Thread: Obama's Responsibility to Gulf Oil Spill

I wasn't saying the standpoint is elitist, I am talking about the caliber of people we elect to office. When we elect people that represent 2% of the population in financial background, they tend to be out of touch with the average americans view of reality.

You do know that the moratorium only affects the US countries drilling in the Gulf right? That right now, while we cant drill out here, there are rigs from overseas drilling happily right here. What happens when THEY have a spill? Do you think that the oil will float away and head towards China? (one of the countries that drills here).

So basically, this moratorium only serves to prevent US companies from drilling. In other words, it does jack shit except send our domestic drilling companies overseas. When I started in the oilfield our company alone had over 30 rigs operating in the gulf. Since Obamas election, we are down to 4. The rest are drilling for other countries. And now we are about to head over too.

Let me ask you this Danzik, if a plane fell out of the sky and crashed into an elementary school killing 800 kids and teachers, would you call for the grounding of all planes until the issue could be investigated? Which would take at LEAST 6 months? No. That would be insane. It is just as bad in this instance. The oilfield has worked out here in the gulf for over 50 years with an almost spotless record and thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) of wells dug. Shutting this down does not mean that in 6 months it will just pick right back up again. When drilling companies go overseas, they don't come back. Overseas companies are too willing to pay big cash to keep us there.

I am on one of the nicest rigs in the world, and we get paid around 450k a day to drill here in the gulf. The rig I came off of is a piece of shit and working in Angola now for 650k a day. The contractors are trying to stay here to keep the American oil companies afloat and keep us somewhat competitive track with OPEC, but they will NOT continue to hemmorage money.

I am a convervationist, and believe in protecting the earth, but this is just stupid. You think the economy is crippled now? Wait until you are paying 5-8$ a gallon for gas, the same for a gallon of milk, and energy prices skyrocket? Think it can't (or won't) happen? Then you are living in a fantasy land. It has already happened once.

This isn't an attack on you, I respect you and your opinions greatly, but if you honestly believe that the moratorium is a good idea, or is doing ANYTHING to protect our coasts, you are extremely naive in this particular area.

Originally Posted by jmorrison

I wasn't saying the standpoint is elitist, I am talking about the caliber of people we elect to office. When we elect people that represent 2% of the population in financial background, they tend to be out of touch with the average americans view of reality.

You do know that the moratorium only affects the US countries drilling in the Gulf right? That right now, while we cant drill out here, there are rigs from overseas drilling happily right here. What happens when THEY have a spill? Do you think that the oil will float away and head towards China? (one of the countries that drills here).

So basically, this moratorium only serves to prevent US companies from drilling. In other words, it does jack shit except send our domestic drilling companies overseas. When I started in the oilfield our company alone had over 30 rigs operating in the gulf. Since Obamas election, we are down to 4. The rest are drilling for other countries. And now we are about to head over too.

Let me ask you this Danzik, if a plane fell out of the sky and crashed into an elementary school killing 800 kids and teachers, would you call for the grounding of all planes until the issue could be investigated? Which would take at LEAST 6 months? No. That would be insane. It is just as bad in this instance. The oilfield has worked out here in the gulf for over 50 years with an almost spotless record and thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) of wells dug. Shutting this down does not mean that in 6 months it will just pick right back up again. When drilling companies go overseas, they don't come back. Overseas companies are too willing to pay big cash to keep us there.

I am on one of the nicest rigs in the world, and we get paid around 450k a day to drill here in the gulf. The rig I came off of is a piece of shit and working in Angola now for 650k a day. The contractors are trying to stay here to keep the American oil companies afloat and keep us somewhat competitive track with OPEC, but they will NOT continue to hemmorage money.

I am a convervationist, and believe in protecting the earth, but this is just stupid. You think the economy is crippled now? Wait until you are paying 5-8$ a gallon for gas, the same for a gallon of milk, and energy prices skyrocket? Think it can't (or won't) happen? Then you are living in a fantasy land. It has already happened once.

This isn't an attack on you, I respect you and your opinions greatly, but if you honestly believe that the moratorium is a good idea, or is doing ANYTHING to protect our coasts, you are extremely naive in this particular area.

I agree to a degree, but there needs to be some kind of balance here. We are just beginning to find out that it was gross negligence on BP's part that may have caused this.

Should we just give them a slap on the wrist for this? Would it be a bad assumption that if BP was negligent in their responsibilities that other oil companies might be? Are we willing to trust that they aren't without confirming?

The airplane crash also isn't a direct comparison. It would be terrible, but the effect of 800 people dying would not have lingering effects on food production, the coastline, animal life, etc. A more direct comparison would be a nuclear plant meltdown.

It's one of those things where 1 big mistake is 1 big mistake too many. There is just no room for error when you are talking catastrophe on this level. I did not realize that the moratorium only applied to US companies - if that's true, then I strongly feel that it should be extended to ALL companies.