re: #280 austin_blue

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.

My point exactly, we are literally ‘out of our depth’ at the present. We need to prove we can prevent the blow-out and handle a blow-out at the depths we are working. We all know that isn’t the case now. Thank you for the insights.