Offshore Oil Drilling and the Oil Rig Disaster in the Gulf

[JeffreyS]

It is not our response after the crisis it was our preparation and regulation before hand.  We haven't stopped this faster because we can't.  If you are going to drill in the ocean you need to do as Canada does and drill the relief well at the same time.  As for the gulf if it were the great get off of foreign oil miracle I would say we have to keep at it.  At this point I do not believe even if we can up the regulations that drilling in the gulf meets a reasonable risk/reward examination.  We also all know that when the deregulation party gets back in power that sell out even faster than the Dems on the issue.

[duvaldude08]

Im not understanding why everyone is bashing the government. What else can they do besides what they are doing? If Obama could put on scuba gear and plug it (ta da!!), Im sure that he would. There is nothing the government can do but over see the situation and collborate with BP to get this resolved.

I put the sole blame on BP. As a previous poster stated, they should have already had a relief well. Or they should have had some type of emergency plan in place. BP has royally screwed up. So stop riding the governments back, they are doing what they can. If you can do any better, you become president.

[JeffreyS]

^Because we are not using an excess of military personnel.  It is the one of the problems Bush faced with Katrina. Our troops are stretched thin so they can not be there to let us know we are doing all that is possible.  Also it is the tact that the press has taken on this story and the way they choose to cover it is how most of us will see it.

[Bostech]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-june-8-2010/ass-quest-2010

[duvaldude08]

^Because we are not using an excess of military personnel.  It is the one of the problems Bush faced with Katrina. Our troops are stretched thin so they can not be there to let us know we are doing all that is possible.  Also it is the tact that the press has taken on this story and the way they choose to cover it is how most of us will see it.

Now you made a valid point there. I agree with that.

[JeffreyS]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-june-8-2010/ass-quest-2010

Awesome.

[Timkin]

I wish I could see the humor in this.

[BridgeTroll]

There are still over 5000 rigs pumping oil in the Gulf.  Nearly 600 in water as deep as our current gusher.  Many of those are in water much deeper.

[BridgeTroll]

Wow...

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/111965?RS_show_page=0

[JeffreyS]

The title of BT's article

The Spill, The Scandal and the President
The inside story of how Obama failed to crack down on the corruption of the Bush years â€" and let the world's most dangerous oil company get away with murder

Sums it up.

[finehoe]

It makes you wonder just how many other ticking time bombs the Bush administration left all throughout the government.

[BridgeTroll]

No doubt... however... it appears the application for the DeepWater Horizon drill platform was submitted months after Mr Obama took office.

[JeffreyS]

I did not know that BT very interesting.  I hope we have learned our lesson and I hope we no longer feel the return from drilling in the gulf is worth the risks.

[finehoe]

No doubt... however... it appears the application for the DeepWater Horizon drill platform was submitted months after Mr Obama took office.

Yes, and as the article says the MMS operated as if it was Bush's third term because Salazar kept in place the crooked environmental guidelines the Bush administration implemented to favor the oil industry.

This isn't saying the Obama administration is blameless, on the contrary it underlines Obama's biggest failing:  His timidness in reversing the many, many, many disastrous policies of Bush.

[BridgeTroll]

The article is very eye opening.  It clearly spreads blame for this disaster across two administrations.  It should probably go back three.