Oil spill consequences

[Steve Wilkins]

Given that it starts out with a news clip and then segues into borderline paranoid hysteria, umm . . . I'm saying no.

So now you have a criteria for "how" it's portrayed? I thought you just needed to hear it from a recognized news source. There were several separate main stream sources in that clip. About 5 minutes after I posted that clip, a guy I work with came in my office and was complaining how he was feeling "out of it" and has been waking up over the last week with respiratory issues. I don't talk to him about politics....he couldn't care less about political issues...and have never discussed this oil spill issue with him. He also mentioned the same thing about another person we both work with. He then went on to mention how our (the company's) AT&T account rep is also out sick due to a respiratory infection. Our rep is out of Jacksonville. Later that same day, he mentioned that his mom, who lives in Tampa, had to be taken to the ER due to symptoms of a respiratory issue and a rash on her skin (she works outside). Hey, maybe finding out about all these respiratory issues on the same day was just coincidence. I can buy that. But I think it deserves further exploration given what's going on out in the Gulf. Do you not agree?

Here, take a look at the MSDF for Corexit: http://lmrk.org/corexit_9500_uscueg.539287.pdf

Does it really matter whether this stuff is being sprayed under the dark of night or broad daylight?

 

[C420sailor]

Here, take a look at the MSDF for Corexit: http://lmrk.org/corexit_9500_uscueg.539287.pdf

Does it really matter whether this stuff is being sprayed under the dark of night or broad daylight?

MSDS doesn't look that bad. Not something I'd want to drink, but it's not any worse than the millions of gallons of crude out there. Many of the chemicals you'd find in your garage are far more toxic (carburetor cleaner, for example).

 

[nittany03]

Further exploration? Absolutely. I just found the initial premise of most of the Gulf Coast being turned into ghost towns way out there, which is where the snark came from. The video seemed to make it sound like there was a conspiracy behind the spraying of dispersants, which I don't think is the case. Maybe it's just my take on it. I think if anything, there's a whole bunch of people going apeshit over trying to fix the whole issue, and going into CYA mode at the same time. Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Corexit or not, it wouldn't surprise me if there will be a "Gulf War syndrome" type issue with some of these recovery workers and Gulf Coast residents. There's a lot of nasty and carcinogenic stuff in unrefined petroleum. But like you said, let's let the scientists investigate.

 

[Lawman]

Corexit or not, it wouldn't surprise me if there will be a "Gulf War syndrome" type issue with some of these recovery workers and Gulf Coast residents. There's a lot of nasty and carcinogenic stuff in unrefined petroleum. But like you said, let's let the scientists investigate.

There already is one done and handled and buried for lack of a better term with a lot of the grunt workers hired by Exxon during the Valdez disaster. Lots of "flu like symptoms" at first. Now there are people living with conditions similar to GWS, or Love Canal issues. You cant seriously tell me stuff like this http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/military_burnpits_lungs_063009w/ doesnt make you stop and go "would they really tell me if they thought they could get away with it if they didnt." Its the Government, they raised an entire generation of school children with the idea that Asbestos was perfectly harmless and you could hide under a wooden desk and survive a 30Kt Nuclear Bomb.

 

[scoolbubba]

MSDS doesn't look that bad. Not something I'd want to drink, but it's not any worse than the millions of gallons of crude out there. Many of the chemicals you'd find in your garage are far more toxic (carburetor cleaner, for example).

The coast guard isn't dumping millions of gallons of break-free into the gulf, either...

 

[Rocketman]

............ and you could hide under a wooden desk and survive a 30Kt Nuclear Bomb.

....you also had to remember to cover your head with your hands and you were good to go. Yea I lived that one. I'll never forget duck and cover drills in grade school. I swear that fvckin mushroom cloud was a part of my nightmares for years after that.

 

[CommodoreMid]

Wait wait wait, are you telling me propaganda isn't 100% accurate?

 

[Rocketman]

Wait wait wait, are you telling me propaganda isn't 100% accurate?

LOL propaganda to an adult maybe. That video scares the shit out of a first grader. I know from personal experience.

The good news was that my neighbors bomb shelter later made a hell of a good place for playing spin the bottle. That's where I got my first kiss. Right beside the crates of canned water........

 

[SkywardET]

Would the spill have even occurred if BP was fully liable for all potential damages caused by accident? If your entire company's existence requires you to not have an epic disaster that will bankrupt you, I would imagine that you would take extreme care. The law that places a $75 million cap on liability certainly was a move to try to increase drilling by removing risk from companies. Maybe one of the consequences of the oil spill will be to understand that there are unintended consequences for laws, and therefore maybe some consideration should be given to those unintended consequences before any laws are passed.

Why would an oil company behave with extreme (and now evidently appropriate) caution when their liability is capped to some small amount? BP is a company and I don't blame it for acting how 99% of companies act--more as a force of nature fearing loss and seeking profits than anything else. The MMS is a government bureaucracy and I don't blame it for acting how 99% of bureaucracies act--as a force of nature seeking its own perpetuation more than any other objective. The fact that MMS is somewhat ineffective should be a given.

Everyone is quick to blame BP or the MMS for how they acted or didn't act, and that's fine. What people need to understand is that this whole scenario would have been drastically altered if BP, before it even drilled, knew it was wholly liable for all damages its operation could have caused. Ultimately, if you assume more risk as a giant company, you will also take more precautions and even seek insurance. Alternatively, you will assess the risk as too large for the profits to be gained, and will opt to not drill. The government's hand in artificially reducing the risk BP undertook in its drilling absolutely played a role in this disaster.