I just watched a video clip of the “tar balls” on Pensacola beach. (Notably absent were Sara Palin and John McCain.) For many years Florida’s beaches were designated as World Class beaches, with white sugar sand, teeming wildlife off shore, and clean water. In one greedy moment that is all gone. Greedy? Yes, greedy. It looks like the BP folks on the rig authorized all kinds of marginal actions that combined to make the spill the worst in US history. The reason? Why, to cut costs and increase profits, of course. Why else would they reduce the margins of safety to minimum levels? The rent on the drilling rig is enormous, and the faster they drill and cap the well the less it costs BP. So they went to the edge of safety. One example: the device on the bottom that is supposed to close the well if trouble occurs, called a blowout preventer, has several sub-devices that are used sequentially. The “last resort” piece is a large shear that literally cuts the pipe off and blocks it completely. If there happens to be a joint directly in front of the shears, they won’t cut because the joint is too thick and strong. So, the device comes in two types: a one-shear and a two shear model. The two shear model is far better because if one shear gets fouled in a joint, the other will absolutely have only pipe to cut, thus shutting off the oil flow.
The BP device was a one shear type. Why? Of course you guessed it. Cheaper, and everybody knows that they will never have to use it anyway, so why spend the additional money? Why indeed.
Go to the beach yourself and see for yourself what the result of corporate greed is. Then tell me that “drill baby drill” is a mantra worth repeating. You want to get really sick, look at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtGLBgTP8r4.
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