Hi Charley,

Good to hear from you. I am glad to hear you will be safe.

You are correct that greed and irresponsibility has caused this disaster.

I agree with Captain Russ that the “spin” to hide the truth is beyond belief. In the beginning they were admitting to the leak being only 1000 barrels a day.

Now independent observers and scientists are saying the oil gushing out of the seabed from multiple points is around 120,000 barrels per day. Or in other words, this is the same as having an Exxon Valdez size spill every 2 to 3 days, which was our previous record for the largest oil spill in US history.

It takes merely a quart of motor oil to render 250,000 gallons of seawater toxic to marine life.

If this wellhead cannot be capped, the consequences to the ecosystem could be catastrophic.

The Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform was a state of the art engineering marvel. It tested the limits of human engineering for exploring ultra-deepwater oil. This 600 million dollar rig floated on the ocean where the depth to the seabed was 5000 feet.

They had to bore through another 18,360 feet to get to the oil layer trapped under extreme heat and pressure.

The cost of operating this oil rig was $1 million a day. It now appears that they went through a series of reckless cost cutting measures that compromised safety and standard operating procedures that led to the final blow up.

Off shore rigs are generally mandated to be equipped with remote controlled or acoustic shut off switches. They cost half a million dollars – only a tiny fraction of the $600 million project cost. Deepwater Horizon had none. It was assumed a spill or an accident would be very unlikely.

This was an exploratory well. This was not meant for production. Production was to begin in another year or two.

During the operation, they failed to cement and plug the well properly.

On the fateful day of April 20, 2010, natural gas under extreme pressure gushed through the faulty plug and shot straight up the riser to the rig. It blew out all the safety valves, all the way to the last one on the rig itself.

The blow out preventer (BOP) sitting on the seabed failed.

The rig exploded incinerating 11 crew members and sank to the ocean floor.

Was it worth it to speed up the process by a few days to save a few million dollars? The environmental bill will come in to the tune of Trillions of dollars. Who will pay? BP will file for bankruptcy while you and I will pick up the tab.

Rolling Stones has an in-depth investigative report showing how lax regulations led to this mishap. There was no accountability.

http://tinyurl.com/2gyo76c


There is no way to measure the human tragedy that will befall millions losing their jobs, livelihood, homes, and long term health effects.

April 20, 2010 will mark a sad day in US history where greed triumphed over basic decency and thoughtfulness.

Take care and stay safe.