And DO you know why the rail system in So Cal was scrapped?
Because Cali is broke, disgusted, and can't be trusted?
Our Southern Friends- Are you Pissed about the Oil Spill? I Know I Am ...... !
by flipper 233 Replies latest jw friends
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John Doe
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beksbks
My final word on this subject Burn. Can you imagine if America were to perfect this technology? Electric cars, reliable alternative energy sources? My gosh the whole world would want it. It could provide THE boost for the American economy if we're smart.
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BurnTheShips
Bah Nuclear has so much issue, not win. Until we learn how to make it completely clean, it ain't win.
Beks, you yourself aren't completely clean. So FAIL. Especially after refried beans.
We have the technology to decouple power generation from weaponization.
We have the technology to generate only a small fraction of the long term waste in newer designs that we do in existing plants.
We have the technology to burn the waste from existing reactors and generating fuel, and reducing the long term waste.
We have the technology to use non-uranium fuels for new reactors.
We have the technology to build reactors that are physically incapable of going critical and melting down.
We have the technology to retrofit existing reactors with all of the above.
None of the above is speculative. It can be done. It has been demonstrated in supercomputer models, at the very least.
To give you an idea of how clean an existing nuke is, a typical coal plant puts more radioactive material in the atmosphere than a nuke plant does over the same period. Only, get this, the nuke plant doesn't actually dump it in the atmosphere, it is all contained in the reactor.
It could provide THE boost for the American economy if we're smart.
Yes, you get it. There is only one thing that can power us past our shortsighted, ridiculous political class. It is new technology.
Applied science and technology.
Creative destruction.
BTS
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beksbks
We have the technology to burn the waste from existing reactors and generating fuel, and reducing the long term waste.
We do? Or France does? We are behind are we not? And there is waste contained or not. It has to go somewhere. Why not be the worlds innovators again, and work on something truly sustainable?
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beksbks
Just as an aside, I live in earthquake country, and my man grew up within sight of Three Mile Island. It's hard to accept the notion that this technology doesn't have a reallllly horrible downside.
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John Doe
This bothers me as much if not more.
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purplesofa
There is some good comments at this link http://world-news.newsvine.com/_news/2010/05/12/4272463-dead-dolphins-wash-up-in-gulf-oil-role-unclear
Have a good day, purps Dead dolphins wash up on coast; oil's role unclearBy JANET McCONNAUGHEY and BRIAN SKOLOFF (AP) – 15 hours ago
HORN ISLAND, Miss. — Federal wildlife officials are treating the deaths of six dolphins on the Gulf Coast as oil-related even though other factors may be to blame.
Blair Mase (MACE') of the National Marine Fisheries Service said Tuesday that the carcasses have all been found in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama since May 2. Samples have been sent for testing to see whether a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico helped kill the dolphins.
Mase and animal rescue coordinator Michele Kelley in Louisiana said none of the carcasses has obvious signs of oil. Mase also said it's common for dead dolphins to wash up this time of year when they are in shallow waters to calve.
The Associated Press found dolphins swimming and playing in oily waters off Louisiana last week.
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purplesofa
Dick Cheney was the one who in 2003 exempted US oil companies from using acoustic switches (required in Brazil and Norway and used voluntarily by BP on all their wells around Britain).
Cheney subsequently held a series of "private" meetings with oil industry executives where the entire oil & gas regulatory structure was rewritten as a part of his new energy policy. They were the only ones who got input - no public hearings, agency personnel or scientists to get in the way.
That's also when the oil industry was exempted from the Clean Water Act and the RCRA hazardous waste regulations. They were taken almost entirely out of the jurisdiction of the EPA and regulation was given to the Minerals Management Service (MMS).
And then, in 2008, the US Inspector General found that at least 1/3 of the personnel at the Minerals Management Service's "Royalty in Kind" program (which receives oil in lieu of cash from oil & gas companies as payment of their royalties) were paid off with drugs, sex, cash and other graft in exchange for leniency toward the companies. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/10/AR2008091001829.html)
It takes a new administration a long time to unwind this type of deregulation, unless they want to do it by executive fiat like Bush & Cheney did, with no public hearings, scientific input or agency oversight.
This spill is not an "unforeseen disaster" - it's a natural consequence.
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flipper
Thanks for all the takes and comments ! It seems most here are aware of the enormous dangers this spill has caused , some might not care because it isn't happening in THEIR OWN geographical location . I call that small mindedness and lack of human empathy.
Perhaps others haven't read the entirety of the initial thread to fully understand what's happening here. From some of the comments I see the link I posted was totally ignored by some.
BURN the SHIPS - You stated that " BP had the lease. They may or may not have been negligent. Everything I have read suggests they weren't , that they followed best practices and regulations. " Really ? Maybe you need to inform yourself more fully. Did you watch the NBC link I put in the intial thread indicating that over the last 10 years BP has been fined MILLIONS of $$$$ for bad safety procedures and it even killed 15 of their workers on a plant ? Here is the link again for your benefit : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#37073208.
You stated " There are risks in any enterprise. " I agree- that's a given. There are risks getting out of bed at night to use the john too. But risks get minimized if proper procedures and caution is taken and financial corners aren't cut for safety sake to bring in a bigger profit ! $$$$ As so many of these companies seem to do at times.
Then you stated in regards to Doe's comment, " Let me guess, you think the threat of the spill is blown out of proportion. I wouldn't be the least surprised if you are, in fact, proven correct. " ?????? How the hell do you purport to prove that there is NO THREAT from this oil spill ? Are you blind ? Or- Do you have some kind of business connections to the oil companies which make you tend to minimize the threat ? Is it YOUR bread and butter ? I mean- inquiring minds would like to know I'm sure.
Anyway - ( Sigh ) Now THAT'S out of my system. To show how shady, underhanded, and suversive these companies BP, Transocean LTD. are - check this news clip out from the Sacramento Bee today as to what these companies are trying to do to the workers who got blown off the rig in a cover up scenario !
On pg. 18 under the article " Rig Workers' Lawyers Rip Liability Releases " it states , " Workers aboard an exploding offshore drilling platform were told to sign statements denying they were hurt or witnessed the blast that rocked the rig , killed 11 and spewed millions of gallons of oil into the ocean, their attorneys said today Tuesday . Survivors floated for hours in lifeboats in the Gulf of Mexico following the disaster on the Deepwater Horizon, and were greeted by company officials onshore asking them to SIGN STATEMENTS that they had no " first-hand or personal knowledge" of the incident, attorneys said. "
It continues, " These men are told they HAVE to sign statements or they can't go home, " said Tony Buzbee, a Houston -based attorney for 10 Transocean workers. The men were kept for at least 10 hours at sea, then taken to a hotel in Louisiana to sign the forms and be de-briefed, according to court documents filed in lawsuits brought by Transocean employees. While such statements have no legal force and are a common industry practice, they are often used to attack the credibility of workers who later sue or testify in a lawsuit , Buzbee said. "
So there you have it ! These are the fine, upstanding, non-corrupt oil companies we have drilling our oil ! Nice honest folks, eh ? Not. The employees mean little to them but a means to an end. Which is hiding the REAL truth from authorities so they can't be prosecuted up the ying yang for Billions in violations. I can think of a few choice words to describe these oil company leaders, can you ? Pisses me the hell off
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VoidEater
Still waiting for the neo-con quasi-Objectivist "why should we hold BP to account" viewpoint. Other than JD. I know you're out there.
It may be that the CONSEQUENCES of certain actions, even when thought of as low RISK, should be prevented.
And here's a lovely example of how the frigging tree-hugging, flaming liberal, doomsaying elite crazies might be worth listening to once in a while.
PS - oil companies do not buy leases they think of as worthless. Buying useless leases is not the point. Not developing leases they have was the questions. Unless I missed something.