Oil Spill 5 Times Greater Than Previously Thought

Just think- if Bob McDonnell had his way this could all be ours.

Comments

[Vabreeze]

Comment today in Norfolk:

The U.S. government will hold two public meetings today to take comments about proposed seismic research off the Virginia coast in advance of possible offshore drilling for oil and natural gas.

The meetings will be conducted by the Minerals Management Service at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Hilton Norfolk Airport hotel, at 1500 N. Military Hwy.

They are the only meetings scheduled in Virginia and are among 13 others held this month along the Atlantic coast.

They come in response to a decision last month by the Obama administration to move forward with possible offshore drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf and are intended to gather ideas, comments and concerns about environmental impacts that offshore exploration might create.

[Vabreeze]

Florida TV News has report on how this could impact Florida and the East Coast over the next two weeks:

How will Gulf oil slick impact Florida and beaches?

Video:
As the monstrous oil slick floating in the Gulf of Mexico drifts and grows, the question for a state like Florida -- that relies on the beach for much of its business -- is how will this impact us?
http://www.pnj.com/section/videoNetwork?/News/How%2520will%2520Gulf%2520oil%2520slick%2520impact%2520Florida%2520and%2520beaches?/50992436001/48322990001/81664281001%23/News/How+will+Gulf+oil+slick+impact+Florida+and+beaches%253F/50992436001/48322990001/81664281001#/How+will+Gulf+oil+slick+impact+Florida+and+beaches%3F/81664281001

[LAS]

So how come we aren't hearing from the "drill, baby, drill!" crowd?

[Jack Sparrow]

Why doesn't anyone mention the fact that these are oil spills and that they are drilling for natural gas off the coast of Old Virginny? natural gas does not "spill" it evaporates into the air. I'm not saying that it doesn't pollute, I'm just saying that all this oil slick nonsense is ridiculous. It's like saying that you don't want a coal power plant because of the risk of nuclear meltdown...

[Dan]

Jack, it hasn't been determined what potential reserves of either oil or natural gas exist off the Virginia coast. But I know of no one (until your comment here) who contends that no oil and ONLY natural gas will be drilled for off the Virginia coast.

It's fine if you are a proponent of drilling off our coast and I understand that a disaster of the magnitude of what is currently taking place in the Gulf may cause people to have second thoughts about the potential risks. But trying to pretend they don't exist is not a very effective way of addressing the concern over those very real risks.

A big old oil slick washing ashore along Virginia Beach is something that has to be weighed in this decision. And the pictures along the Gulf coast this weekend may not be very pretty.

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

Norfolk is one of the biggest ports on the east coast. Almost 3000 ship visits every year. If any of those ships go down, the resulting fuel spill would be significant.

Should we be shutting down Norfolk because a major fuel spill could happen here?

We cannot predict when accidents are going to happen. All we can do is make sure that steps are taken to make accidents as rare as possible. There's no reason to kill exploratory drilling simply because of one accident in the Gulf of Mexico.

[Dan]

Brian, I'm not saying that one incident should be cause to kill anything. Just that this is EXACTLY what we should be looking at as we make this judgement. We should be weighing the possible damage and loss of tourism dollars against the realistic possible benefits and make a hard headed judgement based on a realistic appraisal of the facts.

Yes, fuel and oil can leak from a ship in any working harbor. But a shipping accident is not going to produce an oil slick as large as Rhode Island heading for our shoreline as they have in the Gulf.
And that is what we could possibly face. Even with the greatly improved technology we have been hearing so much about from the proponents of drilling.

That new and improved technology is what produced that state sized slick that is about to make landfall. We shouldn't be blind to that as we make this decision.

[HisRoc]

C'mon, people. This was no accident. The explosion was set off by eco-terrorists in the Earth Liberation Front to discredit off-shore exploration. They were assisted by liberals in the EPA and the Interior Department, working on Joe Biden's orders.

(This is sarcasm, of course. I just thought that I would give Spock a taste of his own bullshit.)

[Bubby Hussein, Hillbilly Sheikh]

There are indications that this disaster was the result of industry influence and lax regulation by the Minerals Management Service...you know the guys set to manage drilling off Virginia.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704423504575212031417936798.html

[change]

I notice no bitching about Obambi supporting continued drilling offshore, or the lack of effective response from the administration, are you libs relegated to castigating only those of another party? (surely not hypocritical..)

This administration has done nothing to solve this “crisis”. Obama is out golfing and making his 5 million dollar paycheck (and saying that others should be limited in their income) while the gulf coast is ready to be destroyed. People are going to die, animals will die, the world will not survive, the economy of the gulf states will be in shambles, it is the end of life as we know it. All the while he is blaming someone else for the “crisis” that happens under his watch.
For shame for shame….

(Hisroc, you are right, this is kinda fun…)

[change]

Bubby,
Assuming you are correct, who is the ultimate boss of the “Minerals Management Service”?
Would that be Obama’s Secretary Salazar???

Where is the outrage??

[HisRoc]

change,

It is all Bush's fault. After all, what was Haliburton's main source of income? Oil field services. You know, like selling and installing acoustic blow-out preventers. Oops! You mean that they could have made of millions of dollars if the Bush Administration had made the valves mandatory?

Shit. I wonder if Cheney knew about this.

[change]

Hisroc,

We have now had two coal mine disasters and a major oil spill since Obama has been in office, he must not be paying any attention to the safety of the American people.

One would think the uber-libs would be concerned?

Naaahhh,,, he’s a liberal, and they stick together through “slick and thin”.

I often wonder when one tires of being a lemming and a useless idiot.
I have friends who have already admitted their naivety; I suppose some never learn.

[Not Michael Jackson]

Jack Sparrow, they both come up the same pipe.

[Dan]

We have talked a lot about improvements in drilling technology over the past thirty years that make offshore drilling safer. And those improvements do, in fact, make it safer. Had the technology available today been in use in 1969 the Santa Barbara spill would not have occurred.

But the latest and greatest technology available was apparently NOT in use on the BP platform that blew up and caused this massive spill. I find that shocking. Other countries require it and we do not. And if we did this may have been avoided.

My understanding (which I admit is not extensive on this subject) is that an additional cutoff is required by some countries that would have prevented this spill. I hope we didn't allow this short cut of safety as part of the mindless "all regulation is bad" movement. Either way, we may want to change our requirements. Especially before we start any new offshore drilling.

[Bubby Hussein, Hillbilly Sheikh]

The Department of Interior's Mineral Management Service approval of the TransOcean/BP drilling permit (removing the blow-out preventer requirement) was completed under the watch of Bush Administration Secretary of Interior Gale Norton. Gale Norton retired from public service and when to work for Shell Oil.

[Observer of Twitter]

The funny part about this is that while Ben whines, he is also considering buying a truck.

[Dan]

Bubby, are you saying that Gale Norton's actions at Interior may have been motivated by a promise of future employment in the industry she was charged with regulating? How deeply cynical of you! (wink)

[TomPaine]

Gale Norton is a paragon of virtue!

[Bubby Hussein, Hillbilly Sheikh]

"Gale Norton restored badly needed offshore energy production when Hurricane Katrina struck Aug. 29"
George W. Bush, March 10, 2006 (upon Norton's retirement)

The Gale Norton Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Disaster Area Memorial - dedicated to the Secretary of Interior who doubled the number of oil and gas drilling permits.

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