Title: A question for logical thinking people Source:
4um URL Source:[None] Published:Jun 13, 2010 Author:me Post Date:2010-06-13 10:37:51 by Itistoolate Keywords:None Views:612 Comments:22
Obama OK'ed drilling and within 2 - 3 weeks there was an "oil spill".
How can a company go down 5,000 ft and then 3 miles into the sea floor in that time frame?
Obama OK'ed drilling and within 2 - 3 weeks there was an "oil spill".
How can a company go down 5,000 ft and then 3 miles into the sea floor in that time frame?
This was a SETUP from day one.
Why wouldn't a relief well be done first? I don't know much about this sort of thing, but I would think if they were doing something like this that precautions would have to be put in place BEFORE the well was drilled?
Not only that but the deep water rigs, working in international waters, like this rig held special designation even under the intitial ban that was lifted in 2008.
September 23, 2008 Categories: energy
Offshore drilling ban to be lifted
Drill, baby, drill.
After months of demanding that Democrats lift the ban on offshore drilling, Republicans have gotten their wish.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey (D-Wis.) told reporters Tuesday evening that Democrats were removing the ban from the continuing budget resolution because of a White House veto threat.
But they've vowed to fight another day.
"Chairman Obey negotiated the best package he could get with the White House to take a budget standoff off the table so we can address the larger Bush financial crisis,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman, Drew Hammill “The White House made it clear any new drilling provision was a non- starter. The future resolution of offshore drilling will have to be addressed with a new President.”
If true, said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), “this capitulation by Democrats following months of Republican pressure is a big victory for Americans struggling with record gasoline prices,” The drilling moratorium will be lifted Oct. 1, but don't expect to see oil rigs from the beaches anytime soon.
“Though it may serve folks’ interests to suggest otherwise, Exxon doesn’t get to paddle three miles off the coast of Cape May, drop a drill bit, and start pumping up oil on Oct. 1 if this moratorium expires,” said Chris Tucker, a spokesman for House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). “The only ban that will be lifted on October 1 is the one on the Interior Department doing its job. And even without the moratoria, bureaucracy will ensure that job takes years to complete,”
The current moratorium prevents the Interior Department from studying the impact of offshore drilling. Without such research, drilling leases can’t go forward. When the ban expires, the studies will still need to be completed before drilling can begin. And such research can take up to five years or more.
Still, Republicans are doing the drilling victory dance tonight.
"This is a major victory for Americans who are suffering at the pump,now that Democrats' ridiculous opposition has run out of gas," said Sen. Jim DeMint (R- S.C.). "Now it's time to ensure drilling is expedited and prevent liberals from tying energy production up in endless litigation."
UPDATE: On the day Democrats made their decision official, the Institute for Energy Research, an industry-funded research group, released polling that shows the majority made a popular decision; sixty-five percent of the respondents in the group's bipartisan poll favored repealing the drilling ban, as compared with the 30 percent who would like to keep it in place.
“Repealing this ban represents the biggest paradigm shift in U.S. energy policy in nearly three decades," IER President Thomas Pyle said, before warning "that activist lawsuits and post-election legislation stand to jeopardize this good news, and I fear plans for both are already in the works.” Politico.com
In March 2008, the mineral rights to drill for oil on the Macondo Prospect were purchased by BP at the Minerals Management Service's lease sale. The platform commenced drilling in February 2010 at a water depth of approximately 5,000 feet (1,500 m). At the time of the explosion the rig was drilling an exploratory well. The planned well was to be drilled to 18,000 feet (5,500 m) below sea level, and was to be plugged and suspended for subsequent completion as a subsea producer. Production casing was being run and cemented at the time of the accident. Once the cementing was complete, it was due to be tested for integrity and a cement plug set to temporarily abandon the well for later completion as a subsea producer.
In February 2009, BP filed a 52 page exploration and environmental impact plan for the Macondo well with the Minerals Management Service (MMS), an arm of the United States Department of the Interior that oversees offshore drilling. The plan stated that it was "unlikely that an accidental surface or subsurface oil spill would occur from the proposed activities".[18] In the event an accident did take place the plan stated that due to the well being 48 miles (77 km) from shore and the response capabilities that would be implemented, no significant adverse impacts would be expected.[18] The Department of the Interior exempted BP's Gulf of Mexico drilling operation from a detailed environmental impact study after concluding that a massive oil spill was unlikely