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How the Biggest, Most Expensive Oil Spill In History Changed Almost Nothing
merbs writes: Tthe biggest oil spill in US history, despite incurring the largest environmental fine on the books—$18.7 billion, handed down this month—has done almost nothing to change the nation's relationship to oil. Five years after the spill, and, by BP's count, $54 billion in projected total expenses, there have been no serious legislative efforts to improve the oversight or regulation of the United States' still-expanding offshore oil operations. Public opinion of deepwater drilling barely budged during the ordeal; today, a majority of Americans favor doing even more of it.
Country run by oil barons does nothing when there's an oil problem!?!
Film at 11.
No sig today...
Nobody wants to eat anything that comes out of the gulf
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Public opinion of deepwater drilling barely budged during the ordeal; today, a majority of Americans favor doing even more of it.
In light of all the rockets that have exploded and astronauts killed over the years, I favor doing even more space exploration.
Just because something is unsafe, doesn't mean I want to stop doing it. Sometimes it's worth doing so long as it can be done more safely.
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
We've had plenty of significant events happen in the past couple decades. One and only one - 9/11 - changed how the government does anything.
Yeah, and it only changed how the government did anything by making things worse. Now we're subjected to illegal searches, detainment, etc. by an incompetent bureaucracy that has stopped exactly 0 terrorist plots and misses over 95% of banned items in its screenings. Hopefully these aren't the kinds of changes you'd like to see with the oil industry as well.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
The American lifestyle is no different. We need oil. We drive vehicles that burn gas. We need asphalt to pave our roads. We fly in airplanes that burn jet fuel. We depend on plastics to make everything that exists in our lives. In order to buy everything, we need it shipped from half-way around the world in freighters that burn diesel and in trains to get it across the United States. Practically everything that makes our modern lives modern depends on petrochemicals. If you want a more thorough list, go here.
We won't give up on oil until we run out.
as opposed to pro government people who see something and say see??? of only we had more power we could have fixed it!!! (ignoring the horrible track record our government has at making things betteR)
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
After 20 years of Karl Rove and Fox News a sizable number of Americans are opposed to any regulation. Rand Paul (or maybe his dad) argued that instead of govt regs you let the folks who own the contaminated land Sue for damages. If it's international waters I guess you'd have to prove your land was contaminated...
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Hey, the US doesn't OWN all of 'offshore', or even Gulf of Mexico, you know! If BP wanted to do something silly again, they could dodge any and all regulation, by simple selection of a foreign drilling site.
But, BP won't do something silly again. Not for a long time. BP will, for purely profit-seeking reasons, manage better in future. BP employees, for their own personal safety, will be more inclined to caution and prudence.
The best thing the US government can do, is to insist on full disclosure of any and all safety-related information, that could be of use in future planning (including regulation) by any and all persons, anywhere in the world, The courts (not regulators, not legislators) did perform that function, I hope adequately. BP cooperated, responsibly (IMHO).
The author of the article clearly wants restrictions on 'them', as a kind of punishment for a criime, even if it means some kind of ex-post-facto criminalization. He's missing the productive possibility of doing things better, because he wants to see someone's time wasted in a public pillory.