toldailytopic: Off shore drilling. Should we stop entirely?

[Nathon Detroit]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for May 18th, 2010 10:14 AM

toldailytopic: Off shore drilling. Should we stop entirely?

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[Aimiel]

Of course not, we do need to enact some stringent regulations, and implement them worldwide. An automatic cut-off valve, near the base of pipe, to prevent spills like the one BP is working on right now would be a start.

 

[Nick M]

Yeah. Gas doesn't cost enough.

 

[MaryContrary]

Accidents happen. The question is whether it was avoidable and whether we can avoid it in the future.

I trip over my furniture all the time. I've only responded by throwing the offending piece of furniture out of the house maybe once or twice. I can say from experience this is not a very wise response. Having learned from that, I now arrange my furniture to minimize such incidents. That works out a lot better. Also I've learned that I should have foreseen that problem and dealt with it before stubbing my toes so many times.

Simple stuff, really. Why wasn't this problem foreseen and what are we going to do to reduce the odds of it happening again?

 

[Flipper]

Heck no, we need the gas like yesterday.

Amiel is right though, there has to be better regulation to minimize the chance of future accidents.

 

[Aimiel]

Above ground wells have a safety valve. Why not require one on deep sea wells? It obviously is an issue, judging by the 200,000 gallons of oil spewing into the gulf every day right now. I'm sure there's already a device designed to do just what's needed.

 

[The Berean]

There are hundreds off offshore drilling sites that pump oil everyday without incident.

 

[elohiym]

What would be the alternative if we stopped entirely?

 

[The Berean]

What would be the alternative if we stopped entirely?

There is no alternative unless people want to go back to the lifestyle and technology of 1820. There is currently no alternative energy source that comes remotely come close to replacing oil.

 

[GuySmiley]

There are hundreds off offshore drilling sites that pump oil everyday without incident.

Oh great, now I won't sleep at night! :shocked:

 

[Flipper]

Above ground wells have a safety valve. Why not require one on deep sea wells? It obviously is an issue, judging by the 200,000 gallons of oil spewing into the gulf every day right now. I'm sure there's already a device designed to do just what's needed.

I think all wells do - isn't that what the blowout preventer is supposed to do?

This well did have a blowout preventer, but it didn't function for reasons that seem to point to negligence.

 

[elohiym]

There is no alternative unless people want to go back to the lifestyle and technology of 1820.

That's what I suspected.

Wake me up when someone has found a reliable alternative so we can compare costs versus benefits.

 

[Nick M]

What would be the alternative if we stopped entirely?

An increase in poverty.

 

[PlastikBuddha]

Probably not stop entirely but we need to think long and hard about what to do to prevent this from happening again before we "drill, baby, drill". Cheaper oil at the expense of our coasts isn't a trade I'm willing to make.

 

[kmoney]

There is no alternative unless people want to go back to the lifestyle and technology of 1820. There is currently no alternative energy source that come remotely come close to replacing oil.

The topic isn't about replacing oil. It was about off-shore oil.





But in any case, I still don't think I'd favor a complete shutdown of all our off-shore oil rigs. I would support not expanding it though. And I would support taking some stronger steps towards building up alternative energy sources. Oil needs to be knocked down a peg.

And no, I'm not saying this because of the current disaster. My thoughts are now what they were before. My reaction to current crisis is just that we need to make sure that what happened never happens again and we need to tighten down on the QC and safety of our off-shore drilling. In this case it seems like some steps were missed that could have potentially prevented this. Of course, hindsight is 20/20.

 

[kmoney]

That's what I suspected.

Wake me up when someone has found a reliable alternative so we can compare costs versus benefits.

That won't happen because Big Oil is too powerful and won't let it. :devil:

 

[The Berean]

That's what I suspected.

Wake me up when someone has found a reliable alternative so we can compare costs versus benefits.

And it's not only that. Petroleum is used in far more than just to make gasoline. It's used in many, many manufacturing processes (making plastic, lubrication for machinery, shoot every Vaseline is a byproduct of petroleum)

 

[The Berean]

The topic isn't about replacing oil. It was about off-shore oil.





But in any case, I still don't think I'd favor a complete shutdown of all our off-shore oil rigs. I would support not expanding it though. And I would support taking some stronger steps towards building up alternative energy sources. Oil needs to be knocked down a peg.

And no, I'm not saying this because of the current disaster. My thoughts are now what they were before. My reaction to current crisis is just that we need to make sure that what happened never happens again and we need to tighten down on the QC and safety of our off-shore drilling. In this case it seems like some steps were missed that could have potentially prevented this. Of course, hindsight is 20/20.

This is true. But the problem is that many people expect the government to do something about it without any involvement from the people themselves. They just want to sit on their butts and let the government handle it. But if people would make conscious choices to make minor changes to their lifestyle, huge changes can be implemented. Here are a few:

-Walk, bike, car pool, or take public transpiration to work perhaps twice a week.
- Don't buy an SUV! (SUVs are of the devil :devil: )
-Consider buying a hybrid of electric car (comes with tax credit)
-Separate and recycle one's garbage
-Bring your own bag to the grocery store
-Support alternative energy initiatives
-If you can afford it get solar panels for your house

These are just a few examples. There are many more things people can do. If EVERYONE would do their small part huge changes can occur!

 

[The Berean]

That won't happen because Big Oil is too powerful and won't let it. :devil:

Meh. They won't stand a chance again the growing Big Solar™. :chuckle:

 

[kmoney]

This is true. But the problem is that many people expect the government to do something about it without any involvement from the people themselves. They just want to sit on their butts and let the government handle it. But if people would make conscious choices to make minor changes to their lifestyle, huge changes can be implemented. Here are a few:

-Walk, bike, car pool, or take public transpiration to work perhaps twice a week.
- Don't buy an SUV! (SUVs are of the devil :devil: )
-Consider buying a hybrid of electric car (comes with tax credit)
-Separate and recycle one's garbage
-Bring your own bag to the grocery store
-Support alternative energy initiatives
-If you can afford it get solar panels for your house

These are just a few examples. There are many more things people can do. If EVERYONE would do their small part huge changes can occur!

Of course! You speak the truth. We don't need the government to do anything, almost. The problem is people don't do it themselves. At least not in the numbers required. So that's when the government steps in. People by themselves think, "it's just me, I won't make a difference anyway". And when you have lots of people with that thinking, it does start to make a difference.