The continuing oil spill in the Gulf is a terrible tradgedy. As a 30 year veteran of the Kern County oil patch, myself and all of the oil workers here in the Bakersfield area have a very good understanding of the huge environmental impact that this spill will have on the Gulf ecosystem. 1000bbls a day or 25000bbls a day it doesn't matter when you start discussing those kinds of volumes. It is huge no matter the volume debate.
What we cannot do, and I think the President understands this, is run and hide from offshore drilling. Yes when there are mistakes (and the poor men on that rig made a series of huge mistakes obviously) it has a huge impact on the people of the area and on the national psyche. But 30%....I'll say it again...30% of this nations oil comes from the gulf and about ~40% overall from offshore (rigs off the east and west coasts). Until we have reliable forms of renewable energy sources, oil is here to stay no matter what environmentalists would like.
Can we make offshore drilling safer? Of course! Human mistakes need to be engineered out of the equation. More failsafe devices... improved safety culutres.... more focus on instituing Standard Operating Procedures and auditing the employees to ensure they follow correct procedures... swarms of auditors to constantly audit the processes and procedures on offshore rigs (oil companies cringe at increasing head count...I know from many years of experience). But what will this disaster cost BP and its rig partner, TransOcean? Billions! Would not it be better to spend a fraction of that on new safety auditors on all offshore rigs?
It was embarrasing to watch the CEO of BP throw TransOcean under the bus this morning on the Today Show on NBC. They are your partners Sir and you hold as much blame (maybe more since you told the MMS that a spill from this rig was only a very remote possibility) as TransOcean. When was the last Safety Audit performed on that rig by BP Mr. CEO!!!
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