Quote:
Originally Posted by Cimarron29414
Ace,
My point is this. It's been, what?, 14 days or so? They constructed some box with a funnel and a pipe on it to put over the hole and route the oil to a ship. Why didn't they have that built and sitting under a tarp in Mobile Alabama - ready to be shipped to the gulf on a moment's notice? Why did it take 7 days to even start to build such a safety measure? That's my problem with this whole thing - you have to figure shit like that out BEFORE you drill, not after the spill.
|
Everyone agrees. With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to say they should have had it all figured out. We are talking about relatively new techniques - I can not excuse what happened and I agree they should have planned better and used at least one more redundant fail-safe. The folks at BP are saying the same thing internally. I am simply not ready to conclude that BP has not been acting in good faith.
---------- Post added at 07:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:54 PM ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by roachboy
ace---i'm busy at the moment, but have a look at the post i put up above that references a blog from mit press: there's an interesting and useful overview of the regulatory regime that frames oil drilling in general that talks specifically about the processes that are referenced again in the post article. it provides a bit of context that i found useful.
|
I understand the context and I will add that the people actually in the business know more about the business than those charged with regulating the business. This is and will always be a fundamental weakness with regulation, hence there has to be an element of "self regulation". The key in my opinion is understanding when the incentive to do what is right is greater than the incentive to do what is wrong. Self-regulation in this regard is paramount to markets functioning efficiently. Regulators will never be able to over-see every action taken, they will always generally be reactionary. Those behind the sources you cite don't seem to acknowledge that.