Now BP asks that safety relief wells in the Arctic Circle be scrapped as 'too expensive

[Ichingcarpenter]

Even as BP’s blown well a mile beneath the surface in the Gulf of Mexico continues to gush forth an estimated 70,000 barrels of oil a day into the sea, and the fragile wetlands along the Gulf begin to get coated with crude, which is also headed into the Gulf Stream for a trip past the Everglades and on up the East Coast, the company is demanding that Canada lift its tight rules for drilling in the icy Beaufort Sea portion of the Arctic Ocean.

In an incredible display of corporate arrogance, BP is claiming that a current safety requirement that undersea wells drilled during the newly ice-free summer must also include a side relief well, so as to have a preventive measure in place that could shut down a blown well, is “too expensive” and should be eliminated.


Yet clearly, if the US had had such a provision in place, the Deepwater Horizon blowout could have been shut down right almost immediately after it blew out, just by turning of a valve or two, and then sealing off the blown wellhead.

A relief well is ”too expensive”?

The current Gulf blowout has already cost BP over half a billion dollars, according to the company’s own information. That doesn’t count the cost of mobilizing the Coast Guard, the Navy, and untold state and county resources, and it sure doesn’t count the cost of the damage to the Gulf Coast economy, or the cost of restoration of damaged wetlands. We’re talking at least $10s of billions, and maybe eventually $100s of billions. Weigh that against the cost of drilling a relief well, which BP claims will run about $100 million. The cost of such a well in the Arctic, where the sea is much shallower, would likely be a good deal less.

Such is the calculus of corruption. BP has paid $1.8 billion for drilling rights in Canada’s sector of the Beaufort Sea, about 150 miles north of the Northwest Territories coastline, an area which global warming has freed of ice in summer months. and it wants to drill there as cheaply as possible. The problem is that a blowout like the one that struck the Deepwater Horizon, if it occurred near the middle or end of summer, would mean it would be impossible for the oil company to drill a relief well until the following summer, because the return of ice floes would make drilling impossible all winter. That would mean an undersea wild well would be left to spew its contents out under the ice for perhaps eight or nine months, where its ecological havoc would be incalculable.


More............. http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff05242010.html

[aquart]

1. My feeling is that they shouldn't be allowed to drill any wells.

Just a feeling.

[laughingliberal]

2. +1000 nt

[happy_liberal]

16. and Halliburton should not be allowed to do any more cementing

ever!

[blondeatlast]

18. Yup. nt

[Dinger]

28. What A Coincidence . . .

I have the same feeling.

[IntravenousDemilo]

3. Don't you just want to grab them by the lapels and shake them really hard? n/m

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. Stuffing Dead oily Pelicans and Cormorants down their throats

would be too kind

[aquart]

12. Which is why I prefer them to wear the oily pelican around their necks.

A reeking mark of Cain, as it were.

[Donnachaidh]

26. actually I'd rather drag them to this ...

[Urban Prairie]

5. I'd like to stuff everyone responsible for the blowout

Down their fucking pipe...:mad:

I can't even click on topics or browse the internet right now for sites that don't involve this cataclysmic catastophe, and gave up posting on my sports board for now as well.

[napi21]

6. I read that Canada demands that a safety relief hole be drilled

at the same time as the well in any drilling done in their part of the Arctic to avoid the problem we have in the Gulf right now. We should o the same! It's long past time of letting the oil companies make their own rules. If they want to drill, we set the demands. If they don't like them, TS, then don't drill here!

[BadgerKid]

7. Contemptuous glare directed at BP followed by indignant gesturing.

[DemoTex]

8. Brings to mind an early Bu$h GIF from 2001

Poor Barney. Poorer us. Poorest earth.

Be$t fuck job in the history of mankind.

[Mojeoux]

9. BP is worried about Money?

They need to fold up their tents and divvy up their assets ala the estate of Bernie Madoff.

[ima_sinnic]

10. how can BP afford to even be drilling anywhere else right now?

why hasn't the company been shut down and its assets frozen to cover the incalculable costs it has incurred in the Gulf?

The arrogance and indifference are mind boggling -- as mind-boggling as the laissez-faire indifference of BP's enablers in government.

[happy_liberal]

17. They know they won't really have to pay for this mess

They have the Supreme Court, the money for tons of lawyers and plan to tie it all up in court for 20+ years.

That slap on the wrist of Exxon worked out really well for them.

[Jamastiene]

11. K&R

This is important.

[Ichingcarpenter]

13. I'm outraged

They really don't get it or if they do ......THEY REALLY DON'T CARE

[Subdivisions]

14. Current EROEI of the oil business is 10:1 compared to

100:1 in 1935. Big Oil knows drilling relief wells brings that down even further.

1:1 is the point at which the amount of energy required to produce oil is equal to the energy derived from the effort. In other words: 1:1 = no profit = no incentive to produce.

[Ichingcarpenter]

15. Audacity of Greed

These fuckers have been robber barons since the teapot dome and standard oil
Rockafella should have gone to prison

[Subdivisions]

20. There's one word that decribes our situation with oil (and energy in general):

Desperation.

Folks need to ask themselves: why would oil companies take risks like BP took in the GoM? Why risk the entire company? Greed? Maybe. But if it was greed, why go to the extra expense of drilling in 5000 ft of water and then down 35,000 ft into the crust, into a very high-pressure pocket of oil? Why not get your greed on on dry land, where it is much, MUCH cheaper than drilling at sea?

The answer: BECAUSE ALL OF THE QUALITY, CHEAP, AND EASY TO GET TO OIL IS GONE!

[JBoy]

19. We should give BP back their $1.8B and tell them to fuck off.

[w4rma]

21. The money for that relief well would come right out of the executives' bonuses. Of course they

want to get rich quick.

[Trillo]

22. Blinded by greed, all they see are dollar signs.

These people cannot be human. What happened to remove their common sense?

[Subdivisions]

23. Not greed...

Desperation.

[happy_liberal]

24. I never believed in the 'devil'

but there are people that seem to be evil incarnate. There is a group of evildoers that seem to be interested in more than money, they enjoy pain and suffering(see abu ghraib) and their goal is to destroy love, the earth and humanity entirely.

[Sheepshank]

25. that's pretty ballsy

BUT given the BP liabiliy limits are such a pittance...and it appears Congress is having a hard time rasing that limit, perhaps it's not really asking that much after all!!

[blindpig]

27. Expropriate the bastards.

Kill capitalism before it kills us.

[BrklynLiberal]

29. WHAT!!!!?????? Are they kidding?????

[glitch]

30. Sociopaths don't change their behavior because they think they are right and everybody else is wrong

Don't expect self-regulation from a sociopath, human or corporate.

[jtrockville]

31. This couldn't happen if their privilege to drill was rescinded.

[Quantess]

32. Outrageous.

Too late to recommend.