DRILL babby, DRILL!

[Æron]

[Bocaj Claw]

Aeron, you clearly haven't heard that off-shore drilling is completely safe and there hasn't ever been a major leak ever.

[nickspoon]

The oily water picture is very cool. Shame about the spill though!

BP tried and failed to put a funnel cap on it, now I believe they are trying a different sort of cap. Failing that they want to bore diagonally into the well and pump in concrete to seal it. Really, things like this should never happen.

In other news, the Russians used nukes.

[Maggot Brain]

Well, golly gee. Thanks off shore drilling! Thanks British Petrol! Thanks Bush admin policies which made it easier and less safe to drill off of our shore! And of course thanks Obama for continuing to push the "need" for domestic offshore drilling!

[Bocaj Claw]

There is a minuscule good side to this. The BP leak is souring public opinion of off-shore drilling in Florida, where it was somewhat of an issue. Not really worth the environmental disaster to go "I told you so" though.

The sun is above the ground, the oil is below. So let's dig.

[Arloest]

Hey guys.

Guys.

I was almost a petroleum geologist. Alllmmoosst.

I would have gotten $85,000 a year to START with these guys.

[Tom_Radigan]

If you think that this is going to mean the end of offshore drilling, guess again. Chernobyl didn't mean the end of nuclear power generation either.

[Arloest]

Oh this definitely won't end off-shore drilling. There might be a bit more reluctance in promoting it, however.

[Muninn]

Hey guys.

Guys.

I was almost a petroleum geologist. Alllmmoosst.

I would have gotten $85,000 a year to START with these guys.

Did you find your heart was not "black" enough?

[Muninn]

Aeron, you clearly haven't heard that off-shore drilling is completely safe and there hasn't ever been a major leak ever.

At least nothing resembling something like this.

[Bocaj Claw]

[likeafox]

[nickspoon]

At least nothing resembling something like this.

A couple of the commenters there raised an interesting point (amongst the usual sea of garbage), which is that in Canada one is mandated by law, when drilling, to drill a relief well at the same time as the primary well. Thus, if a spill happens, the pressure can be reduced almost immediately and capping measures can be put in place.

[Tom_Radigan]

At least nothing resembling something like this.

A couple of the commenters there raised an interesting point (amongst the usual sea of garbage), which is that in Canada one is mandated by law, when drilling, to drill a relief well at the same time as the primary well. Thus, if a spill happens, the pressure can be reduced almost immediately and capping measures can be put in place.

Assuming the relief well would work as theorized.

[nickspoon]

Assuming the relief well would work as theorized.

That is the assumption, yes. It is at least a tested solution, and I would rather require relief wells than risk the consequences of not having one if a disaster like this occurs.