A few weeks ago, on April 20, a oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, know as Deepwater Horizon, experienced an explosion and began to sink, leaking up to 210,000 gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico daily.
Fast forward to early May where BP, the company that was operating the rig and has been deemed responsible for the clean-up by the US government, has been doing "everything in its power" to contain the leak. But, is it just me or does it seem that they could've avoided this problem all together. It has been reported in the media that the company had neglected to install "all" necessary safety (such as certain types of "blowout regulators") which could've possibly prevented such an occurrence. It has been reported (http://www.dailyfinance.com/article/feds-let-bp-avoid-filing-blowout-plan/1047805/) that the US government allowed BP to forgo submitting a "blowout plan" for the Gulf oil rig. This seems extraordinarily short sighted and dangerous on the governments part to allow a money making industry to operate without strict regulation.
I for one, am absolutely disturbed at the progress (lack there of) that is being made at the site of the oil spill. The surrounding shore areas of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida are ecologically sensitive and there is an immense danger to wildlife and human life in the region. It is extremely disheartening for me to hear about the animals that have been damaged by these events but have no means or ways to escape from the mess which has been created by oil drilling corporations.
In my opinion, there needs to be a much larger scale effort on the part of the oil company BP to rapidly contain this spill. Even though they claim to be doing "as much as they can", it still doesn't seem to be enough. There doesn't seem to be enough "motivation" for BP (as forced by the government or other regulating bodies) to contain this spill in a timely manner. They may be losing money, but whilst money is an item that can be replenished, the ecologically sensitive wetlands an natural areas cannot be replaced and need to be protected at all costs.
As stated above, this incident really bothers me and I wish that the people responsible for not only operating offshore drilling rigs, but also the regulating bodies would step up and fix these problems quickly and efficiently.
*Note, there has been talk of past "lobbying" in Congress that has resulted in the relaxation of safety regulations that could have perhaps prevented an event such as that.
Please see these for more information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8673815.stm
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6482L220100509
-Chris Laatsch
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I am so upset about this disaster. It is damaging the environment and killing wildlife, fish, etc. It's ruining the source of income for fishermen and related industries, including tourism in the gulf beaches of the area. To know that regulations were eased or not followed and could have averted this mess if they had been followed is shameful. Once the immediate crisis is over, there needs to be some serious questions answered by BP and Congress.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the worst things i could imagine happening to the poor animals in the ocean. BP should have a better hold on things, and also i believe their equipment should have prevented this if it was tested carefully enough. It is upsetting that they are killing fish, and wildlife that are dieing because of their actions.
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