>I don't want to condemn oil
>companies just for the sake
>of condemning them.I am from
>TX,have leased my farm for
>oil, and know many family
>and friends who have gotten
>wealthy from oil/natural gas.Alot of
>my friends and family are
>in the business.
>
>But the facts CLEARLY show BP
>ignored alarming pressure tests in
>the hours before the explosion,continued
>to pump seawater-diluted drilling mud
>instead of regular drilling mud,allowed
>a faulty blowout preventer to
>go unrepaired, and was grossly
>negligent in many other ways-all
>to make a buck and
>all at the risk of
>their workers.A gamble they lost
>and paid for with 11
>lives.
>
>As for the environment,the facts also
>clearly show BP lied about
>the safety of the Deepwater
>Horizon rig and its ability
>to respond if all those
>"failsafes" you mention fail.Which they
>did.What has happened proves that
>indisputably.
>
>Oil companies are out for the
>$$$ just like any other
>business.In that quest they will
>stop at almost nothing.So right,wrong,or
>indifferent-they must be regulated.They are
>like teenagers with a car-you'd
>like to be able to
>trust them to do the
>right thing but you just
>can't.I don't like government either
>but that is just the
>way it is.
>
>BTW in my personal experience the
>oil companies lie all the
>time about what they are
>going to do-i.e. repairing fences,locating
>pipelines in a certain place,not
>damaging your property,etc. As soon
>as you are out of
>sight they do whatever the
>hell they want.
>
>I'm convinced if the state and
>federal government weren't watching them
>this whole country would be
>full of holes leaking oil....
>
You are mistaken. The state and federal government regulates it for environmental impact, above that is money. They get a cut of the gas and oil the company sales, then the company pays taxes on the money they make from selling the product. As a pumper in a natural gas field in utah if I spill something get a slap on the hand and get it cleaned up. If gas is being taken out of the pipeline after the meter, tank seals (Id # on the valve you break before you can open the valve.) Then that's a felony and jailtime for the pumper and big fines for the company.
What are they more concerned with? Money or the environent? Before you call all oil companies greedy and they don't care about the environment look at the big picture.
Stuff happens and it really sucks when it does. Get it cleaned up and move on. Take legitimate precautions to keep it from happening.
Oilfield people used to be trashy people that didn't care but even in the last 5 years it has changed A LOT!
Clean and safe locations and roads are a huge part of my job. Weekly safety and emergency response meetings. Environmental training and so on. Areas where we have locations are very well taken care of and improved, guzzlers, ponds wildlife hang around there more than undeveloped areas. You can't make the same accusations that you might have been able to get away with 5 years ago.
