figuring out how to deal with fire, lightning, flood, earthquakes, riots, terrorism, collisions, sabotage, and countless instances of human stupidity, engineers still have to face the fact that some things are impossible to control. As easy as it seems to blame a favorite target (officials, corporations, et cetera), more often the only honest answer starts with being able to say "We don't know yet" and wait for the facts, accepting that sometimes the only change is we lose the "yet" in that statement.

It's amazing the show of trollish force happening here on this one issue. Obama's refusal to take the spill seriously for several days has really cranked up the panic to 11.

DJ, go look up the following phrase before you try to discuss legal issues:

I will

Support

The Oil Companies

No matter

How they affect

My health or livelihood

Your posts up to now have made it painfully clear that you will support every position other than the right one.

SteveP proves the limits of both his education and comprehension.

A word of advice, Steve: Lead Paint Chips are not one of the food groups ...

DJ belched: "Your posts up to now have made it painfully clear you have no idea what these words and phrases mean in a joint venture like an offshore oil rig."

Yeah (lol) well, I guess the BP lawyers should check in with DJ Drummond before they tell the CEO to go ahead and issue this statement accepting full responsibility for the costs and dmaages, meaning they accept liability.

A fact sheet on the company website says BP takes responsibility for the response to the spill after the offshore drilling rig explosion and will pay compensation for "legitimate and objectively verifiable" claims for property damage, personal injury and commercial losses.

And as I stated earlier, BP has already indicated that they may go after the rig operators with whom they contracted - since the failure was related to equipment they provided (or didn't provide, according to some sources).

The facts are: - the cause is known (despite repeated attempts by this blog to pretend they aren't) - and the extent to which BP is liable has been already discussed publicly by Obama and the CEO of BP... and BP accepts full responsibility for the damages.

A fact sheet on the company website says BP takes responsibility for the response to the spill after the offshore drilling rig explosion and will pay compensation for "legitimate and objectively verifiable" claims for property damage, personal injury and commercial losses.

...but they should have checked with DJ Drummond first.

Got it - thanks DJ.

Lee/Crick/Jake/bryan/P, go look up the following phrases before you try to discuss legal issues:
Liability
Limits of Liability
Indemnification
Pollution Control
Risk------------------djd

Me??? Out of my wheelhouse.
I'm familiar with them in a general way.
The corporate alliance will only have a limited liability based on the corporate alliance being legally bestowed with a conscience befitting its personhood, and thus the corporate alliance didn't mean to hurt nobuddy. After all the corporate alliance (technically) pays its taxes, and so must be given the benefit of the doubt as any good tax-paying green card-holder or citizen must by Constitutional(sic) right. The corporate alliance is a Good Boy at heart.
That's the field we plow. Gotcha. A slap on the wrist. I'm resigned to it even now.

I just noticed that Halliburton's crucial (sole?) role in the disaster is being relatively camouflaged. (Relatively.)

I see/guess that Crickmore might have hyperlinked in that direction, but I wasn't in the mood to press a mystery link.

Anyway, Halliburton's quality control seems the moral case before us. Book law is already a lost cause. I foresee an Obama soft shoe number. Hope I'm wrong. And BTW, isn't Hallibuton based in the UAE now?

From the same person that let the good people of Kentucky freeze their A$$ off this past winter,would you expect anything more? I dont,as a matter of fact,I dont expect him to do anything that would even be thought of as being the right thing. Unless it benifited him and his cronys.What a chump!!

Only Lee would repeat a fart in church, to make sure folks knew the first one was no accident.

Your 5:09 post was repeat of your moronic first attempt I shot down back at 4:11, Lee. Vomiting it up a second time does not improve your cred.

Jake,
Let's do some word substitution:

When you're writing about Bush and absolutely anything the entire government does, he, as the leader, is ultimately responsible and worthy of blame.
But when a city's levies fail and evac plan is not enacted, it's not their responsibility because... I dunno, because you've been trained to say Bush is wrong regardless of what it is he says/does/thinks.
It's Louisiana's equipment and plans (designed by ACE or otherwise), therefore it's Louisiana's responsibility. If you're going to hold Bush to a different standard than you hold Louisiana, then you're nothing but a hypocrite who blindly hates Bush.

Esp funny since the post author is taking Obama to task not for his slow response, but for leaping to conclusions, ala SkipGate.

I will

Support

The Oil Companies

No matter

How they affect

My health or livelihood

I wonder how your health and livelihood would be affected by a shortage of petroleum products. Unless you are saying that you want the government to take over drilling, comrade.

Tina S -

No, I've never worked on an oil rig, but I'm one of those people who find our technological infrastructure VERY interesting and as such tend to find out what I can about it when something catches my attention. Over the years I've learned a fair bit on this and that and (with many thanks to Google) can usually find a lot more info and someone else who knows a lot more than I on a subject when need be.

In the comments at http://www.flickr.com/photos/uscgd8/4551846015/(Sorry, using Chrome and it doesn't allow me to easily hide the URL) there's a long discussion of what might have happened. I recommend the comments by SubSea1Engineer, Deepwater Engineer, and Horizon37. There's others who comment who don't understand the pressures involved, or the materials - but those three seem to know what they're talking about.

Really who cares if its BP or Transocean.
There is an Issue it needs fixing BP has resources but the US Government has a Navy, Cost Guard, NOAA (heck in the Army has Ships). You deploy resources to fix the issue.
You get all parties in the room to fix the problem instead of playing the blame game.
Instead deploying ships the US Deployed Lawyers.

That is the problem.

Jay Tea, for gawds sake will you get Blue back up and running so the trolls have a bridge to hide under.......

I feel so inadequate in th4e presence of these geniuses.

ODA, not my call, Kevin's the publisher.

Personally, I don't miss Blue. While a couple of the authors weren't so bad, having Lee Ward affiliated with the Wizbang family really, really pissed all over the brand name.

J.

For decades now, the Republicans have never given a damn about air pollution and reducing the filth people have to inhale, have never given a damn about saving any amount of unrenewable resources for future generations, and certainly have never given a damn about global warming and its dire consequences. Until quite recently, the Republicans had taken up chanting "Drill, baby, drill!" -- reflecting their intense longing that gasoline remain cheap for their SUVs, placing their own petty convenience above the welfare of others just as Jesus instructs them to.

But a certain recent event has transpired that has SHUT THE REPUBLICANS UP COMPLETELY. That event, of course, is the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico.

Republicans, Republicans, Republicans, why did you never listen to those with foresight (i.e., THE LIBERALS), when they would reply to your inane babble, "Drill, baby, drill!" with "that will lead to 'SPILL, MORONS, SPILL!' as it has SO OFTEN IN THE PAST." I can just here you all now saying,
"But we never learned about foresight in school, as our schools weren't the best since our conservative parents fought against the tax increases designed to improve them." That is SO feeble, Republicans. Quit thinking about the past; think instead about what you can learn from the liberals right now!.

And one of the most important lessons you can learn is that of personal responsibility. REPUBLICANS, YOU OWN THAT MESS OFF THE COAST OF LOUISIANA. It's up to YOU to clean it up!!!!!

So get to it, NOW, damn it!!!! After you apologize to each of the oil-soaked sea-birds you encounter, you must follow veterinarian instructions to first stabilize each bird, and then, using mild detergent, remove the oil. Remember too, it's not just birds that are affected, dolphins will have to be removed from the oil-slick area.

Personal responsibility isn't always easy, Republicans. But it leads to a better world.

Re #50: I told you guys: Give them time.

"...have never given a damn about saving any amount of unrenewable resources for future generations...."

So Teddy Roosevelt was a Democrat?

Ya gotta watch that BROAD brush Highlander.

"REPUBLICANS, YOU OWN THAT MESS OFF THE COAST OF LOUISIANA."

Yeah! All us liberals drive electric cars, run by sunlight, or wind, or generated by unicorns that eat air and don't fart.

Anyone ever tell you that you're full of shit?

Who is responsible for this?

You. Me. Each of us.

Our requirements for 20 million barrels of oil a day.

What are you ready to sacrifice?

Who is ready to give up their consumptive lifestyle?"

Good night everyone. Thanks DJ and JLawson for responding to my question. In case you may be interested:

Contains Camereron's "Blow Out Preventer" product page. Cameron made the blow out preventer on the rig the leaking rig.

http://www.c-a-m.com/content/products/product_detail.cfm?pid=58642

It doesn't look all that impressive compared to the blow out preventers on the link below. Of course you can't judge it just by the picture.

http://www.petroleumoiltools.com/

Many more blow out protectors

Tina S -

That one from CAM seems to be a type used for surface drilling, light duty up to 3000 psi. Down at the busted wellhead, I've seen pressures referenced up to 4-5 times that. I've tried downloading the Guiberson catalog - it's a 63 page PDF and took a while. They've only got one type of BOP, in two varieties - but I'm not convinced that's the brand of BOP that failed. I've seen references to a casing size of 22 inches ore more, and this can only handle a maximum 8 5/8". Do you have a link to the site where they said it was a CAM/Guiberson?

BTW, this was given as an example of what's down there now on the wellhead.

http://oilstatesintl.com/_filelib/ImageGallery/Products_Services/OSIAR2005_022.jpg

That's some heavy stuff there...

It is wizbang, that is consistently promoting the idea of limited government or reduced public environmental protections by corporations, especially for big oil companies or those with big footprints such as Halliburton.

Now suddenly when there is an ecological disaster, they urge the Obama administration, acting as head of their nanny state to take the full responsibility and the task, on a down-sized federal budget, of cleaning up the mess that was created by 'big-oil' with their 'drill baby drill" frontier values and huge profits. What happened to their rant about creeping socialism? It figures but the federal government doesn't have the expertise or funds available as do the rich oil companies.US had burn-off plan for oil spills but the equipment wasn't there and the Interior ministry (and EPA) is still manned traditionally by appointees from the previous adminstration, some of whom like Bush' ex-secretary Gale Norton had big oil company ties.

Ruch, the head of the public-employee whistleblowing group, said that as in many other regulatory agencies, Obama political appointees in the Interior Department's notoriously troubled Minerals Management Service (MMS) have not taken enough steps to reverse the anti-environmental and anti-science policies of the Bush years.

"For the most part, the Obama team is still the Bush team," Ruch told HuffPost, noting that beyond a thin layer of political appointees, offices like MMS are run by managers who were "promoted during the Bush years -- In many instances, promoted for basically violating the law. And from what we can tell, their conduct hasn't changed."

Futhermore, Ruch said, Obama "sees environmental issues (minimizing them) as a political bargaining chip."

"on a down-sized federal budget"

LOL.

Now that the blame has been spread around nice and evenly, maybe the ultra-intelligent personas of Lee Ward, SteveP and Steve Crickmore can tackle this one:
Apparently, there were 127 people on he rig when the initial explosion occurred. 11 have no been found, and probably were close to the blast. The 116 survivors have NOT been interviewed extensively by the MSM - no appearances on the Today show or GMA, for example.

Why or why not?

Steve,

Do ou understand that Limited Government is not the same as no Government? There are certain things that only Government can do because it has the resources and the overall responsibility to carry them out. Also if the Federal Government was more limited and concentrated on doing it job they could focus and have the correct resources available to get the Job done. instead of working this problem at the highest level you have Obama focus on Wall Street, Health Care, DOE, The Size of Blub how much water is in my tank.

It is obvious that the plan created in 1994 to handle this was never taken seriously and funded by Clinton, Bush Obama. Why was that because instead doing the Job that Only government can do they wasted the money. The Oil Companies pay the state and Local Government to drill in these field billions close trillions have been collected yet the Government with multiple sea services has not purchased the equipment and had it ready for an emergency.

It is like complaining that Goldman Sachs should have paid for it own Fire department and fire fighters.

Here is the best site for real information on the BP oil spill:

http://www.louisianasportsman.com/lpca/index.php?section=reports&event=view&action=full_report&id=75874#comments&sid=2ad94d77175ef4937a1a9234f64b30af

from people who are there

Remember in November,
ol'

DJ said: "Jake, you sound like someone unaccustomed to reading contracts before he signs them. Three words to you, the unwise: Terms and Conditions"

Actually, I'm not. I'm the one that reads anything and everything. And as I business owner, I also know how responsibility works. If I screw up, or if my employees screw up, it's our fault. If a vendor we hire/outsource to screws up and our customers suffer, it's our fault.

But to your point, what does this have to do with anything? Are you suggesting that while BP was in charge of operations on a leased platform that they get to get off the hook because the platform was leased? I honestly don't understand your point.

@SCSIwuzzy - For what it's worth, I've made the point many that blindly hating Bush was foolish.

Oooops!...............

"During his time in the Senate and while running for president, Obama received a total of $77,051 from the oil giant BP and is the top recipient of BP PAC and individual money over the past 20 years, according to financial disclosure records.

What did BP get in return?

"The Interior Department exempted BP's calamitous Gulf of Mexico drilling operation from a detailed environmental impact analysis last year, according to government documents, after three reviews of the area concluded that a massive oil spill was unlikely.

The decision by the department's Minerals Management Service on April 6, 2009 -- and BP's lobbying efforts just 11 days before the explosion to expand those exemptions -- show that neither federal regulators nor the company anticipated an accident of the scale of the one unfolding in the gulf."

Hope and Change, baby! Hope and Change.