Something occurs to me (non-Schiavo content)

[jmowreader]

"Now, assume you were an unscrupulous man."
'Assume. Assume.'
--Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel, The Producers

It's with all these damn oil refinery and petrochemical plant explosions. BP seems to have patented the process, but they're not the only ones to have the problem.

I know that when you have a facility that's subject to certain government regulations, as one of these plants is, getting approval to replace equipment and/or upgrade the facility takes some doing. You've got environmental impact statements, site surveys, lots and lots of paperwork. I've done it and it's no fun at all. It was also expensive.

I also know that when you're rebuilding after a disaster strikes your facility, the paperwork load is reduced. You're trying to get going again, you have a lot of people sitting idle, baby ain't getting a new pair of shoes while dad is cooking and eating his. Therefore, the government is willing to help you out by not being so nit-picky on the regulatory stuff.

Add to that the fact that when an accident happens your insurance coverage will help you rebuild, whereas if you decide that you need a more-efficient factory and decide to upgrade when nothing's really wrong with the old one you pay one hundred percent of the bill.

Okay, tinfoil time. Let's pretend, just for the sake of argument, that you run an oil refinery. There's a totally new kind of machine just coming onto the market that can get more gasoline out of your crude than your old machine can do, and it requires less energy to do it, which means each barrel of crude will make you more money. If you want to install this machine, you need to drop a million dollars on regulatory compliance and $30 million on the machine itself, but if the old machine were to blow itself up, the insurance company would pay $20 million toward the new machine and the government will basically let you do it without any filings. You also know that the old machine will blow itself up if you don't keep three critical valve packings lubricated with a very specific lubricant. Would there be an incentive there to lose your oil can?

[Must_B_Free]

1. BP = British Petroleum

maybe it was a message from Exxon...

[autorank]

2. That's right: "Stop sellin gas in our back yard or this is just a start."

I got my "X" on!

[jmowreader]

4. BP America used to be Standard of Ohio

I assume if I went to Google I could find some Exxon refineries that have gone pop.

Besides, it makes no sense for one refiner to blow up another one's plant. You'll get caught, for one thing (insurance companies can always sniff you out because they're looking for any reason to refuse to pay) and they sell products to each other, for another. And karma's a bitch.

[Must_B_Free]

3. mods - please lock

there's no Schiavo content in this thread.

[autorank]

5. Now there is. How could you do that? It had been 30 seconds since

I saw that name. I was, like, in electrolyte heaven.

[jmowreader]

6. Well, you were WARNED that there wasn't!

But okay, just to make you happy...here's a fairly decent editorial from The Sampson Independent.

The U.S. Senate's meddling in the life or death issue of Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who has been in an essentially vegetative state for 15 years, is reminiscent of its interference in the drug policy of Major League Baseball.

Though there are no doubt some who are genuinely concerned about the woman, it seems the primary reason for the intervention has to do with political grandstanding.

http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?BRD=1117&dept_id=540482&newsid=14202369&PAG=461&rfi=9

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. I'm leaning toward negligence.

http://www.dailysentinel.com/hp/content/gen/ap/TX_Plant_Explosion_Glance.html
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued several citations to BP over two previous accidents at the plant in the past year.

_ Two workers died and another was seriously injured after they were flooded with superheated water in September. OSHA said employees tried to remove a valve from a high-pressure hot water line without first relieving pressure in the line.

The agency proposed a $109,500 fine, saying that BP failed to maintain equipment or provide protective gear. BP is contesting the charges, according to an OSHA spokeswoman.

_ OSHA also cited BP after a furnace pipe ruptured and released flammable vapors that started a fire in March 2004. "BP Amoco had the experience and knowledge to prevent this accident, yet allowed hazardous conditions to develop," OSHA's regional director, Charles Williams, said at the time.
<snip>

They keep just getting their hands slapped for these infractions. It was only a matter of time before something even more serious occurred.

[JohnnyRingo]

8. They better be careful screwin' the insurance companies like that.

Those people don't give up tens of millions easily or without research.

The oil companies have a safer bet asking Dick Cheney to quietly fund rebuilding of the refineries using our tax dollars. (national security)

Shouldn't take more than ten minutes to talk him into it.

[smurfygirl]

9. but how much do they pay in premiums already?

And wouldn't this just raise them. I'm sure it's not cheap.

You might be on to something but most likely this was caused due to faulty equipment or a careless employee. Happens alot

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. The BP share price dropped over 2% yesterday

so the market thinks this is bad news for them. I'd be very surprised if the insurance would cover the disruption to business they'll suffer.