BP: Bodacious PrePonderance

Well, here we are in the thick of it. Wouldn't you know this spill debate starts heating up about the time lots of politicians need to make themselves known in a vain effort to convince the rest of us into believe they are actually competent. So, amidst disaster we have lots of arm waiving and head bobbing. Wonderful.

All over the news you hear experts say BP is handling this all wrong, "we should use a nuke to seal the well!" one "expert" suggested. (hmmm oily shrimp for 5 years or irradiated shrimp for 50...think on that one.) Another thought an underwater avalanche should do the trick! We have movie producers calling the most talented engineers in the world morons. A president so concerned about dissing the media whilst proving to the rest of us he is capable of action that no one has quite figured out what he has done. Environmentalists crying about the tragedy, mayors crying about injustice, common folk crying about lost revenue, and Hayward griping about his own lost reality.

The two most common themes that seem to be popping up amidst heated discussion about the difference between the word "plume" and "cloud" are why isn't BP fixing this and why isn't the government making them? Every cry I've heard from a hundred interviews and commentaries is that BP MUST PAY. Fine, yes, they are responsible. I won't get into the oil economy/lifestyle aspect of this debate here. Obama and everyone else who has anything to do with this will stop at nothing to see that they wring every cent out of BP. Again, I will not absolve BP of blame. They deserve plenty of it...but amidst this cry of vengeance upon BP we would be wise to remember the BP is a finite company. The reason that their response has been haphazard and scattered is that they do not have the capacity to maintain production and clean up an oil spill. They are a for profit company that has no doubt shaved their staff right down to the bare minimum. Cleanup on this scale is simply beyond their 62 billion dollar a year capacity. The second every person who believes BP should pay them sues, and the liability cap is unavoidably lifted to astronomical amounts, BP will declare bankruptcy. If you bankrupt BP no one gets anything. The US government gets to fund the massive cleanup themselves. Other oil companies would immediately purchase BP's assets and leave a neutered, battered company with no facilities and all the debt liability. Oil companies would pull out of the US drilling market leaving us completely dependent on oil we don't control.

BP must be allowed to survive. It seems to me that BP should be required to contribute X % of annual gross to immediately fund liability claims and cleanup until both are adequately satisfied. The company continues to operate and folks get payed. Yes, this would make the time-line of compensation and cleanup stretch into 5 plus years, but at the rate we are going it will take 5 years to legally pry the money out of BP anyhow.

And to you folks who seem to think big business capitalist proprietary information is an affront to humanity get your socialist fingers out of this. The government hasn't fixed a thing in the banking market and they won't do any better trying to buy into the oil market either. People accomplish incredible things in the name of making a profit. Let these folks alone and see what they come up with. You can always sue them for fun later.

Something

If you see something, Say something.
If you say something, Mean something.
If you mean something, You may have to prove something.
If you can't prove something, You may regret saying something.

-Rick Moranis-

Blow Out Preventer

From Yahoo News:
"Others have blamed the administration for not doing enough, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who said Sunday on Fox News that Obama was being lax in his response to the spill.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called the criticism ill-informed and suggested Palin needed a blowout preventer, the technical term for the device intended to prevent an oil spill from becoming a full-scale catastrophe. The phrase has entered the political vernacular since the one on the Gulf well failed.

"You've got to have a license to drive a car in this country, but regrettably you can get on a TV show and say virtually anything," Gibbs said. "

I think most folks commenting on this disaster need a blowout preventer. Earlier in this article and in other places more and more people are becoming angry that the government isn't doing more in the place of BP. Right, displace one of the only groups of people in this world that have the experience, motivation, and resources to bring whatever solution necessary. No, I do not have the utmost faith in BP for them to ignore their profit margins and mediate this spill. I do, however, see them engaging and addressing the issue. It's a start. The true test will be if after the loose flow is contained and they've opened the well up to controlled profitable oil flow, will they still remain committed to environmental cleanup.

The most important question that needs to be asked, in the face of lay-person after lay-person venting their upset frustrations and anger at BP about this, what truly is the your individual contribution to this disaster? Most of us are certainly comfortable with the standard of living petro-chemicals have provided us. We created the driving demand that pushed BP to expand production so recklessly. Are we really going to blame oil companies for satisfying the demand we so thoughtlessly created? Absolutely, BP could have operated to a much higher industry standard in spite of the fact what they do is inherently risky and experimental to begin with. Risks are part of the game. Equipment failure is always looming, and there is always someone ready to point a finger. But is this global capitalistic economy it is the Consumer that drives the machine, not CEOs or government bureaucrats, us. We were all given brains and tasked with asking questions and making informed, responsible, long term decisions. Look at your own life. How much oil was consumed in providing the beef for your table, or the sweetener in your soft drink? We helped drive the destruction of the Louisiana wetlands. Ponder this before you accuse BP of destroying the world.


The live feed of the leaking riser opening.

http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/homepage/STAGING/local_assets/bp_homepage/html/rov_stream.html

My Favorite Contract Line:

FORCE MAJEURE - The Company shall not be responsible or liable for any delay to service the Buyer’s equipment, or provide replacement parts therefor, if such delay or failure is caused by any act of God, fire, flood, explosion, war, insurrection, riot, embargo, action, statute, ordinance, regulation or order of any government agency, shortage of labor, material, fuel, supplies or transportation, strike or other labor dispute, or any cause, contingency, or occurrence of any nature, whether or not similar to those herein before specified, beyond the Company’s control,which prevents, hinders, or interferes with the performance of said services or the supplying of said parts.



Yes, it was an act of God that the walmart on the way to the service site had an irresistible in-store Dunkin Donuts.