X Prize To Offer Millions For Gulf Oil Cleanup Solution

Jamie noted that X Prize is offering prizes for a solution to the Gulf Coast oil clean up. This is in addition to categories for mapping genomes, making an incredibly fuel efficient car, and exploring the moon's surface with a robotic vehicle.

Comments

Prevention is better than cure

[FriendlyLurker]

Can't see how we can repair untold environmental damage, merely cover up some of the more obvious scars - but we sure can prevent it from happening again. Prosecute AND JAIL top executives... then keep going right up into the political appointee's whose job it is to police them. Then maybe we might have a chance of not seeing them happen again in 50 years or so.

Re:Prevention is better than cure

[Anonymous Coward]

You only prosecute and jail if something illegal was done, not to prove a point. I'm not saying they didn't do anything illegal, they very well might have. If they didn't though, it's purely a civil matter and should not end in jail time.

Re:Prevention is better than cure

[wizardforce]

Their company knowingly violated over 700 safety regulations and they knowingly ignored their own engineers in order to rush the project, Why shouldn't they be held accountable? The 11 deaths that resulted from the explosion alone are a good enough reason to lock these guys in prison let alone the billions of dollars in jobs and the ecosystem they destroyed through negligence.

Re:Prevention is better than cure

[spun]

Remember this post when your car spring a leak and you don't call the EPA and clean it up right away with the kitty litter you keep in your trunk at all times in case it happens. You do keep kitty litter in your trunk, right? I mean, how irresponsible can you be to not be prepared for a disaster!!! You should be forced to spend every remaining cent in your savings to clean up any accidents you have. You should also be lambasted on the evening news so everyone will be aware of how horrible you are.

I can't be the only one sick of the stupid comments people are making? Basically asking for the heads of people.

Because accidentally elbowing someone in the nose is the same as mowing down thousands with machine gun fire to make a few extra dollars.

Re:Prevention is better than cure

[maxume]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/25/AR2010072502620_pf.html

So we find out next spring how things are going. I'll bet you a fiver that things are going fairly well.

Re:Prevention is better than cure

[jellomizer]

Yes Executives Must Pay with Jail TIme. Because they Micromanage Everything to such a detail level that they know about Everything that is going on at all times. Usually at the Executive Level for Large Corporations they are just looking at the final set of numbers... Unit Produced Revenue earned... The Real people responsible are the Middle Managers who are trying to fight their way up to the top cut safety just to get the impressive numbers to make the CEO happy. That isn't to say the CEO isn't responsible at all... He should have demanded safety as a measurable priority, but these accidents will happen again and again because there will be some weasel in middle management who knows how to manipulate the numbers to make him look good.

Secondly there is a fact that Mistakes do happen. Looking back you may have prevented it, but I don't know anyone who can predict all possible outcomes, to prevent disasters. If that was the case everyone will be paralyzed in fear. Having solutions to fix such disasters and clean up the mess is just as important as prevention. As it is easier to predict the final outcome of a disaster then the cause to prevent for each disaster.

Third the guy who really messed up is probably the best guy to make sure it doesn't happen again. Firing the person who made the mistake is often the stupidest thing you can do, as they are often the one who now has the most experience in dealing with it. Otherwise you will replace him with a person who never experience the pain and may become lax to the rules as there is no emotional memory of the mistake.

Re:Prevention is better than cure

[russ1337]

I learned that lesson during my Officer training. It was my final 'lead' assessment, and we were on a patrol against hostile forces. My team had been briefed twice that day on the Rules of Engagement (ROE) by me, and my 2IC was briefed by me a third time as well as he had to give the brief to another group. I'd then checked understanding of the ROE with the group after he'd done so. We went on patrol and encountered enemy. We had one of the enemy guys cornered and he 'surrendered' walking toward my squad with his hands in the air. My 2IC saw the enemy guy, and recognized him as one of his best mates. In about one second he raised his rifle - and with a grin on his face - fired (blanks) at the guy. By the time he had his weapon at his shoulder I was yelling at him to stand-down, but he continued and 'shot' the prisoner. I was hauled over the coals by the instructors, and my final mark was going to be the difference between a distinguished graduation and merit graduation. I said "OK, what could I have done differently to get a higher mark?" The answer: "Nothing. You did everything right, you've just learned a hard lesson in leadership. You are responsible for the actions of your team. If this were real you'd be up on war crimes." The lesson: You are responsible for the actions of your team.

Tough problem

[GrumblyStuff]

Oil on the surface is just a sheen. Oil below is mixed with water and dispersants. Oil on the beaches is mixed into marshes and sand.

That's a lot of stuff to churn and in doing so, greatly affects everything living in it.

Perhaps we could keep in mind that "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

SpongeZilla

[Major Downtime]

SpongeBob and Godzilla should have children, so we can dip an enormous SpongeBob into the spill.

Mopping gnomes

[Cloud K]

When I first glanced at "mapping genomes" I thought it said "mopping gnomes" and had this RPG inspired vision of gnomes on boats (clockwork/steampunk) using these special oil-soaking mops.

You have become better at Oil Mopping! (28)

Re:Obvious solution

[spun]

While the thought of Superman cockpunching Tony Hayward is certainly satisfying, would that really have stopped the leak? Perhaps if Superman lined up the punch he could will have (is that the correct time travel tense?) performed a 'junk shot' using Tony Hayward's actual junk.

Re:U.S. Cleanup Solution: Step 2

[spun]

Oh boo hoo! BP screwed up so I'm going to jump on the hate bandwagon and pretend that everyone involved needs to be brutally skinned, murdered, and have their genitals flown to all parts of the world...

Because you blame yourself.

How dare we demand accountability, right? I mean, BP is a big corporation, with lots of power, and might makes right, so BP must be right. It is quite unnatural for the weak to attack the strong. The meek will inherit the Earth? Like that's going to happen. The meek will sit down, shut up, and not bother their betters, like they always have.

It would be a lot easier, but EPA says NO!

[Just_Say_Duhhh]

This is not the first oil spill in the world. There are companies who do ocean oil cleanup all the time, but can't do it in the U.S. because of EPA regulations. You see, according to the EPA, any water dumped INTO the gulf can't have > 15ppm of oil. A skimmer will suck up oil and water, separate them, then discharge the water. If they can get 90% of the oil out, that's good, right? In the rest of the world, yes. In the world controlled by the EPA, no - they'd rather leave 100% of the oil in the water, rather than allow a skimmer to get most of it.

If you suck dirty water out of the gulf, and put back not-so-dirty water, isn't that better than leaving ALL the dirty water there? Hello, EPA? How long did it take them to waive this STUPID regulation?

Re:It would be a lot easier, but EPA says NO!

[sweatyboatman]

it's called a waiver. the EPA gives them out all the time.

in fact, remember the "whale" boat, the oil tanker that was going to be the gulf's salvation, but was being held up by all that red tape? They got their waiver (took about a day) and, well, it doesn't work.

But, if it makes you feel better, go ahead and keep railing against the EPA.

Re:My solution: Time

[maxwell demon]

You can get it directly at their headquarters, in the year 2735.

Re:Jones Act?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/30/96831/gops-false-talking-point-jones.html

Better lies, please.

Does the winner...

[Peet42]

...get to keep all the oil they collect?

Here you go

[spun]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-funds-20100727,0,3856364.story

You see, when all us crazy liberals were saying we were going to Iraq to steal their oil, we were right. That's what we did.

Re:Here you go

[nospam007]

It's just a bit overpriced.

http://costofwar.com/

Re:Here you go

[spun]

Did anyone actually think that when we said "we're going to Iraq to steal their oil" what we meant was "So we can have cheap oil?" That's ridiculous. It was so the rich could have cheap oil to sell at a high cost.

Re:Here you go

[jbeach]

Bingo. Would mod up if I could.

Another argument I've heard is that "Why would the US invade Iraq for profit? Look how much it's cost!" Which ignores the fact that the cost is paid by taxpayers, while the profit goes to private businesses. Why should they care that the peasants have to pay?

Re:Here you go

[spun]

It's almost as if major portions of the US population have developed Stockholm Syndrome and empathize with their oppressors. They think they are in the same class of people as their oppressors. They think of the United States as 'us.' I guarantee that the rich do not think that way.

Re:Here you go

[Nitewing98]

Well, but they do think about the "small people." Right?

WHY?

[retech]

Why is someone OTHER than BP paying for this? This is just like asking for volunteers to help clean the waterfowl etc. To clean this up the BP board should be hauled in (with a gun to their head if needed) and forced to clean it up with their own fucking money and their own hands. WHY tax payers and any other private source is putting one cent into this is beyond me.

They wanted the profit, they can accept the consequences.

The Dutch

[Thelasko]

Apparently, the Dutch have developed the technology to clean up the oil spill long ago. Unfortunately, for various reasons, they aren't allowed to use it.

Re:The Dutch

[sweatyboatman]

using it as an opportunity for demagoguery

pot, meet anonymous kettle

Re:The Dutch

[DerekLyons]

Apparently, the Dutch have developed the technology to clean up the oil spill long ago. Unfortunately, for various reasons, they aren't allowed to use it.

Actually, if you bother to read the article you linked to - they are using it in the Gulf. But rant away, it's linkage that makes you look cool and informative - not the contents of the link.

Re:U.S. Cleanup Solution: Step 2

[sycodon]

Especially when they can't find it

Re:my solution...

[spun]

Hehe, I read this as "I can't stand it when the hippies are right, and I have no argument against them, so as usual, I shall punch the hippies." You meant it as a joke, but it comes out as a statement of defeat.

The truth is sometimes annoying

[spun]

ahhh yes, (R) bad (D) good .. sock puppet. You're almost as annoying as the Bushbots.

Am I wrong though? You see, you were claiming the government is bad, because they did not regulate. I'm saying, we have one party that is rabidly anti regulation, and has proven it will work underhandedly against regulation. So why blame 'government' in general, when in fact it is the people who hate government and stand in its way that have caused the problem in this particular case.

I would like to make it clear: one party is at least nominally pro regulation, the other is rabidly against it. The party that is against it is to blame for the lack of regulation leading up to this disaster.

I welcome any attempts on your part to argue against this position, no matter how pathetic they may be. But ad hominems will get you nowhere, you know that right? Around these parts, ad hominems are taken as a sure sign of defeat. Rather than attacking me, you may as well just admit I've won for all the good your ad hominems do.

Re:The truth is sometimes annoying

[Archangel Michael]

Um, the problem isn't (D) vs (R) which is what you're trying make it.

The problem isn't "regulation" of things, as some regulations are needed. And MORE Regulation isn't the answer to fixing a problem of NOT ENFORCING regulations that are on the books.

And since the REGULATIONS on the books would have, or at least SHOULD HAVE helped prevent this mess weren't being enforced, the problem becomes the administration that FAILED to enforce the regulations already on the books.

And as much as you'd like to blame BUSH for this, it wasn't HIS fault, directly or even indirectly. IF you want to blame an admin, blame the one that was in office a FULL YEAR and could enforced any and all regulations they wanted to. Don't blame Bush for something that was clearly under the EXECUTIVE branch of Obama, on HIS watch.

Bush has his own issues (wars, financial mess), as does Clinton, Bush 1, and back further. It is a mess because people can't take responsibility for the things they clearly could do(or undo).

And We should toss people in jail if they hold a government job, and fail to do it properly to the point of criminal negligence.

IF you go through my posts, you'll find I am not a corporate apologist, even calling for a corporate death penalty (revocation of corporate charter) in the most extreme cases.

Government has a fiduciary responsibility to oversee the entities they have created and give license to. Likewise, if government people don't do their jobs, they should be canned, and in some cases prosecuted for violation of public trust.

If we held people more responsible for the actions they take, we'd have more responsible actions by people

Passing the buck has become a national pastime.

Re:The truth is sometimes annoying

[Archangel Michael]

"Republicans are bought, lock stock and barrel, by moneyed corporate interests."

And Democrats are bought, lock stock and barrel by Unions, Hollywood, and race baiters. and many others groups.

If you're opposed to being bought(on principle), then I applaud you. If you are just opposed to being bought by people you disagree with, then we have a problem.

Oh, Obama was one of the largest recipients of BP campaign cash

Again, my point, which you can't seem to admit, is that both sides have the exact same problems. And excusing your side (left OR right) because it is "your side" is just stupid and a BIG reason why nothing good comes from it all.