re: #245 Bagua

Good to have an expert here.

I don’t think the answer is beyond our ability, but the units being used have proven inadequate.

Also, why can’t we contain the leak once the worst has happened? We are literally “out of our depth” if we cannot. I also made the point that we can put a robot on Mars but we can’t make one plug a leaky pipe. It is not rocket science indeed, so why don’t we have this ability before we do the drilling?

At minimum there needs to be truly failsafe BOPs and a way to quickly handle leaks before we continue.

I don’t disagree, but you have to understand that the environment has changed tremendously. When I left the offshore drilling industry (1990), after being seriously injured offshore and having my back repaired, we were drilling at water depths of a thousand feet. Not a big deal. Now they are drilling at 5 to 6,000 feet. Those are crushing depths of up to 150 to 175 atmospheres. Brutal shit and very little room for fuck ups. The relationship between the MMS, which both approves the drilling work and also collects the royalties based on on production is toxic.

That needs to change. The implicit conflict of interest must be split off. The regulatory body, based on safety of the work done in the field, cannot be connected with arm of the Gov’t that makes money off that work.