http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/23/gulf.platform.alert/index.html
It always comes down to simple human stupidity error, doesn't it?
I'm shocked, but not surprised. The alarms had been inhibited so that the crew could get a good night's sleep. OK, well and good. Personally, if I were quartered in a huge body of water on a rig that dealt with oil and all the industrial chemicals, and knowing what they could do, the alarms would have been the last thing keeping me awake.
I just can't get my brain around this sort of behavior, just as I couldn't get my brains around the BBC report a few weeks ago that the ball bouncing up the chain of command had been dropped. I don't have the citation handy, but recapping to my best recollection, a worker saw an alarm go off. He told his supervisor, who told his supervisor, and then that was that. For some unfathomable reason, no action was taken.
As a result of two relatively small inactions, eleven families lost loves ones, and many more are losing their livelihoods, and even more are losing the beaches where their memories live. You can't put a dollar figure on this, but I hope that the courts come close.
Showing posts with label BP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BP. Show all posts
Friday, July 23, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Obama's Chernobyl, or Can You Say Criminal Negligence?
That, my friends, is what this mess in the Gulf of Mexico is turning into.
Today, http://bbc.co.uk reports that a worker did so see a leak in the blowout preventer (BOP), reported it to his supervisor, who in turn sent it up the chain of command. All that needed to be done was to switch over to a secondary BOP. No interruptions in production. Just hit a switch, and none of this would have happened.
But no. Someone dropped the ball, and now BP, Transocean, and Halliburton are pointing fingers at one another in a circle blame game. President Obama is doing what he can, even if it's as a result of the foot of the opinion polls in his pants (are there no candidates who decline contributions from the oil companies? Like Ralph Nader? Or why I am likely to change my party affiliation to Green.)
So while the rhetoric floats like so many tar balls, we are faced with two very real, very possible problems: that the oil will ride currents to many other shores, and that the rapidly emptying well could become a sinkhole.
I've added my prayers and visualizations. Is there anything that can stop this and clean it up?
Today, http://bbc.co.uk reports that a worker did so see a leak in the blowout preventer (BOP), reported it to his supervisor, who in turn sent it up the chain of command. All that needed to be done was to switch over to a secondary BOP. No interruptions in production. Just hit a switch, and none of this would have happened.
But no. Someone dropped the ball, and now BP, Transocean, and Halliburton are pointing fingers at one another in a circle blame game. President Obama is doing what he can, even if it's as a result of the foot of the opinion polls in his pants (are there no candidates who decline contributions from the oil companies? Like Ralph Nader? Or why I am likely to change my party affiliation to Green.)
So while the rhetoric floats like so many tar balls, we are faced with two very real, very possible problems: that the oil will ride currents to many other shores, and that the rapidly emptying well could become a sinkhole.
I've added my prayers and visualizations. Is there anything that can stop this and clean it up?
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