Gulf Oil Spill

[klunderbunker]

I can't believe this hasn't been done yet.

So 35 days ago there was a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the oil is creeping up on the gulf coast with the worst likely yet to come. BP, the company that was running the oil drilling operation, is still trying to stop the flow with it still not working. I'll let the rest of you add in the details as you please regarding getting rid of it and the methods used already etc.

So what this boils down to is a few questions:

1. How should BP be penalized for their accident/How much of the bill should BP pay?

2. Should the federal government step in with the regulation or the clean up?

3. How should the cleanup be handled?

4. What about those affected by this disaster?

 

[One Punch Doug Crashin]

1. How should BP be penalized for their accident/How much of the bill should BP pay?

Honestly I don't know how they are going to punish them without it being just a slap on the wrist. Anything other than that would just be felt by the consumers. Meaning if they sanction the company we will feel the wrath.

2. Should the federal government step in with the regulation or the clean up?

The feds have a track record of not being reliable. However Personally, if BP can't figure out how to fix this thing, they don't have the right to be in charge of cleanup.

3. How should the cleanup be handled?

I honestly don't know how they are going to do the cleanup. Oil is being leaked every second so whatever they do will be fucked if they can't plug the well.

4. What about those affected by this disaster?

the long term effects of the spill is going to be devastating to the gulf economy no doubt about it. We're going to see it at the pump, and seafood restaurants.

 

[RockFan89]

1. How should BP be penalized for their accident/How much of the bill should BP pay?

2. Should the federal government step in with the regulation or the clean up?

3. How should the cleanup be handled?

4. What about those affected by this disaster?

1. BP should pay for all of the damage. The oil that is being spilled is their property and it is thus there responsibility. If you go pouring oil on other people's property or on public property only you should pay the price.

2. The government should step in with clean up only if they could do it better than BP. What bugs me about people demanding that the government get involve is that they act as if BP is not doing all they can do to contain the problem. That's just illogical, what benefit does BP have of prolonging the problem?

3. Same answer as to the first two. If BP is ill-equipped to do so, then the government should step in, but at the end of the day, BP should bare the consequences, and not the tax payers.

4. BP should make restitution to everyone damaged. But the amount should be determined from an objective source (not by people bought off by oil companies or by special interest environmental groups)

Doug also mentioned that if the punishment has any weight to it, than the consumer would pay at the pump. I don't totally agree. Only BP would be paying the fine, Exxon and the other companies would be fine. The price may go slightly up due to the reduction in supply and the fact that since BP may raise prices other companies will raise prices to just below BP's prices.

 

[FromTheSouth]

So what this boils down to is a few questions:

1. How should BP be penalized for their accident/How much of the bill should BP pay?

Crashin has this dead on. You can't penalize them without hurting the consumer. The problem is that the people are calling for the heads of BP's executives. Obama fancies himself a populist and will act in his best political interest instead of the interest of the people. He will have them punished severely. Of course, the people will feel this at the pump, but in some schadenfreude sense, people will feel that they got justice. We'll be paying any fine they get.

2. Should the federal government step in with the regulation or the clean up?

The government should aid in the clean up. If they charge BP with paying for a lot of it, we'll wind up paying for it. If we're going to pay for it, do so with the money we've already given the government.

3. How should the cleanup be handled?

How do you even begin to clean it. The first part of the clean up should be capping the well. After that, I think you take nets and save what you can. Seriously, we need it. I am sure there is a way to separate oil from seawater in a lab. After that, burn what you can. If tar balls start washing up on sand throughout the Gulf, you are destroying very vibrant tourism, shrimping, and shipping industries. Gulf states produce and transport a great deal of gasoline.

4. What about those affected by this disaster?

If we bail out every other industry....

The shrimpers will sue, the fishermen with sue, etc. BP is going to pay out the ass through the courts. It wouldn't be prudent of the government to make them pay on top.