Here we are, 77 days in to the crisis in the Gulf Of Mexico with no end in sight. The Washington Post reports an estimated 2 million barrels of oil has been released and all of the Gulf states have oil coming ashore. WP further reports that BP has skimmed or burned off about 60 percent of the amount it promised regulators it could remove in a single day.
"The disparity between what BP promised in it's March 24 filing with federal regulators and the amount of oil recovered since the April 20 explosion underscores what some officials and environmental groups call a misleading numbers game that has led to widespread confusion about the extent of the spill and the progress of the recovery."
"In a news release filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, BP projected it had skimming capacity of more than 171,000 barrels per day, with more available if needed. The news release presented an optimistic picture of a company scrambling to clean up the mess, mobilizing a 'flotilla of vessels and resources that include significant mechanical recovery capacity."
It's time to start skimming the bull-schmooze off the top so that we can see through to the truth. And the biggest, steamiest and smelliest release of BS is the numbers being reported. The lame stream media outlets are reporting a dozen or more barrel per day estimates per story. How much has spilled, how much is still gushing up from the drill site, how much this and how much that. I suppose if one is a bean counter, this is news to know. BP presents their numbers, the government has their numbers and environmental groups should not even be allowed to present numbers. The "mental" part of environmental should be a patent clue of what one can expect from these folks.
Personally, I don't give a rat's furry ass about the numbers. These truths I hold as self-evident; oil is flowing into the Gulf, like blood from an arterial separation, and it needs to be stopped. Cleanup efforts need to be allowed to begin, all out, WITHOUT government interference. And then, we need to put some serious preparations in place to help overcome the inevitable damage to every living thing, whose physical life / health will be affected for generations to come. And God only knows how big of a geographical area we're talking about. Anything (read: ANYTHING) after that is secondary.
As I type this, the world's largest skimmer ship is on scene in the Gulf. It is touted as having the ability to remove oil at a rate of tens of thousands of barrels per day. Thus far, it has been unable to produce those results; but only because the Taiwanese owned ship is undergoing Coast Guard "safety tests." I can't help but wonder if BPs initial removal estimates were a tad on the high side because they expected to enlist assistance from foreign owned companies. Companies who have been denied access to the area "over safety concerns" or severely delayed to act while being subjected to safety inspections. Larry, Curly and Mobama could scrape barnacles off the Edmond Fitzgerald in less time than these safety inspection are taking... per ship!
What really scares me is the recurring talk about touching off a nuclear device in an attempt to stop the flow. And NO ONE has been able to answer my recurring questions; why does it have to be nuclear? Why can't a conventional explosive device be used instead? In my opinion, nukes are bad news above, or below, the surface and I fear it would only add a whole new element of bad to an already bad situation.
When will it end? Perhaps more importantly... HOW will it end? And I have a gut feeling it won't end well.
MikeH.
"The disparity between what BP promised in it's March 24 filing with federal regulators and the amount of oil recovered since the April 20 explosion underscores what some officials and environmental groups call a misleading numbers game that has led to widespread confusion about the extent of the spill and the progress of the recovery."
"In a news release filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, BP projected it had skimming capacity of more than 171,000 barrels per day, with more available if needed. The news release presented an optimistic picture of a company scrambling to clean up the mess, mobilizing a 'flotilla of vessels and resources that include significant mechanical recovery capacity."
It's time to start skimming the bull-schmooze off the top so that we can see through to the truth. And the biggest, steamiest and smelliest release of BS is the numbers being reported. The lame stream media outlets are reporting a dozen or more barrel per day estimates per story. How much has spilled, how much is still gushing up from the drill site, how much this and how much that. I suppose if one is a bean counter, this is news to know. BP presents their numbers, the government has their numbers and environmental groups should not even be allowed to present numbers. The "mental" part of environmental should be a patent clue of what one can expect from these folks.
Personally, I don't give a rat's furry ass about the numbers. These truths I hold as self-evident; oil is flowing into the Gulf, like blood from an arterial separation, and it needs to be stopped. Cleanup efforts need to be allowed to begin, all out, WITHOUT government interference. And then, we need to put some serious preparations in place to help overcome the inevitable damage to every living thing, whose physical life / health will be affected for generations to come. And God only knows how big of a geographical area we're talking about. Anything (read: ANYTHING) after that is secondary.
As I type this, the world's largest skimmer ship is on scene in the Gulf. It is touted as having the ability to remove oil at a rate of tens of thousands of barrels per day. Thus far, it has been unable to produce those results; but only because the Taiwanese owned ship is undergoing Coast Guard "safety tests." I can't help but wonder if BPs initial removal estimates were a tad on the high side because they expected to enlist assistance from foreign owned companies. Companies who have been denied access to the area "over safety concerns" or severely delayed to act while being subjected to safety inspections. Larry, Curly and Mobama could scrape barnacles off the Edmond Fitzgerald in less time than these safety inspection are taking... per ship!
What really scares me is the recurring talk about touching off a nuclear device in an attempt to stop the flow. And NO ONE has been able to answer my recurring questions; why does it have to be nuclear? Why can't a conventional explosive device be used instead? In my opinion, nukes are bad news above, or below, the surface and I fear it would only add a whole new element of bad to an already bad situation.
When will it end? Perhaps more importantly... HOW will it end? And I have a gut feeling it won't end well.
MikeH.
This stinks on so many levels. It genuinely appears as though the fed.gov is trying to screw up the clean up, but I can't think of a good reason why.
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't know what to think, other than they are just supremely incompetent.
The underwater nuke scares the hell out of me, too. All I see is fire. Lots of fire.
Like Chief, I have thought it really appears that Fed.gov is actively trying to prevent the clean up, but I think I know some of the reasons.
ReplyDeleteThey are old fashioned greens who detest the fact that oil is used at all. There's a bunch of reasons for that, from the fear of Global Warming, to trying to destroy prosperity because prosperous people use more resources. Many environmentalists have been recorded saying they want much fewer people on the planet. Animals are more valuable than people.
It appears they are trying to crash the entire country. The reasons for that are a little more obscure, but they appear to believe it's unfair that the USA has more wealth than the rest of the world. We need to re-distribute American wealth to the rest of the world. If nothing else, if the country is in dire collapse it makes it easier to suspend elections and declare yourself emperor.